aromatherapy, the workplace and the customer
Offer fresh juice or herbal teas instead of coffee or black tea. Cantaloupe juice can help digestive upset because it contains the largest amount of digestive enzymes of any fruit, surpassing papaya and mangoes. It is high in provitamin A and vitamin C, as well as myoinositol, a lipid that relieves anxiety and insomnia. Historically, the ancient Greeks relied on celery for headaches. The sodium-potassium balance helps alleviate muscle cramping and fatigue. At the same time, celery-apple juice relieves anxiety and stress and it can also help with insomnia. Herbal teas such as chamomile, peppermint, lemon balm are helpful in relieving upset stomachs as well as calming frazzled nerves. Lemon balm and peppermint can be used for headaches
Reflexology and acupressure techniques can be used unobtrusively in the office or workplace. Reflexology is a technique of applying pressure to specific points on the feet, hands and ears to help promote relaxation and to improve health. You could simply use a foot roller to access these points. Acupressure is a similar technique to reflexology. Applying pressure to different parts of the body thereby affecting other areas of the body. For example for headache relief, press the point in the web of flash between thumb and forefinger.
Bach flower remedies are an unconventional therapy using flower-based remedies. Dr. Edward Bach, a British physician believed that negative thoughts and emotions predispose people to illness and create roadblocks to healing. He identified 38 healing plants, which corresponded to his classification of negative human emotions. Probably the best known is the Rescue Remedy, which is composed of five of the 38 remedies. It is mainly used for treating the emotional effects of sudden trauma, as well as episodes of panic, anxiety or dread.
The new field of psychoneurommunology is the study of complex hormonal, neurological and immunological functions that link emotions and health are finding that emotions may indeed influence physical well being. Dr. Edward Bach wrote, "Thus, behind all disease lie our fears, our anxieties, our greed, our likes and dislikes. Let us seek these out and heal them, and with the healing of them will go the disease from which we suffer."
Other techniques that could be used at home as well as, in some cases, the office to help combat job stress would be massage, yoga or natural herbal sleep aids.
Massage has many beneficial effects physically as well as mentally. It can help relax and stretch tight muscles, improve circulation, free trapped nerves, thereby helping to relieve pain.
The regular practice of yoga increases fitness, but is also an excellent way of reducing stress and improving concentration. Yoga allows you to develop strength as well as flexibility, but is so gentle it can be practiced by anyone at any age.
Finally, at the end of a long, hard day, the herb valerian can be used as a natural sleeping aid. Studies show that valerian contains tranquilizing and sedative properties similar to those of commercial sleep aids. It promotes relaxation while helping to overcome insomnia, anxiety and headaches. It can be used to a tea or a tincture.
The "Guardian" produced the following article which many may find of interest. It is reproduced here by kind permission:
What happens at work that means we put up with levels of slovenliness normally unacceptable from teenage boys? Kitchens that would disgrace a student hovel; piles of crap that hang around for weeks, months and sometimes years; the vaguely off-putting l'eau d'office you no longer even notice.
But it is there, believe me. Take a big, deep sniff of your office air and tell me what you find: a complex mix of old gym kit, lunch, slight grubbiness and 25 clashing perfumes. Delicious. Just the thing for promoting hard work and happiness, no?
Do you see where this is going now? It's not an attempt to make you all feel a bit dirty and ashamed (all offices are this bad), but the opportunity to create a stress-free, super-productive, sublimely aromatic working haven for you and your colleagues.
So, bring on the essential oils, and the touchy-feely approach to a good office environment begins here.
First things first: I'm not talking about air fresheners. You will not improve anything with that ageing bottle of Shake 'n' Vac, except perhaps your singing and dancing skills. Putting a load of chemicals into the already polluted air of your workplace is not going to help. Aromatherapy, which uses essential oils from nature, might.
You will need a bit of kit to get going - get people on your pod to chuck in a fiver each and you should be well away. You'll need to buy a diffuser for the office, which plugs in and gently heats the oil making it, well, diffuse; and a selection of essential oils. A tip: buy decent stuff.
But which oils should you be buying? It rather depends on what you want to do. Either way, you should be aiming for a light fragrance rather than a stifling, overpowering effect - the idea is to promote wellbeing in the office, not start fights over why it's stinkier now than it was before.
Talk to colleagues about whether they want to try to reduce stress, improve concentration, generally jolly things up a bit, or create a more soothing environment. And if they don't believe it will work? Let the oil do the talking.
Instead of the daily four o'clock chocolate fix, try using some uplifting oils. Grapefruit is particularly good, as are orange and lemon oils - all three have useful room-freshening properties, too - and neroli and may chang oils will refresh and rejuvenate. You'll be through those pesky end-of-day tasks and out the door before you know it.
For concentration, rosemary, cypress and peppermint can be useful; for stress relief, reach for lavender; to soothe, try bergamot or frankincense.
See? Even cynical me has been converted. So make those coworkers who loudly dismissed aromatherapy as a load of old bunkum eat their words. Oh, and tell them to lay off the overpowering perfume and smelly desktop lunches while they're at it - finally, it's goodbye l'eau d'office, hello essential wellbeing. Your nose will thank you.
Vicky Frost
Monday March 6, 2006
The Guardian
Your company is having a meeting with potential clients and you want to make sure everything is all set for their office visit. You've brought in donuts and coffee, and the conference room is looking good. However, you still think something may be missing to ensure the sale goes through the way you want it.
Enter the essence of aromatherapy. Essential oils have been used since ancient Egyptian times to enhance their surroundings and promote healing. The use of essential oils to set the mood has long been used by individuals to wind down in the evening or to create a relaxing atmosphere. Now more companies are turning to aromatherapy to increase worker productivity and the
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