Lavender Essential Oil & Aromatherapy

Seeking a versatile essential oil with amazing healing properties?  Lavender essential oil is our top pick. Lavender essential oil has been popular for its properties for over 2500 years. Ancient Egyptians used lavender oil in the mummification process and as a perfume. Lavender fragrance was said to be used when Cleopatra wooed Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony.  Glove makers of the sixteenth century used lavender essential oil to perfume their products, saving them from the deadly cholera outbreak. Lavender essential oil in bathwater not only relaxed the Romans, but also worked against microorganisms causing disease.  Can you believe lavender is the most widely used essential oil in the world?

Ever wonder how lavender essential oil is made? Steam distillation is the most common way to extract lavender essential oil. According to Wikipedia, steam distillation is “a separation process that consists in distilling water together with other volatile and non-volatile components. The steam from the boiling water carries the vapor of the volatiles to a condenser; both are cooled and return to the liquid or solid state, while the non-volatile residues remain behind in the boiling container.”  More to come in a future blog post about distillation at Lavender Rhapsody.

According to Rashelle Johnson in Lovely Lavender, “lavender essential oil has a couple hundred different naturally occurring chemical components that act together to improve your health.”  Johnson says among the components (list is not all inclusive): 

Beta-carophylene - an antiflammatory agent
Linalool - thought to relieve stress and other conditions
Linalyl Acetate - sedative effect and anti-inflammatory
Myrcene - decongestant
Ocimene - antibacterial, antiseptic, and antiviral 
Terpinen-4-OL - antibacterial, antifungal and antiseptic

Aromatherapy

Want to experience the aromatic benefits of lavender essential oil? We recommend aromatherapy, diffusing essential oils in a diffuser. Yufang Lin, MD Cleveland Clinic explains, “It’s a great way to change your mood quickly.  As you breathe in, the oil’s aroma immediately stimulates your central nervous system, triggering an emotional response. It can reduce anxiety and stress response quickly.”

A diffuser, a device dispersing tiny oil particles around the room for you to breathe, can be a game changer. Be sure to avoid direct contact with essential oils and dilute them with water in a diffuser and enjoy.  One way to change up your aromatherapy routine is to use diffuser recipes with various essential oils.  Here are a few to get you started from Rashelle Johnson in Lovely Lavender.