Healing Aromatic Mastery of Plants

Aroma has a powerful and direct impact on our thoughts and feelings. The olfactory takes smell stimuli directly into the limbic brain deep at the core where our drives, memory and emotion intersect. In fact there is only one synapse between the nose and the olfactory receptors in the brain.

Aromatherapists use plants, as ancient healers always have. They just use the aromatic parts which are usually the result of steam distillation—tiny molecules that travel fast into the body, the blood stream and through the cell membranes. Bay laurel placed on local lymph nodes can stimulate lymph drainage. Lavender with German chamomile can reduce inflammation. All essential oils are antiseptic and antibacterial and a few are even antiviral. Chamomile can act as a tonic to the autonomic nervous system, bringing you to a calmer state just from taking a few whiffs.

My mission is to engage your innate healing forces through the use of fragrant plants and skilled touch. In fact, hands-on application of carefully selected essential oils was my inspiration to study massage.

With your first massage, we create a complimentary aromatherapy blend just for you. We harness the olfactory with a beautiful composite of two to five high-quality essential oils, chosen for you in the moment. Besides being a beautiful aromatic experience, these custom blends deftly relieve stress by stimulating your limbic brain.

We build your custom blend into your massage oil and you go home with tiny vial of it to pour in a bath, to apply to those tense shoulders at the end of the day, or keep at your desk for a somatic reminder of your post-massage reverie.

My personal journey with aromatherapy began in 1991 under the tutelage of Milli Austin, a central Texas pioneer who called her work Essential Oil Bath Therapy. In 1994 I took a class on Marguerite Maury's aromatherapy massage treatment. Her husband was among the biochemists who rediscovered aromatherapy early in the 20th century. Maury was the first to apply essential oils externally. She emphasized the use of aromatherapy in skin care and massage and set the tone for its esoteric nuances.

I then studied aromatherapy with Kurt Schnaubelt, the German chemist who has founded the Pacific Institute of Aromatherapy (PIA) in San Rafael, California. In 1995, I took Kurt's Advanced Seminar on Scientific Aromatherapy, and completed the certification in 1996. I also attended PIA's First Holistic Aromatherapy Conference on therapeutic uses in San Francisco in 1995. I have studied blending, essential oil chemistry, toxicology and medical aromatherapy.