What are Essential Oils?
Essential oils are organic, aromatic compounds that come from different parts of plants (such as the bark, stem, peel, leaf, etc.) and each drop contains chemical compounds that carry tremendous healing properties. Aromatherapy is considered a holistic treatment using essential oils to improve physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional health.

Plants and essential oils have been used for over 5,000 years by a variety of cultures to treat a variety of health conditions. Today, we use essential oils for emotional support, to treat various ailments, for optimal skin and hair care, to reduce toxic load, for home cleaning, and most commonly, they are used as natural medicine. It is expected that up to 70 percent of modern pharmaceutical drugs will have originated from research conducted on plant-based medicine.
What is a dōTERRA Essential Oil?
There are no wasted efforts in nature. Have you ever wondered what the role of essential oils is in seeds, bark, stems, roots, flowers and other parts of plants? Essential oils play key roles reproductive, protective, and regenerative purposes.  Watch this video and consider the endless applications of these gifts from the earth!
What are CPTG oils?
The quality of Essential Oils is dōTERRA's first priority. Experienced essential oil users will immediately recognize the superior quality standard for naturally safe, purely effective therapeutic-grade dōTERRA essential oils. Learn more about the science of Essential Oils from Nicole Stevens, our Research Scientist.

Why choose dōTERRA?
When you choose dōTERRA, you are choosing essential oils gently and carefully distilled from plants that have been patiently harvested at the perfect moment by experienced growers from around the world for ideal extract composition and efficacy.

Each dōTERRA essential oil is also carefully and thoroughly tested using the strict CPTG Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade® quality protocol. Experienced essential oil users will immediately recognize the superior quality standard for naturally safe, purely effective therapeutic-grade dōTERRA essential oils.

While there is a science to the distillation of essential oils, it is also an art. Distillers not only rely on years of experience, they also employ modern technologies and techniques.

The most common method of extracting essential oils is a low-heat steam distillation process. In this process, pressurized steam is circulated through plant material. The essential oils are liberated from the plant and carried away by the steam. When the steam cools, the water and oils naturally separate and the oil is collected. To ensure the highest quality oil extract with the correct chemical composition, the temperature and pressure must be closely monitored. Too little heat or pressure and the oil will not release; too much, and the oil’s composition and potency will be affected. 
Steam Distillation
Steam distillation is the most common way to extract aromatic compounds (essential oil) from a plant. During the steam distillation process, steam passes through the plant material. The combination of heated steam and gentle pressure causes the essential oil to be released from microscopic protective sacs. As the vapor mixture flows through a condenser and cools, it yields a layer of oil and a layer of water. The essential oil rises to the top and is separated from the hydrosol (floral water) and collected.

Expression
Unlike steam distillation, expression, sometimes referred to as “cold pressed,” does not involve heat. In this process, oil is extracted from the product under mechanical pressure. dōTERRA uses expression to extract all of its citrus oils, such as Wild Orange, Lemon, Lime, Bergamot, and Grapefruit, from the rind.

Proper distillation requires a consideration for the uniqueness of pressure, temperature, time, and harvesting practices, each of which may be as diverse as the plants themselves. A poor distillation process can alter or destroy the necessary aromatic compounds that comprise the essential oil, leaving a substance far different from the intended goal and something that would not be used to support health and wellness. For this reason, the best distillation artisans dedicate their efforts and work to only a few select plants. This focused effort develops proper knowledge and experience, helping ensure congruency between the oil chemistry of the plant and its distilled form.
Why You Should Choose dōTERRA
dōTERRA is different. Plain and simple--dōTERRA's culture, leaders, products, growers, owners, and mission are so vastly different than other direct sales companies that you can hardly call it a traditional network marketing company.  
Their leaders, owners, products, and business model seek to support a healthy lifestyle while at the same time, inspiring financial self-reliance. dōTERRA is truly committed to making world-wide change.
Co-impact Sourcing
DōTERRA's mission and purpose goes beyond that of health and wellness. It's about changing the world through serving our neighbors. Co-impact sourcing will help ensure a long-term supply of CPTG Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade essential oils while helping to strengthen economies in developing countries and improving the livelihoods of our growers around the world.

Using Essential Oils
There are three common ways to use essential oils:

Aromatically: Smell the aroma right out of the bottle in a mist produced by a diffuser. Water diffusers are quite popular. When you use them, fill water to the line indicated on the packaging, and then simply drop essential oils into the water and enjoy the aroma diffused into the air. If you don't have a diffuser, you can enjoy the aromatic benefits by making yourself a human diffuser. Simply apply a few drops of a safe essential oil around your neck, throat, ears or chest (the region of the body where you can easily smell what you've applied topically). Remember less is more, so use just a few drops. Aromatic usage is one of the best ways to influence mood, brain chemistry, support sinuses and inspire healthy respiration.

Topically: Massage on the bottoms of feet or anywhere on your skin, either neat (meaning without dilution) or diluted. Neat application should be done if an essential oil is safe for topical use. If you're unsure, look at the packaging provided by the company who sourced the product or look it up in a reference guide. If you're applying an essential oil topically on a child, the rule of thumb is that it's best to dilute it. Dilution is simple. You can blend an essential oil with a carrier oil (fractionated coconut oil, almond oil, or even olive oil can be used to more evenly carry an essential oil all over the body). Topical usage is great for join discomfort, shifting body temperature (some oils help cool off the body, others help heat up the body), delivering oils systemically into the bloodstream, and relieving pain where needed. Massage is a great way to encourage relaxation and overall well being.

Internally: If labeled as safe for human consumption (usually you'll see a supplement fact label on the bottle) many essential oils are safe to be taken internally (though DO NOT take any essential oil internally if the bottle says not to!).  If you take an essential oil internally you must read the label first and make sure it's safe to ingest. If you do ingest an essential oil, remember that less is more and you only need a few drops. Be careful to refrain from ingesting too much. Also, as a rule of thumb, if a product is safe for internal use, think "would I normally eat this plant?" For example, we typically eat oranges, so wild orange essential oil is typically safe to ingest IF it has a supplement fact sheet on the label indicating it's safe to ingest. However, we typically don't eat white fir trees (at least I don't), and it's true that white fir is best used topically or aromatically. There are exceptions, however. But overall, internal use with the right essential oil is a great way to affect digestion, mouth sores, and support immune function.
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Dilution & Safety with Essential Oils
Dr. David Hill talks about Wellness Capacity with dōTERRA essential oils. How much you dilute and if you chose to dilute essential oils is an individual choice. 
When using essential oils, we have to be careful not to distract from your body's needs. Don't doubt your own ability to be in tune with how your body is responding to essential oils. The constant is that with dōTERRA there is great safety. The benefits people have received is also a constant.
Ask dōTERRA with Nicole Stevens, dōTERRA Managing Scientist
Watch this second episode of #askdōTERRA to hear dōTERRA Managing Scientist, Nicole Stevens, discuss essential oil equality, using essential oils on kids, and plant matter.