A Little about the History of Aromatherapy
If you believe that the use of aromatherapy is a modern concept, you are quite mistaken. The fact that the term for using essential oils for beneficial therapeutic effects has only been coined in the twentieth century does not mean that the actual use of these oils does not go way back in time. Many of our ancestors were already convinced that using the extracts of various plants had a positive impact on our health.
The first to use aromatherapy are the Chinese
When looking at the ancient history of the use of essential oils, we can conclude that is was the Chinese who were the first starting to use aromatic plants. They were very skillful when it came to the use of all different essential oils in order to heal their bodies. Not only did they use the oils, they also believed that the burning of incense brought on many therapeutic effects. The smell creating an atmosphere much more harmonious thus in turn creating a complete relaxation of body and mind.
When continuing to look at history, we are told that the Egyptians were the ones that invented different techniques allowing for the extraction of essential oils through distillation, opening up the path to more diverse uses of aromatherapy. Modern techniques now allow for more precise and specific extraction of essential oils.
Even nowadays when some ancient Egyptian tombs have been opened, there were still faint scents of a diversity of herbs. These faint traces just show that the Egyptian indeed were among the first populations to use aromatherapy. Investigating further it has even been proved that they combined different essential oils together with infused oils making all sorts of combinations both for medicinal purposes as well as cosmetic ones. This use of aromatherapy dates back as many as well over five thousand years.
Another culture using aromatherapy in a very early stage are the Greeks, who were using essential oils for the preservation of foods as well as for medicinal purposes. They would use special open spaces when constructing their towns dedicated to the burning of herbs, ensuring that the air circulation in their towns remained germ free.
Around the period 500 B.C. the Greek learnt a lot about aromatherapy from the Egyptians. Medicinal schools were set up on the Island of Cos and one of the biggest influences in the history of aromatherapy is was trained in these schools, Hippocrates.
History will tell us how the Persians brought on improvements to the distillation techniques. Especially a Persian physician by the name of Avicenna was of great influence here. After that the use of aromatic herbs was proven to be very important to disinfect the air during the Bubonic Plague. Another important turn for aromatherapy was taken when starting to be linked to all sorts of health benefits and even in our modern times, the link still stands.
Nowadays though essential oils are mostly being used in the beauty industry, where many oils are base ingredients in all sorts of lotions and crèmes. The health industry hasn’t really picked up on the many beneficial uses of aromatherapy, but as you might know yourself already, the oils can be used for many different diseases and ailments.
