A synopsis about the healing and transformative power of Aromatic Kinesiology, and the essence of a journey creating bridges between Hungary, Greece, Australia and Ireland.
The article was originally written for and published in the issue 2016/2 of Aromatika Magazine, an online publication in Hungary to support holistic living, the practice and professional education of aromatherapy, phytotherapy, naturopathy and related subjects. My special thanks and gratitude goes to Gergely Hollódi, the editor-in-chief of this beautifully constructed aromatherapy periodical for his always encouraging support. Hope you enjoy the English version in this post. The original copy of the electronic magazine in Hungarian is available for download from the website of Aromatika Magazine.
“The heart sleeps, and fear sleeps in the heart” – the symbolism of the Hungarian poet Miklós Radnóti sums it up pretty dark, however, in it there is a deep truth to face. Our past, present and even the future. A starting point, a certain stage or a process. Whether conscious or subconscious, inside we all store those hidden feelings that come to surface occasionally, while otherwise incubate. They might seem innocent, coming and leaving, yet (de)pressing us for recognition, understanding, to be processed and defused. We have work to do with them. The wonderful modality of Aromatic Kinesiology takes us to a scented adventure, helping through essential oils, to gently and lovingly opening our heart to experience the fullest quality of our blossoming self.
Discovering Aromatic Kinesiology
Aromatic Kinesiology was created in 1992 by Robbi Zeck, an Australian naturopath, aromatherapist, kinesiologist, and coach who started teaching her powerful method based on thirty-five years of research and clinical experience. Aromatic Kinesiology offers the opportunity to discover and map the profoundly complex effects that essential oils can have on us deeply on a soul level, and thus gives directions on how to apply them in dealing with feelings and emotions. As a kinesiologist, Robbi has been observing how messages transmitted by essential oils help people integrating emotional experiences from their lives. Kinesiology combined with aromatherapy developed over the years as Robbi was making innumerable individual sessions and workshops. Lead by her passion, all this valuable experience and knowledge took shape in the form of a book called The Blossoming Heart: Aromatherapy for Healing and Transformation.
The first discovery I made around the appealing method of Aromatic Kinesiology was in 2013. Meanwhile, I studied kinesiology already starting with the modality of Touch for Health synthesis that was worked out by Dr. John Thie in the ‘70s. I continued with One Brain / Three in One Concepts that was created in the ‘80s by the American Gordon Stokes, Daniel Whiteside és Candace Callaway. It has always been a vision that I would combine the tools of kinesiology with the capabilities of aromatherapy. Once I had found out about the next opening for Aromatic Kinesiology education, I got very happy and concerned at the same time. Well, the method is coming from Australia, and is still relatively a pioneering work… The closest training facility that was available in Europe at this time is in Ireland where they start new classes every other year. I was really hesitant whether it is worth such a long journey, if it is worth all the expenses coming with it? Also, I had already gained some experience with both methods and my plans for combining aromatherapy with kinesiology started to evolve. Yet, something inside was telling me to go. Even if there would be nothing new to learn (which very rarely happens as we know), at least, a journey always comes with a lot of new inspirations.
The Path of Beauty in Ireland
I made a great decision. In February 2016 I was there at the Obus School & Wellness Center near Dublin, as one of the 25 women all excited, eyes shining. About two third of the group arrived from various places in Ireland, others travelled all the way from America. There were representatives from England, Spain, Holland, Austria, Latvia, and of course, myself from Hungary. The youngest student was in her early twenties, and the most experienced and brightest members of the group were over sixty. Most of them with an established practise as a therapist, massage practitioner, reflexologist, yoga teacher, energy healer, hypnotherapist, while some ladies were in the process of giving up their corporate business life and to make a change to a relatively more quiet working environment to help people with stress release. From different walks of life, but we all came carrying our passion and dedication for aromatherapy and the need to bring our knowledge to the next level.
Part of the arrangements before going to the Aromatic Kinesiology workshops was to go through the book written by Robbi Zeck. The Blossoming Heart is sort of a wonderful spiritual travel guide, and also a therapist’s handbook and it was an immersing reading experience for me. My heart was actually blossoming from the thoughts, better to say, colourful feelings brilliantly fabricated into the less subtle form of words, symbols and metaphors that Robbi had gently put together. She touched various shades and rainbow colours of the soul mastering innovatively the coded messages and powerful dynamics of the healing art of aromatherapy. Accompanying this we had additional workbooks at the workshop, guiding us through the Path of Beauty, Nurture and Stillness.
The power of Aromatic Kinesiology
Just like for the author, it has been my long-time passion to inspire others, support people in changing their standards and help promoting fundamental values and quality of life. I believe The Blossoming Heart serves as a beautiful motto and holds the keys to this thoroughly complex mission. It is indeed a deep internal work until our process would give us the results in a certain level of individual freedom. It is when our heart truly opens and we are able to give way to our power and capabilities, and use them in the most effective way aligned with our real life purpose. In such a state, our talents and passion go hand in hand, we find our own voice and the way of expression that supports the manifestation of our true self to the fullest. And so we continue our journey orchestrating our own vision, applying our conscious creative power, maintaining the balance with our inner and outer world.
Aromatic Kinesiology has very gentle, nourishing and indulging tools to serve this deep and powerful transformative work. Information captured and delivered by essential oils are being combined with relaxation techniques, emotional metaphors, symbols and meditation in order to map individual behavioral patterns, defusing restricting beliefs and stimulate regenerative capacity. Touching the deepest layers of the soul we promote the development of a quiet inner revolution, eventually, leading to recognise and see the world through different eyes. From this changed perspective then we open up to new dimensions and become able to accomplish changes in our life.
The therapeutic essence of metaphors
We use the excellent properties of 60 different essential oils and with it there is a beautifully distilled narrative to each of them. A standalone masterpiece each, they provide a description to the emotional healing properties, the symbolics and the energetics of the oils that carry the transformative qualities within. These stories represent one core element of the Aromatic Kinesiology work, and Robbi Zeck calls them Essential Oil Reflections. Each and every reflection, just like a new occasion offers the client a new perspective, helps opening up, moving the soul, touches the intangible, gives share to the invisible, conceives the inexpressible, and finally connects us with our own divine self.
Reaching out to these depths, re-writing our own stories, and transforming our inner voice, we will have the capacity to take on a new path, make different decisions, and act upon our conscious choices.
In terms of kinesiology toolsets, Aromatic Kinesiology uses muscle testing, of course, during all the protocols and for example to find the essential oils that support the person best in the given situation. We work with the meridians, the Five Elements theory, various stress management techniques, and we use the neurovascular reflex points, the neurolymphatic massage points and several additional modalities. If you are familiar with the colourful Emotional Behavioural Barometer chart from 3in1 Concept, you might have experience about how well it maps specific human problems, state of mind, behavioural choices. Aromatic Kinesiology is using a dedicated tool tuned to essential oils which is called Aromatic Emotional Barometer. Essential oils and their pairing keywords are organised into four main areas: spiritual, emotional, mental and physical sections. Within our work, there are many ways to get to the root of an emotional charge and a hidden personal story behind. With these we also find the essential oil that helps diffusing and making a shift from the pressure of any given life stage, situation, block that is influential in the present situation. By bringing negative correlations into awareness, freeing up our inner resources, taking a more positive perspective, letting the energy flow freely and focusing our attention to the present time we will be able to see the world and ourselves in a different light and find new and better opportunities.
One of the most interesting protocols being used within an Aromatic Kinesiology session is called Skin Harmony Balance. Here we approach a specific issue through the skin, and track down the underlying elements behind. Using the Aromatic Emotional Barometer we test the emotions with priority, find the feelings connecting to it, and proceed with emotional stress release applying Essential Oil Reflections and a combination of various different techniques. We assist anchoring the results of the process with scented affirmations that are part of the essential oil profiles in Robbi’s book The Blossoming Heart. By gently massaging the neurolymphatic reflex points and other key areas on the body we promote detoxification and releasing on both the physical and emotional level. During the process we have diverse complementary material to use in order to deepen the proceedings. One of the most complex charts is a matrix containing 278 keywords scaling emotions connected to the skin. Naturally, as with any holistic approach, we take a look at other major factors influencing skin health, such as diet, lifestyle, hygienic routine as well as environmental causes, and track down the optional causes within every area.
Scented gifts
The wonderful toolkit of aromatherapy very well provides us a lot of means to decide on what the client can get as a take-away after an Aromatic Kinesiology consultation. We might put together a blend for massage, or create a personal perfume that can be used purposefully on the tested acupressure points directly. Further alternative, for instance, is a refreshing body mist or room spray that can be conveniently applied anywhere on the go as a reminder on our actual inner work. Formulating creams and other special products are amongst the many aids where aromatherapy completes our scented work.
I feel very grateful to Robbi Zeck for her brilliant teachings and for saving me a great deal of time by working out the system and tools of Aromatic Kinesiology. I believe in life-long learning, and while living life the fullest possible way, I continue to keep my humility for the unknown world out there. Just like a sedulous bee from flower to flower, I stay open-minded and follow my path for self-development. With a strong original perfectionist trait, it has almost never happened to me before that just finishing my studies I started practising something new I had learnt. This time, I did break through this wall. I can’t really tell how the influence of my teacher and her amazing real-life examples shared with the encouragement from the touching stories of my inspiring colleagues. So many beautiful influences, just like the full-hearted hospitality of my Irish fellow-classmate, the aromatherapist, reflexologist and Greece-enthusiast Agnes Casey from River Lodge Therapies. And thanks to Agnes the realisation of another long-time dream: a visit to the Burren Perfumery. As you can imagine, there are multiple reasons behind happiness and that is just a very nice symbol of the complexity behind any feelings or emotions, contributing a little to the understanding of Aromatic Kinesiology and the significant working arena behind.
All in all, my happiness is there for the journey and for the incredible joy of seeing the results. It is also my pleasure to share this knowledge, experience and enthusiasm with others. The impulses I have been given are enormous, they make my soul fulfilled and my heart blossom. And if I wanted to see this experience even more special, I add on having the honour to be the first Hungarian person ever who had learnt Aromatic Kinesiology.
