"Many of the best-loved essential oils have source plants, or Asian variants, in Chinese Pharmacopoeia. ..different species of plants within the same family …share many compounds, but percentages and actual consituens vary. While aromatherapy may be unknown by name in china, centuries of using essential oils and aromatic plants provides us with a wealth of aromatic practice and tradition."
--from an article Traditional Chinese Medicine and Aromatherapy by Laurel Redmon posted on Cheryl's Herbs.

Chinese Medicine and Aromatherapy

This approach combines the wisdom of traditional Chinese medicine with the best researched, most recommended and whenever we can least expensive pure essential oil blends. It's a holistic system - it offers a complete time tested rationale for choosing essentials oils appropriate to your constitution and personal needs.

It has limitations and we continue to research other approaches. Even amongst their scholars the Five Phase theory remains controversial; however, the Chinese are very practical, and when the theory doesn't quite fit they ignore it and look elsewhere to bring order and restore balance. The number Five was auspicious, particularly for the classification of earthly things, in the numerology during the period the Phase theory was developed, so it comes up a lot here.

When we reviewed all the various Aromatherapy Approaches we found the most concurrence with blends coming from the Chinese medical experts who are becoming involved with aromatherapy.

Since herbs have played such a significant role in traditional Chinese medicine and they have had two millennia to figure out what works it is not hard to imagine how plant derived essential oils could also benefit from that same wisdom and logic to become a coherent, reliable approach to blending. A number of the essential oils that we recommend in this site are herbs used in common Chinese blends like angelica ___?

To complete this section we have cross-referenced the work of six leading world experts in the field and only selected blends that showed the highest degree of consensus. Certainly, other oils than the ones they agreed on could have an equally beneficial effect and we had to throw some other oils into the blend so you wouldn't end up smelling like a fir tree or a mandarin orange.

We are not clinicians in Chinese medicine, so we highly recommend you see an experienced licensed local Chinese practitioner who would offer acupuncture, acupressure, herbs, breathing and other Chi gong exercises and maybe even suggest Feng shui changes.

Chinese medicine is just one approach and not meant to be used by itself so as we have said before we encourage you to take advantage of Western medical or psychological help, consult your astrologer or Ayurvedic physician, consider the Stress in your life and make personal life style changes that are appropriate to keep you in emotional and mental balance. Daisy, our EO Database also looks for correspondences from traditional cultures, and recent western aromatherapy medical research.

Key Concepts in Chinese Medicine

We apologize in advance. Chinese medicine is an extremely complex and sophisticated healing system and our summary here does it an injustice. However, our goal is to give you just enough information to help you be comfortable with the approach we are taking to constitutional blending.

Qi

This paragraph needs work That which animates life is called Qi, pronounced "chee" as in cheese. Qi is the force which is impossible to see, scientifically measure or isolate. It's quantified and felt only by its effects. The simple yet profound theory of QI, is the heart of Chinese medicine. Qi is commonly referred to as the "life force" that exists in everything in the universe and the proper flow of Qi essential to restoring the body-mind or physical-emotional balance.. The Chinese conceive of three sources of Qi: what you inherit from your parents, what derived from the foods you eat, and from the air (or essential oils) you breathe. They Chinese divide Qi into many different specific types based on what it does.

Five Organ Networks

The "organs" mentioned in Chinese medicine are not the same as the physical organs pictured in basic western anatomy books. To bring the whole body-mind into balance ancient Chinese medicine looks at the dynamic functional activity (both physiological and psychological) rather than dissecting specific physical or meat-body structures that perform the activities. Five Phase "organ" complexes or networks are interconnected and interdependent. If the function of one organ network becomes exaggerated it depletes the others. Each organ network is affected by the Qi (life-force energy) that moves through it.

Likewise, "blood" it's not limited to the red blood that moves through our arteries and veins but the energetic fluid that is transported by your blood but also flows through meridians or energetic pathways in the body or channels that carry Qi throughout your body-mind. The meridians move the QI and blood, regulate Yin and Yang, moisten the tendons, bones, and joints, and carry nourishment and strength to your organs. Chinese acupuncture and herbs have therapeutic access to our bodies through these meridians.

Yin & Yang

Finally, an understanding of the Chinese concept of Yin and Yang is central to understanding Oriental constitutional medicine. The Chinese character for Yin originally meant the shady side of a slope. It is associated with qualities of darkness, the shadow side of your personality, what is interior, downward and decreasing. It also represents rest or passivity, receptivity, dampness and coldness.

The original concept of Yang was the sunny side of the slope and implies light or brightness and heat, stimulation and excitement, movement, activity, and vigor and what is exterior, upward, outward, and always increasing.

These are energies that coexist in relation to each other and within each individual. They are relative terms. Some women are far more yang than some men. All of us, male and female, have both aspects; for example, a passive person (yin) can be stubborn (yang). No one is, or would want to be totally Yin or Yang. There is no ideal man or woman. Everyone is just who they are, given what they have inherited and shaped by life. All of us need to achieve balance in ourselves and our relationships. Some women inherited more Yang than Yin and although they may be very assertive, strong, not petitie and maybe shave their legs a lot they are perceived by there lover(s) as very feminine. Some men may look more delicate and tend to be more yielding yet their lover(s) says "my man is so strong and sexy."

Lets pretend these two meet somewhere and agree to go to her apartment and engage in some playful S&M. If they just followed their tendency one of them would always up on the same end of the whip but if they were balanced they would be more playful. If you consider intimate relationships harmony in a couple is created when you can find someone(s) who balances your as the unique person you are to create a stable relationship. This assumes you have achieved a basic balance of the Yin and Yang energies in yourself otherwise they may feel like they living with Dr. Jeckyl and at other times Dr. Hyde.

Here is an over-simplified analogy of the Yin/Yang energetics applied to your car: The spark plugs that creates the explosive energy (the Yang) to ignite the fuel (feed your Qi) that gets you moving. Your Yin essence is like your fluids and coolants that protect your vehicle (your body-mind) from getting over heated. If it gets too low (deficient Yin) then the vehicle gets overheated and damaged. If you plugs apply to much spark (Excessive Yang) …………………………….? As you get older, or slow down, or just mellow out you need less spark and therefore have less water to stay cool. Yin and Yang in balance simply guarantees you get a good smooth long ride (balanced life) with no dramatic breakdowns (dis- ease).

In this system health is achieved by creating harmony between the opposing powers of yin and yang. When the organs maintain a balanced condition, when they do not become too contracted or too expanded, the life force of Qi flows smoothly throughout the body. Each organ receives optimal life force: it is capable of warding off illness and efficiently eliminating waste. When one or more organs, however, becomes excessively contracted or expanded, Qi flow becomes blocked. Once the life force is diminished, the organ becomes sluggish, inefficient, and stagnant—a perfect host for disease.

We could classify every possible human trait and emotion in a very long list of indicating their Yin-Yang dynamic.

Yin	Yang
Inwardly secure Receptive listener Intuitive Observant Adaptable Cautious Impressionistic Spontaneous Serene Relational Prudent Yielding	Outwardly self-confident Expressive communicator Logical Articulate Single-minded Courageous Analytical Highly Organized Excited Risk Taker Bold Assertive

We could go on forever. The Chinese have simplified it to guess how many? You got it--five predominate emotions.

The Five Emotions

The Chinese system of diagnosis focus on five basic emotions or primal forces within the human psyche: anger, joy, rumination (thoughtfulness), sorrow, and fear. In Chinese psychology any emotion is not intrinsically good or bad. It is their excess or deficiency that distorts the harmony, the flow of life force. At times all of us experience mad if we are pushed too far, joy when we feel fulfilled, pensive when our attention is focused on ourselves, sorrow over loss, and fear in the face of danger. In Chinese medicine our psychological health is defined in terms of our ability to respond appropriately to all the possible challenges we face. When any single emotional state dominates our behavior, it interrupts the smooth flow of Qi. Then they can become the major influences on health and dis-ease.

A healthy body-mind is a balance sustained by the complementary Yin -Yang forces that generate and limit one another. A person whose energies are balanced could freely flow back and forth adapting to each unique situation by being more or less assertive or yielding. Unbalanced or out of harmony the assertive (Yang) tendency could become aggressive, even abusive; and the yielding (Yin) become so passive they would melt into despair or find themselves in relationships where they were abused. .

The Five Phases

The five phases are neither solid nor are they separate. They are continuous energetic process that we can observe in every aspect of our lives. The Five The ancient Chinese perceived us humans as a microcosm of the Universe that surrounds us. They used their traditional images of fire, earth, metal, water & wood to represent forces (not physical elements) in nature that flow together to form a dynamic whole. They represent the five movements of the yin and yang energy. For the Chinese physician they provide an immediate diagnostic tool. These Phases can be most easily pictured or comprehended as movements of yin and yang energy in nature.

The underlying assumption of Chinese medicine is that these Phases that govern the cycle of change occurring in the external world are duplicated within our human body-mind.

Constitutional Types

Five phase theory affords a comprehensive way to understand the influences in our daily life. Each one of us suffers bodily and emotional imbalance through the chronic repetition of a similar pattern. We tend to do the same thing over and over thus impacting certain organs in the body over and over. These patterns are dictated for the most part by our genetics and early life programming. You can no more change your constitutional type than you can change your parents. Like your blood type it is with you for life.

By repeating this same pattern in some cases we are weakening organ networks and they need to be "tonified" or strengthened and revived. In other cases we are stressing organs and that stress needs to be "sedated" or relieved.

Another way to describe our pattern is to say within each of use there is a particular Phase (fire, earth, metal, water, wood) around which the others spin. It is the underlying organizing forces through which all our experiences is incorporated and expressed. This primary energetic process can be called our "constitutional type."

Just as we gravitate toward a pattern each of the five constitutional types are associated with one of the Five emotions. We also tend to gravitate toward environments that suit our character. We believe we also gravitate to certain smells that balances our character and these can be discovered through considering our constitutional type. We can use these essential oils to help us maintain balance.

As you consider each aspect of all five phases you may have a feeling of your constitutional type but wait to complete the Constitutional Survey* before you make up your mind. No one usually represents imbalance in just one of the Five Phases and we will consider how you can address that later when you Refine your Personal Perfume or Elixer.