Articles on Massage, Types of Massage, Types of Yoga


Ask Murari: Why is there Jasmine in my candy bar?
A friend of mine recently had a birthday and was given an assortment of gourmet chocolates, including a bar containing jasmine. She asked me what the properties of jasmine were and what affect it might have on her. I thought it appropriate to share my answer in this newsletter as the first of my 'Ask Murari' columns. It is mid April and the most common form of jasmine here in Southwest Florida is now coming into bloom. Confederate Jasmine, or Trachelospermum asiaticum is pictured lower left, and is also know as Climbing Jasmine. Jasmine however, is not "a" plant. It is often a term given to many plants with whitish and some yellowish, and some pinkish) blossoms, sweet fragrance, living in warm climes. I personally have four different jasmines growing here at home and they are all botanically unrelated and very different from each other. Jasmines have a very powerful fragrance with a full, rich, honey-like sweetness. The fragrance of jasmine is a component in so many perfumes that there is an old saying "No perfume without jasmine." Aromatherapists value jasmine oil for its calming, relaxing, sensual, romantic characteristics. And its warming quality makes it ideal for use during the winter months -- in a fragrant bath or body oil or massage blend, for example. Essential, absolute and resin oils are volatile, fragrant materials extracted from the root, bark, wood, seed, fruit, leaf or flower of a single plant. Great expense goes into producing pure jasmine oil. Jasminium grandiflorum is the jasmine respected most for it's therapeutic properties and comes from Morocco, Italy, and Grasse, France -- a premier perfume-producing region. The pinwheel-shaped, dainty, white flowers grow in clusters on the woody stalks of the shrub, and yield a surprisingly dark, viscous oil. For each ounce of oil to be extracted, forty pounds of flowers must be picked -- before dawn, when jasmine is at its aromatic peak. The flowers are too delicate to be put through the distillation process used for most essential oil extractions. Instead, special methods are used to obtain an absolute, which is more concentrated than essential oils. Because of the expense of producing pure jasmine essences, synthetic perfume oils are common. Note that these do not produce the same therapeutic effects and could be quite toxic if ingested. Pure absolutes and essential oils have been used as ingredients in blended teas and confections for millennia in the East and are believed to have similar characteristics when consumed. Herbal folklore also suggests that jasmine may have been used to treat intestinal parasites. For centuries in Egypt, India and the Orient, only the privileged upper classes were permitted access to this precious oil known as an aphrodisiac. Legend has it that Cleopatra was a bit extravagant with her jasmine -- the Queen of the Nile (and of aromatic intrigue, it seems) had the sails of her ships soaked in jasmine oil to lure Mark Antony. Jasmine is still too precious for most of us to use for such a large-scale project. But, because of its high concentration and terrific staying power -- a little goes a very long way. If you have a question on aromatherapy, massage, yoga or other issues related to holistic healthcare, email it to: brian@sanibelwellness.com.

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