What’s new in aromatherapy?

Elizabeth Ashley looks back over 25 years of change and forward to new developments in aromatherapy… A UGUST 2018 marked 25 years since I qualified in aromatherapy. I’d worked in aromatherapy for a long time before qualifying, helping on my mum’s stand at craft fairs since I was 11. My mother, Jill Bruce, was one of the first aromatherapists in the country, one of the founder members of the IFA and ran one of the largest aromatherapy schools in Britain. The mainstay of her business was visiting craft agricultural shows to sell medicinal pots of cream.

Back then, taking a tablet to cure any health issue was so deeply ingrained in the public’s psyche, that people would look horrified at the suggestion they rub something on their forehead to get rid of headaches. These were the days before medicine’s control laws. I recall our organisations’ very real panic when it came in. Without licences in place, 130 different products – all labelled with “arthritis”, “bronchitis” had to go back to development stage. Having one to one consultations meant we could then treat the conditions we saw in front of us and simply label the products with the essential oils they contained, rather than the conditions they were for.

Around the same time, excitement broke lose that Melaleuca oils was killing MRSA in petri dishes. Recognised as a wonder oil in Australia since before WW2, tea tree went from virtual obscurity, to being on every English supermarket shelf. Oils were everywhere, then disappeared as quickly as new medicinal claims laws began to be enforced. The public had been exposed to plant medicine and the natural medicine revolution had begun.

The internet bought a new wave of interest, but most pages were written by American essential oil vendors, not aromatherapists. British aromatherapy training always encompassed the healing power of touch in massage as its core tenet since physical pain was usually accompanied by some sort of emotional distress. Mind Body Spirit connection was at the heart of what we did. Many websites focused on solely physical aspects and ignored massage. Profit-focussed Multi-Level Marketing companies empowered amateurs wanted to use the medicine for themselves, so qualified aromatherapists became entirely focused on the safety aspects. Gradually essential oils divorced themselves from healing and became an Aromatherapy SCENT of change

alternative prescription to pills.

Coincidently, a subculture was taking pace that would force aromatherapy back into the limelight. There was a frenzy surrounding HIV and AIDS in the gay community. Many of those affected relied on alternative therapies while governments and charities ploughed a huge amount of resources into developing drugs that might provide a cure or ameliorate symptoms.

One person focused on drug creation was Dr Candace Pert, head of the neuroscience department at America’s prestigious NIMH. Dr. Pert had previously identified the opiate receptor that responds to morphine and heroin. She had been fascinated to understand why a drug given to help pain, would also make you so laid back that you cared little about what was going on. Eventually, she found the receptor, and subsequently the endogenous ligandsendorphins and enkephalins were found. Focused on demonstrating the body-mind connection she lectured across the East coast of America about her discoveries of what she called “The Molecules of Emotion”.

Back at home, her husband ran their lab creating a drug called Peptide 8, which is portrayed in the film Dallas Buyers Club. The peptide, along with strict regimens of vitamins and healthy foods and stress relief seemed help AIDs suffers for a while. Sadly, the patent for drug was never approved, but the underground movement to buy it, evangelised the beginnings of understanding that looking after yourself emotionally would have an impact on your immune system.

Sadly, Pert died in 2012 but not before she was able to see the dawn of two new disciplines of medicine: Psychoneuroendicrinology (PNE) the science of how the emotions affect hormones and neurotransmission and Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) how emotions affect immunity.

Already investigating the antimicrobial effects of essential oils, laboratories now had analytic techniques helping them discover the mechanisms whereby essential oils might make someone feel happier by monitoring receptors and neurotransmitters. Although quite a lot of data exists, the number of research experiments on essential oils remain small. This is a matter of economics. As natural commodities, it will never be possible to secure a patent on an essential oil preparation, because their chemistry relies on things like soil quality and rain fall. The research done is more about the effects of essential oils on the human body than on the properties of the

oils themselves. This presents some problems. Rodents are used in experiments because they are evolutionarily similar to humans, but large concentrations of oil injected intraperitoneally into a mouse are very unlikely to offer complete information about how the same oil diluted to 3% in carrier oil will act on a person. That said, experiments are commissioned in response to people being healed and the scientist wanting to know why.

Aromatherapy has come full circle. It seems to finally be leaving behind its “replacement for a tablet” image, as people realise how good it is for managing stress. Fragrant molecules travel to the mind, altering the way we think and feel, which then sends messages to the physical body. We calm, we relax and physical pain eases. Inhalation, now by far the most commonly used application by therapists, is also being used in hospitals to calm patients before operations. One drop of lavender on a tissue slows breathing and heart rate, preventing blood pressure spikes in surgery, reducing the risk of postsurgical nausea and thus speeding healing times.

New tools of the trade Aromatherapy evolves and advances constantly. The rise in stress-related and lifestyle diseases will continue to drive the industry forward. Amongst the developments that will shape aromatherapy practice in the coming decade are the emergence of hydrolats and CO2 extraction and reducing the environmental footprint of the industry. CO2 extracts smell closer to the real plant than an essential oil does. Waxes, lipids and some of the larger molecular components can find their way into the product, offering potential benefits, similarly, hydrolats, the floral waters left behind from distillation of essential oils are now being used as a primary product, offering gentler and subtler products particularly useful for animals, children and oral use. During my Beyond Aromatherapy

The Essential Oil Recipe summit last year, most advanced therapists seemed to grow at least some of their own plant material. No waste, no carbon footprint from transport and happier bees. Over 1% of the world’s farmable land is now given over to the growth of plants for essential oils. Our resources are pressured, distillation is a wasteful process and some essential oil plants are threatened with extinction in the wild. Making better use of our resources, reducing waste and achieving a balance are essential. Aromatherapy changes all the time, luckily conferences and CPD offer opportunities to develop and move our industry forward. n

ELIZABETH ASHLEY is a professional aromatherapist, UK NAHA director and the author of the bestselling Secret Healer essential oil manuals. Her new course The Professional Pain Practitioner not only looks at advanced aromatherapy techniques to manage pain syndromes but also how to build a robust and profitable business model around it. Find out more at www.thesecrethealer.co.uk i

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