Christina Weber is an alternative practitioner for psychotherapy and an expert in aromatherapy and herbal medicine in Berlin. I talked with her about fears, triggers and deceleration in Daily lifd.

Finding answers in aromatherapy while asking about future steps

After working in a huge German bank for seven years and realising that she couldn’t relate to the banker’s life, Christina longed for a Timeoff and travelled to Australia, New Caledonia and Samoa (Polynesia). When she asked herself how she want to continue her life and what she is supposed to be, she received an offer of an Aromatherapy-Massage shortly before returning to Germany. This massage was the Decision-making factor for travelling back to Sydney after six months to begin her studies as an Aromatherapist.

 

After 18 months and a Diploma of Aromatherapy in her luggage, she returned to her home in Berlin in 2006. There she eventually practised aromatherapy and worked as a lecturer.

What the Aromatherapy is about?

Aromatherapy can help you to find access to yourself again. The problems people struggling with are all very similar. You may sometimes catch yourself getting lost in the daily grind. First and foremost, work is the biggest time and energy losing point next to social media.

You are exposed to a lot of input every day, that the questions of what you could actually need or wanting to  can be out of sight. I would call it Heteronomy in the broadest sense – if you live in a heteronomous way, you also put more effort into others than into yourself. The hope for more adequate appreciation isn’t far away and the expectation of the final breakthrough with the superior or also in privacy becomes more higher. It can come to such a head that the rising curve simply falls down from one day to the next. The consequences are depression, burnout, malaise and many other physical side effects, which can be more or less pronounced depending on the character.

What exactly do YOU need?

Your body gets what it needs, and that is rest. This doesn’t mean distractions where you don’t think about anything, but activities that only affect you and, above all, actively. Mindfulness, Meditation, going for Walks, Nature or Hobby integration. The main task is to regain self-control over your mind and body. However, since other factors, such as childhood experiences or bad experiences, still take a lot of negative space in behaviour, all suppressed emotions quickly come up and must be fundamentally worked through (advisable with professional Help). This is the point where aromatherapy can get a space, as scents can evoke experiences that make you happy. From this Motivation, the processing of traumas and emotions that have arisen is very supportive.

Classical therapy is supported by fragrances

Essential oils have a physical and spiritual effect. The Question whether you like cinnamon or not, can discover how your family dynamics are. Cinnamon is known to have a strong presence at Christmas. The festival of love, contemplation, closeness and togetherness. If this scent poses a problem or aversion, it usually has a reason. Scents have been proven to evoke memories.

Fragrances must be chosen in context

An example is the scent of lavender, which is defined as a classic “old people’s scent”. If an attempt is made to stimulate the memory of a patient suffering from dementia with scent, lavender may be used incorrectly. This can awaken memories of the war in France, where there are so many of these lavender fields. Even with coma patients, you should talk to the patient’s environment before using scent, so that the oils do not trigger memories that are unpleasant. Positive experiences and asking which scent or situation was most present are therefore an important part of using oils.

I personally love the smell of new books, the smell of ink on paper to be precise. Reading makes me happy and I always associate the smell with an exciting story and therefore curiosity and excitement. As you can see, it’s not just about the smell, but about the feeling that comes from it and what experiences you had in general with it. They can also remind you of something that made you feel light and happy. This can be very supportive in times when you are not feeling so well.

Safe Oils

There are certain mother oils (safe oils) that always have a positive effect. For example, vanillin, which occurs as a light primary scent in breast milk and whose taste you are already confronted with as an infant, is worth mentioning. For this reason, many baby products smell of vanillin, but also many foods are subliminally enriched with vanillin. This scent triggers trust and has the advantage of being instantly likeable and radiating a pleasant feeling. So much for the scientific part. Now you are probably wondering how aromatherapy could work for you.

How Aromatherapy works

Christina talks to you during a therapy session and mixes a so-called Wellness-blend for you, which should favour the desired course of therapy. This varies of course and can mean more focus, general well-being, stronger feelings of happiness, more serenity, higher energy or courage and confidence in yourself. The mixiing of the oil can take one to two days and is applied then within the massage at a new appointment, which provides relaxation and opens the inner hidden emotions to continue working on the therapy goal.

Scent journey to the inner compass

I would like to share with you that life presents you with choices to make every day. Everything is a choice, which can be a good answer if you ask the right questions. Sometimes you may forget to listen to your gut feeling (intuition). But maybe scents help you to get to your inner self and to increase your self-confidence – no matter how big it is at the moment. Because that’s what intuition does. To guide you to exactly what you are longing for deep inside.

I would also like to encourage men to dare to go on scent journeys to their inner selves, because they “feel” and are forced to (“men don’t cry…”) carry around much more burden than they should. Just give it a try.

To get to know the essential oils and perhaps yourself even better, you can take a taster course at Christina’s fragrance party here.

And if you’re too shy, there’s even a scent that encourages you to become more extroverted. 🙂

What great experience do you associate with a particular scent?