What Is Aromatherapy?

You’ve probably seen it on our spa therapy menu; maybe you’ve even tried it a time or two. Gill Martin, in her book Aromatherapy: An Introductory Guide to Professional and Home Use, describes it this way: “Aromatherapy is a therapeutic treatment combining massage and essential oils to enhance well being, restore balance, and treat a variety of conditions.” It may seem far-fetched that simply smelling lavender can calm and relax you, but consider this: How often does a particular smell cause you to remember an event in your life? Our sense of smell plays a vital role in our enjoyment of food as well; it’s actually the olfactory system that distinguishes flavors beyond salty, sweet, bitter and sour.

When you smell something, the tiny hairs, or cilia, in your nose are stimulated and send impulses through the olfactory nerves, to the olfactory bulb located behind the bridge of the nose, to the limbic system in the brain. The limbic system is involved in memory and emotion (hence the strong association between smells and memories), and is also connected to the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus controls the pituitary gland, which in turn controls all other glands and therefore our whole hormonal system. Thus it is not so far-fetched for a simple inhalation of an aromatic oil to affect your emotions, and even other systems of the body!

In addition, essential oil molecules evaporate into the air and are taken into your lungs. Sure, some are exhaled in the very next breath, but some pass into the bloodstream and are transported around the body in the same way as oxygen and other nutrients. Similarly, when essential oils are mixed with carrier oils like grapeseed (which has a small enough molecular structure to be easily absorbed into the skin), they are absorbed by the tissue fluids, reaching the lymphatic system and finally the bloodstream. For some people, this process may take as little as 20 minutes!

Herbal baths, inhalations, vaporization, compresses and massage are all methods of applying essential oils to the body. Poplar Creek Spa uses nearly all of these methods in our various spa therapies, but vaporization–the classic oil burner, which uses a candle to heat up the oils and diffuse them into the air–may be added to any service of your choice for just $5.

We offer the following blends for you to choose from:

• Clarity
• Creativity
• Energizing
• Harmony
• Relaxing
• Stress Relief
• Uplifting

Click here to see our full menu of spa therapies, or contact us to schedule an appointment.