Essential Oils

: Mountain Flowers Steve Selwood

FLOWER POWER MAKES A STATEMENT

For centuries people have used Aromatherapy: the use of plant oils for medical purposes (e.g. antiseptics) for treatments and for well-being.

Today, Aromatherapy as an art or basis for treatment is well-known – but what exactly is it?

Wikipedia says Aromatherapy is a generic term that refers to any of the various traditions that make use of essential oils, sometimes in combination with other alternative medical practices and spiritual beliefs. Popular use of these products include massaging products, medicine, or any topical application that incorporates the use of true, pure essential oils in their products.

Experts say that each different plant oil can have an effect on us. Some of the best known are

chamomile, lavender, geranium – used for calming

ylang ylang, clary sage, rose, neroli – to give you a lift

rosemary for energizing and also cleansing

eucalyptus, pine, tea tree - for decongesting

So far the jury is out over many claimed medical benefits, but – when used in conjuction with massage – the
combination gives a sense of well-being, which has to be good for us!

Incidentally Essential oils differ in chemical composition from other herbal products because the distillation process only recovers the lighter phytomolecules. For this reason essential oils are rich in monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes, as well as other VOC substances (esters, aromatic compounds, non-terpene hydrocarbons, some organic sulfides etc.).

France has some wonderful Aromatherapy practictioners; Many of the flowers and plants used grow here either wild or cultivated, and in places such as Provence you see field upon field of purple lavender stretching up the hillsides in season.

But if you want to learn about the art of Aromatherapy, go to the Val Cenis – the valley under the foot of Mont Blanc. Here, in the little village of Lanslebourg, lives Eliane Zimmermann.

When we went it was early summer and the village of Lanslebourg was nestled into alpine meadows, brimming over with flowers. Eliane practices Aromatherapy and Reiki here, and also teaches people who come to her to learn about essential oils and their uses. In winter skiers often take an afternoon off to learn about arometherapy, and incidentally how to treat aches and pains using natural remedies.

She speaks in French, but people come to her with interpreters to learn what she has to say about using the oils to counter fatigue, etc. An afternoon spent with her is fascinating, as she explains some of the hundreds of oils she has and uses. I was particularly interested when she came to Vervain, as that is used to calm nerves – essential in today’s stressed out environments!

When we got on to cloves, I mentioned an old wives remedy we used as children to relieve toothache. Yes, she agreed, oil of cloves was used extensively for this, and still is in modern dentistry, and it is also an antiseptic.

Eliane sells these oils, and has an enormous stock which she mixes up when people come to her with their problems. Herpes are particularly nasty, and she makes up a solution which my friend uses for all her family -and says it works! There are also solutions for scars, and just about any of todays ills you can think of – there is an aromatherapy oil or mixture that will help. www.natureliane.com 00 33 (0)4 79 56 89 13.

In Provence there is the Musée des Arômes et du Parfum de Graveson en Provence. Here, the doyenne is Nelly Grosjean, who has devoted her life to producing perfumes, and made a fascinating collection of commercial perfume bottles. It is interesting to see that the classic Chanel bottle is still the same, over 75 years after it was first developed.

Here, you will find a ‘perfume organ’, and wooden cabinet the size of, and looking very much like an open organ, where perfumers used to keep their prescious essences.
ancien chemin d’Arles, 13 690, Graveson-en-Provence www.museedesaromes.com
+33 4 90 95 81 72
Open every day 10h à 12h et de 14h à 18h. July and August 10 heures à 19 heures