ROSE: Essential Oil Of The Month

Aromatherapy Lesson: ROSE

It is said that the sails of Cleopatra’s cedarwood ship were scented with rose water— “the very winds were lovesick,” Shakespeare wrote.

Rosa Damascena a.k.a. Rose Otto

It takes about 60,000 roses to produce just 1 ounce of oil, and ten thousand pounds of rose blossoms to produce 1 pound of oil.

Rose has a beautiful, floral fragrance. It helps bring balance and harmony and creates a sense of well-being
and self-confidence – supporting one in overcoming insecurities.

Besides being used as a medicine in history, the rose has a long history as a costly perfume. Fresh roses were macerated in hot fat to produce fragrant pomades in ancient India, Greece and Egypt. In Egypt these pomades were shaped into cones and placed on the top of the head. As body heat melted the fat, fragrant, rose-scented oil would trickle down the face and neck.

Physical Healing Properties:
Anti-inflammatory,  Relaxant,  Reduces scarring, Anti-ulcer,  Wound heaing,
Stimulates new healthy cell growth, Antiderpessant,  Calmative,  Hemostatic (stops bleeding)

Emotional Healing Properties:
Encourages contentment, devotion, inner vision, happiness,
inner freedom, acceptance, completeness,patience, love, sensuality and purity

Applications:

• As with most oils, apply Rose as close to the area of concern as possible.
• For depression and emotional upliftment apply a drop of Rose oil to the heart center and rub a bit under the nose so it will “follow you around”.
• Inhale Rose deeply for several minutes and notice how it affects your brain and mood. Apply directly to scars, skin concerns and around wounds.
• Internally, Rose can be used in a vaginal suppository for female concerns.

Young Living’s Rose oil is regarded as safe for internal consumption.

• Add 1 drop to a capsule (optional; fill the rest with olive or vegetable oil)
• Dilute 1-2 drops in jojoba oil and use for self-massage.

• Perhaps no flower is more recognizable and no aroma more evocative than that of the rose.
• The rose symbolizes innocence, love, passion, sympathy, desire, luxury and the ideal aesthetic.
• The healing tradition associated with the rose is no less remarkable than its fragrance and beauty.

The 17th-century English physician Culpeper wrote that red roses strengthen the heart. He may have been referring to a physical action, but anyone who has inhaled fresh roses or their essential oil knows the aroma strengthens the heart spiritually and emotionally as well.

Culpeper attributed other properties to the rose that foreshadowed its current use in aromatherapy and cosmetics. He recommended extract of rose for its cooling and astringent benefits, useful for headache and tired eyes. He also suggested an ointment of roses… “to cool and heal pushes, wheals and other red pimples rising on the face”…

Rose oil is used in creams, lotions and soaps for its mild anti-viral and bactericidal properties, as well as for its fragrance. Rose water, recovered from the distillation of rose oil, is mildly astringent and beneficial for cleansing and refreshing dry, sensitive skin.

With the advent of distillation in the 10th century, Persians began extracting rose flower water from fresh roses. Because these early stills were crude and inefficient the amount of essential oil obtained was probably negligible and may have been entirely overlooked. An early reference to rose essential oil is mentioned in a legendary Mogul account of the betrothal of a princess named Nour-Djihan to the Emperor Dhihanguyr. The wedding feast was held in a garden surrounded by a canal filled with rose water. As Nour-Djihan and her lover plied the waters in a small boat she noticed a thin film of rose oil on the surface. It was carefully skimmed off and rose essential oil was born.

The difficulty of extracting rose oil from the plant has always caused it to be a very expensive substance. A rose blossom contains only about 0.02% essential oil. It takes about 60,000 roses to produce just 1 ounce of oil, and ten thousand pounds of rose blossoms to produce 1 pound of oil. The extraction of rose absolute with chemical solvents is more efficient than the steam distillation of the essential oil. Ten pounds of a substance known as concrete can be extracted from 10,000 pounds of roses using this method. The concrete is further refined to produce rose absolute, the yield of which is about 67% from the concrete.

Regardless of its price, the potency and incredible fragrancing power of even tiny amounts of rose otto or absolute makes it a sound investment — especially considering that a dozen fresh roses costs around $60.00 and it takes about 2 and 1/2 dozen roses to produce a single drop of oil.

Rose and Lavender Facial Cream
In aromatherapy, rose oil inspires emotional calm and stability without sedative effects. The aroma is powerful and comforting. Its physical actions are mildly astringent and balancing. Rose and lavender facial cream is excellent for sensitive combination skin. Dabbed onto a freshly washed face this cream is a fragrant, toning emollient.

Rose is unique among most aromatherapy oils. It’s fragrance is perhaps more recognized than its relaxing, soothing and balancing applications in aromatherapy.

One whiff and a vision of the flower itself, or perhaps an experience associated with the flower and its aroma will readily come to mind. The evocative nature of rose delivers tangible benefits in aromatherapy, cosmetic and aesthetic applications. It is an aroma that has endured for centuries and will never go out of style.

Flowlight February Special…

At your next appointment, ask Tina for ‘the rose treatment’ and you will receive a beautiful face, chest and breast massage with rose oil. It will uplift your mood, illuminate your mind and give your heart & skin a radiant glow. 

Need help with choosing and using oils?
Free aromatherapy consultations with Tina Awad available on request!

Purchase essential oils online at www.oilsheal.com

You can call Tina at: 212-663-2829 or email: flowlightmail@aol.com

As always, gift certificates are available for bodywork and energy healing with Tina Awad, LMT
www.flowlight.us

Rose Oil Combines well with:

Jasmine, neroli, geranium, sandalwood, lemon,  chamomile, mandarin,  yalng ylang, bergamot

Young Living oil blends containing Rose Oil:

Joy™ is a luxuriously exotic blend with uplifting overtones that creates magnetic energy and brings joy to the heart.

• Apply to the areas where you feel there is grief or emotional pain being held in the body.
• Joy can also be rubbed on the outer ears, worn as a perfume or mixed with unscented lotion and used for a foot massage.
• Diffuse Joy 5-10 min. at a time for depression.
• Usually those who are feeling depressed are attracted to the oil blend Joy and find it very helpful as an antidepressant.

Other blends include:
Awaken, Envision, Forgiveness, Gentle Baby, Harmony, Trauma Life, White Angelica

Rose Ointment™ protects and nourishes skin with the benefits of mink oil (characteristically similar to the body’s natural oils), lecithin, lanolin, sesame seed oil, and essential oils for enhanced effectiveness. Ideal for dry, cracked skin and works particularly well when applied over essential oils such as lavender.  This can be helpful for psoriasis.