PORTUGUESE-ENGLISH
https://casamay.com.br/o-que-e-aromaterapia/
What is Aromatherapy?
Aromatherapy is therapy through essential oils, which are volatile substances, produced by aromatic plants during their secondary metabolism. Essential oils contain dozens of molecules, which in turn are formed by chains composed of carbon atoms, hydrogen, oxygen, and eventually nitrogen and sulfur. These chains may contain only 10 carbon atoms and are therefore quite volatile, but also 15 or even 20 atoms and are then less volatile.Plants produce essential oils for various purposes, among the best known of which is the attraction of pollinating insects. However, the way they deal with environmental stressors, whether biotic or abiotic, determines what volatile substances they will produce, when and in what quantity, but also what other substances such as tannins, flavonoids or alkaloids will appear. Because of this variety, essential oils are said to yield different harvests. There is no batch of essential oil the same as another, just as there is no wine identical to another. However, for therapeutic purposes, percentages of variability are tolerated and many have even been established, so that when choosing an essential oil, one knows minimally what type of substance one is dealing with.Many of these standards have been established by ISO – International Organization for Standardization, while others are being established by the market. Variability in the chemical composition of essential oils still occurs according to the method used to extract them from plants. For ISO, there are only two extraction methods whose obtained product can be called essential oil: the distillation, with water vapor, of the parts of the plants that produce essential oil (leaves, flowers, seeds, roots or stems) and the expression (cold pressing) of the peel of citrus fruits. However, current technology can extract volatile oils in many other ways and even with improvements of the two techniques mentioned. There is much discussion among aromatherapists as to whether or not the substances extracted by these new technologies can be used in aromatherapy treatments. And there is also a lot of discussion about how essential oils, extracted in traditional ways, can be used.Strictly speaking, aromatherapy is a new science. The first time the word appeared was in a scientific article, written by the French chemical engineer René-Maurice Gattefossé for the magazine that his company published, Parfumerie Moderne: this article was published in 1935. Two years later, therefore, in 1937, Gattefossé published the book that is considered the cornerstone of modern aromatherapy: Aromathérapie – Les Huiles Essentielles, Hormones Végétales. This book is a rare work, but its English translation, made in 1992, is also available in the ebook version.Being, as can be seen, a science just over 75 years old, it is to be expected that much of its body of knowledge, methodology, uses and applications is yet to be made. However, as aromatherapy uses plant substances known to humanity for millennia, it is also an ancient therapeutic art – or an ancestral medicine – and this gives it credentials to be widely used, even if scientific proof is desired (or needed) for most of its postulates.Throughout the twentieth century, two countries certainly led studies on the therapeutic use of essential oils: France and England. Due to historical reasons, the use of essential oils as phytomedicines was established among the French, being prescribed by doctors and pharmacists in the treatment of various diseases as an alternative to allopathic drugs; and, in England, the holistic use of these same substances was consolidated, being used in inhalations, massages, compresses, creams and foot scald.Currently the two traditions are united, although the oral or internal use of essential oils is less taught than their holistic use.In a market where borders are still being established, many names are being created to distinguish the aromatherapy products that the industry launches, as well as the aromatherapy work that aromatherapists develop. Often, these names are created as a marketing strategy and end up naming products or techniques that are very similar to each other. This is how clinical aromatherapy is intended to be different from wellness aromatherapy; what aromatology is intended to be different from clinical aromatherapy; what wellness aromatherapy is intended to be different from psycho-aromatherapy; what psycho-aromatherapy is intended to be different from olfactory marketing; what olfactory marketing is intended to be different from perfumery, and so on.When dealing with aromatherapy, however, only two questions should be asked to know the terrain on which one is stepping: 1 – will I be using pure or synthetic essential oil? If the answer is pure, you will be in the field of aromatherapy; if it is synthetic, it is no longer aromatherapy; and 2 – will I use this essential oil internally or only externally? If the answer is internally, you will be in the domains of aromatherapy of French tradition; if it is externally, in English. Many believe – and this includes French legislation – that the internal use of essential oils should be taught and done only by people with training in health, that is, in medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine and, perhaps, nutrition. But there are also a large number of those who believe that, as essential oils are raw material – just like the juice of a lemon, or the infusion of herbs, or the powder of a roasted seed – anyone can use them internally, as long as they have the knowledge to do so. For the first group, essential oils are medicines; for the second, they are raw material. This is a nebulous subject and, in any case, as essential oils cannot be patented – precisely because they are vegetable raw material – governments tend to regulate their quality standard, but do not reach plausible conclusions about how their use should be regulated.When it's someone wanting to use aromatherapy, maybe this is a side issue – after all, just go to a store, buy the essential oil and use it. But when seeking to make aromatherapy a profession, they are important issues, given what kind of training to seek. It is a discussion similar to what, in Brazil, has already been done by yoga professionals: to be a yoga teacher, it is necessary to have a degree as a physical educator, as a physiotherapist? But wouldn't it be essential to be a psychologist, a philosopher? As yoga is both a philosophy, a body, mental and emotional therapeutic technique, and also a spiritual discipline, it was concluded that the best way for you to train a yoga teacher is to let them take a yoga course. Possibly, within aromatherapy, the discussion will go down the same path. Being, at the same time, a therapy that takes care of the physical, the mental, the emotional, but that also reflects on the energetic-vibrational aspect of living beings, it is best that an aromatherapist is trained, precisely, in an aromatherapy course.Of all the aspects of the living being that are affected by the use of essential oils, the most well-documented is the physical one; however, it is the one with the lowest volume of information, since, to discuss the pharmacological action of essential oils in the body, we want the methodology to be scientific, and preferably in the same parameters as that used by pharmaceutical industries or universities. This costs time and money – and as essential oils are not patentable on their own, they do not generate interest in being studied in these parameters.The psychological and energetic-vibrational aspects are those with the greatest volume of information, but those that most need study with scientific methodology – after all, here we enter the sphere of the non-tangible and the non-quantifiable. How to prove that frankincense essential oil acts on the frontal chakra if not even the existence of the chakras is something accepted in the academic-scientific environment? How to study the action that the pachouli has to take root, to ground flighty people if the concept is not formalized in psychology manuals or even taken as something to be therapeutic?As much as aromatherapy is anchored in the millenary knowledge of medicinal plants and herbs – and, in this sense, it is a branch of herbal medicine –, as much as the pharmacological or psychological effects of essential oils have been proven in the last 50-60 years, it is because of having knowledge that is fundamentally practical that aromatherapy is sometimes called healing.However, unlike other therapeutic practices, which are unfair, but also branded as healing – such as floral therapy, Reiki, dowsing, homeopathy and even acupuncture – when dealing with essential oils, one deals – in fact – with active principles. Containing active principles is what makes aromatherapy so different when compared to these techniques mentioned. And that is why it is so special – and misunderstood: what substance is known that, at the same time, acts objectively on the chemistry of the body, changes the person's mood, changes their energy field, which is natural, widely available and outside the control of the pharmaceutical industry? It sounds too good to be true. That's why they doubt it. But it is.
What is Aromatherapy?
Aromatherapy is therapy through essential oils, which are volatile substances, produced by aromatic plants during their secondary metabolism. Essential oils contain dozens of molecules, which in turn are formed by chains composed of carbon atoms, hydrogen, oxygen, and eventually nitrogen and sulfur. These chains may contain only 10 carbon atoms and are therefore quite volatile, but also 15 or even 20 atoms and are then less volatile.Plants produce essential oils for various purposes, among the best known of which is the attraction of pollinating insects. However, the way they deal with environmental stressors, whether biotic or abiotic, determines what volatile substances they will produce, when and in what quantity, but also what other substances such as tannins, flavonoids or alkaloids will appear. Because of this variety, essential oils are said to yield different harvests. There is no batch of essential oil the same as another, just as there is no wine identical to another. However, for therapeutic purposes, percentages of variability are tolerated and many have even been established, so that when choosing an essential oil, one knows minimally what type of substance one is dealing with.Many of these standards have been established by ISO – International Organization for Standardization, while others are being established by the market. Variability in the chemical composition of essential oils still occurs according to the method used to extract them from plants. For ISO, there are only two extraction methods whose obtained product can be called essential oil: the distillation, with water vapor, of the parts of the plants that produce essential oil (leaves, flowers, seeds, roots or stems) and the expression (cold pressing) of the peel of citrus fruits. However, current technology can extract volatile oils in many other ways and even with improvements of the two techniques mentioned. There is much discussion among aromatherapists as to whether or not the substances extracted by these new technologies can be used in aromatherapy treatments. And there is also a lot of discussion about how essential oils, extracted in traditional ways, can be used.Strictly speaking, aromatherapy is a new science. The first time the word appeared was in a scientific article, written by the French chemical engineer René-Maurice Gattefossé for the magazine that his company published, Parfumerie Moderne: this article was published in 1935. Two years later, therefore, in 1937, Gattefossé published the book that is considered the cornerstone of modern aromatherapy: Aromathérapie – Les Huiles Essentielles, Hormones Végétales. This book is a rare work, but its English translation, made in 1992, is also available in the ebook version.Being, as can be seen, a science just over 75 years old, it is to be expected that much of its body of knowledge, methodology, uses and applications is yet to be made. However, as aromatherapy uses plant substances known to humanity for millennia, it is also an ancient therapeutic art – or an ancestral medicine – and this gives it credentials to be widely used, even if scientific proof is desired (or needed) for most of its postulates.Throughout the twentieth century, two countries certainly led studies on the therapeutic use of essential oils: France and England. Due to historical reasons, the use of essential oils as phytomedicines was established among the French, being prescribed by doctors and pharmacists in the treatment of various diseases as an alternative to allopathic drugs; and, in England, the holistic use of these same substances was consolidated, being used in inhalations, massages, compresses, creams and foot scald.Currently the two traditions are united, although the oral or internal use of essential oils is less taught than their holistic use.In a market where borders are still being established, many names are being created to distinguish the aromatherapy products that the industry launches, as well as the aromatherapy work that aromatherapists develop. Often, these names are created as a marketing strategy and end up naming products or techniques that are very similar to each other. This is how clinical aromatherapy is intended to be different from wellness aromatherapy; what aromatology is intended to be different from clinical aromatherapy; what wellness aromatherapy is intended to be different from psycho-aromatherapy; what psycho-aromatherapy is intended to be different from olfactory marketing; what olfactory marketing is intended to be different from perfumery, and so on.When dealing with aromatherapy, however, only two questions should be asked to know the terrain on which one is stepping: 1 – will I be using pure or synthetic essential oil? If the answer is pure, you will be in the field of aromatherapy; if it is synthetic, it is no longer aromatherapy; and 2 – will I use this essential oil internally or only externally? If the answer is internally, you will be in the domains of aromatherapy of French tradition; if it is externally, in English. Many believe – and this includes French legislation – that the internal use of essential oils should be taught and done only by people with training in health, that is, in medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine and, perhaps, nutrition. But there are also a large number of those who believe that, as essential oils are raw material – just like the juice of a lemon, or the infusion of herbs, or the powder of a roasted seed – anyone can use them internally, as long as they have the knowledge to do so. For the first group, essential oils are medicines; for the second, they are raw material. This is a nebulous subject and, in any case, as essential oils cannot be patented – precisely because they are vegetable raw material – governments tend to regulate their quality standard, but do not reach plausible conclusions about how their use should be regulated.When it's someone wanting to use aromatherapy, maybe this is a side issue – after all, just go to a store, buy the essential oil and use it. But when seeking to make aromatherapy a profession, they are important issues, given what kind of training to seek. It is a discussion similar to what, in Brazil, has already been done by yoga professionals: to be a yoga teacher, it is necessary to have a degree as a physical educator, as a physiotherapist? But wouldn't it be essential to be a psychologist, a philosopher? As yoga is both a philosophy, a body, mental and emotional therapeutic technique, and also a spiritual discipline, it was concluded that the best way for you to train a yoga teacher is to let them take a yoga course. Possibly, within aromatherapy, the discussion will go down the same path. Being, at the same time, a therapy that takes care of the physical, the mental, the emotional, but that also reflects on the energetic-vibrational aspect of living beings, it is best that an aromatherapist is trained, precisely, in an aromatherapy course.Of all the aspects of the living being that are affected by the use of essential oils, the most well-documented is the physical one; however, it is the one with the lowest volume of information, since, to discuss the pharmacological action of essential oils in the body, we want the methodology to be scientific, and preferably in the same parameters as that used by pharmaceutical industries or universities. This costs time and money – and as essential oils are not patentable on their own, they do not generate interest in being studied in these parameters.The psychological and energetic-vibrational aspects are those with the greatest volume of information, but those that most need study with scientific methodology – after all, here we enter the sphere of the non-tangible and the non-quantifiable. How to prove that frankincense essential oil acts on the frontal chakra if not even the existence of the chakras is something accepted in the academic-scientific environment? How to study the action that the pachouli has to take root, to ground flighty people if the concept is not formalized in psychology manuals or even taken as something to be therapeutic?As much as aromatherapy is anchored in the millenary knowledge of medicinal plants and herbs – and, in this sense, it is a branch of herbal medicine –, as much as the pharmacological or psychological effects of essential oils have been proven in the last 50-60 years, it is because of having knowledge that is fundamentally practical that aromatherapy is sometimes called healing.However, unlike other therapeutic practices, which are unfair, but also branded as healing – such as floral therapy, Reiki, dowsing, homeopathy and even acupuncture – when dealing with essential oils, one deals – in fact – with active principles. Containing active principles is what makes aromatherapy so different when compared to these techniques mentioned. And that is why it is so special – and misunderstood: what substance is known that, at the same time, acts objectively on the chemistry of the body, changes the person's mood, changes their energy field, which is natural, widely available and outside the control of the pharmaceutical industry? It sounds too good to be true. That's why they doubt it. But it is.