Quantum Physics, Essential Oils & the Mind-Body Connection
~^~by David Stewart, PhD

Essential oils are composed of numerous chemical compounds, numbering from a few dozen to several hundred in a single species. Thus far, chemists have not fully analyzed even one species of essential oil. Scientists do not know the complete compositions of even the most popular oils, such as Lavender, Frankincense, Tea Tree, Eucalyptus, or Peppermint. For example, lavender contains at least 200 identified compounds, but many more are known to be present whose identification has not been achieved.

One scientist estimated that just to identify all of the compounds present in the essential oils known today would take a thousand years. However, we do not need to know all of the constituents of an oil to enjoy its benefits. With essential oils, healing can start taking place right now, without complete understanding, while science can catch up later. Besides, essential oils are more than just chemistry.

Vehicles of Living Energy

A compound made in a laboratory may have the same chemical formula as one produced in nature, but they are not the same and do not have the same effect on your body and mind. A chemical formula is not a complete description of a compound, even though today’s chemists and chemistry books will say so. Instead of describing an essential oil as “A Mixture of Chemical Compounds,” essential oils are better described as “Vehicles of Living Energy.” Here is why that is so.

Most compounds of essential oils are built from “Aromatic Rings.” These are molecular structures composed of carbon atoms arranged in closed configurations such as triangles, rectangles, trapezoids, pentagons, hexagons, and other larger more complex shapes.

A prevalent form of these carbon rings in essential oils is the “Benzene Ring,” consisting of six carbons in a hexagonal circle. The benzene ring was discovered and described in the 19th century, but it was not well understood until the development of sophisticated technology in the 20th century. From a series of precise measurements of the electrical properties of the benzene ring, scientists eventually realized that the concept of simple atoms, protons, neutrons, and electrons could not explain its properties. Neither could the concepts of atoms and molecules fully explain the behavior of the many other kinds of rings found in essential oils.

What scientists came to conclude is that these ring structures could no longer be thought of as expressions of matter measured by discrete sizes, dimensions, and masses. This is because they are actually waveforms to be measured by frequencies, amplitudes, and phases. In other words, the compounds of essential oils are not just molecules of matter. They are energetic waveforms. Thus, essential oils can manifest either as particles of matter (chemistry) or as waves of energy (physics) or both.

The fact that energy and matter are equivalent and interchangeable was first articulated in 1905 by Albert Einstein (1879-1955). The realization that aromatic rings, originating as matter but functioning as energy, was only a further confirmation of Einstein's insight.

Quantum Physics 101

Now, let’s talk about quantum physics and show how essential oils employ the laws of both chemistry and modern physics, not just chemistry.

As a science, there are two fundamental forms of physics. There is “Classical physics” and there is “Quantum physics.” Both are necessary to describe the world around us and the ways in which essential oils work.

The principal laws of classical physics were first articulated by Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727). Classical physics has to do with things large enough to experience or measure with our five senses. Classical physics provides the laws by which engineers can build bridges across rivers, design cars to ride in, and send rockets into outer space. Classical physics deals with phenomena involving dimensions the size of an atom or larger.

The principles of quantum physics were first articulated at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th by men such as Max Planck (1858–1947), Erwin Schroedinger (1887-1961), and Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976). Quantum physics has to do with things too small to experience or measure with our five senses. Quantum physics explains things like electric eyes, solar panels, and spectrometers and how they work. Quantum physics deals with the behavior of things with dimensions smaller than an atom. These include electrons, protons, neutrons, quarks, neutrinos, mesons, and other subatomic particles.

As human experimenters, we can study the objects of classical physics as objective observers, separated and apart from the phenomena we study. This is not so in quantum physics, where the experimenter is always part of the experiment.

For example, light is known to manifest is either a wave, described by frequency, amplitude, and phase, or it can manifest as a stream of particles with properties of discrete quanta described by size, momentum, and mass. These quantum particles are called photons. While light can appear as either a continuous wave or a stream of discrete photons in any given situation, it can never be both at the same time. It was in 1900 that Max Planck discovered the minimum unit of energy for a photon, expressed as a “quantum” and measured by Planck’s constant.

An interesting series of experiments were performed during the 1980s, by scientists working independently in Germany and the United States. They sought to explore the relationship, if any, between certain observed phenomena and the observers. These were the so-called “Double Slit, Delayed Choice” experiments. Scientists were able to show by releasing a light beam from a common source, aiming it through a pair of vertical slits, that as the light traveled to targets where it was to be recorded or observed, they could make a decision as to whether it would show up as a wave or a series of particles. Their decision, made while the beam was passing between its source and its recording point, determined the outcome of the experiment. If their decision were for the light to manifest as a continuous wave, it would record as a wave on the photographic plate. If their decision were for the light to manifest as discrete particles, it would record as particles.

The question arose, “What is light beam in flight on its way to being observed? Is it a wave or is it a stream of particles?” The answer scientists came to conclude is that a light beam in transit is neither a wave nor a particle. It does not exist as light until it is recorded or observed. As a beam travels the distance between its source and its target, it is not yet light, but only “a bundle of possibilities” or “a packet of probabilities” as yet unmanifested. Which possibility it will manifest at the recording site is up to the decision of the observer. In other words, the experimenter is unavoidably a part of the experiment and a determining element of the recorded outcome.

How to Prove that Light in Flight Does Not Exist

To demonstrate the non-existence of light before it is seen or recorded, consider this: If light existed as a wave as it passes from its source to a point of observation, you could take the beams of two flashlights and aim them to cross through the same region in space and they would interfere and alter each other. But this does not occur, a fact you can easily demonstrate yourself.

If you took several flashlights and shown their separate beams through the same region of space in a vacuum, the beams would all pass through each other, occupying the same space, without any interference. Each beam would pass through the others with no effect in its intensity, direction, or color. This is because the beams passing through the same portion of space do not exist as light. Therefore, they cannot influence or interfere with one another in any way.

This is in contrast to other types of waves such as sound, seismic waves, or waves on the ocean. If two sound waves pass simultaneously through the same portion of space, they alter each other. They can resonate and result in greater volume and they can interfere destructively, canceling each out partially or totally. Acoustical engineers must deal with wave interference patterns in designing auditoriums and music halls.

In the case of seismic waves, these are vibrations that move through the earth caused by earthquakes and other underground disturbances. When more than one wave train passes through the same region of earth at the same time, they interact and change one another, creating numerous altered patterns. It is these patterns that seismologists record and analyze.

In the case of waves on water, you have probably observed this yourself. When a surface wave moves against or across another wave, things happen quite visibly. They crash, change direction, and metamorphose as they pass through each other within the same volume space.

But light is different. The beams of the sun, traversing 97 million miles of space, can cross through light beams made here on earth without either affecting the other. That is because a light beam in transit is not a light beam and does not posses the properties of light.

But suppose light passing from one point to another actually existed as a stream of photons, a flow of quantum particles? If this were so, then two light beams crossing the same region would result in multiple collisions with the particles of each beam bouncing around in all directions, thus scattering the beams into a random disarray of flying particles.

To illustrate this, take two water hoses, each with a coherent stream of water squirting in a single direction. These would be streams of water molecules, millions of tiny particles of matter. Then aim the two hoses so that the streams pass through some common point. Both streams would instantly be scattered, splashed, and disrupted by the collision.

So you see, light in flight is different. It is neither energy nor matter. It is neither a passing wave nor a stream of particles. If it were either, two beams could not occupy the same space without interference. Therefore, light is not light until recorded or observed. There must be a receiver or recorder. It is only at the point of being observed that it becomes light as we know it. Until then it is only a passing packet of possibilities, a bundle of probabilities unborn.

(For a detailed and easily understood discussion of quantum physics and related topics, see "Transcendental Physics" by Edward R. Close available at www.iUniverse.com.)

Mind Over Matter

Before we apply the concepts of quantum physics to essential oils, let us discuss some other related research concerning the interaction of mind and matter. Let’s consider essential oils as “living energy” and consider how human intent and the decisions we may can determine the action of an oil.

We know that the human mind can affect the electromagnetic frequencies of essential oils. Prayer and positive thinking elevates the frequencies while negative thoughts will decrease the frequencies.

In the 1950’s, Franklin Loehr, an American scientist explored the effect of prayer and human thought on water. H2O molecules are composed to a single oxygen atom with two hydrogen atoms attached at specific angles ranging from 120-110 degrees. Loehr found that human thought alters the bonding angles between the oxygen and hydrogen atoms, thus changing the physical properties of the water. (See "The Power of Prayer on Plants" by Franklin Loehr.)

More recent experiments by the Japanese scientist, Masaru Emoto, graphically prove that human thought and emotion affects the crystalline structure of frozen water. Aim beautiful thoughts at water, such as “love,” “angel,” or “appreciation,” and it will crystallize into beautiful icy patterns. Aim ugly or mean thoughts toward water, such as “hate,” “demon,” or “kill” and the frozen water produces ugly crystals. Interaction of mind and matter is a scientific fact. (See "Messages from Water" by Masaru Emoto.)

Consider this: As water vapor is condensing in the high atmosphere and crystallizing into snowflakes, the water above is receiving millions of thoughts from the people below and responding according to the nature of the thoughts. The next time it snows in your area, ask yourself: “Am I creating beautiful snowflakes or ugly ones?” If you find an ugly snowflake, you can always say, “I didn’t create that one. Someone else did.”

The point is that human thought and human intent effects electron behavior. Since every chemical and neural process in the human body involves the activity of electrons, we see that our bodily functions are not simple matters of traditional chemistry and classical physics. They are mental, emotional, and spiritual as well. The so called “mind-body connection” is through the electrons.

We know that essential oils amplify intent—the intent of the person applying the oils as well as the intent of the person receiving the oils. Healing practitioners who anoint with oils know from experience that essential oils work better with prayer. They also work better when supported by faith and belief on the part of the receiver. But exactly why and how does this work?

Essential oils also have electrical properties, which are subject to our thoughts and feelings. We have always known that the same essential oil will have different effects on different people, but the usual explanation is that different people have different chemistries. Therefore, the same oil will have a different chemical effect on different people because of their differing chemical make-up. But is it really all about chemistry?

The Quantum Physics of Essential Oils

The next time someone asks you about what an essential oils can do, you can give them two answers.

(1) When a person asks, “What will this essential oil do for me?” You can say, “Well, the oil contains certain compounds. There are phenols that are cleansing and detoxifying. There are esters that are emotionally releasing. There are sesquiterpenes that oxygenate the cells and clean out misinformation in cellular memory. And there monoterpenes, ketones, oxides, etc., which can do this or that and which can have such and such effects depending on the chemistry of your own body. What benefits you receive from this oil may be different that those received by another because different people have different chemistry.” That would be a chemical answer, and it is a perfectly valid answer.

(2) You can also give them a quantum physics answer. When someone says, “What will this oil do for me?” You can reply, “What do you want it to do? This bottle of oil is only a packet of possibilities. Which possibility it manifests for you will depend upon your thoughts and desires. For a person with different thoughts and desires, it would manifest different possibilities. So decide what you want it to do.” That would be your quantum physics answer.

Both the chemical and quantum answers are correct. You need both to fully describe how essential oils work. Here is how they work together.

The “packet of probabilities” offered by an oil is a matter of chemistry. The chemical composition, or collection of compounds, that makes up a specific oil determines its “possibilities.” A given oil is not capable of all possibilities, only those within the capability of the constituents present. The determination of which element of the “bundle of possibilities” represented by the oil’s chemistry will manifest in a particular person is a matter of quantum physics. And quantum physics is subject to desire, feeling, and intent. In short, the potential actions of an oil is defined and limited by its chemistry, but the determining factor as to which potential action will manifest is defined and limited by the attitudes of the anointer and receiver.

Chemistry determines what is possible. Quantum physics determines which possibilities actually happen. Our thoughts won’t change the chemistry of an oil; that is fixed before we apply the oil. But our thoughts can determine which aspects of the chemistry will work in our bodies; that is determined at the time of anointing and afterwards.

What this means is that the receiver of an essential oil must participate in their own healing. The oils are not healers. They are only vehicles that must be facilitated by our supportive thoughts for them to work with optimal benefit. Because of their innate chemistry and the intent given to them when grown, distilled, packaged, and distributed, therapeutic grade essential oils will work to an extent even without the conscious participation and mental support of the receiver. But they will work much better with such support and participation. This is also why you want to use only pure therapeutic grade essential oils that are imbued with the healing intent of the manufacturer and marketer, from the herbs of the field to the bottle that is sold.

So you can see that the science of essential oils, as agents of health and healing, involves both physics and chemistry in combination with the human heart and mind.

Therefore, therapeutic grade essential oils are in a category all of their own--above and beyond the simple drugs, antibiotics, and antibacterial agents marketed by physicians and pharmacists at this time. Essential oils have been available on earth since the creation of plant life and are imbued with the qualities and intent of their creator. The medicines of man fabricated in factories and laboratories have no such qualities and the intent of their makers is not necessarily healing.

An Example of Applied Quantum Physics with Oils

Margaret is an employee of ours whom we see regularly throughout every work week. A few years ago, she was playing volleyball and got hit hard in the mouth with an elbow. It pushed one of her front upper teeth back so far that she could not chew because it no longer aligned with her lower teeth, striking them at an odd angle. The displaced tooth also turned gray.

When x-rayed by a dentist, he said that the bone behind the tooth was crushed but the tooth, itself, was not broken. He said that the nerves inside were dead and that the gray coloring in the tooth was because there was no blood circulating in it. He told Margaret that she would need to have a root canal—a costly procedure that would leave her tooth without feeling and permanently dead. The dentist also told her that the only way to reposition the tooth was to apply braces over a period of time.

Instead, Margaret decided to take an alternative route. She started a daily routine. Every morning and evening she brushed her teeth with Thieves Toothpaste, Gargled with Thieves Mouthwash, and rubbed Thieves Oil Blend directly on her teeth and gums. She also rubbed oils of Juniper, Wintergreen, Cypress, and Peppermint on her teeth every day.

Within two weeks her tooth moved back into its original positions on its own, without braces. Then slowly, over the next month, the color of her tooth went from very gray to white again. The feeling in her tooth was also restored. Today you cannot tell that her tooth was ever displaced or discolored.

I was not surprised that the color returned to her tooth, since Thieves oil blend is highly antimicrobial and if there were any infection in the teeth, Thieves is quite able to combat it. This would be due to the chemistry of the oils that make up the blend: Clove, Cinnamon, Lemon, Eucalyptus, and Rosemary. Cypress oil is also known for correcting scrambled programming due to physical trauma at the level of cellular intelligence.

Nor was I too surprised that the feeling and nerve function of her teeth was also restored. Essential oils are known to be capable of tissue regeneration, including damaged nerves. While nerve regeneration is not a property generally ascribed to Thieves Oil Blend, Juniper oil is known for this capability. There are other oils better known for that.

But the fact that the teeth restored themselves back into their original positions was most amazing to me. While the chemical possibilities of Thieves certainly include antimicrobial action and Juniper is associated with nerve regeneration, the righting of bent teeth was not something I had ever heard of with any oil. Wintergreen does address bone challenges and was, perhaps, the oil that healed her crushed jawbone and helped straighten the tooth. In any case, the possibilities of fixing crushed bone and straightening crooked teeth must have been a part of the “bundle of probabilities” possessed by the oils Margaret chose, even if these may have been obscure and remote possibilities that were unknown and rarely manifested.

The question is this: “What was it that activated these specific healing possibilities from the oils to fix Margaret’s tooth?” I believe it was Margaret’s strong intent to solve and completely heal her problem with oils and to avoid, at all costs, the expensive oral procedures her dentist would have performed. With such will and determination applied with the oils of her choice, she was completely healed and restored.

Margaret’s success also illustrates the power of patient participation in one’s own therapy. If Margaret had applied the Thieves Oil, Thieves products, and other oils mechanically, just because someone recommended it, without the faith and fervor of her focused intent, the healing would probably have not taken place so quickly nor so completely and, perhaps, only partially or not at all.

So you can see how the oils, chemistry, quantum physics, right attitude, and determination all work together to achieve a desired result. The key element in this experience certainly involved her choices of oils, but the real determinant was Margaret’s resolve and will to apply the oils until the ultimate result was obtained, no matter how long it might take. Thanks to the intensity of Margaret’s intent, it didn’t take very long.

Packets of Possibilities

Each species of essential oil possesses many possibilities but will manifest only certain ones in a given application on a particular receiver. The ones available are determined by chemistry. The ones chosen are determined by the desires, feelings, and beliefs of the receiver and facilitator. When an oil is applied to any part of the body you can mentally direct it to go to wherever it is needed and affirm the outcome you desire. Your affirmation must be more than a one-time thought, but must come from within your deepest convictions and faith and be repeated and consciously retained until the desired results are manifested.

Even for a single oil, the possibilities are innumerable and almost unlimited, including potential manifestations previously unknown. For example, an oil may be known to be supportive of liver function, and but not known for nerve regeneration. Even so, that oil could manifest regenerative neural actions if directed to do so. So if you don’t think you have the right oil for a specific application, use what you have and, with intense concentration and feeling, direct the oil to do whatever you wish it to do. Essential oils are imbued with an intelligence non-existent in pharmaceutical drugs.

Listed below are six general probabilities possessed by essential oils that you can call upon to create healthy environments in your home, car, or work place and to maintain wellness or bring about healing in your body. You can call this list a “Six-Pack of Possibilities” for essential oils.

1. Essential oils can destroy harmful fungi, viruses, and bacteria in the air we breathe as well as inside our bodies. While being deadly to pathogenic microbes, they are harmless and helpful to humans.

2. Essential oils can act like hormones to keep our organs and bodily functions in balance and can even fill in the differences, or stimulate our bodies to produce, when our bodies do not manufacture the hormones we need.

3. Essential oils can elevate our bodily frequencies, helping us to stay healthy and immune to disease. Their vibrations resonate with our tissues in helpful ways according to our wishes and mental directions.

4. Essential oils are nature’s most powerful antioxidants that cleanse free radicals from our systems. This helps maintain a state of wellness and can extend our life spans.

5. Essential oils work in our limbic systems to help clear negative feelings and blocked emotions, thus eliminating the root causes of many diseases and conditions.

6. Essential oils support and increase our intuitive powers and sharpen our spiritual awareness, which is why religions all over the world, from ancient times to the present, diffuse the aromas of essential oils as incense in their sanctuaries in order to facilitate effective meditation and prayer.

Essential oils work on all human levels: physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual. Some even say that essential oils can work on the financial level, as well, which is why Young Living has a blend called “Abundance.” Remember, by the laws quantum physics, “Essential oils amplify intent.” This is true whatever your intent may be, but is much truer when your intent is a good one and in harmony with a higher power.


NOTE: For a more thorough discussion of the scientific basis of essential oils, see "The Chemistry of Essential Oils Made Simple" by David Stewart, available at www.RaindropTraining.com and many other sources.

"Reprinted from The Raindrop Messenger, a free eline newsletter, with permission from Dr. David Stewart. To subscribe or download back issues, visit www.RaindropTraining.com."