National Association of Holistic Aromatherapy (NAHA) – Beyond Aromatics Conference | Oct 24-27, 2018 – University of Utah Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Sal with the NAHA President Annette & Eric Davis
I have just had the honour of speaking at the NAHA conference in the USA. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Annette Davis, the President of NAHA, the NAHA conference committee and all the NAHA volunteers for hosting such an inspiring conference.
I am sincerely grateful to all the aromatherapy teachers and schools that use The Complete Guide to Aromatherapy as a text book in Canada and the USA for many years. Please enjoy the third edition and I promise that Volume II should be complete in two years.
I would also like to commend all the attendees with whom I spoke. I was inspired by your amazing work to integrate aromatherapy within your practice and mainstream healthcare system.
I had the pleasure to catch up with a wonderful colleague and dear friend Michael Scholes at the conference. I felt very nervous when he said the only reason he came to the conference was to listen to Gabrielle Mojay and myself talk. I first met Michael at the 1996 NAHA conference in Seattle, where both he and I spoke. We reminisced about the early days of aromatherapy and contemplated the future direction of aromatherapy.
I believe that the future of aromatherapy is in good hands. At the conference, I had the pleasure to meet doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, scientists, naturopaths, herbalists, policy makers and entrepreneurs who are all passionate about aromatherapy and are doing such a great job to develop and promote aromatherapy with integrity.
I commend NAHA for truly embracing an integrative holistic approach to the practice of aromatherapy. It is so important that we support our aromatherapy associations and it was so exciting to see all NAHA members appreciate what their association is doing for them.
Sal with all the wonderful NAHA volunteers
A special thanks to all the sponsors and exhibitors for supporting this wonderful event.
It was wonderful to see Australia well represented. My dear friend Faridi Irani spoke passionately about the practice of Ayurveda and Joy Bowles wowed everyone with her insights into the science underpinning aromatherapy.
It was an honour to speak twice at the conference. In my first presentation, I examined the role of scent in culture and spiritual practices, and how this has helped to establish a framework for the practice of aromatherapy today.
In my second presentation, I proposed that we need new sciences to understand how aromatherapy works and we discussed some of the latest discoveries that validate much of what we have known about subtle aromatherapy. More on this in future blogs.
Sal with Madeleine Kerkhof
The conference was thoughtfully structured and presented a diverse range of presenters. There was the perfect balance of theory, clinical practice, research and spiritual aspects of aromatherapy. I had the pleasure of meeting Madeleine Kerkhof who has done some amazing work in the areas of oncology and palliative care and is the author of CO2 extracts in aromatherapy. I am pleased to say that Madeleine will be coming to Australia next year!
Kelly Holland Azzaro reminded us how effective and safe hydrosols are for use on our pets. My pet beagle, Charlie and kitten, Abbey will appreciate the wonderful insights that I picked up from Kelly. The conference went for four days and then there is a post-conference workshop.
The NAHA aromatherapy conference is a must-attend conference wherever you are in the aromatherapy world. I truly encourage you to start making plans to attend the October 2020 NAHA conference that will be held in Utah. Once again, my sincere thanks to all the NAHA team for organising such an inspiring conference and on a personal note, I am sincerely grateful for the generosity and hospitality of everyone at the conference. Just thought I would share a few snaps from the conference.
Best wishes
Sal
