The English Aromatherapist

The essential oil industry is booming, with a market value that’s predicted to exceed 27 billion US dollars by 2022.

 

Is this surging interest and awareness of essential oils a good thing? In general, yes. They’re now more widely available and accessible than ever before (read more: Why Are Essential Oils Everywhere?) I strongly believe in educating people about holistic options where appropriate. We need to move away from the idea that every symptom requires a pill.

 

It could be argued that the two big players of the MLM world – doTerra and Young Living – have massively raised the profile of essential oils among the general public. But popularity is a double-edged sword. So many people have now signed up to be “Distributors” (Young Living) and “Wellness Advocates” (doTerra) that the internet is drowning in misinformation about essential oils.

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What’s the deal with “essential oil vaping”? If you’re a social media user, it’s likely that you’ve come across adverts for these portable aromatherapy vapourizers – yes, I’m talking mainly about MONQ, although there are others.

 

Barely a day goes by without seeing questions about this on Facebook. MONQ adverts are all over the place and – on the face of it – essential oil vaping seems to be the hottest thing in aromatherapy right now.

 

So, what’s it all about? And is it really safe? Quite a few readers have emailed me about this, so I thought I would investigate.

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If you were an essential oil, which one would you be?

 

I’ve always been drawn towards Geranium (Pelargonium graveolens). There’s something about its scent that I find amazingly calming and comforting – it’s powerful, without being overpowering. It’s sweet, without being sickly. To me, it’s the scent of nature: floral and green, with earthy undertones.

 

How do we perceive smells, and why do they elicit such strong reactions from us? Why do we like some smells more than others? How can one person love a scent that another person finds repulsive?

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Since I launched my Essential Oil Blending app last year, several users have emailed me to ask: “Why doesn’t the app tell me how many drops of each oil to use?”

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I’ve been asked quite a few times about the difference between Ravensara and Ravintsara. There is, understandably, some confusion about these similarly-named oils – not helped by the fact that some websites and books even confuse the names!

 

This has been written about before, and I certainly do not intend to tread on anyone’s toes – but I thought it was worth mentioning again, simply due to the amount of misinformation that I have encountered during my research.

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I recently talked about Why Essential Oils are Not a Magic Wand. In the video, I explained that essential oils alone cannot be used as a quick-fix to solve all your problems in life.

 

Holistic therapy involves taking a wider perspective. More than just focusing on specific symptoms, it’s about treating the person as a whole – mind, body and spirit. Quite frankly, using a few drops of a “weight-loss blend” is unlikely to have much impact if you’re not also addressing your own diet and exercise habits.

 

So, it’s important to see the big picture – BUT… aromatherapy does not necessarily require an “all or nothing” approach.

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