The Reality of Being an Aromatherapist

It’s 22 years this month since I completed my formal training as a medical aromatherapist, and I feel blessed to know what I do know, even though I’ve had some unexpected life experiences along the way.

What fascinates me most about aromatherapy is the continual addition of essential oils , which makes aromatherapy a very expensive hobby if you need all of them… not saying I have all of them… yet… but my personal collection is up there and always growing!  I treated myself to Perfect Potion’s Limited Edition Chakra Oils – very exquisite with some very rare oils and a price to match!

And even more exciting is the amount of clinical research being done with essential oils, and I’m so lucky to be involved with National Women’s Hospital and their research into the effects of essential oils on lowering cortisol and increasing oxytocin during labour.  For me, I feel I have come full circle – when I started my clinic back in 98, I was working in Women’s Health and Paediatrics, based on my personal experiences of infertility and hormonal disruption, and eventually carrying a child to full term who was born with allergies and asthma.

Back then, aromatherapy was considered to be twaddle, to put it bluntly, and yet the connection for me was at a far younger age when I would spend hours picking flowers, or smelling perfumes and aftershaves whenever I had the opportunity… my Nana wore Chanel No.5, my Grandad Old Spice and my Mum always cooked with herbs and spices, which was rather rare back in the 70’s.  As a teen I made rosewater with my Nana – infusing rose leaves in water and using them to cleanse my acne ridden skin.

Jump forward to 1989 when I bought my first house and had my own roses, including a beautifully aromatic damascena, and my next property was full of lavender and olive trees – my little oasis in the CBD, where I infused my first bottle of lavender oil and made lavender furniture polish with beeswax.  By then my I’d been creating baby products for my son and friends for a couple of years.

My clinic was a lot of fun in those days, and I had a wide range of clients with different needs, which is how I ended up learning more about nutrition and biochemistry and homotoxicolgy – I was desperate to treat the whole person, not just the emotional and physical psyche. 

I created product ranges and launched a website in 1999…. Yep, that long ago… and creating skincare products led to cosmetics, and then playing with micas and soap and so it continued…. And now, I am migrating back to my roots of focusing on clients with chronic health conditions, and working with them on all levels… and still buying more oils lol.

So what types of aromatherapy scenarios have I been blessed with  over the years – working with Hospice with different types of cancers at different stages, including helping one of my first young clients who was riddled with bone cancer to go on and become a mum…the husband who was so grief stricken he was suicidal and a massage with a special blend of neroli, frankincense and rose changed his life around (he’s now remarried and went on to study psychology)… the spiritual journey of a Maori male teacher who reconnected with his recently deceased father and ancestors during a massage…  using essential oils to change the vibration and smell of a newly painted funeral home so that the family could feel connected to their loved one… a premature baby needing open heart surgery and not being able to be cuddled, so I created a massage oil that her parents could apply to her hands and feet… bespoke skincare products for my rural clients who were always exposed to the elements, along with acne treatments for their teens… clearing my Mum’s superpubic of MRSA in 3 weeks after a year of  antibiotics and no change… working with an elderly diabetic client with lymphatic drainage and noticing she had the first stages of gangrene so it was seen to sooner rather than later… the client with the frozen shoulder that the physio couldn’t get moving… treating the goats when they got footrot from the extra damp winter we had with manuka and kanuka oils… treating the cat’s abscess with a lavender and thyme linalool hyrdrosol… treating the horse’s hock which was rheumatic with marjoram and black pepper to get the swelling down after he thought he was 8 and not 28 and had been gallivanting around the paddock… and then there was the time he crashed into a tree and put a hole in his sinus cavity above his eye-  neti pot, lavender, linalool thyme and frankincense hydrosols to flush and heal the damage, combined with antibiotics… the stories are endless, however these are some of my proudest moments due to the unexpected and amazing results.

Internal dosaging wasn't a big issue when I trained, and I have lots of books which use it, however, none of those suggested taking them in capsules, or 10 drops in a glass of water... dangerous practices if not under the guidance of a practitioner.

And now, with roller bottles and sniffy tubes, I can do sooo much more, as they can be safely sent anywhere in the world to my clients, and when I get to travel again, I will be able to zoom and dispense from wherever I am… some people need to be in the same space with their clients, I’m blessed in that I have an uncanny ability to tune into them over the phone or screen…

The only drawback to being an aromatherapist, and this is going to sound crazy, is that I cannot use oils on myself every day due to liver and kidney toxicity… essential oil safety is my number one priority so for example, when I make up the maternity unit blends which are very intense with jasmine and clary sage, I can’t use my Essentialz facial oil for the next 48 hours after I’ve finished so I don’t overload my system (luckily rosehip oil is exquisite on its own)

And on that note, I have a big week ahead of me creating products for expectant mums and babes… so I better get to it

Tania