Abundance    at P.H.I.

Have you ever noticed that when the leaf of a plant is torn it releases a fluid subtance?  That liquid is the essential oil or blood of the plant.  Essential oils are found in shrubs, flowers, trees, roots, bushes and seeds and are distilled or pressed to release the oils for therapeutic use, therefore they are extremely concetrated. 

The oil  performs the same function in a plant that blood does in the human body, delivering oxygen, nutrients, hormones, and minerals. Essential Oils also function as the immune defense system of the plant to assit wounds in healing.  Amazingly enough, essential oils are formed in the plant from the same five elements that make up the human body; sulfer, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon and hydrogen.  This allows the essential oil to be a perfect compliment to the human body and have no negative side effects, so long as they are organic and 100% pure therapeutic grade. 

Essential oils can provide the necessary amino acids that are the building blocks of proteins the body needs to mend wounds, support the cirulatory system, assist with proper hormone function. 

Essential oils are generally extracted by distillation. Other processes include expression, or solvent extraction. They are used in perfumes, cosmetics and bath products[1], for flavoring food and drink, and for scenting incense and household cleaning products.  These industries do not require the strict growing and distilling proceedures needed for medicinial application and thereby have created an industry of producing  lesser quality oils that are much less expensive and do not have full healing properties. 

Various essential oils have been used medicinally at different periods in history. Medical applications proposed by those who sell medicinal oils range from skin treatments to remedies for cancer, and are often based on historical use of these oils for these purposes. Such claims are now subject to regulation in most countries, and have grown correspondingly more vague, to stay within these regulations.

Interest in essential oils has revived in recent decades, with the popularity of aromatherapy, a branch of alternative medicine which claims that the specific aromas carried by essential oils have curative effects. Oils are volatilized or diluted in a carrier oil and used in massage, or burned as incense, for example.

2 Responses to “What is an Essential Oil?”

1. Help for Autistic Children | Abundance        at  P.H.I. Says:
   March 26th, 2008 at 2:44 pm

   […] Two children find help from Autism with Essential Oils […]

2. Don’t be depressed! | Abundance        at  P.H.I. Says:
   March 26th, 2008 at 2:46 pm

   […] depressed isn’t fun but there is a fun and fragrant solution!  When essential oils came into my life I was rather depressed.  It seemed all I could see about my life was negative.  […]

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