In this season 3 finale, I am hot-off-the-bliss of attending the Alliance of International Aromatherapists recent conference titled: "Embracing and Composing Sustainable Aromatics". This afterglow continues reflection upon the importance of "less is more," olfactive aromatherapy, getting to know local aromatics, the overall importance of being outside and being in nature. Join me to contemplate connection and sustainability within the aromatherapy community and essential oil supply chain...

In this episode of Essential Aromatica, Amy spends time with Dr. Nicole Bou Khalil to talk about the profound connection between humans and plants. They explore the importance of spending time outdoors, observing plants, and understanding our interconnectedness with nature--as deeply as the connection between people and where they live. Ah, and remember to keep your “child soul.” Let’s get clinical first, then get into the weeds. In 2019, Dr. Bou Khalil trained hospital staff on integrating...

Which is scarier? Going offtrack or staying in a rut? What if you could disrupt the ego driven "norm" (the rut) by working with essential oils, the molecules of connectedness? In this episode, Dr. Florian Birkmayer shares the potential of working with essential oils to help us become whole by disrupting the Default Mode Network (DMN) and emerging from "wetiko" ("cut-offness"). This is where '"Aromagnosis comes in. Aromagnosis is direct perception connecting us to the larger world through...

How do you “unveil the magic glow that flows right from the center of your happy heart”? This is something Kristina Siapkara, founder of Ierias Nama has explored since “cooking flowers” as a child—not knowing she was medicine-making while “cooking” those flowers. This spotlight on aromatherapy episode is intended to share how the power of ritual, frequencies (think physics) and working with botanical extracts and products made with integrity can uplift, rather than sap it. The Myth of...

How to smell an essential oil. Are you like, "Yeah, right. I know how to smell. Thanks, but no thanks."? That's not what this is about. It's rather about tapping into powerful messages available from one drop of an essential oil and what that one drop (or two drops) can do--if attention is paid its due. This episode takes you through what to "do" with essential oils: focusing on olfactive aromatherapy. Yup, good old-fashioned smelling. We'll get into scent detection and reception,...

Psychophysics and scent. What’s that all about? You’re reading this text, taking in visual information while simultaneously breathing in hundreds of scent molecules. How much of your attention is on those various aromatic molecules? How would you describe those scent molecules? Could those scents be considered art? Meet NYC-based academic and gallerist Andreas Keller who lives, breathes and contemplates these olfactory-based topics on a daily basis! With PhDs in neuroscience and philosophy...

When you hear the word “goo,” do you think of skincare, sustainability, and psychoneuroimmunology? If you don’t you may think differently after spending time with Jodi Scott, co-founder of Green Goo and Good Goo! In this episode, Jodi shares insights into herbalism and a need in the OTC market for plant-based first aid care for our family medicine cabinets. She shares how important the foundational-herbalist process of creating macerations is to the company’s philosophy and how we can and...

Join Renèe Hughes and me in a lively conversation that spans her journey into wellness, what drove her to start the Aromaspecialists, psycho-aromatherapy, her “mood makeover method” and an overall roadmap for starting business ventures. “Begin with the end in mind and highlight your unique gift.” Starting a wellness-based business promises to entail excitement and challenges. How do you get your unique voice and offering heard through myriad marketing clutter and vie for the attention of...

Frankincense. It's more than a word, it's about a plant, several plant species called "Boswellia" that create a healing resin humankind has had a special relationship and worked with beyond biblical times. Meet Robin Kessler, CCA, MIFPA, a certified clinical aromatherapist specializing in hospice care and the therapeutic application of Frankincense resin and its many extracts. She's definitely called the Queen of Frankincense for a good reason--tune in to find out! Get your favorite pen...

This episode's title could also be "how to smell an oil", but that doesn't read as good in my opinion. This episode topic has been on my mind for years, but recent correspondence with an aromatherapist and physiotherapist based in Switzerland (thank you, Katrin!) prompted me to take thought to spoken word and make a Venn diagram (I love diagrams, charts and tables!). In a nutshell: Pondering "scientific"/clinical + "empirical" aromatherapy. Spike Lavender--a special guest...

This Spotlight on Aromatherapy episode features my friend and co-host of the former Irreverent Aromatherapy podcast: Bekki Fishelson Kuber, founder of Blue Marble Botanicals. Get ready for a lot of laughter, irreverence and getting into hot- topics such as "this is good for that" and aromatherapy shower discs (bombs). Look forward delving into the following topics during our conversation: Tornado chasing (yes, for real!) How "Wellness from the Earth" is more than a tagline. Cures,...

Greetings, friends of Luna Aroma! A place and space where aromatherapy meet the moon! This 12th & final Luna Aroma session still finds us in the throes of Little Spirit time, thrust into Cold moon time for many of us in the Northern Hemisphere. This is often a time of personal darkness, confronted with being with oneself during colder, darker weeks and months of the year. Distractions are possible, but are they worth it? Surrender, connection, respect, reflection and expansion are...

This eleventh episode of the Luna Aroma series finds us in Little Spirit moontime. A time still near the “thin veil” and for giving thanks and focusing on spiritual growth. I feel that Eastern Red Cedar and its essential oil support us this time of year, with its personality of quiet, protection, pausing, seeming immortality and the wisdom of being ok with not knowing. Episode Highlights: 7:04 Highlighting Eastern Red Cedar Essential Oil 15:10 Recommended Yoga Pose 16:07 Guided...

Welcome to Luna Aroma, where Aromatherapy meets the Moon. This 10th episode of Luna Aroma invites you to settle in and descend to the realm of liminal spaces, darkness and crossroads. Places and spaces where Persephone and Hecate among other archetypes may guide us. This is an invitation to revel in the marked transition from late summer's end to the bittersweet falling leaves of full-blown Autumn. Which brings us to root season, a time to harvest root medicine such as Ashwagandha, Valerian,...

Welcome to the 9th Luna Aroma Session! There is so much to share and love about this time of year, including Goldenrod and Asters. Things start to slow down this time of year, simmer and humm. The days are still warm and the sun still intense, but there's a different quality, one that Goldenrod exemplifies. Join me during this episode to be an observer and invite Goldenrod's conviviality, its energizing and fortifying qualities into your mind-body-spirit-soul. Each Luna Aroma is an...

Welcome to the 8th Luna Aroma Session! This time of year, mid-summer, has a lot going on; a bittersweetness as days grow shorter. There's still an abundance of growth, but things are slowing down, simmering. They aren't as urgent as they were only a few weeks ago. We're entering a time of maturity, protection and holding. These are themes that fit with Carrot Seed essential oil and the plant who bears the seed, the lovely "Queen Anne's Lace." I feel there's a sense of loss as we turn into mid...

Smudging with Sage, burning Frankincense in a censer, lighting incense to visualize and symbolize your thoughts rising to the heavens through smoke. These are only some of the botanicals and ways aromatics help us connect with the divine. What is the divine, the sacred? There may be debate about that, but I think we can all agree it is something that is bigger than us that also includes us. Incorporating aromatic botanicals--not synthetic fragrances--such as essential oils, hydrosols and raw...

This episode features Thunder moontime, when the hot and humid days of summer are often visited by thunder, lightning and rain. This is a time, like most times, to contemplate change. But this time is different. Lighting and thunder are sudden and drastic. They are poignant symbols of change and transmutation. Think of something in your life that weighs on you, that you are looking to change, to shift. Thunder moontime, lightning time, can metaphorically assist along with the powerful...

Welcome to Strawberry Moontime! As we near the Summer Solstice it is time to prepare for and embrace the warmest times of the year by turning to cooling and hydrating botanicals such as cooling fruits! This episode is packed with juicy ponderings: from spirit and transformation, the poem "Meditation on a Grapefruit" by Craig Arnold and "What is it we want when we can't stop wanting?" But more on that once you get into the episode... Look forward to themes about sharing abundance and life's...

This Spotlight on Aromatherapy episode features Amy Galper; a published author and expert in clean beauty, formulation, aromatherapy and essential oils. She is the founder of the former New York Institute of Aromatherapy, the first in-person aromatherapy school in New York (where I earned my certifications)! This episode tackles some big topics that Amy is immersed in every day, from the dynamically expanding market of clean beauty, differentiating a business, sustainability, aromatherapy,...

Flowers are blooming, frogs are croaking, and it is time to engage your sense of PLAY! This episode celebrates Flower moontime and all that comes with it, including when "all plants display their spirit sides for all the world to see." More on that in the episode! How can we be serious when there are baby animals frolicking about, insects buzzing around and plants to interact with? This episode celebrates Flower moontime: by shedding seriousness and supporting what it takes to be ourselves...

Welcome to Amy Anthony's Spotlight on Aromatherapy series featuring Cathy Skipper whose insights on embracing your unconscious to become your true self are thought provoking, exciting and empowering. Find yourself a quiet space for Cathy to guide you through the realms of alchemy, working with the unconscious and recognizing and reclaiming the feminine. When does a woman step into her true power? Why do we need initiation rites? Tune in to learn more. Following are only some of the...

Happy Mid-Spring! A time of new beginnings, new growth and cleansing the mind and body of what is no longer needed. You may notice how this episode is slightly longer than other Luna Aroma musings. Why? I bookended the guided aromatic encounter with poems! The first is "Grass" by Joyce Sidman, the second is "Last Rites" by Rosa Alcalá. This is a moontime to talk with GRASS! Grass is growing, it is a resilient plant family that is often the "first"...such as the some of the first plants to...