Aromatherapy Learning (8)

We took a little break from learning new course content, but thanks to the Q&A session, there were many learnings from the interaction between other classmates and the teacher.

One aspect that gave me an impression from this session was the importance of wording/linguistic use when sharing aromatherapy/essential oil contents.

(1) About public misconceptions on social media around essential oils being regulated by certain regulatory bodies and treating essential oils as drugs or medications that prevent, cure or treat conditions.

However, we learned that there is currently no regulation for essential oils. They cannot be treated as drugs or medications and cannot claim that they prevent, cure, or treat conditions. Rather, they support the body holistically to tune into its natural healing abilities. So instead of using the word 'treat', think about 'support', 'easing', etc.

(2) Thanks to our teacher for kindly pointing this out too: Be careful with recommendations to others when sharing publicly online (I think this applies offline as well). It is important to be mindful that what works for one may not be the same for others, as individuals' circumstances may vary in different aspects and/or to different extents. Also, aromatherapists are not physicians who can prescribe.

I appreciate my aromatherapy course teacher's consciousness and efforts when sharing aromatherapy education, not just the information and resources she created/shared, but also (in the context of this post) being mindful of the wordings and hence their potential impacts on others and how respecting the uniqueness of individuals is important when helping them.

---

It occurred to me with some thoughts on possibly differentiating the use of "support" and "treat", and even how "treat" could be considered from a different perspective, with a deeper layer to it:

My Thoughts (click to open/hide)

Education/Understanding; Intention/Purpose

The use of wordings such as "treat"/"cure" when describing essential oil benefits by social media accounts or essential oil sellers could be due to, e.g.,:

• Lack of awareness and/or underappreciation for the essence or genuine meaning of essential oils use/aromatherapy (Education Source + Understanding)

• 'Eye-catching' - Trying to boost social media traffic/sales volume and hence profits (Intention/Purpose)

It might be easier to understand and appreciate why essentials oils are more like "supporting" rather than "treating"/"curing" if knowing about the background of essential oils and aromatherapy history and development.

And I feel like the philosophy of "support" can also relate closely with other aspects of life as well.

Connection with Life

For "Treat"/"Cure", there seems to be some form of "expectation" from people to be able to recover fully and symptoms gone completely with a treatment. They are depending/relying on those medications or whatever is present within the treatment for them to get well. There seems to be a focus on the outcome only. An aspect of one being passive in their life here (as an "object").

On the other hand, "Support" is like the person taking charge in their own life to make changes for them to get well/feel better. Products (e.g., essential oils), people/services (e.g., therapists/therapy) could assist them by providing guidance to their situation but it is up to them with that intention and responsibility wanting to find out what is going on behind those symptoms and take the actions to heal. The focus is not only on the outcome but also the process. And where one is being active for their life (as a "subject").

Extending more broadly, it means if one can realise that they are the one who takes charge and responsible for their own life (self-responsibility). We need support from time-to-time (two-way; cooperative) but not being dependent/reliant (one-sided) on something/someone for changes in our life.

(Summing up)

Wording/linguistic use is not only critical from a regulatory/legal perspective, but it also can greatly influence how one perceives certain things, and affect their decisions and actions in life. Wording/linguistic use for essential oils knowledge sharing is just one example, but it also applies to other areas in life as well.

Mentioning how complementary therapies like aromatherapy incorporating essential oils, which meant for guiding one back into their own natural healing abilities within the body to regain balance - there got to be this self-awareness that it all starts from within first. Otherwise, one might still be taking it as a treatment, and focusing on symptom-elimination only.

And even with using "treat" in health context, the only aspect that might actually "treat" us is ourselves, where it all stems from within, depends on what we think and act on, etc... In this sense, all external services/tools (including medications) are "support" in one way or another too.

What also occurred to me with the phenomenon of public misconceptions around essential oils use, relates to:

My Thoughts (click to open/hide)

Individual Expression and Social Responsibility

There are two parts here:

• Content-creator/sharer to be mindful that individual circumstances vary for a product's effectiveness. Be careful not to generalise and do not assume.

  
  

• Content-reader to be aware of taking in information at one's own discretion. Regardless of what someone (be it how "well-renowned" or whatever "title") may claim to be, listening to your inner voice and relating to your own personal circumstances and needs when taking in information/making decisions.

Misconceptions of certain information depends on and is being influenced by both the ends of the sharer and reader. There is the need to be mindful of the language and message we relay as a sharer, as well as discerning and choosing information that are truly helpful for us as a reader.

With the wide popularity and coverage of social media, it is probably helpful for people to be aware that it is not just those who are commonly-perceived as public figures, like celebrities, are public figures. Each individual posting on social media into the public domain is a public figure in a way. And so the actions (and behind this the intention/purpose) could have an impact on others who come across reading the posts. In other words, it is not just those "traditionally-perceived public figures" have a social responsibility, but each and everyone posting in the public domain does too (especially those who want to educate/advertise/market/sell something). And the social responsibility of expressers in the public platform stems from the cultivation of their personal self-responsibility.

公众平台表达者/公众人物的社会责任能力+程度，来自于 ta 个人的自我责任修行