Aromatherapy

by Ethan Cole
 
 

If you have ever worked in an abattoir, you will perfectly understand what I mean by saying that smells can make a difference to your work and your life. In fact, there is a branch of science dealing with how smells and strong scents impact our moods. This is the science that has come to be known as aromatherapy. Aromatherapy is not new at all. In fact you would be surprised to learn that this is an art that was practices as far back as a few thousand years ago. Frescoes found in ancient Egypt relate how the people of those times used Aromatherapy to calm their senses or excite them as the case may be.

Even the medieval ages were not free of the specter of Aromatherapy. It is reputed that the Crusaders used a combination of frank incense and myrrh to keep their battle weary troops in an excited state of constant preparedness. This is an aromatherapy tactic that even the great Napolean is reputed to have used to keep his soldiers ever ready. While Europe is not especially known for Aromatherapy, there have been records of individual princes and generals who have employed aromatherapy in order to win battles or to away their enemies.
 

A recent program on Animal planet brought aromatherapy to the fore once again. In this program, the producers listed out the top 10 animals with the most vile scent. I never even had a clue that there were so many of them in the first place that smelled so bad. But they would have given any aromatherapy practitioner a run for his or her money. The skunk topped the list of course, but then, what do you expect! Anyways, to come back to aromatherapy, bad smells are a part and parcel of the art too! Just as the concept of yin and yang equates balance in nature, both good and bad scents need to be studied in order to determine the one that has the most balanced impact on an individual. And aromatherapy does just this.

Today, aromatherapy has become the life blood of the stressed out and battered population. While the material comforts in all our lives have increased, so have the stress and worries associated with maintaining a balanced lifestyle. And people just don’t have the time (and in some cases, the inclination) to indulge in the old fashioned methods of relaxation. So the quick fix solution is – you guessed it right – aromatherapy.