Most aromatherapy is, in practice, smelling something nice. There is nothing wrong with this. A diffuser running lavender in the room while you read is pleasant. But it is not, strictly, an aromatherapy session — and there is a small piece of architecture that turns the same set of oils into something more deliberate, with a different and more useful effect.
A real session has a beginning, a middle, and an end. It uses a small number of carefully chosen oils. It has a duration. It is, like a meditation or a body scan, a small contained practice with a clear shape.
The structure
Beginning: a single oil, used for about five minutes, to mark the entry. Something that signals to the nervous system that a deliberate practice is starting. I use rosemary in the morning for this — bright, slightly clearing, alert. In the evening I use a citrus, usually bergamot.
Middle: a blend, used for fifteen to twenty minutes, that does the actual work of the session. The blend depends on what the session is for. For a wind-down session: lavender, chamomile, vetiver. For a focus session: peppermint, lemon, rosemary. For a recovery session after illness or hard travel: frankincense, eucalyptus, a small amount of cedarwood.
End: a single grounding oil, used for the last five minutes, to mark the close. Cedarwood is my standard end note — earthy, slow, settling. Sandalwood works the same way if you have it.
Total duration: about thirty minutes. That is a session.
Method of dispersal
An ultrasonic diffuser is the most common method and it works fine. Cold-air nebulisers — which use no water and disperse pure oil — are more intense and use the oil up much faster; they are appropriate for shorter, more concentrated sessions and overkill for general use.
A simple unheated method: a few drops of oil on a tissue or a cotton pad, placed nearby. This is what I usually use in the studio between clients when I want a small reset but do not want to run a diffuser. It is enough for a five-minute pause.
Never apply oils directly to the skin without dilution. The undiluted oils can irritate or sensitise. For topical use, always dilute in a carrier oil at one to two percent — that is, one or two drops of essential oil per teaspoon of carrier.
What you are doing in the session
Nothing complicated. The session is structured but its contents are open. I usually sit in a chair, close my eyes, and breathe normally. Sometimes I do a body scan during the middle blend. Sometimes I just sit. The point is that the room is doing some of the work — the oils are providing a steady gentle stimulus that the nervous system processes underneath whatever the mind is doing.
Half an hour of this, two or three times a week, is a useful piece of self-care. It does not replace bodywork, sleep, or any of the larger practices. It adds something small that those practices do not.
A note on quality
Buy oils from a herbalist or a specialist supplier. The supermarket versions are usually adulterated and the chemistry is wrong. A small bottle of a serious essential oil costs more, but it lasts much longer and actually does what it is supposed to do. If you can only buy one or two oils, make them lavender and rosemary. They cover most of what you would want to do.
A session is structured. Smelling something nice is not a session. Both have their place, but they are different practices.
