Essential Oils - A Concise Manual
Essential Oils - A Concise Manual
Author: Nikki Darrell
Publisher: AEON Books
Copyright: 2022
ISBN: 180152016X / 978-1801520164
Pages: 190
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Essential Oils - A Concise Manual provides a wonderful overview and summary of essential oil usage and serves as a helpful, concise addition to the libraries of aromatherapy students and professionals.
Nikki Darrell has accomplished a tremendous feat by covering a large number of essential oil topics in less than 200 pages. If you are a serious aromatherapy student or professional looking to devour as much information on essential oils as you can, you will likely find a lot of insightful information in Essential Oils. Refer to the Table of Contents shown below for an overview of the many topics that are touched upon within the book.
I do feel compelled, however, to warn those new to working with essential oils to be particularly cautious not to depend exclusively on the safety chapter included in the book or the safety comments incorporated throughout the book. As a concise book, there is limited safety information, and a few of the essential oils listed within the "Essential oils safe at normal topical dilutions (0-3%) should be used at less than a fraction of a percent due to their likelihood of causing sensitization or a phototoxic reaction. The heading says (0-3%), but I'm concerned that will be confusing to those newer to working with essential oils. (One of the most trusted resources for safety information is the book Essential Oil Safety Edition 2 by Robert Tisserand.)
Use strong caution also with the formulations that call for using essential oils neat (undiluted) in or in large percentages. I strongly advise against the practice described within the section on Frictions.
If you are new or have limited experience working with essential oils, I do not recommend this book due to the concerning safety and formulation guidance.
Nikki Darrell included over 70 brief essential oil profiles within Essential Oils, and each profile averages approximately one-half to two pages. The typical format for each of the profiles is as follows:
- Plant Family
- Constituents
- Actions
- Uses
- Cautions (If Applicable)
From the Back Cover of Essential Oils - A Concise Manual
A concentrated yet foundational introduction into the bountiful chemistry and usage of essential oils.
Written to help herbal practitioners expand their therapeutic repertoire, Essential Oils, A Concise Manual draws on Nikki Darrell's forty years of experience to provide a look into the amazing capacity of essential oils in helping people with a wide range of health related issues. This book covers all bases, starting by exploring the nature of the different essential oils, the importance of quality and how to blend them. The author also looks at the profiles of certain oils, and how to use them effectively for different conditions.
"Nikki Darrell has distilled the essence of aromatic medicine to yield an intellectually concentrated yet beautifully diffusive description of all that you need to know about essential oil therapeutics in a book brimming over with botanical knowledge and Green healing wisdom." -- Gabriel Mojay, author of Aromatherapy for Healing the Spirit
The back cover also displays reviews by Christine Herbert, Jane Wallwork and Marie Reilly.
About the Author (From the Back Cover of Book)
Nikki Darrell has been working with plants, their medicine and healing for over four decades. She has worked as a research scientist in the field of plant science and is a practitioner of herbal medicine, aromatherapy, aromatic medicine, reflexology, massage, and body work. She is also a gardener and an educator at all levels from introductor to third level, as well as a campaigner, and author of five books and many articles.
Table of Contents for Essential Oils - A Concise Manual
The Table of Contents presented in the book is much more thorough than what appears below. The "Look Inside" feature on Amazon's book detail page shows the more comprehensive table of contents.
- Introduction
- Chapter 1: The nature of essential oils
- The extraction of essential oils
- Enfleurage
- Aromatic definitions
- Chapter 2: Selecting essential oils and aromatic waters for therapeutic use
- Chapter 3: Safety and contraindications
- Essential oils safe at normal topical dilutions (0-3%)
- Essential oils to be used with caution
- Essential oils used exceptionally and with due caution
- Contraindicated essential oils
- Chapter 4: Therapeutic applications and doses
- Dosages and dilutions
- Methods of delivery of essential oils
- Reflex points and applications
- Frictions
- Inhalation
- Internal Use
- Using essential oils in cooking and flavouring
- Chapter 5: The chemistry of essential oils
- Terpenes
- Alcohols, phenols, acids, and aromatic aldehydes
- Chapter 6: Olfaction - the sense of smell
- Olfaction and the psychology of fragrance
- Chapter 7: The art and therapeutics of blending
- Considerations when blending
- Chapter 8: Essential oil profiles
- Approximately 70 profiles (if I counted correctly) are featured within this chapter. The "Look Inside" feature on Amazon's book detail page shows a comprehensive list of the essential oils profiled in this chapter.
- Chapter 9: It's all about the base-carrier oils, macerated oils, and creams
- Selecting oils for medicinal and dietary use
- The nature of fats
- Fats sources
- Composition of fats
- A brief word about cholesterol
- Essential fatty acids and gamma-linoleic acid
- The chemistry of fats
- Refining and processing
- For and against refining
- Choosing base oils
- 37 very brief carrier oil profiles are featured in this chapter.
- Solid fats
- Macerated oils and herbal creams
- Chapter 10: Hydrosols/hydrolats/aromatic waters
- Uses and applications
- Chapter 11: Oils for the body systems and specific conditions
- Chapter 12: Essential oils and emotional health
- Essential oils and the mind
- Broad classifications
- Chapter 13: Formulations for various conditions
- Concluding Remarks
- Bibliography
- Index
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