Mmmm …
Smells Good, Tastes Great
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
❖ All about essential oils
❖ Aromatherapy and its origins
❖ Flowers can say it all
Ever walk by a bakery and have the aroma of warm chocolate croissants remind you of your romantic time in Paris? Or does the smell of a certain aftershave or cologne take you back to high school and the guy who got away? Imagine life without the scent of exotic perfumes, roasted coffee beans, or freshly cut grass. Perhaps more than any other sense, smell can transport you to your past just from a passing whiff. Harnessing the power of smell for your couple’s massage by using carefully selected essential oils, lighting aromatic candles, or even setting up your table by the ocean’s salty spray can take your experience to another level.
It wasn’t until 1937 that French chemist René-Maurice Gattefossé coined the term “aromatherapy,” although people had recognized the healing properties of aromatic plants for centuries. Aromatherapy uses essential oils (the liquid that is present in tiny droplets or sacs) from plants for the purpose of healing. An essential oil is what gives a rose its fragrance.
When essential oils are inhaled through the nasal passages or absorbed through the skin, they travel to the limbic region of the brain, which is responsible for memory and emotion.
Once you open yourself up to your emotions, there’s no telling what can happen. Those open, warm, juicy feelings of closeness or soft, gentle vulnerabilities may be all you need to be perfectly attuned for a tender touch exchange.
As noted in chapter 3, you can purchase essential oils from your local health store and add them to your carrier oil for your couple’s massage. The type of essential oil that you choose will determine the outcome: You can choose oils that are stimulating and invigorating or oils that are soothing and relaxing. The following table lists some properties of common and not-so-common essential oils.
ESSENTIAL OILS AND THEIR PROPERTIES
|
Aphro- disiac |
Calming | Cleansing | Sedative | Soothing | Stimulating | Warming | |
| Cedarwood | ✓ | ✓ | |||||
| Chamomile | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Cinnamon | ✓ | ||||||
| Clary sage | ✓ | ✓ | |||||
| Clove | ✓ | ✓ | |||||
| Cypress | ✓ | ||||||
| Eucalyptus | ✓ | ||||||
| Frankincense | ✓ | ||||||
| Jasmine | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Lavender | ✓ | ✓ | |||||
| Orange | ✓ | ||||||
| Patchouli | ✓ | ✓ | |||||
| Peppermint | ✓ | ||||||
| Rose | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| Rosemary | |||||||
| Sandalwood | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| Tea tree | ✓ | ||||||
| Wintergreen | ✓ | ✓ | |||||
| Ylang ylang | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Essential oils are highly volatile, meaning that they easily evaporate. Store them in dark glass containers away from direct sunlight. They should not be used directly on the skin, as they are potent and could irritate it. Always use them blended with a carrier oil by placing 5 to 15 drops of essential oil into 1 ounce of carrier oil.
Essential oils can also be blended together, which is known as synergy. One of our favorite blends for couple’s massage is jasmine and ylang ylang, equal parts of each. The jasmine is stimulating and the ylang ylang is soothing and sedative. For a calming effect, lavender is always the best, in combination with orange oil. To create a stimulating result, pour equal amounts of peppermint and rosemary oils into a diffuser for burning.
If romance is your goal, then here are three special “love potions” to set the mood. For an aphrodisiac massage combo, use anything with rose or ylang ylang, especially to ignite the fires in women. Put a few drops of each in a bowl of warm water, a diffuser, or even on a candle stand for at least 20 minutes in the room before you begin your massage. Another love treat is made by placing a few drops each of jasmine, rose, sandalwood, and bergamot in a carrier oil for the massage itself. Finally, you can add 10 drops each of ylang ylang, jasmine, sandalwood, patchouli, and clary sage into your bath to enhance your readiness for romance.
If you prefer to purchase essential oils already blended in a carrier oil, I have a product line called Natural Aromatics. You can choose from five different massage oil blends. The massage oil contains grape seed oil, which will help your hands glide with ease. Depending on your mood, you can choose from five different blends of essential oils.
You can purchase them on my website here:
http://www.servethegoddess.com/goddess-oils-skincare/
Discuss with your partner the smells you both like and associate with relaxation.
Visit your local health food store (or look in Appendix A for suggested online and mail order outlets) and pick out the scents you both like. Don’t make the mistake of massaging your partner with rose oil if he would prefer a woodsy aroma like sandalwood or green fir. Consider the following scents:
❖ Musky scents, such as sandalwood, patchouli, anything woodsy, or pure musk itself
❖ Natural citrus smells, such as lemon, orange, or grapefruit
❖ Nutty odors (this is not a judgment call about your mental health), such as coconut, sesame, or almond
❖ Flowery scents, such as rose, lilac, jasmine, or perfumed blends
❖ Odorless oils, a pure carrier oil like grape seed, or a professional massage oil base
❖ Romance-setting oils, such as the commercial preparations sold by Kama Sutra or other brands like mine, or jasmine or ylang ylang oils
❖ Sporty oils, such as wintergreen, rosemary, or eucalyptus
Take a handful of coffee beans with you to the store when you’re shopping for essential oils. Sniffing the beans in between sniffing the different aromas will clear the nose.
Spend some time smelling different blends of massage oils. Your partner may like something different from you.
(Jaymie Garner)
If you want to enhance the smell of your massage area but don’t want to apply the oil to your body, you can try any of the following aromatherapy ideas:
❖ Drop 5 to 15 drops of essential oil in your bathwater, making sure it is blended into the water by swishing the water with your hand before sinking in and soaking.
❖ Purchase an aromatherapy body oil blend and add a few drops to your bathwater.
You can purchase them on my website here:
http://www.servethegoddess.com/goddess-oils-skincare/
❖ Buy aromatherapy candles or add one to two drops of essential oil to the melting wax of a non-scented candle.
❖ Drip some oil in a room diffuser, which converts oil to a fine spray and directs it around the room.
❖ Add a few drops to your final rinse when washing your clothes.
❖ Drizzle a few drops onto the towels or spray the sheets you are going to use for your couple’s massage, adding six to eight drops to one ounce of purified water. You can use the same water as a mister, which you can gently spray into the air during your massage when you turn your partner over. Lavender and rose are good blends, or synergies, to use here.
❖ Add 5 to 10 drops in a small bowl of warm water and place it on a radiator, allowing the heat to release the scents.
The gift of flowers is a wonderfully romantic gesture. And did I mention that few things smell better than freshly cut flowers? A bouquet of blossoms in a beautiful vase will enhance your massage space by adding aroma, romance, and color.
The oldest evidence of the rose comes from legends and poetry which give us proof of the existence of the rose and its cultivation in ancient Greece.
Aphrodite, the goddess of love, was seen as the creator of the rose. In one tale Adonis, her lover, was mortally wounded by a wild boar when hunting. She hastened to his side, and from the mixture of his blood and her tears grew a superb, fragrant, blood-red rose. In another version, Adonis was more superficially wounded, and Aphrodite, while running to him, scratched herself on the thorns of a rose bush. Her blood started to flow at once, and the white flowers on the bush turned to red. Finally, there is a story which tells us of the origin of the white rose: Aphrodite was born of sea-foam, and from this foam, wherever it fell to the ground, grew white rose bushes.
There are other ways, too, in which flowers can enhance your experience. If you and your partner bathe in preparation for your couple’s massage, carefully pick the petals from a rose and sprinkle them into the water to indulge in the colors and essences. Or leave a trail of petals leading to your massage area for your partner to find, symbolizing a pathway to love. Arrange an outline of a heart with petals around your favorite framed wedding photo. Shower petals on the massage sheets so that your loved one lies on the soft bed of petals. I recommend that you use dark sheets, as the rose petals can stain the sheets, especially if they get massage oil on them. Or you can brush them off once your honey has had the delicious visual image of them.
If you prefer silk rose petals, which won’t stain and which you can store for future occasions, you can purchase them in all colors. I use PaperMart.com.
There’s no better way to say romance than with roses and rose petals.
Ask your florist to save you a bag of rose petals (as they often pick off the petals to extend the life of the flower and would otherwise throw them away) to incorporate into your next massage experience.
Sprinkle some rose petals on your massage platform to add a feeling of romance. (Jaymie Garner) |
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YOUR TOUCH NOTES
❖ The sense of smell can provoke deep memories
❖ There are a variety of essential oils on the market, each with unique properties
❖ Aromatherapy can be used during a massage to achieve a desired mood
