To realize the power of natural therapies, one must understand that our bodies are made up of the same substances as the earth and all of the plants and animals which inhabit her. Our cells are primarily composed of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen - these four substances also make up plants cell and thus essential oils. When we apply plants, in our case therapeutic essential oils, to our bodies, we are giving them a dose of the building blocks from which our body is created. It is for this reason that our bodies know exactly what to do with natural, earth-made remedies.Our bodies require natural remedies because they know how to use them. Modern man-made pharmaceuticals are unrecognizable by our bodily systems and are unable to be metabolized or eliminated properly. Give your body the natural, essential substances it needs and begin to see the vibrant health you desire.The body's largest organ, the skin, acts as a natural barrier to protect , but also serves as a means to transport substances into our blood stream. When we apply things to our skin, it is the equivalent of consuming it. This is also true for smells - if you can smell it, it has reached your blood stream and is traveling through your vascular system. This is why it is extremely important to use only the highest quality natural products in our daily lives, and especially when addressing dis-ease in the body.
Essential oils act as plant hormones, regulating plant functions and orchestrating the production of vitamins and enzymes. They act as messengers and supervisors within the plant that help coordinate and initiate vital plant activities. Essential oils can also do the same when applied to humans. They can act as neurotransmitters, peptides, steroids, hormones, enzymes, vitamins, and other message-carrying molecules (called ligands) which intelligently assist our bodily functions and help to restore and maintain wellness.Essential oils possess homeostatic intelligence. Homeostasis is that state where every vital biological process within a living organism is functioning as it should. It is a state of perfect wellness. Essential oils always work toward restoring and maintaining balance and homeostasis, first in the plants that create them, and then in the humans that apply them.Essential oils also offer wonderful protection from viruses, bacteria, parasites and fungi, just as they did in the plants before they were commandeered for our use. With respect to bacteria, essential oils are particularly valuable. The medical answer to a bacterial attack is to prescribe antibiotics. The problem with antibiotics is that they indiscriminately kill all the bacteria in our bodies, which isn’t good. We harbor many friendly bacteria that help us digest food and engage in other essential bodily activities, without which we can’t stay healthy. Hence, when you have gotten over a bacteriologically caused sickness using antibiotics, your immune system has been depressed and your friendly fauna have been diminished. Antibiotics (and most pharmaceuticals) also make your body more acidic, which can stimulate the growth of fungi and other organisms in the body- thus trading one form of sickness for another. Essential oils also combat viruses, while antibiotics cannot. Essential oils have none of these negative side effects. Essential oils have the intelligence to distinguish good bacteria from bad and attack only the bad while nourishing the good. Essential oils can also attack viruses and fungi, which antibiotics cannot. Furthermore, essential oils help alkalize your body, raising it from an acid state prone to sickness, into a slightly alkaline state of balance, which is the natural pH of healthiness. Just living and breathing around essential oils on a daily basis goes a long way toward maintaining vitality and wellness. The action of essential oils inside the human body is always toward balance, toward the state of homeostasis where every organ and cell is working properly and in harmony. Therapeutic-grade essential oils have homeostatic intelligence, something neither synthetic oils nor pharmaceuticals possess.
Excerpted from The Chemistry of Essential Oils Made Simple by David Stewart Ph.D., D.N.M.
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