Lavender is one of the most widely used and studied essential oils.
Ever since I rented my first apartment on my own back in 1993, and didn't have to share in decision-making or purchasing decisions about how to keep the space, I have been totally committed to an organic home environment using all-natural cleansers with essential oils and other pure ingredients, recycling (obviously) and composting my kitchen scraps.
Since then, my interest in creating a healthy life for myself and my family has only grown: I am continually taking part in learning opportunities to add to my own knowledge and to be able to share more of these ideas through my cooking classes, skin care classes and retreats.
One of these amazing opportunities is coming up this weekend – a two day seminar with Robert Tisserand, who is a well-known researcher, educator and practitioner of aromatherapy. I will be a little on the fringe this weekend, since the focus of the seminar will be directed at health-care professionals, intermediate students of aromatherapy and practitioners, but I am excited about applying what I'll learn into my own development of healthy living options.
Robert Tisserand has been at the forefront of aromatherapy since the early 1970's, when he wrote the first modern-day book on aromatherapy in English, and followed that with the quintessential book on safety for professionals on the use of essential oils in clinical applications, Essential Oil Safety. His career has been focused on research for practitioners, which stems from his early career as a practitioner himself, before it led him to found his own essential oil business and the Tisserand Institute where he began to focus on research and education.
Tisserand's workshop this weekend will be devoted to the use of essential oils in health care, specifically in clinics and hospitals which have complimentary therapy programs, to detail the specifics of how the oils work and the scope of their use in practice for palliative care and for supporting current care and intervention for healing patients.
The use of essential oils in hospitals and clinics is far more widely practiced in Britain, Germany and France, where physicians and nurses often include botanical therapies in their medical practice. Here in the US, there is growing interest in incorporating the use of essential oils in the clinical setting – and Tisserand is one of the leading educators bringing research and documentation to health care practitioners to encourage their safe use.
One of the areas of research that will be discussed at the seminar will be on the use of essential oils in palliative care – relaxing, soothing and comforting patients who are suffering from debilitating symptoms of serious illness. Because of the biologically active compounds in essential oils, research shows that they have behavioral, physiological and emotional effects on our system – and in the health care setting those benefits can be extremely effective therapy in palliative care for patients.
