What are essential oils?
Essential oils are volatile aromatic compounds produced by plants. Each essential oil is different, with its own characteristic combination of properties, both emotional and medicinal.

The major producers of essential oils are Brazil, China, Egypt, Guatemala, India, Mexico Indonesia, Morocco and the USA. All of them with the exception of  the USA are developing countries.
The methods used to extract essential oils are time consuming and expensive and require a high degree of expertise. To maintain all of the therapeutic qualities, it must be extracted by steam distillation using extremely low pressure and low heat as not to defile the quality of the oil. Each oil renders valuable health benefits when properly used in aromatherapy.

Essential oils interact with the body in three distinct ways: pharmacologically (chemical change through the blood stream), physiologically (effects the systems of the body) and psychologically (inhaled and a response is generated by the aroma). Given that it takes in excess of 220 pounds
of rose petals to produce only 4 or 5 teaspoons of oil, the chemical complexity and high concentration of essential oils makes every drop valuable and powerful. Essential oils are sourced from over 3000 plants.

Which part of the plant does the oil come from:
flowering tops lavender.chamomile
grass lemongrass.palmarosa
leaves peppermint.cinnamon
peel lemon.bergamot.orange
seed cardamon.fennel
twig cypress.tea tree.eucalyptus
wood rosewood.cedarwood
gum/resin frankincense.myrrh

Essential oils are valuable because they are antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal,
antimicrobial and highly oxygenating.