Aromatherapy combines beautifully with massage. Easy to add to any oil or cream, essential oils contribute healing properties of their own to enhance massage benefits and prolong positive results.They also provide a wonderful dimension of aroma to the bodywork experience, encouraging deep breathing and setting the stage for relaxation.
What Makes Essential Oils So Special?
Not every plant produces essential oil. A small percentage of medicinal herbs contain these highly concentrated aromatic extracts. Within that small percentage, leaves, flowers, grasses, needles and twigs, citrus rind, wood and roots are among the spectrum of plant parts which can house essential oil.
Steam distillation is the most common method of extraction and once harvested, the essential oil is approximately 70 times stronger than the original herb. The potency and variety of natural chemical components within essential oils can pack a powerful healing punch on a number of different levels.
What Can Essential Oils Do?
Essential oils can be pain-relieving, anti-depressant, anti-spasmodic, sedative, calming, uplifting, stimulating and more. And miraculously, each essential oil contains many therapeutic properties. So, using just one oil can produce a spectrum of healing results.
When used in combination with therapeutic massage, essential oils can be chosen to enhance bodywork benefits. For instance, if the oil contains a high level of analgesic compounds, once absorbed into the skin through the massage lubricant, the pain relieving potential of the essential oil goes to work, increasing massage benefits. Based on which essential oils are used, and the healing properties each contains, aromatherapy massage can be tailored in this way to achieve specific therapeutic outcomes.
Combining Essential Oils With Massage
Less is more where essential oil use is concerned. Each drop of these potent extracts contains immense healing potential. Just a few drops added to carrier oil or cream and applied topically can produce definitive therapeutic results. This process of dissolving essential oil into massage lubricants is called dilution and provides a safe way to deliver the essential oils to the skin during the session. Carrier oils and creams also contain healing properties which nourish and hydrate the skin, while the essential oils add their own healing boost.
