Aromatheraphy: Aromatherapy has been around for over 6000 years. In India and other ancient civilizations of the East, plant essences were used for their fragrance to purify the air. Agarbatis and dhoop (incense sticks) are still in use as they were in ancient times in India.The modern era of aromatherapy dawned in 1930 when the French chemist Rene Maurice Gattefosse coined the term'aromatherapy' for the therapeutic use of essential oils. He was fascinated by the benefits of lavender oil in healing his burnt hand without leaving any scars. He started investigating the effect of other essential oils for healing and for their psychotherapeutic benefits.

Our sense of smell works at a subconscious level. Olfactory nerves conduct smell sensations to a part of the brain which also regulates and controls our moods, emotions, memory and learning. Studies with brain wave frequency have shown that smelling lavender increases alpha waves which are associated with relaxation in the back of the head. Fragrance of jasmine increases beta waves,which are associated with a more alert state in the front of the head. Essential oils are contained in plant materials like leaves, flowers, roots, seeds, bark and resin. Each essential oil contains as much as 100 chemical components, which together exert a strong effect on the whole person.

Depending on which component is predominating in an oil, the oils act differently. For example, some oils are relaxing, some soothing and some pain relieving. They leave no harmful residues. Aromatherapy is articularly effective for stress, anxiety, and psychosomatic induced problems, muscular and rheumatic pains, digestive disorders and gynaecological problems, such as PMiS, menopausal complaints and postnatal depression.

UNANI: This ancient medical tradition, with its origin in the Mediterranean world was developed in the Middle East. It was brought to India with the spread of Islamic civilization around the 10th century A.D. The Unani system of medicine was founded on the principles propounded by Galen, a Greek practitioner.

Abu Sina, an Arab philosopher and physicist, also known as Avicenna in English (A.D. 980-1037), was instrumental in the development of this system of medicine.Many other Arab and Persian philosophers also contributed to its growth and development. Their role in the development of Unani is evident from the fact that this style of medicine is now not known as Gaelic, as it was earlier called, but the Unani (Arabic name for Greek) system of medication. Unani system of medicine revolves around the fact that food is transformed by the natural warmth in the stomach into different substances. A part of these substances that are useful to the body are transported by the blood to different organs, while the waste is excreted. The main products of this process according to the Unani system were the four cardinal humours: blood, mucus, yellow bile and black bile. These humours were combined with the four primary qualities: warmth (or heat), cold, moisture (or dampness) and dryness.

This system of medicine states that if the four humours and the four primary qualities are all in a state of mutual equilibrium,man is healthy. It is the influence of external factors such as climate, age, profession and customs that causes a dominance of one of the four humours observed in every human body. Both, rulers and noblemen from the beginning of the Muslim rule, built hospitals (bipartisan) that followed Unani system. The Khilji, Lodhis and Tughluq Sultans nurtured eminent Unani physicians, surgeons and ophthalmologists. During the reign of Akbar, there was a mass exodus of learned men from regions where Arabian medicine was taught. Abul-Fazl, the renowned historian from Akbar's court, mentions 29 eminent physicians who paid homage to Akbar. This trend continued during the reigns of the successive great Mughal emperors - Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb.

Later, when the English took over India, they showed no interest in either Unani Tibb or Ayurveda, and these ancient sciences lay neglected and forgotten. It was only much later, towards the last quarter of the nineteenth century, that a national reawakening aroused the interest of a few educated Indians towards their own systems of medicine.Today, thanks to the pioneering work and research of charitable organisations and various colleges located throughout the country, this system of medicine is in no   danger   of  disappearing   into   oblivion.