“The way to health is to have an aromatic bath and scented massage every day”. –

Hippocrates, the Father of Western Medicine

Healing baths with aromatic plants have been used since antiquity for cleansing, healing and energy restoring purposes. Research shows that a warm bath is the most effective way to boost your level of serotonin (the “happiness hormone”) and to detoxify both your body and your entire energy system.

Taking a bath is a simple way to enjoy a retreat in the comfort of your own home. Besides emotional benefits of total relaxation, bathing helps the body to get rid of impurities by promoting circulation. With the help of certain ingredients added to water, bathing also calms the skin and helps relieve such skin conditions as itchiness and dryness. It is also very soothing and can help with easing muscle aches and reducing inflammation.

Using essential oils, salts, baking soda and vinegars in your bath provides many additional benefits for both mind and body. A simple aromatic bath can be made by adding 3-5 drops of your favourite essential oil in a small amount of carrier oil, such a jojoba, in the palm of your hand, and then dispersing it into the bath.

Natural salts are also frequently used along with carrier and essential oils for a truly therapeutic bathing experience:

• Himalayan salt contains a range of minerals and high levels of iron giving it a pink color, which are detoxifying and provide penetrating warmth to the skin, opening the pores and relaxing the muscles.
• Sea salts are rich in minerals and charged with electrical healing properties that you can especially benefit from in a warm bath. Besides, they are inexpensive and are readily available in most local health stores.
• Dead Sea salt is especially beneficial for the skin, as it contains minerals, calcium, potassium, magnesium and bromine (known as a natural antibiotic). It moisturizes, detoxifies and softens the skin by helping to balance pH levels.

Baking soda is another widely used ingredient in a healing bath: it softens the water and makes it feel silkier, creating a more alkaline medium for bathing. It also helps reduce skin irritation and itching while acting as a detoxifying agent.

If you want to use the most of your aromatherapy bath experience, here are some tips and ideas for you:

1. Take a bath shortly before resting or going to sleep.
2. Do not bathe on a full stomach and drink plenty of fluid first.
3. Make sure you have all you need ready beforehand: your towel, your robe, some soft music to play, some lit candles (if you like), your bath salt or any other formulation you’re using.
4. Consider to commit yourself to a seven-day program of a daily scented baths (or may be even a thirty-day program!) This will allow you to reboot and rebalance your life completely, especially at times of physical or emotional exhaustion. Remember what Hippocrates used to say about daily aromatic baths (if not, go see above)?

Please note however the following conditions when bathing is better be avoided:

• Open wounds
• Active infection
• Altered sensation
• Hydrophobia
• Poor balance.

If you are looking for a customized aromatherapy bath salts and other bath&body products, please visit our Shop.

Happy bathing!