If you've ever opened an aromatherapy book, looked at page after page of essential oil profiles and thought:
“How on earth am I supposed to remember all of this?”
You are definitely not alone.
When you first start studying aromatherapy, the amount of information can feel enormous.
Botanical names.
Plant families.
Extraction methods.
Chemical constituents.
Therapeutic properties.
Contraindications.
Top, middle and base notes.
Then somebody expects you to remember which oils blend with which!
The good news is that you don't need to memorise aromatherapy like one enormous shopping list.
There is a much better way to learn your oils.
Start by getting to know the plant
Before jumping straight to a list of properties, look at where the essential oil actually comes from.
What is the botanical name?
Which plant family does it belong to?
Which part of the plant is used?
Where does the plant grow?
Is the essential oil extracted from a flower, leaf, peel, wood, root, seed, grass or resin?
How is it extracted?
These details begin to give each oil its own identity.
Compare a citrus peel oil with an oil distilled from a resin or wood and you start seeing aromatherapy as a world of plants rather than rows of little brown bottles.
Smell your essential oils
This sounds obvious, but don't only read about your oils.
Smell them.
Using aroma strips can be a lovely way to study.
Write down your first impression before reading somebody else's description.
Does it smell fresh?
Sweet?
Green?
Woody?
Earthy?
Medicinal?
Floral?
Sharp?
Warm?
What does it remind you of?
Then leave the aroma strip and return to it later.
Has the aroma changed?
Can you understand why an oil might be described as a top, middle or base note?
You are creating associations with the oil, and associations are much easier to remember than a paragraph in a textbook.
Learn oils in groups
Rather than attempting to learn 30 essential oils independently, start spotting connections.
You could compare oils from the same plant family.
You could study several citrus oils together.
Compare floral oils.
Look at woody oils.
Explore oils containing similar key constituents.
Then ask what they have in common — and what makes each one different.
Patterns gradually start appearing.
And once you see those patterns, learning becomes much easier.
Don't try to memorise twenty properties for every oil
Long lists of therapeutic properties can make essential oil profiles look impressive, but they aren't always the easiest way to learn.
Start with a few characteristics that really define that oil for you.
Imagine somebody removed the label from the bottle.
What clues would help you identify it?
What makes this oil different from another one?
What are its most important safety considerations?
When might you consider using it?
What might you blend it with?
Build your knowledge in layers.
You can always add more detail later.
Compare similar oils
Comparison is one of the best learning tools.
Take lavender and lavandin, for example.
Or compare sweet orange, lemon and grapefruit.
Rather than studying each profile completely separately, place them next to each other.
What is similar?
What is different?
How do their aromas compare?
Would you choose them for the same reason?
Do their safety considerations differ?
This encourages you to think rather than simply memorise.
Create blends as part of your learning
Once you know the basic safety information for the oils you are studying, experimenting with blends can help bring your learning to life.
Try combinations on aroma strips first.
Choose three oils.
Why did you choose them?
Which is dominating the blend?
Does it need something softer?
Something fresher?
Something to give it depth?
What happens if you alter the proportions?
Keep notes.
One of the best things you can create as an aromatherapy student is your own record of blends.
Include the date, oils, proportions and what you thought of the finished aroma.
Trust me — “I'll remember what I put in this” is famous last words!
Keep your own essential oil profiles
Books and reference guides are invaluable, but your own notes can become just as useful.
For each oil, you could record:
• common and botanical name
• plant family
• plant part
• extraction method
• aroma description
• fragrance note
• key constituents
• key properties and uses
• safety information
• oils it blends particularly well with
• your own observations
Add to the profile as your knowledge develops.
Your first notes don't have to contain everything you will ever learn about that oil.
Aromatherapy knowledge grows over time.
You don't need to know everything
I've been working with aromatherapy for more than twenty years and I still look things up.
That isn't a failure to learn.
Knowing where to find reliable information is part of being a good practitioner.
There are hundreds of essential oils and an enormous amount of information surrounding their chemistry, uses and safety.
You are not supposed to carry an entire aromatherapy reference library around in your head.
What matters is developing a strong foundation and understanding how the different pieces fit together.
Want to start exploring essential oils in more detail?
I've created my Essential Oil Profiles Masterclass to help you look beyond simple lists of oil properties and develop a deeper understanding of the oils you use.
It is ideal for students, qualified therapists or anyone who simply loves aromatherapy and wants to keep learning.
And that really is the wonderful thing about aromatherapy.
There is always another plant to discover, another oil to explore and another blend to create.
Twenty-plus years later, I'm still learning too.
Karen x
Comments ()