What are Essential Oils?
Essential Oils are one of the great untapped resources of the world.
The concentrated essences of various flowers, fruits, herbs, and plants have been used for centuries all over the world, but in modern times we have forgotten the power of these ancient medicines of the earth, preferring instead to use the products of perfume and chemical companies which imitate the natural fragrances, medicinal, and cleansing properties of essential oils.
Modern scientific research has proven that essential oils are potent, with remarkable medicinal properties. These substances are very complex in their molecular structure, and very powerful. Unlike chemical drugs, essential oils do not remain in the body, and they leave no toxins behind.
The Benefits of Essential Oils.
There are about three hundred essential oils in general use today by professional practitioners. Each oil has its own medicinal and other properties.
Modern-day research has confirmed centuries of practical use of the oils and we now know that they contain antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, circulatory-stimulating, and many more qualities.
One of the most satisfactory aspects of using essential oils medicinally and cosmetically is that they enter and leave the body with great efficiency. It could be that these aspects of the essential oils contribute towards stimulating the body’s own natural healing mechanisms. The positive effect of essential oils on blood circulation is well known.
They play an important part in bringing oxygen and nutrients to the tissues while assisting in the efficient disposal of carbon dioxide and other waste products that are produced by cell metabolism. This is why growth stimulation and healthy hair are produced through the use of essential oils.
Essential oils are very precious and it takes a great deal of work to produce a tiny amount. In the case of jasmine for example, the flowers must be picked by hand before the sun becomes hot on the very first day they open, whereas the sandalwood tree must be thirty years old and thirty feet high before it is cut for distillation.
Between these two extremes a whole range of growing and picking conditions apply to the plants that will ultimately provide the precious essential oils. The price of each oil reflects these conditions, and because it takes eight million hand-picked jasmine blossoms to produce 2.2 pounds of oil, you can understand why essential oils can be expensive and vary in price.
