Energy: Basic Overview of the Chakra Centres

Working with Chakras Many alternative therapies include an understanding of the Chakras, particularly crystal healing and reiki. As a reflexologist and an aromatherapist, I work directly on balancing the Chakras by making essential oils and focusing on particular subtle energy pathways or ‘meridians’. Meditations and visualisations using colour are important tools in Chakra balancing and … Read moreEnergy: Basic Overview of the Chakra Centres

Energy: Understanding the Chakra System

The Chakras are energy centres in your ‘subtle body’, that is the energy structures of the self that interact with and extend beyond the physical body. The word Chakra is Sanskrit and means ‘wheel’ or ‘disc’, referring to the idea that our Chakras each spin at a particular frequency. The Different Chakras There are many … Read moreEnergy: Understanding the Chakra System

Aromatherapy: Understanding Fragrance Notes

Aromatherapy is all about smell and with practice you will learn to recognise a fragrance even if you can’t pick which plant the oil is from. For instance, you will be able to tell a citrus aroma from a floral one, a woody fragrance from a minty one. The smell is determined by the chemicals … Read moreAromatherapy: Understanding Fragrance Notes

Aromatherapy: Essential Oils to Use with Caution

Essential oils are beneficial to your health, but as concentrated plant essences they should be handled with care and used in small doses. If you have sensitive skin, check the contraindications before using oils, especially on children and people with skin conditions such as eczema. Allergy sufferers are generally more prone to intolerance, so do … Read moreAromatherapy: Essential Oils to Use with Caution

Aromatherapy: Understanding Quality Control

In the food industry the debate for and against organic products continues unabated as consumer concerns about the quality of the food that they eat continues to rise. This concern is spreading to other industries such as the cosmetics one, under which essential oils are licensed. The question that is being raised is whether you … Read moreAromatherapy: Understanding Quality Control

Aromatherapy: Understanding How Oils Work

If essential oils are only absorbed in trace amounts can they really be said to work? The answer can only be found in the results. In the UK there are two ways to administer essential oils (inhalation and dermal), but do these methods have any therapeutic effects on internal body systems? Aromatherapy is a holistic … Read moreAromatherapy: Understanding How Oils Work

Aromatherapy: Methods of Extracting Oils

Extracting essential oils from plants is a delicate process and many techniques are used to treat different plants according to their type and fragrance. Two methods involve using steam. Distillation with steam allows oils that would otherwise be broken down by plant enzymes to be distilled and impurities removed. Percolation uses steam from above to … Read moreAromatherapy: Methods of Extracting Oils