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RUTH LITTMANN STAFF WRITER
n a dimly lit room decorated with
soft hues of mauve, 25-year-old Ron-
na Proghovnick uses an eyedropper
to squeeze the precise amount of
ylang-ylang into a brown bottle.
Next, she adds three drops of san-
dalwood, some ro
rose geranium and tan-
gerine. These essential oils comprise one
of Ms. Proghovnick's energy-boosting body
elixirs. The Rx: aromatherapy, a new-age
health treatment derived from wisdom of an-
cient times.
"I'm not anti-conventional medicine," Ms.
Proghovnick says. "But I'd rather use some-
thing natural."
Aromatherapy is the use of fragrant oils
for healing. According to people who swear
by it, the treatment works on two levels: the
emotional and physical.
Extracted through steam distillation from
roots, stems, flowers and other parts of more
than 300 varieties of plants, these essen-
tial oils exude scents that can alter the mind
and metabolism. They are said also to pos-
sess chemical properties that ward off infec-
tion.
Valerie Ann Worwood writes in The Com-
plete Book of Essential Oils and Aromather-
PHOTO BY SAMMY AVNIS AN
Can you whiff your
way to wellness?
The benefits and
limits of
aromatherapy.
apy: "There is more to an essential oil than
its aroma. The aromatic chemicals found in
essential oils are derived from ... the precur-
sors of amino acids, which link to make pro-
teins, which (in turn) provide the building
blocks for just about everything in the human
body from the smallest enzyme to the skele-
ton."
Four of the more common oils include
lavender, lemon, vanilla and jasmine. Each
has a different personality and application.
Some specialists believe lemongrass reme-
dies edema and varicose veins. Mint has been way," Ms. Linder says. "This is a science, an
used for dizziness and heart palpitation. Rock- old science."
rose is balancing. Swiss Pine, regenerative.
Aromatherapy dates back to pre-biblical
At Illusions By Sherri, a Birmingham sa- times. In the Book of Exodus, God told Moses
lon, Ms. Proghovnick works as
to make holy anointing oil from "flowing
Ronna Proghovnick
a massage therapist. She cus- uses
aromatherapy at myrrh, sweet cinnamon, calamus, cas-
tom-mixes oils based on her Illusions By Sherri in sia and olive oil," a concoction author Ms.
clients' needs. Tea tree helps
Worwood describes as anti-viral and an-
Birmingham.
respiration. Other people come
tibiotic. In Ecclesiastics, one
to her with colon problems, in-
verse dictates: "The Lord
somnia and arthritis. For each
hath created medicines out
of these ailments, Ms.
of the earth; and he that is
Proghovnick draws from her
wise will not abhor them."
fragrant pharmacy.
Although the modern-day
Focusing special attention on
use of essential oils is not
her clients' pulse points, she ad-
necessarily bound up with
ministers the treatment
Scripture, it is interesting to
through a therapeutic massage.
note that aromas play a sig-
Clients also can inhale the
nificant role in some reli-
products. Ingestion, however,
gions. For example, Hindus
is strongly discouraged.
burn incense. Jews, each
Ms. Proghovnick offers ad-
week, smell their spice box
ditional caveats. First, she says,
to bade good-bye to Shabbat
aromatherapy complements,
and welcome in a sweet new
but in many cases doesn't sub-
week.
stitute for traditional medical
Dr. Greg Maher, a psy-
procedures. Also, a pregnant
chiatrist with Henry Ford
woman should avoid some oils
Hospital, thinks there might
be something to this.
Hannah
He says aromather-
Schoenberg, a
apy remains apart
former nurse,
from mainstream
now imports
medicine, but, in fact,
aromatic oils and
the body's sense of
teaches
aromatherapy in smell does affect
mood, which can af-
Israel.
fect behavior, even
well-being.
A study has shown that patients
who sniff vanilla before undergoing
an MRI experience 63 percent less
stress than those who don't. The the-
oretical rationale, Dr. Maher says, per-
tains to smell centers in the brain,
which are closely associated with the
limbic lobes. These lobes are involved
in more primitive kinds of emotions,
like anger, fear and aggression.
Physicians at Henry Ford Hospital
will further explore this relationship
when they open a multidisciplinary
smell and taste center this summer.
The clinic, in part, will aim to help peo-
ple who have lost their sense of smell
through treatments like chemother-
apy. These patients often experience
high rates of depression, Dr. Maher
says.
because they might induce contractions.
As for the alleged anti-fungal and antibi-
`To apply essential oils, you really have to otic properties of essential oils, the American
know each person's condition," Ms. Medical Association, Dr. Maher and most
Proghovnick says.
M.D.s say there is a dearth of scientific evi-
Mira Linder agrees. This longtime owner dence to draw a safe conclusion. But for peo-
of Southfield's Mira Linder Spa In the City ple like Ms. Proghovnick, proof is apparent.
doesn't sell bottled oils (which elsewhere run When she had insomnia, she used camomile.
$5 to $100 for an eighth of an ounce) because When she came down with a rash, she ad-
she believes they should be applied by well- ministered another oil.
trained professionals.
"Your body will tell you what it needs," she
"Aromatherapy always helps, but it doesn't says. "You just have to listen to it. That's part
always help the same people in the same of the holistic approach." ❑
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