Aromatherapy specialist Rupal Shabnam Tyagi shares some tips to create healing blends with Unnati Joshi
For aroma therapist and perfumer Rupal Shabnam Tyagi, the key attribute for beauty is purity. Married into a family of royal lineage, Rupal was exposed to a life of regal traditions and beauty secrets known only to blue blood.
Beauty practices had changed little over the centuries in her household, where simple natural products were used in grooming and maintenance. Regular visits to their family owned aromatic plantations and mango orchards in Nehtaur, Western UP, stoked her interest in aromatherapy and lead her to study the subject in detail and become a qualified aroma therapist.
“I married into a family that traces its royal lineage to Nehtaur. The family history dates back to Royal India when the nobility lived a gracious life resplendent with clubs, bridge games and high teas. The patriarch, my great grandfather-in-law Dalip Singh and his resplendent aura was one that is still greatly respected by the local people. An aura they link to his attar, the fragrance of wild musk combined with roses. I also saw how the ladies of this aristocratic family depended on traditional herbs and essential oils to take care of all their beauty needs and I too started using these natural remedies. This first hand experience of the healing powers of natural essential oils drew me to aromatherapy and I have now taken this royal legacy forward by creating a line of wellness potions and perfumes based on aromatherapy,” she told us.
Rupal is a qualified aromatherapist and perfumer with a degree from london. About aromatherapy she said, “Aromatherapy uses the healing powers of the scents of leaves, flowers, stems, bark, seeds, roots, or peels of plants to cure ailments holistically. The use of essential oils dates back to ancient civilisations. Egyptians, Babylonians and Greeks valued aromatic oils and used them for religious beautifying and medicinal purposes. Today, essential oils are used in everything from food items to perfumes to beauty treatments and holistic healing.
“Aromatherapy’s power comes from the fact that high-grade, organic essential oils are naturally healing and therapeutic. They can be beneficial for physical ailments such as stomach aches, allergies, migraines or sore joints, as well as for finding emotional and spiritual balance.”
She also mentioned that Chamomile is her favourite flower because of its soothing fragrance. “Chamomile essential oil is the most gentle with the human system. It can be effectively used even on the most sensitive skin. It shows great result with people suffering from skin allergies. It can also be used during PMS cramps or any other kind of abdominal cramps or body aches. Chamomile tea serves as a mind soothing and detoxifying agent if used regularly,” said Rupal.
Taking up her passion for aromatherapy professionally, Rupal established India’s first aromatherapy clinic in New Delhi. During her private practice, she successfully cured clients suffering from fibromyalgia, arthritis, PMS, body pain, sports injury, migraine, post operative care and various day-to-day problems such as acne, dermatitis, sun damaged skin, ageing, alopecia in women, hair fall and various lifestyle diseases. Her in-depth experience in the field of aromatherapy and perfumery over the years helped her to launch her own label, Wikka. The idea was simple, to recreate a world of purer times, where royal beauty recipes were based on completely natural ingredients like essential oils, herbs and potions. “My work is completely passion driven. But sourcing the best quality and therapeutic grade essential oils sometimes become a challenge. My intention to provide the best quality and therapeutic grade blends which are healing to the mind and body, drives me into finding the best quality essential oils from across the world,” said she.
About the name, Wikka, she explained, “The name is drawn from Wicca which is associated with magic and witchcraft. Since I believe aromatherapy gives magical results in a good beneficial way, I have used the same word with a twist in the spelling.”
Sharing tips to create aromatherapy blends/ herbal infusions she said, “Although Essential oils should be blended by a qualified aromatherapist but a safe blend can be prepared at home with a concentration of one ml of essential oil in 100ml of carrier oil.
“A beautiful herbal infusion can be created by adding a handful of flowers of your choice in a wide mouth bottle containing suitable nut oil or seed oil as per your requirement and leaving this covered glass bottle in the sun for at least two weeks. This blend can be used as good fragrant massage. Essential oils should be used only externally and after blending with a carrier oil or base. Aromatherapy can be completely understood only if you have a passion for wellness and an honest intention to heal.”