Sharing the Aroma Experience

When I was thinking about how to celebrate Aromatherapy week back in June, what posts to create, which blend of oils to recommend, I remembered an experience I had with a very special person and felt this was such a lovely story it had to be shared.

In 2002 I was delivering stress awareness courses to a group of adults with Down Syndrome. I decided to teach a few basic aromatherapy blends and practice a condensed Indian Head Massage routine. This group were amazing, they responded so eagerly to the touch and blending of essential oils and we had so much fun exchanging massages. I came away feeling so grateful for being employed to do this wonderful work.

A week after this session I was contacted by the organisation with an unusual request. One of the attendees was a young woman aged 24, we shall call her ‘Michelle’ for the sake of this story. Michelle’s mum had called and said how she had never stopped talking about the experience, how much she loved mixing the essential oils and massaging. Mum said she had never seen Michelle so animated and interested in anything and was there any chance at all Michelle could join me on a day’s therapy appointments and help mix oils and deliver treatments.

I gave this a great deal of thought. Of course, I would love to have Michelle join me for the day and fulfil her wish, but at the same time there is the issue of insurance and how would my clients react to this when they were paying for a relaxing treatment and not a student session.

In the end it came together through a good friend of mine who was also a therapy lecturer. We often exchanged treatments and Sue was very much in need of some stress relief. When I told her about Michelle, she said she was happy to be the client for a morning and for Michelle to be part of the session from start to finish. We decided to dedicate a whole morning to make it as relaxed as possible for Michelle.

Michelle arrived early looking so excited and Mum looked nervous at leaving Michelle in my care. After reassuring Mum that Michelle would be well looked after and we would ensure she had a wonderful experience, she left.

I showed Michelle around my therapy room, she prepared the room with me, getting towels ready, bed roll placed, wet soft pads for cleansing the face, wipes and consultation form. Michelle was so interested in every step. I explained how when Sue arrived, we would greet her and go through a consultation and Michelle sat with me while we asked Sue what she wished to gain from her Aromatherapy massage. Sue was amazing and told Michelle she would like oils to help de-stress and calm her system down and to receive a relaxing massage.

We then got down to preparing the oils like 3 witches mixing potions lol! The aromas filled the room as I opened my box and discussed the many benefits of different oils and how the oils chosen had to also be loved by the client too. We blended Mandarin, Ylang Ylang and Sandalwood with Sweet Almond carrier oil. Divine!

Michelle loved the whole process and asked Sue if she liked the blend. Of course, she did.

Now for the massage, after hand washing, we positioned Sue together with Michelle working one side of the body and me the other. I demonstrated massage movements and put my hands over Michelle’s to show her the level of pressure and we began. Michelle warmed the oils in her hands and followed my movements on the opposite side of the body. She was totally in the moment and focussed on Sue, she delivered every stroke beautifully. We worked around the body as she quietly shadowed every technique. Michelle was an excellent student eager to learn.

At the end we finished the treatment on Sue’s face and head, wrapped her warmly and left the room to wash hands. Michelle and I returned with a glass of water and to see how Sue was.

Well, Sue was absolutely zoned out … no surprise there with two people massaging her. She expressed to Michelle how much she had enjoyed the treatment and what a wonderful touch she had. This was sincerely meant.

Michelle left that day totally elated, so did Sue and I. Sue had genuinely had the best treatment and we were both so pleased to open a learning pathway to enable Michelle to fulfil her dreams.

Aromatherapy oils and massage can be used in every part of life, it is suitable for every age from baby massage to cancer and end of life.

It’s good to share.