AROMATHERAPY is a treatment which uses essential oils – specific plant extracts – to improve physical and emotional well-being. Each essential oil has distinct therapeutic properties, for example one oil may have antimicrobial action while another may be analgesic.
In this country aromatherapy is generally used in combination with massage. Massage tones and eases tight muscles, and improves the circulation of blood and lymph, so aiding toxin elimination. And of course it feels wonderful!
This ‘feelgood factor’ is one of the reasons massage can be so powerful in alleviating stress – and the carefully chosen essential oils can deal more specifically with some of the physical and emotional manifestations of stress within the individual.
The aromatherapy treatment lasts an hour and a half, with the massage itself taking around an hour, and may incorporate elements and techniques of the other treatments I offer, as needed.
Through my study of Craniosacral work I bring a still and listening approach into massage work, preferring to sense into the tissues, allowing them to release tightness at their own pace, rather than forcing the knots to yield through pressure and manipulation. Although I am happy to do ‘deep tissue work’ if that is what you want and need, I will always prefer to work in a slower and more reflective way as it allows the practitioner to get deeper in without causing muscle pain. This softer approach works particularly well where tension is not caused so much by a sudden injury or overuse of a particular muscle, but has built up over time and may be a reflection of day to day stresses, whether physical or emotional.
Another useful approach using essential oils involves using them outside massage, administered for clients to use at home, again, individually blended, and as instructed by the therapist. This approach is sometimes called aromatology, to distinguish it from a treatment which primarily focuses on massage and application of the oils to the skin highly diluted in a vegetable carrier oil