Frangrances, herbs & spices and aromatics have been used historically by humans for thousands of years. As far back as in ancient Egypt,  Cleopatra was using herbs and aromatics for healing the sick through to using herbs as fragrances. The distillation of plant oils into essential oils has a more recent history. Using essential oils in the home and office has become very popular over recent decades. 

Here is a brief explanation of how essential oils work therapeutically:

Aromatherapy enters the body by 2 systems: the skin and the olfactory system (our sense called smell). When essential oils are added to a base oil and applied to the skin the oils penetrate our skin and enter our blood stream. These essential oils have  therapeutic actions within the body. 

The aroma from essential oils we can also smell. Blends of essential oils will have certain effects on how we feel. Certain blends can lift ones mood and other blends have a more calming effect on our emotions. There are a wide variety of blends available that will influence your mood.

 When applied to certain points of the body the essential oils are absorbed easily. Good points to apply essential oils to externally benefit from the aroma as well as the absorption into the body, are:

- The inside of the wrists

- under the chin at the points of the tonsils and at the bottom of the neck between the clavicle

- the back of the neck

- inside of the elbows

- the temples (avoid contact with the eyes)