My first introduction to essential oils was through aromatherapy. Essential oils have very, very small molecules. There are approximately 40 million trillion molecules in one drop of essential oil (that’s approximately 40,000 molecules for each cell in the average human body). They are so small, that they enter your body through the skin and go EVERYWHERE in your body.
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Vitamin C is a large molecule and cannot go everywhere in your body, so it does its job while passing through (“Excuse me, passing through!”).
Another very large molecule is insulin. It is so large that it has problems getting into our cells and when it can no longer get into our cells, we have this thing called Type II Diabetes, or Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes.
As I said, my first introduction to essential oils was through aromatherapy. This occurred when I trained to be a Lamaze Coach summed up here: Birth Day. (I.Link) I had been doing massage therapy for nearly 15 years and I’d always used “scents” with my massages, but I chose them almost at random. Well, I had thought I was choosing them randomly, because it turns out I had been choosing them intuitively.
The expectant mother and I had learned from our early research that certain “scents” induced labor contractions. We had also learned from some studies in England that the use of aromatherapy resulted in fewer drugs being used during the birthing process.
The small molecules are what produces the swift uptake of the wonderful aromas of essential oils. Open a bottle and immediately you can smell them. If not, it is not a very good grade of essential oil. The molecules of a good, quality essential oil will hop right out of the bottle and up your nose.
Except for our sense of smell, all our other senses register first in the rational portion of the brain — where sounds are deciphered, images clarified, and touch or taste distinguished, then, and only after everything has been dissected, inspected, and verified do we get an emotional response (like watching a sad movie).
However, with this wonderful sense of smell we have, the nerves are directly connected to the place in the brain where science tells us our emotions are stored. So aromatherapy is one way of stimulating our emotions directly and then later figuring out, rationally, that it’s peppermint, eucalyptus, rose, or some other.
We also learned something amazing: Oils Heal.
Heck, we’ve already seen it in Oregano Oil (in an old newsletter); how it is antibiotic and antiviral and contains antioxidants and is an anti-inflammatory, containing four potent COX-2 inhibitors.
The quality of essential oils
Not all essential oils are the same. A randomized, double-blind trial of essential oils from two different species of lavender, topically applied on post-cardiotomy patients revealed that the quality of the oil is an important factor in determining the efficacy of its use.
28 patients were randomly selected to receive aromatherapy massage with one of the two essential oils on two consecutive days, and their emotional and behavioral stress levels were evaluated both before and after the treatment.
The results revealed that the therapeutic effects of the two lavenders were clearly different; one was almost twice as effective as the other, thereby disproving the hypothesis that aromatherapy, using topical application of essential oils, is effective purely because of touch, massage or placebo.
Buckle J. Nurs Times (ENGLAND) May 19-25 1993, 89 (20) p32-5
Essential Oils have energy. Rose’s energy has been measured at 320 MHz (the highest). Lavender is 118 MHz and peppermint is 78 MHz.
The human body has been measured at 62 – 68 MHz (a healthy human body) while if you have a cold your energy can drop to 58 MHz.
Now here’s something of interest: Negative thoughts lower the frequency of Essential Oils by 12 MHz while positive thoughts raised their frequencies 10 MHz. Prayer raises frequency levels by 15 MHz. [Healing Oils of the Bible, by David Stewart PhD] So, you can see why anointing took place with prayer in Biblical times.
Now for something you can actually use tomorrow: Holding a cup of coffee lowers your body’s frequency 8 MHz; drinking that cup lowers your body’s frequency by 14 MHz. It can take three days to recover and bring the body’s frequency back up to 62 – 68 MHz. If you drink coffee daily, your body’s frequency will constantly be in the lower ranges (the range of illnesses), unless you do something to raise these levels. Prayer can do it. Qigong can do it. Some of the energetic medical devices can help also (in previous newsletters). But, the simplest and easiest way to get your energy levels back into the Healthy Range is by sniffing a quality.
For more on energy levels in Essential Oils, you can order the Reference Guide to Essential Oils published by Abundant Health.)
Why are herbs so healing? Basil’s frequency is 52 MHz and Oregano is still higher. Eating foods with energy raises our energy. Eating dead foods lowers our energy.
Think back to our article on nutrition and cancer. (I.Link) Seventy percent of the cancer diet is Live Organic Foods. Why? They are alive. They have energy. Anything that raises up your frequency will help to fight illness.
Next, we’ve already mentioned Oregano oil and its properties. Many oils are antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant. The antioxidant value in some essential oils alone is absolutely astounding. Dr Stewart writes: “An ounce of Clove Oil has the antioxidant capacity of 450 lbs of carrots, 120 quarts of blueberries, or 48 gallons of beet juice.”
But they also do so much more that we cannot stop here.
A Bit of Chemistry
Nope, not gonna make you balance any equations and we’re not gonna talk over your head. Essential oils contain hundreds of constituents (chemicals). Although each oil has different constituents, what separates them from other oils are their terpenes; these make our essential oils unique and gives them even more healing properties. Terpenes are also, as we mentioned earlier, very small.
There are three types of terpenes found in essential oils (one oil can contain all three types).
They are: Phenylpropanoids (also called Hemiterpenes), Monoterpenes, and Sesquiterpenes.
Phenylpropanoids: Create conditions unfriendly to bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Most importantly, they clean the receptor sites on our cells so that our cells can communicate (our hormonal system depends entirely upon clear communication throughout the body). Oregano oil contains 60% phenylpropanoids.
Monoterpenes: Found in Peppermint and Frankincense (and others), offer so many healing properties here that it would drive us nutz to list them, but of their most important service to your body, monoterpenes can reprogram miswritten information in your DNA. For you with cancer, this is how the disease starts. One cell with damaged DNA produces another and onward. However, it is the group known as the sesquiterpenes that really give cancer a boot to the groin.
Sesquiterpenes: Among my favorites containing this terpene are Patchouli and Myrrh (although these are found in peppers and ginger and aloes too). These molecules deliver oxygen to your tissues. Cancer, viruses, and bacteria have a hard time existing in an oxygenated environment. Whereas monoterpenes reprogrammed the misinformation in your DNA, sesquiterpenes erase the misinformation.
So to sum up the properties of quality oils:
- They create an environment detrimental to pathogens (viruses, bacteria, etc).
- They create an environment of clear communication between all cells and all systems.
- They create an environment detrimental to cancer growth.
- They erase (deprogram) misinformation in our cells.
- They reprogram misinformation in our cells so they function and replicate properly.
And finally, there are the emotional and spiritual sides to the healing properties of these oils that only you can experience for yourself.
Where To Get Quality Oils
For one thing, it’s hard to trust anyone nowadays. Essential Oils are expensive. Some rip off chemical company can make an oil that the best of chemists could not distinguish from a qualit oil and make a lot of money.
For example, it takes between 3 and 5 thousand pounds of rose petals to produce one pound of rose oil. This makes rose oil one of the most expensive in the world. Fake rose oil will make someone rich.
I’ve done my homework and we will list the best places to find essential oils. I will list them in the order of my preference:
Simply the Best – They carry only organic, quality oils, and right now just three: Ylang Ylang, Patchouli, and Frankincense. The shipping is really cheap, and if you order something else from the company (that doesn’t have shipping built into the price) shipping is free.
Mountain Rose Herbs – they are right up front in telling you if the essential oil is from an organic source, wild crafted, or conventionally grown. Best prices because they are not a multi-level-marketing company.
Starwest Botanicals – again, right up front about whether their oils are organic or not; they do have their oils tested. Very good prices.
Original Swiss Aromatics – almost as easy as the listing above to learn if the essential oil is organic or not. You apparently have to create an account to purchase, but they are not an MLM either.
Green Organics International – they carry many products and yes, they’re an MLM that you can sign up for. They have their own line of essential oils.
The Herbs Place – sells Natures Sunshine essential oils and blends. You do not have to join to purchase, but last we checked members got a little discount.
doTerra – multilevel marketing product, high quality.
Rocky Mountain Oils – high quality essential oils.
Published Research
There are 6,660 scientific & medical abstracts/citations pages at the NCBI databases, and 8,445 full-text journal articles at PubMed Central. [Ref]
Here are just a few studies we discovered in our search:
A 1995 double-blind, placebo-controlled study determined that essential oil of peppermint rubbed into the forehead may be an effective tension-headache treatment capable of relaxing muscles and relieving pain.
A number of recent studies have found that enteric-coated peppermint oil formulations can reduce the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, including abdominal pain and distension, stomach rumbling, and flatulence. A 1998 meta-analysis study identified five double-blind, randomized, controlled trials that collectively indicate that peppermint oil could be effective at relieving the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, although the researchers noted that further studies were needed.
A British study found that peppermint oil is a potentially useful therapy for preventing the nausea that often occurs after a surgical operation.
For more research on Essential Oils, you might wish to visit the Atlantic Institute of Aromatherapy.
They also have an interesting information for cancer patients undergoing radiation and how essential oils can be used to help you counter the side effects.
Post Script
We have received email asking why we’re removed Young Living essential oils from our list. It is quite simple. I have collected and used Young Living oils for two decades. We have recently learned that things have changed at Young Living and it was made very apparent that the changes were not favorable by simply sniffing one of their “new” oils and then sniffing that same oil that they had produced in the past. The difference was night and day. What they are producing now we cannot recommend in good conscience. The quality just is not there.
Also
Essential Oils — Their Properties