Aromatherapy means "treatment using scents". It is a holistic treatment for the body using pleasant smelling oils such as rose, lemon, lavender and peppermint. In other words recognizing the power of plants and using it for regeneration, revitalizing and healing forms the crux of aromatherapy. The essential oils are added to the bath or massaged into the skin, inhaled directly or diffused to scent an entire room.

The two precepts central to aromatherapy are:

• the power of the sense of smell, and
• the relationship between human beings and plants.

Thousands of years of experience and extensive modern research carried out over several decades in many different places forms the bedrock of the principles of aromatherapy.