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Today, I'll introduce the basics of essential oils.
What Are Essential Oils?
Essential oils have been used for thousands of years for many applications. Today, there are well over 300 essential oils in use by professional practitioners, each with its own centuries confirmed practical application. But don’t worry! You certainly don’t need 300 essential oils in your medicine cabinet to reap their benefits.
A nice collection of 10-20 (I recommend the premium kit with Young Living, which includes 10 popular everyday oils) will do the trick for most things, though I must admit, I’ve got a hefty collection myself.
Sources of Essential Oils
Essential oils are the highly concentrated, aromatic essences of trees, shrubs, herbs, grasses, resins and flowers. They can be clear, amber, yellow, green, and even dark blue in color and range from very runny to almost solid in consistency. Each essential oil comes from specific parts of the plant they come from too.
For example:
* Myrrh and Frankincense come from the tree resin
* Lemon, Lime, Orange, Grapefruit and Bergamot come from the peel of the fruit
* Cinnamon comes from the bark of the tree
* Eucalyptus comes from the tree’s leaves
* Rose comes from the petals
* Pine comes from the needles and twigs
On average, each essential oil contains over 100 medicinal components with more being discovered every day. These components also change even amongst the same species of plant.
Take lavender for example, you can grow the same exact type of lavender plant in France and one in your garden and they will have similar but different properties. This is because the soil, climate, altitude, and many other factors will be different, therefore producing a very different oil with its own unique properties and constituents.
Be sure to choose essential oils that are sourced from reputable farms without the use of GMOs, pesticides and other harmful chemicals. Find out where to buy quality essential oils HERE.
How Essential Oils Are Made
Essential oils are extracted by many different methods like solvent extraction, cold pressing, maceration, and enfleurage, but most commonly by steam distillation. This is why it's important to know how your essential oils are made.
Some low-quality essential oils can be made from plants that were treated with pesticides and extracted with chemical solvents. These are NOT the oils you want to use for you or your family.
Instead opt for pure, therapeutic-grade essential oils made from high-quality plants and herbs that don't contain GMOs, pesticides or other harmful chemicals.
Making an essential oil takes a lot of work and in some cases, tons of plant material to make even just a tiny amount of essential oil.
For instance, to make just 1 oz of rose essential oil, you would need 60,000 roses. Crazy right? It’s no wonder high-quality essential oils may seem expensive. Have you ever thought of purchasing 60,000 roses? You literally need truckloads of plant material, have to race with the rising of the sun, or have to wait years before they are ready.
But when you consider you can replace conventional medications, first-aid creams and other household products with essential oils, it usually comes out to be cheaper. It's definitely more natural which is good news for your body.
Want to Learn More?
Read the Beginner's Guide to Essential Oils to learn more about how to get started with essential oils.
Find out where to buy therapeutic-grade essential oils here. And stay tuned... Tomorrow you'll learn more about why you should use essential oils.
Got a Question?
Contact me at robin@thankyourbody.com.
You can also join the Thank Your Body with Essential Oils Facebook group for a community of essential oil enthusiasts, just like you.
