About Essential Oils

You’ve probably heard the word “aromatherapy,” and it’s likely to conjure up images of scented candles or a fragrant bubble bath. But at Inshanti, aromatherapy is more than just a pretty scent. Our master blender, Debra Stoltzfus, scientifically blends products by hand to promote the healing of body, mind, and spirit. Her building blocks are therapeutic agents that come directly from nature, substances known as essential oils.

Essential oils are the distillation of the aromatic substance from a specific type of plant. They come from almost any part of certain plants—its seeds, flowers, fruit, leaves, stems, roots, bark, wood, needles, and resins. Technically, when this substance is in the plant, it is called an “essence.” So once it has been distilled from the plant, it is referred to as an essential oil. While you may have heard of essential oils only recently, they’ve been in existence for thousands of years.

Essential oils have long been treasured for their healing properties because they exhibit important properties:
• antiviral
• anti-inflammatory
• antibacterial
• hormone-balancing

Essential oils are used in products for health, beauty, and hygiene. Here at Inshanti we blend the oils for the same purposes. We create blends that are used for medicinal purposes, massage therapy, skin and hair care, and even household cleaning. Of course, we also create those lovely scented aromatherapy items you’re more familiar with, like bath salts, scrubs, fizzys, diffusers, and sprays. You’ll find them all in our Inshanti online shop.

Essential oils are used in two basic ways, either inhaled in aromatherapy or applied to the skin to be absorbed by the bloodstream:

As its name implies, aromatherapy is all about your sense of smell. The actual odor floating around in a room is made of molecules. These molecules go through your nose and pass over fibers made of specialized nerve cells that interpret what the specific smell is. This information is sent up to the part of your brain that regulates your emotions, called the limbic system. Specific essential oils can provide relief from anxiety and fear, give you a sense of well-being and relaxation, or help balance your emotions.

On the other hand, essential oils applied to the skin are absorbed through capillaries and travel through the bloodstream enhancing cellular function. They assist the body in bringing relief from symptoms of many chronic health problems. It may take a half-hour or more for the oils to reach full effectiveness.

If you want a fuller scientific explanation, check out the asterisked (*) copy at the bottom of the page.

You only need to use small amounts of essential oils—often a single drop—to achieve their intended medicinal effects. So a half-ounce of pure essential oil can last you a long time!

Inshanti offers only essential oils that are either certified organic, wild crafted, or ethically farmed (unsprayed). At Inshanti, we buy directly from farmers and distillers we know and trust. By avoiding working through middlemen we can be confident that our base oils are of the highest quality and never diluted. We strive for long-term relationships with our growers and distillers, working together to ensure the best product in the marketplace.

Each batch of oil is tested with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) so we know its precise chemical properties and can blend accordingly. All of the essential oils, carrier oils, butters, unscented lotions, Castile soap, and natural Himalayan salts used at Inshanti are free of chemicals, herbicides, and pesticides. Inshanti does not use synthetic oils or oils extracted by chemical solvents.

Once we’ve tested an essential oil, our master blender formats the chemical constituents into chemical families for therapeutic blending purposes. At Inshanti, we are dedicated to knowing exactly what we are purchasing and blending for you. Testing every batch of oil purchased with GC/MS technology ensures purity and gives the exact chemistry of each essential oil. Inshanti believes this process is vital for medicinal blending and for quality assurance.

Our process is rigorous and our product pure. You can be confident you’re receiving essential oils that deliver the health benefits you’re looking for.

Find the essential oil that is just right for you!

See our Educational Resources page for more information about the chemical families of oils and for lists of oils that support certain health issues and emotional concerns.