Are Commercial Cleaning Products affecting your health?

Why switch from commercial products with ingredients like bleach and ammonia? Because those cleaners can irritate your eyes, airways, skin, and nervous

system, AND they also pollute and contaminate your indoor air and the water sources they wash into when they go down the drain.


Join me this Saturday for an morning of knowledge, know-how and laughter. We will discuss many ways to switch from commercial cleaners to proven natural cleaners. The increasing costs of cleaners, dangers to your health and wasteful packaging was enough to motivate me to completely switch to natural, home-made versions.

You will receive 3 essential oils along with 9 effective formulas to create a healthy, naturally clean environment. You will have the tools, information and support to never use a commercial cleaner again.

Reasons to Make Natural Cleaners:

• Eliminate toxins from your household
• reduce waste (all the containers that cleaners come in)
• increase self-sufficiency
• save hundreds of dollars per year

DATE: Saturday, May 20, 2015
TIME: 10-12pm
PLACE: Bridge to Avalon - 757 Saint Andrews Blvd.
COST: $75   REGISTER NOW 


Heather Howell-Vitale AKA the Aromatic Alchemist has love, compassionate and great reverence for plant essences and their healing power. She custom blends for specifics, creates signature perfumes, consults and teaches a wide variety of workshops. In her private practice, Heather assists her clients’ issues, guiding them in obtaining wellness through the natural medicine of essential oils as a Clinical Aromatherapist formulating healing essential oil blends for health issues such as but not limited to: stress, clarity, eczema, menopause, ADHD/ADD, respiratory care, sinuses, sleep issues, energetics and much more. Passionate about natural healing, Heather has over 15 years of experience in the realms of Aromatic therapy and healing modalities. Married life with three incredible children based on holistic living, energetic presence and nature is rewarding and fulfilling.  Call 843.614.7283 or visit our web at www.aromaticinstitute.com

Essential oils are necessary, here's why...

Hello from the ever fragrant studio of the Aromatic Alchemist. It has been a most interesting start to our 2013. I have been busy formulating custom blends for many who have been inundated with a series of bugs and viruses.

My reason for writing today is to give you the tools you need to succeed in your life in a healthy, happy way. I want to tell you of the importance of using essential oils in your life, not only in sickness but in health.

As many of you know, essential oils are the regenerating, oxygenating and immune defending properties of a plant and that is exactly what it is doing for you and your body. Essential oils are so small in their molecular size that they quickly penerate tissues of the skin, thus going to the bloodstream and to every organ of your body. These oils will affect EVERY cell of the body within 20 minutes of skin contact and will reach the limbic system of the brain within 5 seconds of inhalation.

All essential oils are lipid soluble meaning they are capable of penerating cell walls, even those hardened by oxygen deficiency. They contain oxygen molecules that transport nutrients to straving human cells.  Did you know that all dis-ease begins when cells lack oxygen and that essential oils stimulate immune mechanisms in the body? They are powerful antioxidants that act as free radial scavengers.

That is my rant for the day. May you be beyond blessed and have gratitude for all that is.  Until next time...

Your Grateful Aromatic Alchemist,

Heather

P.S. Stop by www.aromaticinstitute.com and the latest in natural wellness. Try our room and body sprays for fast, effective results. My everyday is Enviro Support.

Natural Perfumery Explained...

Mood Enhancing ... perfumery that make you happy (or calm, or sexy) were the hottest trend in recent years, and still are. Yet now you want it natural, without harsh chemicals.  You have come to the right place.

These products create a sense of well-being in the user through ingredients that act on the brain’s neurotransmitters.

Aromatherapy, a practice dating back thousands of years, is the use of therapeutic oils extracted from natural plants and thought to promote overall well-being. I will explain how aromatherapy can be used for mood enhancement. Here is a Q & A series that will lend a better perspective.

What are the benefits of Aromatherapy?

The primary benefit of aromatherapy is that it can be used to support a variety of health and emotional concerns without the use of synthetic chemicals. It’s a well-researched, natural option for skin care, mood support, healing and a wide variety of other issues.

The average shopper may not be aware that true aromatherapy is the use of pure essential oils. Because there’s no regulation around using the word aromatherapy in marketing, anyone can create a synthetic fragrance product and call it aromatherapy. Real aromatherapy uses essential oils distilled or extracted from plants and unaltered in any way.

Can mood be positively affected by scent?

Human emotions, or moods, arise from a part of the brain called the limbic system. Originally, the limbic system was referred to as the rhinencephalon – meaning “nose brain.” The term rhinencephalon reflected the enormous impact that smell had on the functioning of this part of the brain.

All of our senses impact the limbic system. Any of the senses can have a positive or negative effect on our mood. For example, our sense of vision can have a positive impact. When we observe a person who is happy and smiling, this observation can lift our spirits. When we smell rotting food, we are repelled. When we smell tasty food cooking, we feel ourselves getting hungry and happy as we anticipate eating a satisfying meal.

All of these sensations – hunger, anticipation, happiness and eagerness – arise from the interplay of different parts of the brain’s limbic system. By paying attention to what scents lift our mood, we can consciously impact our mood by smelling certain scents.

This is the question most commonly asked to me - Is there scientific study backing this up?
The science behind scent and mood comes from the basic anatomy of the brain, and from decades of research.

From a purely anatomical perspective, we know that the nerves from our nose that are receiving the scent connect directly to the limbic system. In fact, the nerve connections between the smelling apparatus of our nose to the limbic system are faster than those for sight and sound.

Scientifically speaking, the sense of smell is called olfaction. The smelling (olfactory) apparatus is located high in our nose. It is called the olfactory membrane. This little area contains millions of nerve cell receptors that analyze the air we inhale for odor. The olfactory membrane of humans is only about 0.8 inches square, yet contains 10-20 million olfactory receptors. It is able to identify between 2000-4000 different chemical stimuli (molecules).

Scientific research on scent and it’s effect on behavior is what originally led scientists to name the limbic system the rhinencephalon, “nose brain”. A great deal of that research is used by the perfume and personal care industries to devise hundreds of products that consumers buy all the time.

The 2004 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to the team that finally uncovered the mechanics of identifying scent.  http://nobelprize.org... science)

Essential oils have been studied extensively for decades, particularly in Europe. Oils are analyzed using a process called Gas Chromotography/Mass Spectrometry, a test that identifies all the chemical components of an oil. Many of those individual components have been researched in clinical studies.

How do scents work on the brain to change mood?

The limbic center holds our instinctive behaviors, drives, and automatic emotional responses. The limbic system also plays an important role in memory and learning. The key to understanding how scents affect the brain is to remember that the information gathered in the nose from the olfactory bulb goes directly to the emotional center – the limbic system.

Because of this direct neurological connection between scent and the limbic system, we can use aromatic products to impact our moods and emotions as well as our ability to learn, remember and recall. The limbic system facilitates memory storage and retrieval. Long-term memories can be evoked via the limbic system. This response can be noted when a certain smell may bring you instantly back to your childhood and your mood is deeply impacted.

Can EOs used in skin care and other beauty products be as effective in enhancing mood or does it need to be the straight oils?

It is very effective to blend essential oils in beauty products – often lotions or organic oils – for application on the body

Are there oils associated with “happiness”?

... We love using citrus oils in particular to create a feeling of spring and sunshine and health.

Lavender is a calming oil, but may also conjure a feeling of happiness through relaxation of the senses. Stronger florals like Ylang Ylang or Rose have heady, sensual aromas that can create an entirely different feeling of happiness.

This was an interview by Andrea Butje of Aromahead Institute.

At the Aromatic Institute, the possibilities are boundless as over 125 pure essential oils are synergistically blended to create nature's most powerful medicine. Stop by, peruse the store and leave empowered by plants and their healing gifts.  Ask for your own custom blend that is your Natural Perfume. Thanks for caring about your health and happiness.

In Gratitude,

Heather

Aromatic Aphrodisiacs

An aphrodisiac is generally defined as a substance that enhances or stimulates passion and sexual arousal. Individuals that are physically or emotional exhausted, under stress, lacking proper nutrition, depressed, anxious or physically ill often have a significantly more difficult time enjoying intimacy.

Certain essential oils are considered aphrodisiacs, which can help dissipate the physical, psychological or emotional ailments that may interfere with sexual desire or arousal. Scents of particular essential oils may induce stimulation of this brain part producing the desirable effect of romance.  Another notable characteristic of these essential oils are to influence the state of mind and the emotions. It helps induce warmth, intimacy, enforce spirituality and feeling of euphoria.

The sense of Olfaction plays a major role in increasing sensual experience. It is also noted that decreased sexual interest is due to the hypo production of the necessary hormones by the pituitary gland. This master gland is the one that helps regulate the production of all the other hormones in the body. Aphrodisiac aromas stimulate the brain part that is the seat of all emotions and carries the level of intimacy to a new level, a higher mental state beyond just physical connection and pleasure.

Rose and Ginger Soufflé is the perfect recipe for romance.  Rose essential oil is notably appealing to women triggering a response of desiring and romance. Ginger essential oil is warm, sensual and soothing.

 

The aroma of the rose intermingled with the ginger is unforgettable. This is a simple ingredient recipe with 2 essential oils that both have incredible aphrodisiac qualities. This recipe uses yogurt instead of pastry cream which gives the soufflé this lightness that makes it seem as if you are eating nothing but the pure aroma.

 

Unsalted Butter (buttering baking dishes)

Sugar (dusting baking dishes)

1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt

2 large egg yolks

1 tbsp fresh squeezed orange juice

10 drops Moroccan rose absolute

13 drops ginger essential oil                  

1 cup of egg whites

¾ cup of confectioner’ sugar

Salt

 Butter and sugar eight 4-ounce soufflé molds or ovenproof ceramic cups. In a mixing bowl, combine the yogurt, egg yolks, orange juice and essences.

Preheat the oven to 325F. In the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the whites on low speed with half of the sugar and a pinch of salt until they form soft peaks. Add the rest of the sugar and continue beating until the white forms stiff peaks.

Carefully fold 1/3 of the whites in to the yogurt base. Do not over mix. Fold in the rest of the whites until just combined and ladle into the soufflé molds. Fill the molds completely and then run your thumb around the top edge of the rim to create a slight indentation in the soufflé mixture. Bake until set but still moist inside, about 10 minutes. Serve hot in the soufflé molds.  Recipe from Aroma by Mandy Aftel and Daniel Patterson

Heather A. Howell AKA the Aromatic Alchemist is an Aroma-Pharmacist, Eco-Activist, Writer, Indie, Mama-blessed with 3 incredible children, speaker, teacher, aromatic life coach; Heather has love, compassionate and great reverence for plant medicine and their healing power. As a Certified Clinical Aromatherapist, Heather serves many businesses and organizations. She holds workshops covering areas of natural skincare, enhanced aromatherapy and wellness through essential oils. She is a Clinical Aromatherapist that formulates healing essential oil blends for your health issues: stress, backaches, eczema, menopause, ADHD/ADD, burns injuries, sprains – broken bones, wounds, surgeries and much more. Heather founded her first skincare company in 1999.

What matters most to us at the Aromatic Institute is empowering individuals to care for themselves holistically by creating awareness of the active properties of the wonderful essences of plants, trees, flowers, leaves, needles, and roots of the earth via divinely blended natural essential oil remedies and perfumes.

How Aromatherapy Works...

Most people do not realize that essential oils which are the basis of aromatherapy enter the blood stream of the body via skin absorption or inhalation and act as catalysts to create balance in the cells and organs.

This is a simplified journey with a molecule of essential oil through the body:

• To begin, the molecules of oil are small due to the distillation process. Their small size and the polarity determine how fast the oil molecule will penetrate through the outer layer of skin, the epidermis. They often go through via a hair follicle or sweat gland. The oil molecule then travels to the dermis and enters the blood capillaries there. Eventually it passes to the arteries and veins throughout the body. As the oil molecule moves through the blood stream, it finds the right cell receptor for binding. For example, a molecule of Rosemary travels to cell receptors on the liver. Finding the right cell receptor, it acts to regenerate and balance this vital organ. The oil molecule will leave the body in 4 to 24 hours. Usually, it is processed by the liver to become water-soluble. It then moves out of the body through the kidneys into the urine. This is an amazing gift from God that we have been bestowed. To imagine and realize that essential oils are so smart in frequency that they can find the correct cell receptor that needs its qualities of healing surpasses any lab created medicine.

Skin absorption factors:

• Skin Hydration - A hot bath or shower can increase the absorption of essential oils.
• Occlusions - Covering the skin with clothes, bandages etc. will increase the temperature and absorption of essential oils
• Temperature - Warmth of air or water increases blood capillary circulation and absorption of essential oils. Heat due to exercise increases absorption also.

Olfactory: the inhalation of Essential oils:

The other main path for essential oils to enter the body is through the olfactory system. As a person inhales the essential oil, the molecule of oil goes up into the back of each nostril to the postage size Epithelium patch. The molecules attach to receptors on the cilia hairs in the nose space. They turn into nerves on the other side of the mucous patch, which sends the odor info on to the olfactory bulb. This means the essential oil itself is not sent to the brain, but instead a neural translation of the complex essential oils. The millions of nerves enter through the bone to the olfactory bulb and merge into two large nerves that go back to the limbic brain in the inner center of the head. The right nerve goes back to the Amygdala, a center for emotions in the limbic system. There the aromatic info is connected to the emotions of the situation.

Because the limbic system is directly connected to parts of the brain that control heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, memory, stress levels, and hormone balance, scents can have physiological and psychological effects.

Essential oils are also absorbed through the skin when directly applied, such as with massage. They then travel into the lymphatic system, which circulates them into the blood stream, where again they can have physiological effects.

For example, a person smells a bouquet of fragrant roses and suddenly receives traumatic news; they will always have an uneasy feeling about the smell of these flowers. The opposite effect is true as well, if one were expressing fresh squeezed orange juice and surprised by their partner with acts of affection, they will smile inwardly every time they smell oranges.

The nerve information is sent on from the Amygdala to the Hippocampus, a center for short term memory in the Limbic system. So, right away, the smell, emotion, and memory are commingled, as they are stored in the Limbic system. Then this information goes on to the Hypothalamus for long-term memory. It is passed on to the Pituitary or master gland and eventually the whole endocrine system.

I hope this informative was able to guide you gently into the realms of natural health and wellness through Aromatherapy.


Heather A. Howell is a Certified Clinical Aromatherapist serving as the Master Aromatherapist at Aroma Pharmica, an Organic Skincare Company and Seeking Indigo, a Holistic Wellness Oasis in Charleston, SC. Heather also teaches aromatherapy to health practitioners, professionals in the medical field, massage therapists and other healing modality practitioners throughout United States.

In her private practice, Heather assists her clients in addressing issues and obtaining wellness and prevention through the natural medicine of essential oils. Life with 3 incredible children based on holistic living and nature is rewarding and fulfilling. Aroma Pharmica is located on James Island, SC. 843.330.5941 On-line at http//:www.aroma-pharmica.com