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Aromatherapy Essential Oils
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Release the stress from your day and transport yourself to a field of lavender where violet and periwinkle flowers sway gently in the breeze.
Breathe in the intoxicating floral aroma and allow the power of scent to calm and relax your senses.
Energizing, soothing, and refreshing,
botanical essences promote and support emotional and physical well-being. Extracted from leaves, branches, flowers, seeds, rinds and berries,
essential oils represent the pure essence of plants and herbs.
The therapeutic quality of an essential oil is affected by many factors. The quality of the plant material is extremely important.
Plants that are indigenous to an area are generally of higher quality than those commercially grown elsewhere. The weather and
environmental growing conditions affect the quality of the harvest.
Oil quality even varies within a growing season if there are
multiple harvest times. The elevation at which the plants are grown can affect quality and yield, for example when growing lavender.
How and when the plant is harvested and how long it sits before being distilled are also critical factors. For example, the essential
oil from Melissa officinalis is lost if the plant sits more than a few hours.
In addition to the health and vigor of the plant, the talent and capability of the distiller is also an important ingredient in
essential oil production. In fact, it is probably more important than the quality of the equipment. The role of the distiller
is to extract the oil in a manner which keeps it as close to the chemical composition it had as a plant. Some brilliant oils can
be obtained from some of the most basic equipment if the plant material is excellent and the operator conscientious.
Most essential oils will last approximately one to two years or more if properly stored. To preserve your oils, always store them in a tight
container in a cool place. Heat will cause the oils to evaporate and the light will alter them chemically, reducing their effectiveness.
Citrus oils are an exception; they will start to oxidize after a year. They can be preserved longer with refrigeration or adding vitamin E.
There are some oils, such as Patchouli, Vetiver and Sandalwood, that only get better with age.
Essential oils are very concentrated and, therefore, can be potentially toxic if taken internally. Also, ingesting oil is very dangerous because
some of the oils are skin and mucous membrane irritants. Our oils are therapeutic grade and research indicates that because of the concentrated
nature of pure oils, they are much more effective either through inhalation using a room diffuser or topical absorption using a 1%-3% dilution
in a carrier oil or lotion.
$65.99
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Thursday, November 20, 2008
