Essential Oils Distillation and Olfactory Therapy Workshop

Join us for a day of learning in the garden! 

When: Sunday, August 6th 11:30 AM until 4:30 PM

Where: The Haven at Tomales, 900 Cerini Road, Tomales, CA 94971

What you will receive:

• A day of learning from Alice Encinas Duvernell, MA, a French Ethno-Botanist and the founder of Biophilia Botanicals
• How to perform hydro-distillation in a traditional copper still AND everyday kitchen appliances
• Informational handout
• 100 ml custom blended aroma blend
• 2-ounce bottle of freshly distilled hydrosol distilled onsite at the farm
• Mid-day meal and refreshments

In this full-day demonstration/workshop, you will be discovering the very special and unique experience of steam and hydro distillation in a traditional copper still, as well as a method in an affordable home cooking device. Alice will share her passion and knowledge about the science and alchemy of the distillation process. Students will learn the difference between hydro-distillation and steam distillation as well as the ways to improve yields of essential oil extractions with simple kitchen apparatus and labware. Students will be taught the differences between essential extraction and hydrosol extraction. Although they may be part of the same process, they present distinct techniques for enhanced results!

During the second part of the day, Alice will introduce the class to the basic principles of alchemy and psycho-aromatherapy, also called olfactory therapy.

As we all know, the sense of smell creates in each one of us powerful physiological responses, emotions, memories, and inspirations. Because scent biologically influences the same brain receptors that process emotions, students will explore, through a series of games and meditations, their own emotional and physiological responses. Alice will invite students to delve deep into a sense of “feeling” more than “thinking” as they discover and rediscover the aromas of enchanting & healing essential oils. Playful approaches to this new way of experiencing scents will invite them to open to the pathway that connects smell, emotions, memories, and body connections. Opening our senses to the pure essence of the plant seems to allow us to travel deep into ourselves, in our emotional patterns and physiological blockages that words cannot always heal.

Each student will have the time and opportunity to realize a self-portrait of their own healing aroma-blend, made from locally distilled hydrosols and therapeutic and organic grade essential oils. These magical and transformative blends will reflect their healing, vision, and desires, finding the essence that brings them to light and to reconnect with their full innate potential.

About the teacher:

Alice Encinas Duvernell, MA, the formulator and creator of Biophilia Botanicals, is a French Ethno-Botanist who specializes in restorative community herbal aromatic therapies and product design for healing, culinary, cosmetic and perfumery purposes. Her formal ethno-botany studies at the Sorbonne in Paris led her to travel to South America where she first started distillation and Botanical extractions. In the northeast of Brazil she created an “open house” laboratory where she started teaching and collaborating with indigenous cultures and university leaders in the field. During her adulthood, she experienced severe acne and only found relief and recovery using botanicals, hydrosols, colloidal minerals and nutrients. This opened her heart to a great passion for organic cosmetology, botanical extraction techniques and foods for beauty. 

For the past 15 years, Alice has been teaching adults and children how to reconnect to their body through our heart connection to nature and self-healing power. She is passionate about every gift the earth brings to support optimal well-being, radiant skin, and balance of body and the mind. Some of her specialty domains are the medical and cosmetic uses of bee products, clays and oligo-minerals, homeopathy, cosmeceuticals, essential oils, flower essences, botanical extraction techniques and herbal therapy.

Photo credit: Molly Kate Photography