Archivi categoria: Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy, Aromatic resins, Botanical perfumery, Emotional Aromatherapy, In English

Finding your inner strength back – the Omumbiri resin

The Himba people live in north-west Namibia, in the Kunene region. In these places people and plants live alongside a great aridity. One of the local plants that gives a resin with a deep and interesting fragrance is Commiphora wildii, known as Omumbiri.

Local projects exist to collect and distill Omumbiri and other plants, yet the raw resin is the easiest form to find, and it is easily appreciated in fumigation.

Omumbiri is usually collected and used by women. The resin is mixed with animal fat and red ochre earth to form a paste that is applied to the skin. According to tradition, this preparation protects the skin, regenerates it and heals.

The resin has a pungent, fresh, almost intoxicating scent, joined by a deep, calming note that keeps us centred and grounded. It is an ideal scent for moments when we need an inspiring force and a fragrance that helps us be present in the here and now, restoring our breath and supporting us in finding our inner strength.

If you like aromatic resins and especially myrrhs, have a look at Materia viva, the aromatic ezine about Kua Myrrh.

Aromatherapy, Emotional Aromatherapy, In English

Elemi, a balanced scent

Elemi (Canarium luzonicum), or Manila Elemi, is a tree endemic to the Philippines. It reaches a height of thirty metres and each tree can produce up to five kilograms of resin. It comes to us either as pure resin or as essential oil.

The aromatic resin is light yellow in colour, initially with a honey-like consistency and later when it hardens, it can be either medium soft or hard with inserts of bark and wood fragments.

Both the resin and the essence provide calmness and balance, with a spicy note that particularly emerges strongly in the essential oil.

The smell is fresh and reminiscent of pepper and lemon. You can perceive a feeling of connection between high and low, earth and sky, a balance of the bright side with the rooted, earthy side – the citrusy, spicy scent is intense and invites presence and calm.

When using the resin we are enveloped in the quiet, intense, fresh scent that can be an ideal accompaniment for meditation, reading, or a moment of simple relaxation and well-being.

The essential oil, rich in terpenes, sesquiterpenes and alcohols, is known to have healing, antiseptic, balsamic and stimulating/balancing properties. We can try using it in massages, foot baths and diffusing it in the environment, when we need both to feel “present” and a feeling of calm and active serenity.