Essential Oils 101 – What, How & Benefits of EO’s

Today:

• What are Essential Oils
• How Essential Oils Are Extracted
• Benefits of Essential Oils
  • Detoxify The Body
  • Aid Healing
  • Emotional Well Being Support
  • Enrich Physical Health

What are Essential Oils?

Essential oils are the fragrant, highly concentrated natural constituents that are found in plants. They are what give the plant its characteristic odour and contain the healing power of the plant from which it was extracted. When used correctly, essential oils bring a wide range of health benefits since unlike modern drugs, they have no side-effects.

A typical essential oil will contain more than 100 different chemical compounds, each of which exhibits a specific therapeutic property, and it is for this reason that many essential oils can be used for such a wide range of conditions. Virtually all essential oils possess antiseptic properties, but many also have antifungal, antiviral and antibacterial properties.

Essential oils are located in tiny secretory structures found in various parts of plants such as leaves (eucalyptus), berries (juniper), grasses (palmarosa), flowering tops (lavender), petals (rose), roots (angelica), zest of fruit (orange), resins (frankincense) and wood (cedar).

How Essential Oils Are Extracted

Mostly, essential oils are obtained by steam distillation although other methods are used. Citrus fruits are cold pressed by mechanical means, and the oil from delicate flowers is obtained by a more sophisticated method that produces what is known as an absolute – not an essential oil. This special process is used because delicate flowers cannot withstand the high temperatures needed to extract essential oils by steam distillation.

After extraction, the resulting essential oil is a highly concentrated liquid that contains the aroma and therapeutic properties of the source from which it came.

Benefits of Essential Oils

Essential oils are a deeply intricate part of the plant and actually have a very similar makeup to our own cells.  Essential oils are beneficial to our bodies and move quickly into our bloodstream and cells to provide numerous health and wellness benefits for a number of different problems.

Detoxify The Body

Essential oils help move toxins out of our body while also increasing our oxygen intake we need to keep cells healthy.  They also extract toxins out of our skin as well as internal organs and tissues.

Aid Healing

Many essential oils contain anti-inflammatory, antifungal and antivirus properties which help support the natural healing process of the body and can be used in different ways on cuts, bites and muscle aches.

Emotional Wellbeing Support

Some essential oils help soothe our senses when we are stressed, while other give us energy when we are run down and to treat anxiety and depression and others to energise our soul.

Enrich Physical Health

Our cells absorb whatever essences the plant contains and this helps heal certain aspects of our physical health, from boosting our immunity and others to prevent diseases and to relieve symptoms from ailments.