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My Essential Oil Philosophy

My Essential Oil Philosophy – I have been an aromatherapist now for over 20 years (and a user of essential oils for quite a few years longer than that!)

So my Essential Oil Philosophy has been developed over some time. As you can imagine I have seen a lot of changes in essential oil usage over that time – trends and fads that come and go; changes to practice guidelines as we learn more; new oils, research and developments.

These changes have helped to form my basic philosophy for essential oil use which has driven my love of essential oils for many years and also shaped my desire to share them with others. 

It is very simple –

Essential oil usage should be 2 things – safe and effective.

Safe = “First do no Harm”

and

Effective = It’s got to work!

So whenever assessing a potential use – whether that is my home use, a recommendation for a client, an assessment of a proposed use or making a judgement of an aromatherapy book or online resource, these are the 2 things I always consider.  Is this use safe?  Will this use be effective?

Essential oil usage therefore becomes a balance of these 2 factors.  After all, there is no value in being so safe and so cautious that a treatment or usage doesn’t work. That is just a waste of essential oil. 

Likewise, you cannot throw caution to the wind and use essential oils recklessly as this can have serious consequences.

In between these extremes there are numerous uses which may be ok but just aren’t perhaps the best way to get the results you want.  Or there may be things that seems fun or enjoyable or innocuous, which could actually be quite risky.

This philosophy also reflects how essential oil use is not black and white; not always and never; really not cut and dried.  We are all always learning new things about essential oils. (Yes even me!) And so recommendations will, inevitably, change too.

So it is my hope that this blog will help to spread this message far and wide – sharing safe information about aromatherapy and essential oil use; bringing you up to date developments in the world of aromatherapy; sharing some of the history and changes I have seen; and helping you get the most out of your essential oils which are, after all, a precious natural resource that we should value and use with care.

I hope you enjoy the journey with me.