What are essential oils? Essential oils give plants and flowers their specific scent and flavor. They play an important role in the life processes of a plant by protecting against disease and by attracting or repulsing certain insects or animals. Aromatic plants and oils have been used for thousands of years as perfumes, incense, cosmetics and for their medicinal qualities. Essential oils are steam distilled from plants including their parts such as seeds, bark, leaves, stems, roots, flowers, and fruits. Producing the purest oil can be very costly because it may require distilling several hundred pounds of plant material to produce a small amount of oil. For example, it takes one ton of rose petals to produce about 10 ounces of pure rose oil.  

Beneficial Actions of pure essential oils: Essential oils are very powerful anti-oxidants. They are antibacterial, anti-fungal, antiseptic, antiviral and anti-parasitic. Many scientist believe that essential oils can stimulate the body’s own natural defense system. Smell triggers psychological and physiological responses in the body. When inhaled, essential oils reach receptor cells in your nose and the odors are turned into messages or impulses that are sent to the olfactory area of the brain in the limbic system which is linked to memory, emotions, hormones, sexuality and heart rate.  It only takes .5 seconds to respond to odors as compared to .9 seconds to respond to pain.  Your sense of smell is ten times more sensitive than your sense of taste.