Papers:
Martin Watt .  Rob Pappas.  Rachel Hertz .  Arthur Phillips. 
Butch Owen.  Robert Rogers.  Mikael Zyat.  Susan Renkell.

Below are summaries of papers presented at the conference. Full versions are available from the IATA office. http://www.aroma-iata.com

Nothing in this file may be copied for teaching or lecture purposes without the written permission of IATA and the individual authors.

Important Note: Some lecturers presented information on 'safety untested' essential oils. It is against the policy of IATA to recommend such extracts for use on the skin. IATA cannot take responsibility for the misuse of any information provided in these lectures.

Subject of Lecture:
Quality Control of Aromatherapy Education.

I would like to thank Lynn Bosman for pushing ahead with this event despite numerous obstacles. IATA is not an organisation with big cash reserves and so it was a big gamble on Lynn's part to get this thing off the ground. I am delighted that we have managed to get some extremely knowledgeable people as speakers. Our conference is aimed at providing a good educational experience, rather than just a jamboree with the trades gods and goddess's as you get at most aromatherapy conferences.

Since 1985 I have been assembling what is now a small mountain of information on the uses and side effects of essential oils and ailed products. Some of you are already aware of my involvement with IATA as provider of educational materials. I have always refused to allow teachers access to my information resources who simply want adds-on to the existing nonsense they teach. My only interest is in trying to help those that will accept a lot of what they have taught is wrong, and who are prepared to bite the bullet and move away from the organisations that promote the poor education endemic in aromatherapy.

Huge amounts of good information on all aspects of essential oils are out there if you know where to look. I get very annoyed when I hear people saying "well there is not much research on aromatherapy". The problem has arisen because the early writers and teachers had so little training in anything, that they did not have a clue on the vast amounts of research done by trades not associated with aromatherapy. The whole trade still tends to revolve around these early authors and the innumerable copying of their literature done since.

Many of the poorly educated teachers in aromatherapy say "who the heck does he think he is insisting on vetting what people teach". Fair comment, I do not approve of anyone setting themselves up as something above the rest unless they really are. So let me briefly next tell you about how I have tried to establish my own set of rules on how to sort out what should be taught and what should not. I had to develop my own system because no one else in this trade 5 years ago had attempted any kind of quality control of educational materials. Even now very few do and most don't have a clue how to do this. Of course if this occurred widely, it would forever expose the people responsible for teaching and writing the trash.

Below are my own quality control criteria, in a teachers tuition notes I ask:

1. On the items below, things are easily checkable and truths and untruths can be reasonably easily ascertained.

a) Is the material on the production, side effects and therapeutic effects of aromatics as accurate as it is possible to establish.
Safe use of the essential oils and other materials should always be number one priority. In IATA we do not permit the use of any oils on which researched safety data is not available. No other aromatherapy organisation in the world takes this stand. Only now are a few starting to contemplate it.

b) Are there any references and are the references valid?
Validity or relevance of scientific references is one of the biggest errors made in aromatherapy. One common error is that a scientist has tested the use of a single chemical internally. Aromatherapy authors - because of their lack of basic knowledge - then assume that any essential oil containing that chemical will do the same job when the oil is externally used. This is like saying if you find out what powdered cinnamon bark does when taken as a medicine, then applying it on your skin it will do the same job, that is plain crazy, but aromatherapy is riddled with those kinds of errors.

c) Are the botanical names correct?
The answer to this is frequently not, although at least this aspect has improved over the last 5 years.

d) Are the growth and habitat details given on the oil yielding plants correct?
Since essential oils are produced in many parts of the world this can of course be highly variable. However, when I see course notes that say for example: "Basil oil-country of origin France" then I know this person simply does not know their subject.

e) Are the details given on the oils chemistry and production correct?
Frequently I will find that the details on composition have been copied from an aromatherapy book rather than from a book or published papers on essential oils. Also the trade established concept that an essential oil can only be an essential oil if it is steam distilled is often repeated ad nauseum.

f) Are the safety precautions correct?
Frequently these are taken from aromatherapy books rather than from the original sources such as RIFM or other referenced sources. Frequently a whole load of trash is included on things such as effects on blood pressure, pregnancy and epilepsy, again the source is the aromatherapy novelists.

g) Is the historical information reasonably accurate?
Here a little leeway can be given because of the problems associated with checking some historical information. However, when I see statements such as "Gattefosee and Valnet were the first to introduce the medical use of essential oils", then I know this is incorrect. Or I see that the Ancient Egyptians were the first to use aromatic extracts, then this is also not accurate.

2. Bearing in mind that a lot of the actions generally attributed to essential oils are unknown or poorly documented, then this has to be split further into areas that we can establish facts, and items where there are grey areas.

a) Is a precise physical medicinal claim made, for example "grapefruit oil cures cellulitis". Is the claim referenced and if so to what source. Is the claim justifiable or not.
This area is without doubt the most abused in aromatherapy. As I was trained as a herbalist I can look at a claim and know immediately if the claim comes from the traditional internal use of herbs. 9 out of 10 such claims made within aromatherapy are just that. In most cases the claims are totally incorrect.

b) Is a therapeutic claim made where the effects could only be achieved via the internal use of the oil. For example the many claims of actions on the liver.

c) Is the claim made one where the emotional state is a factor. For example relaxation, stimulation, etc.
Since such effects are notoriously difficult to pin down, then here a fair amount of leeway can be given. All that needs checking is if an essential oil happens to be a well acknowledged stimulant such as rosemary, then would it be advisable to recommend this for helping sleep. In such matters I always advise to not make hard and fast rules though.

3. Are the details on how aromatherapy may work as accurate as possible.

a) Does the writer (as is common) put all their eggs into the basket of 'skin absorption' being the mechanism by which aromatherapy works.

b) Do they hedge their bets by also talking about the primary mode of action being on the olfactory senses, and then in passing mention skin absorption.
Fortunately I am starting to see the later become commoner. I take some of the credit for this as I have been trying to batter down these unsound concepts on skin absorption being the primary route of action for years.

c) Does the writer talk a lot about the emotional factors involved in a good aromatherapy treatment.

d) Does the writer talk a lot about how massage itself affects the physiology of the body as well as psychological factors.

e) Does the writer take a more holistic approach and say that many factors are involved in the therapy, rather than just one or two?
This writer would immediately go up in my estimation.

I also want to know who the teacher trained with?
That one factor alone tells me a lot about their levels of knowledge. This is because over the years I have been given copies of course notes from the biggest names in the trade. Therefore, I can check on what is being taught and on its accuracy. It is quiet surprising the numbers of students who feel unhappy about the quality of their training. They often ask me for my opinion and I will do them a written report for free as long as I see their printed course notes. However, when it comes to them doing something with what I have given them, nothing happens. I am truly amazed that by now no aromatherapy school has been sued for selling phoney goods and services as the evidence really is not difficult to find, but I am not aware of this happening.

If aromatherapy were like herbal medicine in the UK and you had to study for 3-4 years, then I would want the respective specialists to vet the courses. For example an expert in the chemistry of essential oils, a botanist, a specialist in distillation and extraction, etc. However, as aromatherapy stands at the moment, with its short courses, most teachers simply can't afford to pay for real experts. For those people at the head of the bigger training organisations, why pay for experts when you are making good money selling trash. Not good commercial sense, they certainly won't change their ways until the law gets involved.

It is critically important to the future of aromatherapy that the trade as a whole starts to properly evaluate its fundamental knowledge base. For the last 20 or so years it has grown as an offshoot of the beauty therapy trade and carried with it all the hype and lies promoted by that trade. However, this cannot continue for much longer. Legislators around the world, particularly in Europe, are starting to formulate restrictive legislation which will affect anyone offering any kind of medical services. There is also a big push by the EEC as well as bodies like the Codex Alimentarious committee to restrict the sale of "medicinal" botanical remedies which includes of course essential oils.

What needs looking at apart from the general accuracy of courses and literature?

Does aromatherapy work?
Most people in this audience will of course say yes it does.
What I would say is; yes it works superbly for certain types of problems, but not at all for others, particularly the conditions often quoted in aromatherapy books.

So we need to know which conditions it really is good for and which conditions are better left to other therapists like herbalists.

We have to ask what the existing trade associations are doing on this. Answer is not a lot. They set standards on things like the number of hours that students are taught on the different subjects, some even insist that teachers take a course on how to teach. To me it is idiotic if a teacher is excellent at presentation, but their knowledge on the subject has been gleaned from aromatherapy or other suspect sources of information, but regretfully that is the norm in our trade, nothing changes!

The larger associations, if they so chose, could organise small scale clinical trials of what their members do, but to date I can only think of one poorly conducted trial that has been done. All these organisations dare not undertake a root and branch evaluation, because if they did they would destroy the reputation of their founding members as well as many current leaders and teachers.

How does it work?
To me this is of far lower importance than which conditions it works best on? We should never forget that the "how does it work scenario" is far from black and white with many conventional medical treatments and drugs. However, what badly needs scrutiny is what is taught to students on how aromatherapy works. We need far more emphasis placed on the holistic nature of the therapy, (the package deal), and far less placed on the skin absorption theories, or the fantasies about the energies in essential oils.

We need far more detailed differentiation on what are facts in this trade and what are unverified philosophical concepts. All of the course notes I have come across jumble this all up into a hotch potch which only one student in a hundred is able to unravel. Regretfully few people nowadays are educated on how to think. Rather the emphasis is on "learn this then regurgitate it in your examinations and all will be well".

On many occasions people have said "well if you know so much why don't you help the aromatherapy organsations rather than keep criticising them". Fair comment, but my answer to this is: I do not sell essential oils, I do not write novels that sell thousands of copies, I do not run my own training school, and I no longer practice as a therapist. Therefore, my extremely limited income comes from my publications, a little teaching and from consultation work for companies. I have devoted years to gathering and evaluating information relating to essential oils and at huge cost in time and money. Most of the leading figures in these organisations have a long history of pirating information and incorporating it into their lousy courses and books. So I am not about to go helping confidence tricksters improve their standards at my cost.

This problem of people wanting free information is an epidemic in aromatherapy. People email me asking where they can find the kind of information I have. What they really mean is "where can I find this without paying much for it". Unfortunately, although the Internet is wonderful, in aromatherapy it is engendering a mentality of 'what information can I get for free'. I found time and time again on the IDMA newsgroup that even businesses were using it as a way of extracting information from experts. Information that they should get by buying the appropriate reference materials.

When I trained as a herbalist we had to purchase exactly the same textbooks that doctors use. Many of us had to suffer real hardship to do that, because these kind of books cost a fortune. In aromatherapy you will only find one person in maybe two hundred that will pay for good materials. The remainder shut their wallets sharp if something is going to cost more than say 50 dollars. In my opinion this can only be resolved if we can get people to appreciate aromatherapy as a proper profession. At the moment it is still a sideline or pin money for most therapists.

Finally, we need to try and stop aromatherapists from being jack of all trades master of none. So often you will see people on the Internet pontificating on nutrition, medicine, chemistry, biology, psychology, history, philosophy, etc. etc. without ever having studied any of these subjects. They have just picked up snippets of each subject from teachers on short courses or by reading popular books on the subject, rather than proper textbooks written for the respective disciplines.

I hope this does not all sound doom and gloom, I have just given a snippet of the problems we face in trying to get aromatherapy accepted as a useful and professional therapy. I will give more examples of the hype in the workshop tomorrow about what essential oils can and can't do (available in text from IATA).

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Subject of Lecture:
Artemisia aborescens and chemical data on other oils.

Summary: There are literally thousands of essential oils and botanical extracts that are potentially very useful for aromatherapy as well as in the flavor, fragrance, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries, of which only a tiny fraction are currently utilized on any kind of significant production scale. This report will highlight some lesser known essential oils as well as present a reinvestigation of more familiar ones.

Case 1: Artemisia Arborescens
• The domestic variety is one of the highest known chamazulene-containing essential oils.
Chemical composition: Main peaks-Chamazulene 39.60%, camphor 16.71%, germacrene D 7.15%. Myrcene 5%.

Other Chamazulene yielding oils for comparison:

Potential Commercial Uses:
• Source of natural blue colorant.
• In natural skin care cosmetic preparations as a natural anti-inflammatory agent.
• Can be potentially used in formulations normally calling for German (Blue) camomile with the advantages of greatly improved adder and with lower quantities needed to accomplish the same final concentration of chamazulene.
• Apparently less susceptible to oxidation than blue chamomile.

Case 2. Lomatium Californicum.
Potential Commercial Uses:
• Obvious usefulness as a celery and/or soup flavor ingredient.
• More potent celery flavor due relatively high ligustilide content.
• More typical of the perceived celery flavor than even celery seed oil.
• Arctander's organoleptic description of ligustilide: "Very powerful, warm-spicy-herbaceous and sweet odor of excellent tenacity. In concentrations below 5 ppm the flavor is warm-spicy, herbaceous, often described as soup-like."

Chemical Composition: Limonene 88.93%, Ligustilide 5.23%. Compared to celery seed oil with Ligustilide of 2.41%

Case 3: Birch Bark.
Birch oil from the bark of Betula lenta (also called sweet or southern birch) was widely used in this country since before the turn of the century. Exhibiting virtually the same flavor as wintergreen oil (Gaultheria procumbens), the birch/wintergreen flavor has been established as one of the most popular and typical North American flavors. Prior to WWI the annual production of birch oil was about 200 tons. The flavour of both birch and wintergreen are very similar to methyl salicylate, the main component of each of the oils, and this similarity, along with the inexpensive, mass production of methyl salicylate, has led to the demise of both birch and wintergreen oil production. Yet many companies still sell products under the premise of being 100% natural oils of birch and wintergreen. When these samples are analyzed by GC/MS they almost always show only one significant peak, methyl salicylate at 99.99%.

Conclusion: Due to its extremely low yield and high production costs, true birch oil no longer exists in the market and most all products sold as birch are merely synthetic methyl salicylate or else a mixture of methyl salicylate with some added terpenes to make the product appear more "natural".

Case 4: Vanilla Absolute.
• Vanilla planifolia: rarely available in unadulterated form.

Slide examples were presented of commercial absolutes and the real thing.

Case 5: Ledum Groenlandicum.
Chemical composition: Main peaks-beta-selinene 18%, limonene 8.25%, hydrated menthatrienes 10%.

Structures for Important Flavor Components of Ledum were given.
Comparison to Curry Oil (Murraya koenigii).

Potential Commercial Uses.
• Curry flavor applications or other spice flavor formulations.
• Good alternative source (other than celery seed oil) for beta-selinene
• Ongoing research to elucidate the exact structures of the hydrated menthatrienes and investigate their individual organoleptic and therapeutic qualities.

Please Note: The technical information, references and acknowledgementsin this lecture is available only in the printed text from the IATA office.

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Subject of Lecture:
Odor-Associated Memory.

Summary: To test the claim that odors are the "best" cues to memory, a number of cross-modal experiments were conducted in which odors were compared with verbal, visual, tactile and musical stimuli as associated memory cues. Each experiment comprised two sessions (learning and test) separated by two days. At the learning session, a series of sensory stimuli were incidentally associated to a set of emotionally arousing pictures. For example, a set of odors was paired with viewing a set of pictures, and then a set of visual items was paired with another set of pictures, and a set of tactile items was paired with a third set of pictures.

After experiencing each cue-picture pair for one minute, subjects were asked to write a description of the picture and to rate their responses to it. Subjects were never told that their memories for the pictures were later going to be tested, but when they came back two days later (test session) they were re-presented with the sensory stimuli and asked to recall their memories for the pictures. Two facets of memory were assessed: accuracy and emotionality. Accuracy was defined as correctly remembering what picture had been associated to each cue, and emotionality was measured both by participant's self-report and by their heart rate changes during recall.

The results from every experiment showed that odors evoked more emotional memories than did any other type of sensory stimulus; however, memory accuracy was not affected by the type of cue associated to the picture. These findings show that odor-evoked memories are distinguished from all other sensory memory experiences by their potent emotionality. These findings further imply that it is emotional saliency, rather than the accuracy of memory that is responsible for the impression that odors are the "best" cues to memory.

Odors as Conditioned Cues for Emotion and Behaviour

Rachel Herz has proposed that odors which are experienced during an emotionally arousing event can acquire the meaning of that event and then when later encountered evoke emotions similar to those associated with the original experience.

To test this hypothesis an experiment was conducted where 5-year- old children were exposed to an unfamiliar ambient odor while they performed a frustration/failure task.

Results showed that the children who did the worksheet task in a room that was scented with the SAME odor as the failure-maze did much worse than children in the DIFFERENT and NO ODOR conditions. In fact performance in the different and no odor conditions was the same.

These findings show that an odor which has been associated to the experience of failure and frustration can influence behaviour in a similar direction in other situations when it is present. This further shows that there is nothing inherent about an odor which influences mood or behaviour, but rather as a result of the associations that have been made to an odor it becomes capable of eliciting moods and modifying responses. These findings have important implications for the use of odors in positive conditioning manipulations. Examples include improving the performance and behaviour of children at school and at home, as well as modifying addictive behaviour in adults.

Conclusions

Rachel Herz concludes that the findings from her research suggest that memories evoked by odors have several special characteristics related to their emotional quality. Memories elicited by odors are more emotionally potent than memories evoked by other sensory stimuli, and when salient emotion is experienced during odor exposure, the effectiveness of an odor memory cue is enhanced. Moreover, she has shown that odors can become conditioned to emotional states and subsequently influence behaviour in accordance with the individual's associational history with that odor. In addition, her work has shown that novel and contextually distinctive odors make the best memory cues, presumably because more attention is paid to them.

References and acknowledgement: In the proceedings from the IATA office.
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Subject of Lecture:
Accountability from Propagation to Distillation
and Production.

Summary: Years ago parts of the British Isles were renownd for certain oils such as Lavender in the county of Norfolk and Peppermint in Mitcham, Surrey. These days the Lavender of Norfolk has not held significance in the market like the Lavenders of France and other European origins and Mitcham grows little more than concrete jungles and the occasional blade of grass in a paddock for a pony.

Growers in Britain are in desperate trouble and they are searching for alternatives, one specialist area for essential oils is aromatherapy.

I set up Elixarome Limited to try to help the English growers whilst at the same time I wanted to bring my 38 years of experience into the aromatherapy essential oils business because I have seen the huge amount of adulterated oils being sold in the industry. I have set up a complete facility to scrutinise our oils and offer to the trade a complete range of essential oils of outstanding purity and naturalness.

Aromatherapy demands totally pure and true to species oils and I saw an ideal opportunity to help create an English essential oils trade with total accountability from propagation through distillation to market. The truth is there are no experts in the marketing train of aromatherapy essential oils. There are many that claim to know the subject but in fact they only think they know.

I will now demonstrate, through discussion and a few slides, just how we have built up a production system to be proud of and one that aromatherapists and related trades can have full confidence in. One that the rest of the world should follow.

The starting point for any growing enterprise is with the seed or baby plant. Propagation of the optimum species to suit the soil and expected climate conditions is a science on its own. Specialists in this field from both industry and the British government laboratories at Rothamsted have provided expertise and facilities for the growing of the modules. Trials in the intended sites over several years, including analyses of the essential oils on a weekly basis during the season provide us with a knowledge of the optimum variety of each species. The modules are produced under strict conditions and careful control of the system.

Slides of the planting processes and growing Melissa, Chamomile, Lavender, Sage, Rosemary, Coriander and mint were shown. Many acres of planted land were shown.

The next stage of the process is harvesting. A special trailer that attaches to an agricultural tractor and called a tube is used for the storage, transportation and distillation of the harvested crop. It can be taken to the crop and then taken to the distillation plant without extra handling. It is then used directly in the distillation process.

Slides showing the various methods of harvesting including hand and machine processes were shown.

As soon as the crop is harvested the tub is taken to the distillation facility immediately and connected up. Steam is injected through pipes and after passing through the crop it is conducted to the still where the essential oil is separated. A proper boiler is needed to control the flow and pressure - no simple boiling vessel but a complex piece of electronically controlled equipment for absolute control and accountability every time.

A gas liquid chromatograph is often quoted by dealers in the aromatherapy trade. They quote it and they pretend it is some sort of authority in ensuring purity. It is no more use in the wrong hands than a blow up doll is to a male hedgehog. You have to know how to interpret a chromatogram and that takes years of training and a deep knowledge of the chemistry of the oils and their adulterants.

Our mass spectrometer coupled to the gas chromatograph enables the expert to identify the peaks. But still there is no guarantee that the peak you see is natural. Chemicals of synthetic origin are added to natural oils to cheapen them and the skill is to know and identify such adulteration. We are the experts in this subject and we know exactly how to analyse an oil. The whole point about our English production is the accountability from the baby plant, through the planting and growing to the distillation. There is no possibility of adulteration when you have total control and total records of the whole process. There are no middlemen to interfere and yet we still analyse everything and ensure full quality analysis on every batch.

The only way to do the job properly is to monitor the oil every week and to plot a graph of the chemistry of the oil. When the chemistry approaches the optimum you can extend the graph and choose the moment to harvest. There is much more to it than just the yield. To wait for maximum yield might result in a bigger quantity of an inferior oil. We analyse the oil for optimum composition using our knowledge of what it should be. We alert the grower and organise the harvest and distillation at the optimum moment. This takes careful planning from the planting onwards because it is not possible to distill everything at the same time.

Graphs were shown of peppermint oil chemistry against time. The inversion point of menthol and menthone in the oil were indicated. The optimum harvest time is between 5th and 13th September 1997 for this particular crop and year.

Graphs of Peppermint Oil chemistry were shown indicating the difference between the altitudes of the growers. One graph shows an altitude of 500m with the inversion point on 25th July. A second graph shows what happens at 800m with the inversion point on 1st September. The harvests will come shortly after inversion.

This kind of close scrutiny and close cooperation with the growers results in a thoroughly professional organisation and hopefully a very successful future for our beleaguered farmers.

More in the workshop later.
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Subject of Lecture:
Essential Oil Quality Control and
Import and Export Facts.

Summary: Butch began his lecture with discussion on the dos and don'ts of international trade in essential oils. He pointed out that it is a risky business in that failure to deliver or receive payment was very difficult to overcome because most essential oils are produced in third world and emerging countries and the U.S. and Canada rarely have Reciprocal Enforcement Agreements with these countries. Thus, even a U.S./Canadian court order or decision would be next to useless to gain relief. He stated that some ways around these risks are as follows.

a. Do not order FOB. Try to avoid paying cash in advance, though most sellers will demand this. Cash Against Goods is the safest way to purchase oils from an international seller.

b. A Bank Letter of Credit, Irrevocable, and Payable after testing and acceptance.

c. Use of an International Certifying Agency at seller's port.

d. Use of one of the newly formed escrow agencies. These agencies hold the funds until the buyer is satisfied; they then release the funds to the seller.

e. Travel yourself; it might be wise to travel to the country, take possession of the oils, test them in a local laboratory and then ship them.

f. Hire a Western middle man - the American or Canadian contracts with a U.S. or Canadian based company for X amount of oils.

Mr. Owen then discussed the necessity for laboratory analysis of all essential oils and the problems associated with this when buyers only purchase in small quantities. In such cases, they should demand a copy from the wholesaler, who should in turn demand a copy from the bulk buyer. In many cases, the bulk buyer has received a GC test from the distiller - so why is this test not passed down?

He mentioned that there was one company selling a number of absolutes that were alleged to be Turkish - the problem was that these were not produced in Turkey. If the origin is misrepresented, it follows that one should question the purity.

The general opinion of the AT community is that there is a proliferation of adulterated oils on the market. If this is true, and considering that everyone says aromatherapy works, it leads one to a conclusion that either aromatherapy is a bunch of psychological hype or it matters not whether the oils are pure or not - we can't have it both ways.

Next, Mr. Owen touched on the issue of Organic vs. Certified Organic, and stated that he believed that enforcement of the discipline and rules involved in certifying the product was more a matter of luck. Aromatic plants in Turkey are either wild-grown or grown without the use of commercial chemical additives because the farmers can't afford to buy them.

Mr. Owen then conducted a slide briefing showing various aromatic plants in Turkey. These included wild grown Origanum vulgare, Origanum onites, Origanum marjorana, Origanum dubium, Rosmarinus officinalis, Myrtus communis, Laurus nobilis and Salvia fruticosa. One interesting part of the briefing was a viewing of the Hittite city of Perge, founded in 1,500 BC. Throughout the city one could see wildgrown origanums and rosemary.

He went on to show slides of organic crops of aromatic plants, including the following: Pimpinella anisum, Foeniculum vulgare and Micromeria fruticosa (Turkish pennyroyal). Throughout this presentation, there were slides interspersed showing various still operations and the crews Mr. Owen worked with for distillation, as well as some of the beautiful natural scenery along the Turkish Mediterranean coastline.

Next was a slide briefing of the cultivation and production of Turkish Rose Otto - Anatolian Rosa damascena. This slide presentation began with the picking of roses in the field and continued through the entire process - transport to the stills, loading of the stills, the actual distillation process, emptying of the stills, and separation of the oils. During this presentation, all participants were given samples of Turkish Rose Otto to enhance the visual presentation.

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Subject of Lecture:
Distillation of Oils from the Canadian Northern Prairies
and Saskatchewan.

Summary: Robert gave an informal lecture talking about the potential and actual production of essential oils on the Canadian Prairies. Slides of the plants were shown simultaneously. Some of the plants discussed were the commercial oils such as peppermint, spearmint, dillweed and dillseed, and caraway. Mentioned for potential in the future and already distilled in small scale, were Anise Hyssop, various Artemisias, beeswax and honey absolutes, paper birch, beta asarone free calamus root, diamond willow fungus (Haploporous odoratus), pearly everlasting, false indigo (Amorpha fructicosa), fleabane, sweet gale, goldenrod, wild ginger, gumweed, juniper berry, labrador tea, meadowsweet, wild mint, mock orange, parsnip, monarda (wild bergamot), wild rose, wolf willow, Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia), Blue Sage (Salvia nemorosa), St. John's Wort, and sweetgrass.

On Sunday, Robert Rogers gave a workshop that looked at both essential oil possibilities and sun-infused carrier oils.

Among the plants discussed were Arnica, canola, borage, broomweed, burreed, buttercup, carrot, clematis, sweet flower, coltsfoot, cilantro, cow parsnip, red and black currants as absolutes.

Also examined were the capric acids from the seed oil of American Elm, for a variety of medicinal purposes. Bilaree, and true wild geraniums were examined for essential oils. Fireweed was discussed as an excellent anti-inflammatory that in laboratory studies is as good as hydrocortisone for various skin problems.

Also mentioned was Gas Plant (Dictamnus albus) essential oil, horsetail essential oil, Khella, or Ammi visnaga essential oil, labrador carrier oil, various lichens, lilac as sun infused; lomatium, hemp as seed oil for nutrition and for creams and lotions. Robert Rogers also discussed mullein flowers as a carrier oil, as well as stinging nettle seed oil, oat oil, and parsnip root essential oil and its relationship to pheromones.

Both aspen and balsam poplar were discussed as essential and carrier oil potential. Purslane was mentioned as one of the highest omega three sources of fatty acids in the vegetable kingdom. Also mentioned were raspberry essential oil, radish essential oil, and a CO2 rosemary being produced in Edmonton.

Sea Buckthorn and its potential were mentioned, both for the fruit and seed oil, as well as essential oil production. Self Heal, Senega root, Shepherd's Purse, and Smoke Tree (Cotinus coggygria) were reviewed as well. Tansy essential oil, Toadflax, and yarrow were also mentioned.

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Subject of Lecture:
Canadian essential oils such as spruce,
pines, cedars.

Summary: Quebec produces some twenty essential oils. Most of them come from conifer trees. I tried them and found that they are very powerful and present less adverse effects than most imported oils. As President of the Quebec Essential Oil Distillers Association, I can assure you that the local distillers put all their efforts to producing the best quality essential oils possible. We produce oils from trees that are lumbered for their wood.

Balsam Fir is one of the most distinctive trees found in Eastern Canada. The essential oil from this tree is an excellent atmospheric antiseptic, especially useful in family reunions. When nebulised it purifies and perfumes the atmosphere, making it easier to protect oneself against infections. It is antitussive, expectorant and mentally stimulating.

Black spruce (Picea mariana) this wide-spread Canadian conifer offers a very invigorating essential oil. For bronchitis, chronic fatigue and rheumatic muscular pain.

White pine (Pinus strobus) this pine is the tallest conifer in Eastern Canada. It is the emblem tree of Ontario. Its essential oil is particularly recommended for bronchitis, sinusitis, asthma, and other bronchial conditions. In microdiffusion it helps disinfect the air and ease breathing.

Canadian Tsuga this is Canada's most graceful conifer. It can be distinguished from all other eastern conifers for its summit branch bending towards the east. Essential oil from this big conifer is physically and mentally beneficial. It is useful for people suffering from asthma and respiratory weakness.

Canadian Mint (Mentha canadensis). Last summer, we distilled two kilos of wild Canadian mint. This herb is rich in essential oils highly praised for their digestive qualities. A friend of mine who is a massotherapist, swears only by this oil for relieving headaches and clearing sinuses.

Other oils mentioned included: Arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis); Tamarack (Larix laricina); Goldenrod (Solidago canadensis); Yarrow (Achillea millefolium); Labrabor Tea (Ledum groenlandicum). Details and references in full proceedings from the IATA office.

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Subject of Lecture:
Aromatherapy & Minimizing Stress:
A Holistic Approach To Health.

Summary: What if I told you that you could possess the most powerful healing tool? I hope that when you leave here today, you will know that it is in your possession!

Other goals in this presentation are to provide a working definition of health and how it applies to a holistic practice in Aromatherapy and to challenge some of the views you might have on Aromatherapy as a Holistic Healing Modality.

PERCEPTIONS / REACTIONS TO "DOING SOMETHING" ABOUT STRESS:
Poll Results / 35 people responding.

-- Perceived inability to cope with daily life.

-- Character flaw or weakness.

-- Feel so helpless and out of control already and nothing will make a difference.

-- Simply not ready to face issues that might come up during meditation.

-- Unable (unwilling) to commit to making any changes whatsoever in their life style even though they know changes are needed.

-- Fear of being unsuccessful, and feeling even more like a failure if they try to do something about their stress.

-- Know they are headed for disaster but unable to find the time.

-- Frustrated because they tried at least one technique and it didn't get immediate results.

BENEFITS OF MEDITATION: Just as there are many misconceptions about stress, these misconceptions seem to carry over into what people think meditation is all about. In reality, almost any highly focused activity can be meditation. Some produce more profound benefits than others. Meditation simply means focusing one's awareness. It can be a focus on simply clearing one's mind and "being in the moment," a particular thought, idea, sound, action, one's body, breathing, a scent, or a wide array of other things. The main thing is focused awareness.

- Oxygen consumption decreases, our breathing slows, heart rate slows, we enter what is called a hypo-metabolic state.

- Blood lactate levels decrease by about 40% in just 10 minutes.

- A third, but not final, benefit of meditation is an increase in alpha brain waves.

- Regular meditation can frequently lower blood pressure, but only if you have high blood pressure. Normal or low blood pressure is not affected.

- Regular meditation, (due to its physiologic effects) can boost immunity as well as aid in the control of symptoms for those suffering from at least some auto-immune dysfunction.

There followed a description of various meditation methods.

ESSENTIAL OILS USED WITH STRESS MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES:

-- Can help with memory and/or emotional connections.

-- Assist in memory recall and potentially initiate an immediate relaxation response if coupled with frequent, regular meditation or other relaxation modalities.

-- Enhance ability to focus, relax, or may have spiritual effects.

-- Great deal of empirical backing for oils such as lavender, roman chamomile, clary sage, rose, etc., to be soothing / relaxing.

-- Incorporating behavior modification techniques / reward systems.

-- Use in bath, shower, bedtime activities by creating a "self care ritual" which provides encouragement for client to continue, and expand things they are currently doing to enhance relaxation.

-- Use oils via an aromatic vial that is closed but can be opened easily, when in tense situations i.e.dentist, traffic jams, long lines, etc.

The bottom line is, meditation of any sort (that is going to be beneficial) does take practice. Lots of practice in fact, but it doesn't take a great deal of time. Just 10 minutes a day, that is all that is needed to reap some dramatic rewards!! Please, don't expect to sit down, quiet the mind, focus on breathing (or a mantra, a sound or ...) and receive tremendous benefits from it the first few times. Would we expect to sit down at a piano and play like a master pianist after one or two lessons? Even learning to ride a bike, or drive a car or motorcycle takes some practice! The longer you do it, the harder you work at it, the easier it becomes. Regular meditation, 10 minutes a day is the key. If 10 minutes is too much, cut the time in half, just do it!

This lecturers notes contain substantial additional information to that above. Available in the full IATA proceedings.

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