Therapy

A close-up of a carved wooden Buddha statue.

How Can Essential Oil Therapy Help Me?

Relieves Stress and Anxiety Accumulated From the Assault of Daily Life and Work
Works as a Catalyst to Move Out of a Negative Pattern Onto a Healthier, Happier Path
Identifies and Releases Obstacles That Prevent You From Moving Forward
Releases Trauma From Abuse or Pain of Loss
Provides Clarity to Make Meaningful Choices
Calms Emotional Storms in Children and Adolescents
“Have Never Been Well Since...” an Incident Happened in Your Life
Alleviates Nightmares
Is an Instrument for Deepening Self-Awareness

A line drawing illustration of a person's head with a bottle of essential oil next to it.

How Does Essential Oil Therapy Work?

Essential oils affect the mind, emotions, and body through your sense of smell. The aroma bypasses the ‘reasoning’ part of your brain and links directly into your limbic system, the part of the brain that is “the mysterious bubbling cauldron in which all your pleasures, pains, and memories are brewed—your ‘emotional brain.’” Events in the limbic system depend on personal things like your past life, your memories, and what has influenced you.” * Like the trunk in the attic, it holds treasures from the past—both positive and negative memories.

The active compounds of the essential oils enter the bloodstream through the lungs and impact body chemistry; the limbic system is closely linked with the hypothalamus, which regulates heart rate, blood pressure, and circadian rhythms (the body’s daily biological patterns and wake/sleep cycles). For example, an aroma may calm your nerves, lower blood pressure, and allow you to relax so you can fall asleep, or another aroma may stimulate you like a catapult into taking action.

*Big Head! A Book About Your Brain and Your Head - by Dr. Pete Rowan

Essential Oil Therapy is a Tool for Transformation

Blocked emotions and memories hold information, beliefs, and experiences that shape your life and color your worldview. Accessing this information through essential oil therapy creates an opening for insight and inspiration to percolate into your consciousness.

Whenever you engage in a thought, you give power to it - you charge it with energy. Emotionally charged patterns of thought can clutter your mind and get stuck on a track of negative thinking, anxiety, or fear. Essential oil therapy helps to break the charge of these persistent patterns, creating a window of opportunity for you to make healthier choices, provided you are willing.

This therapy is deeply introspective, interactive, and intuitive, relying on your will and your therapist’s insight. Like any therapy, it requires your engagement and commitment. It gives you an opportunity to observe yourself, find patterns, and bring them to light. Finding meaning in those patterns requires your participation. Essential oil therapy is not healing that is done to you, but healing that you do. It is work, but it is shared work, and its reward is richer the more you put into it.

The Process

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Counseling: The Art of Listening

One Person Commented

The various points that were murky for me are now clear. That says a lot because this journey has been going through many layers, facets, and stages for a number of years. Your insights and perceptions were like a laser, resulting in the many pieces finally falling into place.

The session begins with a conversation about what is going on in your life: personal history, medical conditions, and any issues you may be dealing with, including sleep patterns, dreams, and persistent thoughts. Special attention is placed on challenges and unresolved issues in your life. I listen deeply to your story and ask questions to bring key elements to light that become the focus of your therapy.

Preparing Your Essential Oil Therapy Package

Your formula is developed into the method that is most appropriate for you, such as a bath, application on the body, or inhalation. All methods of the therapy work well in conjunction with psychotherapy as a way to stimulate deeply held memories and emotions. At the end of the session, you have an understanding of the focus of your attention in order to open to new ways of seeing and being.

Your Therapy Package Includes

A personal blend of essential oils
If prescribed, a healing stone or gem elixir
If prescribed, a phrase or symbol to contemplate.
Essential oil definitions that are specific to your formula
Step-by-step instructions on how to use your formula.

Home Application

There is no service performed on site: each blend is created as a take-away therapy. You follow detailed instructions included in your package. The essential oil definitions are intended to illuminate your process, directing your attention to the issues addressed in your therapy. This process requires some introspection, as insights unfold with your personal timing.

The Importance of an Anchor

Essential oil therapy is the anchor for the counseling session. The combination of the counseling session and essential oil blend creates a window of opportunity; your personal blend recruits your limbic system to help you reframe your story so you can make healthier choices. It can act as a catalyst to help you gain a new perspective and make changes in your life.

Follow Up

A few days after your therapy, we discuss your reaction and insights from your experience. Timing for additional therapies is discussed according to your need. It is beneficial to continue additional therapies to support you as you make changes in your life. The more therapies you do, the more you gain from the experience.

Essential Oils

Essential oils are derived from complex liquids found in plants that infuse the air with distinctive aromas. They can be found in seeds, bark, leaves, stems, roots, flowers, fruit, and resin. These complex liquids play a role in a plant’s metabolism and act as communication signals between other plants and insects. They attract pollinators, discourage predators, inhibit the growth of harmful fungus, and defend against harmful microorganisms. Their beneficent properties in plants are mirrored in their effect on humans. Essential oils are proven to have numerous healing properties, some of which are bactericidal, antiseptic, fungicidal, and anti-inflammatory. Because of their volatile nature, they evaporate quickly and can easily be absorbed in human tissue. In addition to the healing effect on our body, essential oils evoke a therapeutic effect on our thoughts, emotions, and subconscious.

Extracting the active compounds requires the process of distillation or expression. The most commonly used is steam distillation, in which steam is sent through the plant material in a still. Volatile oils from the plant accumulate in the steam, cool and condense, and are collected in a container along with the hydrosol. The hydrosol is a result of the condensation process. The essential oil is then separated from the hydrosol.

Climate, cultivation, soil condition, time and method of harvesting, along with the art of the distillation process, play a role in the quality of essential oils produced. It is important to note that large quantities of plant material are required for the extraction process, making essential oils quite costly. For example, approximately five tons of roses are required to obtain one kg (24.5 lbs) of rose essential oil. About thirty pounds of lavender flowers produces one 15 ml bottle of lavender oil, and forty-five lemons make one 15 ml bottle of lemon oil.

About Me

My interest in the plant kingdom began in childhood with a passion for plant science projects and a menagerie of houseplants. My mother’s love of gardening influenced me while I was growing up and has been an inspiration to me throughout the years. My devotion to plants at a young age ultimately evolved into my healing practice today.

My work in essential oil therapy began in 1997 when I left a corporate career to pursue a personal interest in the healing properties of plants. What began as formulas created for family and friends soon escalated to a full study of the discipline. I was interested in the healing effects of essential oils on a deep level and incorporated an intuitive process to create the formulas. Milli Austin’s intuitive approach to essential oil therapy inspired me to study with her and earn a certificate in essential oil therapy in 1998. Having a desire to expand my knowledge of the plant kingdom and its relationship to humanity, I completed a certificate course in ethnobotany at the New York Botanical Garden in 2003. Since then, I have studied horticultural therapy at the New York Botanical Garden to further explore the therapeutic effect of nature on human illness.

As a student of Jungian psychology for over fifteen years, my mission has been to uncover years of conditioning to find the true expression of the soul. In my experience, essential oil therapy is a beneficent tool, providing a catalyst for clearing old patterns and accelerating personal growth. My intention is to serve truth in this work and, in doing so, bring light to consciousness.

SHARON SLOWIK

Liquid Amber Founder and Practitioner