Essential oils have been used for thousands of years in, virtually, every society around the world to help minimize or eliminate maladies of all types. Natural essential oils are harvested from flowers, leaves, bark, or roots of select plants.
Lavender, Rose, Vetiver, Ylang ylang, Bergamot, Chamomile, and Frankincense are known for their abilities to positively impact stress levels by reducing feelings of tension, calming emotions, and promoting relaxation.
Adding essential oils to diffusers helps to promote a restful night’s sleep and reduce stress at a cellular level. When essential oils are breathed in, molecules enter the nasal area and stimulate mental responses in the limbic system of the brain, and stress gives way to calm.
Body Massage Therapy – Embraced by the Medical Community
Essential oils, in conjunction with body-massage therapies, have been utilized throughout the ages to enhance healing and renewal on a physical, psychological, physiological, and spiritual level. To this day, body massage, as a therapeutically-viable intervention, is overwhelmingly embraced by the medical community.
Systematic reviews and evidence-based practice have given immense credibility to the varied benefits of body-massage therapy. A few examples include the following:
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles tested 50 healthy adults who received deep-tissue massage as well as light-touch massage therapies, and the results were quite astonishing – a radical lowering of the stress hormone, cortisol, was consistently indicated.
Applied Nursing Research offered its report stating that massage therapies given during chemotherapy significantly reduced anxiety and acute fatigue.
Military Medicine published its research findings that indicated significant reductions in ratings of anxiety, depression, tension, irritability, and physical pain after military vets received body massages.
The University of Maryland Medical Center reports that deep-tissue massage is more effective for relieving chronic pain than conventional medical remedies. The increased blood flow helps reduce the inflammation that causes pain.
The Mayo Clinic offers medical-massage-therapy training which focuses on the alleviation of pain and the treatment of health conditions, via massage intervention.
What Oils are Good for Body-Massage Therapy?
The type of oil one would select for body-massage therapy would depend on what condition one desires to address – enhanced sleep quality, calming of anxiety, easing of pain, etc.
It is important to select the right massaging oil which, individually, would offer distinct healing or rejuvenation properties. The following health benefits derived from various oils is a mere sampling of how different types of oils can contribute to enhanced health and well being:
- Calm the spirit – chamomile, lavender, frankincense, wintergreen, and geranium oil
- Uplift moods – ylang-ylang, clary sage, rose, bergamot, and neroli oil
- Energize the mind – rosemary oil
- Open airways and reduce congestion – eucalyptus, pine, and tea-tree oil-rich
- Ease menstrual discomfort – geranium oil
- Soothe digestive cramps – coriander oil
- Relax muscles – olive oil and valerian root
- Relieve headaches and backaches – peppermint oil
- Promote circulation – dragon’s blood resin
- Nourish parched skin – avocado oil
- Reduce inflammation – grape-seed oil
Herb-Infused Apricot and Olive Oils
Body massage allows one to completely relax and bring awareness, circulation, and pain relief to different areas of one’s body. At Artemis Therapeutics, the herbs infused in our apricot and olive oils are 1) premium quality 2) sustainably sourced 3) US grown and 4) organic. Our herb-infused apricot and olive oils offer a variety of physical and energetic properties.
Pressed from the oil-rich kernels of apricots, apricot oil:
- Deeply nourishes and beautifies the skin – rich in vitamins and minerals with vitamin A being especially noted for its ability to plump the skin – slows/reverses wrinkles
- Heals sores more effectively
- Helps heal acne by fighting inflammation and preventing sebum build-up in the glands
- Is packed with antioxidants which boost tightening of the skin and help prevent cellular mutation which can lead to skin cancer
- Can relieve inflammation of the respiratory tract, via the use of aromatic diffusers
- Carries the medicine of the herbs
Harvested by grinding olives and extracted through various methods, olive oil:
- Heals, nourishes, and beautifies the skin
- Is loaded with antioxidants, vitamins and minerals – helps calm inflammation
- Relaxes muscles – relieves soreness/aches/spasms and strained joints
- Locks in skin’s moisture
- Increases blood circulation
- Carries the medicine of the herbs
Choosing the ideal massage oil is a personal choice. Whether it is to rejuvenate your skin, comfort your soul, brighten your mood, or reduce pain or inflammation, choose one or more oils that will address your needs or desires. While a regular spa visit might not be in your budget, a quality massage oil can help you and your entire family reap the health benefits of massage therapy, in the comfort and privacy of your home!
