Natural essential oils, a wonderful means of supporting, improving and relieving health (2)
by Liliana Popa
You can also read here the first part of this article
Those who never tried the magic of a jasmine field, do they really know what a perfume is?
(Jean Paul Guerlain adaptation)
Perfumes are similar to magicians. They are capable of instantly taking us to far away moments that we’ve lived. Just like Heinrich Heine used to say in The Hartz Journey, perfumes are the emotions of flowers. In the ancient world the perfumes of plants were extremely cherished, both for their scent, which women used to impregnate themselves with in ritual baths, as well as for their therapeutic virtues. A plant’s essential oil is the one that allows us to delight in its pleasant scent upon breathing it. Thanks to aromatherapy, in the last decades, the natural essential oils of plants have become extremely popular. The therapeutic virtues of these components of plants – the essential oils, that have been successfully used in the old times and even described in the ancient medical treaties, are once again beginning to be rediscovered and used through aromatherapy.
Pine essential oil
This essential oil acts as a disinfectant, sterilant and pain-killer, anti-stress agent and insecticide. Many household cleaning substances have the words “pine scented” written on the bottle. This connection between the pine essential oil and the good state of health is ancient, and is related to the anti-bacteria and disinfecting properties of the oil. Also, the pine essential oil stimulates the body and the mind, having energizing effects on the entire being.
Hippocrates wrote about the powerful healing effect of this volatile oil on the respiratory system in his treaties. Similarly to the tea tree essential and to the eucalyptus oil, pine oil is a powerful antiseptic agent. It also comes with anti-bacteria, antiviral, antiseptic, insecticide, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, expectorant, pectoral, diuretic, tonic, balsamic, choleretic, bile-stimulating, hypertensive, deodorant, blood flow stimulating and nervous system stimulating properties. It also has a healing effect on the endocrinous system and it helps the body to clean up the impurities at the level of the skin. It is stimulating for the immune system. It gives mental and psychic balance. It’s useful for removing mental, physical and sexual fatigue. It has a purifying and reinvigorating effect on the ambient.
Pine essential oil is useful for: asthma, arthritis, bronchitis, rheum, cellulitis, common cold, cough, cuts, cystitis, excessive sweat, fatigue, flu, general weakness, gout, fleas, mental exhaustion, muscular pain, nervous exhaustion, stressful work, neuralgia, weak blood flow, rheumatism, scabies, sinusitis, sore throat, urinary infections. The native Americans used pine stings by laying them on their beds in order to prevent various insects from getting closer.
Pine essential oil’s effects
•Antiseptic effect: this makes pine essential oil to be useful in a series of skin affections: burns, cuts, lesions, psoriasis, acne, “athlete’s foot”, eczemas, itches. For the scalp it can be used for removing dandruff. It is said that pine essential oil brings back the balance of the skin, gives back its clearness, smoothness and freshness. It is also useful in the case of food poisoning.
•Anti-bacteria and anti-fungal effect: it prevents a series of ordinary bacteria infections, including the ones of the urinary tract, the respiratory tract (including sinusitis) and skin infections. Decreases the incidence of sinusitis. It is useful in treating respiratory problems and therefore it is used in several remedies against cough and colds. It’s also useful for bronchitis, asthma, rheum, cough, laryngitis, common cold, flu. It alleviates respiratory problems and sinusitis. Since it cleans kidneys, it is efficient in cystitis, prostate related problems and urinary infections.
• Anti-viral effect: it can be successfully used against common colds (so-called catarrh which is given by two types of less-pathogen viruses called rhino-viruses and coronaviruses) and flu.
• Anti-inflammatory effect: it is useful for arthritis and rheumatism. Pine essential oil is efficient in reducing the gall bladder inflammation. It can also cause a decrease in the occurrence of gall stones at the level of the gall bladder through the use of pine essential oil.
• Analgesic effect: it helps remove muscular and joint pain. Used locally, it can remove arthritis, rheumatism and gout caused pain.
• Expectorant effect: it helps remove congestion and mucus.
• Anti-oxidating effect: by neutralizing the free radicals, essential pine oil helps slow down the cellular deterioration processes, thus also slowing down the aging process. This helps prevent muscular degeneration as well as many problems of the nervous system.
• Metabolism stimulating effect.
• Psychic effect: removes fatigue and depression. Gives a feeling of energizing and it’s efficient in removing mental stress. It’s also useful for removing mental exhaustion, neuralgia and mental fatigue as well as exhaustion from too much involvement and agitation. It’s also good for rebuilding the state of spirit. Periodic massage with this essential oil brings mental clarity. It removes anxiety and nervous tension and it’s useful for those people suffering from loss of mental concentration and memory.
• Deodorant, aromatic effect: impregnates the products it is placed in with a pleasant scent. It’s used in the production of perfumes and flavors. It’s also used as a massage and bath oil.
• Disinfectant action: it is an extremely potent cleaning agent and can be added in room sprays. It has been noted that it is effective in killing many house germs, including mold, spores and E.coli.
• Placed on the animals’ fur, it removes fleas. Also, it can alleviate the itching from flea bites. The area has to be periodically searched for signs of allergic reaction: reddening or swelling.
Pine essential oil has no known toxicity. But it might cause skin rashes in people with sensitive skin, if applied undiluted, straight on the skin.
yogaesoteric
january 2015
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