Aroma is derived from the greek word for spice (scent) and "therapy" means treatment, so aroma therapy literally means curative treatment using scent. There are many essential oils, derived from the flowers, leaves, and other parts of plants, each with a different scent and with different beneficial effects. When combined with massage, the benefits are increased. The best way to find out about the benefits of aromatherapy massage is to give it a try. Read through the effects of different oils, smell a few samples, and start massaging.

The essence of life

Aromatic Plants and oils have been valued throughout history for their therapeutic properties. Many powers have been attributed to fragrant plants and their extracts, and they have been used in the pursuit of happiness and health in medicine, religion, magic, and cosmetics for centuries. In ancient Egypt, herbal oils were used to embalm the dead, and there are references to oils such as myrrh and frankincense in the Bible. In India, literature dating back to around 2000 BC lists and recommends around 700 different plants, and they are used to this day in some forms of traditional Indian systems of medicine.

Throughout history there are references to scents being used to improve or maintain good health. For example, incense was used to ward off evil spirits; herbs were strewn on floors to perfume the house and prevent disease; burning herbs and spices were used to fumigate streets and homes to fight infection; the Greeks are even said to have scented pigeons' wings so that when they flew around a room the perfume would be dispensed!

Healing powers

The term "aromatherapy" was coined by a French chemist, Gattefosse, in the 1920s. Several years earlier he had badly burned his hand while working in his laboratory. Absent-mindedly, he put his injured hand into the nearest liquid, a bowl of lavender oil. To his amazement, the pain diminished and the burn healed much faster than he expected, leaving no scar. Gattefosse was prompted to study the therapeutic effects of plant oils, and his work on the subject was published in 1936.

During World Wars I and II, an army surgeon named Jean Valnet used essential oils to treat battle wounds, burns, and psychiatric problems. In the 1960s, he published his first book, Aromatherapie, which became a classic. From the 1960s onward, doctors in France began to use essential oils along with conventional medicine. Other parts of the Western world were not so enlightened, and it is only very recently that aromatherapy has gained any degree of respect from the medical profession as a healing treatment. An Austrian biochemist, Marguerite Maury, was responsible for bringing aroma therapy to the UK, and she rekindled the ancient link between aromatherapy and massage.