Welcome to Essence of Thyme: The Aromatherapy Podcast.
I'm Kathleen Jaggassar, Co-Principal at Essence of Thyme College of Holistic Studies.
In this aromatic corner, we explore essential oils, aromatic science, safety, education, and professional practice.
When people first encounter aromatherapy, they often learn essential oils as answers. Lavender for sleep. Peppermint for headaches. Tea tree for skin concerns. It is an easy way to begin, and I understand why it is appealing. We want something clear enough to remember and practical enough to use.
Professional practice asks something different of us. Not more facts about the oil. A different starting point.
An aromatherapist is rarely choosing an oil for a word such as stress, pain, sleep, or congestion. We are choosing for a person, and a person is not a condition with a name attached to it.
So the work begins with whoever is sitting in front of us.
Who are they, and what does their life actually look like? Why are they here? How does their concern impact them? How is their sleep? What does their work ask of them? What are they carrying that they haven't mentioned yet? What have they already tried, and what happened when they tried it? And, the most important question: What would their life look life if things got better?
Then the things that shape what is safe and what is possible. Age. Health history. Medication. Pregnancy. Skin condition. Respiratory or sensory sensitivity. Whether anyone else shares their air — a partner, a child, a pet, someone at the next desk.
Aroma itself is never neutral. A client may associate lavender with a beloved grandparent, a hospital room, a cleaning product, or nothing at all. An aroma that is deeply comforting to one person is unbearable to another, and no amount of good chemistry overrides that.
So I ask about it, here, in conversation. What do they enjoy? What do they avoid? Is there a smell they cannot tolerate, and do they know why?
By the end of this part of the conversation, I am still not thinking about oils. I am thinking about a person, and what they actually need. One possibility is that they need more than an aromatherapist.
Some of what people bring us is well within our scope; some isn't. Persistent unexplained pain. A symptom that is changing. Something that would be better served by a physician, a counsellor, a physiotherapist, a sleep specialist. Referral is also not the end of our involvement. Once a client understands that we are supporting how they live with something rather than treating its cause, there is often real work for us to do alongside whoever else is on their team.
Now the oils come into it, but likely not in the way you’ve been taught, or how you might expect.
Species. Plant part. Extraction method. Chemical profile. Country of origin. Harvest conditions. These matter enormously. They tell us what is actually in the bottle, and a common name alone will not.
But these are sourcing questions. I ask them of my supplier, of the report, of the batch — months before anyone books an appointment. That work happens in the dispensary, not in the session.
Which means that by the time a client is in front of me, I am not looking up what is in my bottles. I already know. I am not reasoning toward an identity. I am reasoning from one.
That is what a well-kept dispensary actually buys you: the freedom to spend the session thinking about the person instead of the product.
So selection becomes a matching question. Of the materials I know and trust, which have a reasonable claim on this goal — through chemistry, through traditional use, through research, through what I have observed in practice? And of those, which one suits this person? Their preference. Their tolerance. Their skin. Their life.
Reaching for an oil out of habit is not a reason. But deep working knowledge of a material — earned through sourcing it, studying it, and using it — is one of the best reasons we have.
This is the first moment in the process where a client actually smells something. Offering someone an aroma is an intervention. A small one, but a real one. I do not put a bottle under a client's nose before I know their health history, their medications, their respiratory and skin picture, whether they are pregnant, and whether this is work I should be doing with them at all.
The process of selecting essential oils comes after the assessment is completed, not during it. And it matters, because this is where careful reasoning meets the one thing we cannot predict.
Let me tell you about a previous client of mine from many years ago. We were choosing an oil to pair with a visualization, the goal was relaxation. She told me she liked tree scents, so I offered her cedarwood. A reasonable choice. One I could have defended on chemistry, on tradition, on research, on anything you like.
She held it to her nose and inhaled. And she told me it was the same scent her midwife had used during her labour and delivery. Needless to say, we were not going to get relaxation out of that bottle.
There was nothing wrong with the cedarwood. There was nothing wrong with the reasoning that brought me to it. But memory overrides the chemistry of an essential oil, every single time.
This is why the trial is not a formality. Asking about aroma in the interview gets us part of the way, but some of what is stored in a scent is not reachable until the scent arrives. My client did not know that association was waiting for her. She couldn't have told me in the intake, because she didn't know.
So we hand them the bottle, and we watch. Their physical reaction will tell us before their words do.
Then we consider how the client will use the essential oil. An oil in a personal inhaler does not create the same exposure as a full-body topical preparation. A diffuser in a large, ventilated room is not the same as prolonged diffusion in a closed bedroom. The method is part of the intervention, not an afterthought.
And the method has to fit the life it is entering. A three-step evening ritual is a lovely idea for someone with a quiet house and an unhurried hour. It is not a plan for a shift worker, a parent of a toddler, or someone already exhausted by the time they get through the door.
The best formulation in the world does nothing if it does not survive contact with a real week.
Follow-up with the client is important. Was the aroma acceptable after three days, and not just in the consultation room? Did they use it as intended, or did it sit on the shelf? Was the goal realistic? Did anything unexpected occur?
A formulation is not complete when the lid goes on the bottle. Follow-up is what turns a product into a professional process.
These are not five steps to work through in order. They are an order of attention — and you can see why the order matters as soon as you put two people side by side.
Imagine two clients asking for sleep support.
The first has difficulty settling after working late. She is otherwise well; she likes soft floral aromas, and she wants something she can fold into a bedtime routine she is already motivated to build.
The second wakes in the night because of persistent pain. She dislikes lavender. She takes several medications. She has tried multiple sleep products and is discouraged.
The phrase something for sleep describes both requests. That doesn't make them the same case.
The first client presents a formulation conversation. The second may not be one yet; it may be a referral conversation, or a conversation about what aromatherapy can honestly offer alongside something else. The assessment differs. The scope differs. The aroma differs. The route differs. The realistic goal differs.
If we had begun at the shelf, both of these women would have been handed a bottle of lavender.
This is why lists of uses can only take us so far. They tell us what to notice. They cannot tell us what to decide.
Throughout this season, we will explore these decisions through plants, oils, research, formulation, and professional practice. Some episodes will examine one essential oil in depth. Some will follow a case. Some will take apart a study or a common claim. Colleen will also join me for conversations in which the interesting part is not always agreement — it is hearing how two practitioners reason through uncertainty.
For now, here is something to sit with.
Think of a client you have worked with recently. Not the oil you chose, the person. What did you notice about them first? What did you ask that you almost didn't ask? What did the answer change?
That noticing is where professional thinking begins. Everything else follows from it.
Thank you for listening to Essence of Thyme: The Aromatherapy Podcast.
For more resources and professional aromatherapy education, visit essenceofthyme.com. Follow the podcast so you don't miss future episodes.
Until next time - let the person, not the product, begin the assessment.
