The use of plant essential oils and the practice of focusing your attention have been around for thousands of years. Both have experienced a rise in popular culture in the mid- to late 20th century. Although you can often find references to aromatherapy and meditation in similar locations such as at a spa or in the New Age section at a bookstore, the two modalities do not traditionally belong together.
History of Aromatherapy
According to the University of Maryland, the ancient Chinese, Indians, Egyptians and Greeks used essential oils for healing almost 6,000 years ago. National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy Director Coordinator Shellie Enteen says detailed recipes to use oils for medicinal purposes appear in the Old Testament. French chemist René-Maurice Gattefossé studied the effects of essential oils on burns and gangrene during World War I. Gattefossé officially started the science of aromatherapy in 1928. The noninvasive practice of applying oils to the skin and inhaling their aromas became a good match for massage. At this time, no formal certification exists for aromatherapists, and scientific studies on the effectiveness of aromatherapy are inconclusive.
History of Meditation
Yogis included meditation, stilling one's mind, in their spiritual practice as early as 3300 B.C.E. Engravings from the Indus Valley Civilization depict figures in ritualistic meditative postures. The Buddha sat in meditation to achieve enlightenment around 525 B.C.E. In the 1960s, Buddhism and yoga found their way into American culture as instructors such as Shunryu Suzuki-roshi and B.K.S. Iyengar began teaching in English. When "Meditation as Science" appeared as the cover story for "Time" magazine in August 2003, the use of meditation for health benefits was clearly part of the national conversation. Meditation has many forms, including visualization, mindfulness, paced-breathing and religious.
Benefits of Aromatherapy
The regions in the brain that process scent, the amygdala and hippocampus, also house emotions and memories. When you smell, chemicals stimulate these regions of the brain, sometimes evoking certain moods. The Medical Center of the University of Maryland reports that practitioners in a variety of settings from hospitals to spas use aromatherapy, typically for relaxing, relieving pain and improving mood. The Medical Center also reports that aromatherapy may be helpful with the following conditions: hair loss, agitation, constipation, insomnia, pain, itching and psoriasis. The National Cancer Institute reports "Aromatherapy research with cancer patients has mainly studied its effect on other health conditions and quality-of-life issues such as cancer-related symptoms, stress and anxiety."
Benefits of Meditation
Scientific studies have found a connection between stress reduction and meditation. In a 2005 study, Sara Lazar, a research scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital, reported a physical change in the brain among meditators. Her study showed that 20 test subjects who practiced insight meditation daily for 40 minutes had thicker tissue in the cerebral cortex than those of people who did not. The Mayo Clinic includes a meditation program among its treatments and reports that "More than 200 Mayo patients have participated in meditation treatment, and their responses have been overwhelmingly positive." According to the Mayo Clinic, benefits from meditation include: gaining new perspective, managing stress, increased self-awareness, focusing on the present and reducing negative thoughts.
Misconceptions
Although some forms of meditation do call for focusing on a physical object, such as a candle, aromatherapy does not traditionally accompany meditation. Both can be used to build a sense of calm. With mindfulness meditation, you let go of distractions and bring your attention to the present moment, which includes pleasant and unpleasant aspects. Both are appropriate focal points. A pleasing aroma that covers some other scent or attempts to alter a mood might bring you farther away from your natural present state. Aromatherapy could be more appropriate for a visualization meditation where you take your thoughts away from your current situation.
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