In order
to treat yourself with aromatherapy you must refer to someone who is qualified
in both fields of medicine and of essential oils.
Perfumetherapy
consists in relying on your instinct, that's to say your own nose. In perfumetherapy
it is not the aromatic substance that reacts but it's odor.
The olfactory
stimulus of particular smells activate determinate glands of the endocrine
system, inducing them to produce the neurochemicals (adrenalin, endorphin,
ecc...) which play an important role in regulating our physiological equilibrium
(homeostasis).
The extend
of pleasure that smells can cause is determined by the balance of each person.
If the hormones produced fill a gap, that's to say act in a positive way
to restore the homeostasis balance, then we will receive a pleasant feeling
of well-being.
The second
way in witch our sense of smell stimulates a feeling of pleasure is indirect,
through the awakening of our olfactory memories. In fact smell memory is
very primordial. In it a particular smell is being associated with an emotional
state in order to identify the smelling thing simply as "good"
or "bad" for the proper survival.
When an
odor is smelled again after years, the olfactory memory activates the limbic
system to make it reproduce with the neurochemicals the emotional state
that accompanied the smell at that time.
The emotional
experience linked to odors is at the base of the learning process for all
living organisms. Indeed they depend on it to such an extend for their survival
that olfactory memories are passed on together with the genetic patrimony.
Every living being possesses three types of smell memories; personal, cultural
(territorial) and genetic.
Perfumetherapy
works through the use of olfactory archetypes that are imprinted in our
genes such as smells of certain animal species, spices, citrus and flowers,
to which we are programmed to respond with certain behaviors or physical
reactions (think about the effect that lemon smell has on us).
Perfumetherapy
is in reality an extended application of psycho-aromatherapy and as a result
helps to heal both the body and the mind, curing them with an infinite and
personalized variety of pleasant olfactory emotions.
A perfume
of perfumetherapy is a composition created for every person with the essences
chosen by her. This is the return to the oriental tradition of the physician-perfumer.
Such a "soul perfume" can give a sense of well-being even to somebody
who feels fine and is therefore not limited to people who are ill. This
therapy is most useful though in the cure of psycho-somatic symptoms and
of feminine disturbs.
