Botanica 2020 course package
Learn with Joy Bowles and Petra Ratajc, and get two bonus classes
Did you find the talks of Dr. Joy Bowles and Dr. Petra Ratajc as inspiring as we did? And would you like to learn more from them?
The Tisserand Institute brings you a unique Botanica 2020 package of our Beyond the Bottle and Aromatic Chemistry certification courses, plus two single classes for free!
Sign up during the Botanica weekend and get Oxidation and Shelf Life and Essential Calculation as a bonus.
Botanica package
One time paymentTwo full courses + two extra lessons
Botanica package
Payment planTwo full courses + two extra lessons
What's in the package?
Beyond the Bottle, with Petra Ratajc, PhD
This four-part online certification course is a deep dive into how essential oils are made from the soil up. In this groundbreaking course, you’ll no longer be at the mercy of marketing that may not be accurate, or doesn’t address what you really need to know. Instead, you’ll learn about analyzing essential oils by decoding their growing conditions and plant biology, as well as their composition.
Start date: October 6, 2020
Aromatic Chemistry, with Joy Bowles, PhD
Seven weeks exploring all you need to know about chemical structures, nomenclature, and analysis of essential oils. It delves into the relationships between chemical families, and the chemical changes that typically occur over the lifecycle of the whole essential oil – from the plant material to body metabolism after application. With her signature enthusiasm, Dr. Joy will demystify the molecular makeup of essential oils so you can make better therapeutic decisions and more accurate safety assessments.
Start date: November 10, 2020
What You Get in Each Course?
WEEKLY LESSONS
Access to 60-minute pre-recorded lessons through our learning portal in addition to the original Q&A sessions.
Live Q&A SESSIONS
Live Q&A sessions with the tutors to deal with any questions you may have.
PRINTABLE COURSE MATERIAL
Extensive downloadable handouts and course notes with links to additional research and resources.
DEDICATED GROUP DISCUSSIONS
Access to our private online forum to ask questions and interact with the tutors, the TI team, and classmates.
ONGOING COURSE ACCESS
Ongoing access to lessons and learning materials for eight weeks after course completion.
Plus You'll Get
Oxidation and Shelf-life
This single class delves into the issues of oxidation and the proper storage of essential oils. Robert Tisserand explains how to best protect your oils from oxidation, what to do once they have oxidized, and how oxidation impacts safety. Included is a printable handout with the shelf lives of most commonly used essential oils.
Essential Calculation
You love essential oils, and you got hooked into aromatherapy – but nobody told you there will be math. And looking at all the ratios, percentages, milliliters, ounces, drops, maximum dilutions and charts can seem daunting. But it doesn’t have to be! Join Hana Tisserand as she guides you through calculations and conversions with ease, giving you simple tools and making sure you get it, so you will never again have to ask: “How many drops is that?”
Dr. Petra Ratajc, PhD
Biologist | Researcher | Educator
Petra refers to herself as an ‘aromatic plants enthusiast’ and has a post-graduate degree in Biological and Biotechnical Sciences from the University of Ljubljana. Her PhD extends from fieldwork to molecular research in the quality, safety and efficacy of aromatic herbs and their essential oils.
Petra specializes in medicinal and aromatic plants, secondary plant metabolites, pharmacognosy and pharmacology specifically focused on plant volatile constituents. Visit her myth-busting plant biology blog, The PhytoVolatilome.
Dr. Joy Bowles; PhD, BSc Hons
Educator | Research Expert | International Speaker
In 1991, Dr. Joy Bowles wrote the first course in essential oil chemistry in Australia. Her book The Chemistry of Aromatherapeutic Oils, published in 2003, is a standard text for aromatherapy courses around the world. This work moves step-by-step at the molecular level through 89 essential oils, along with techniques for applying the benefits of aromatherapy to the various body systems.
For her PhD, awarded in 2007, Dr. Joy investigated the effects of essential oils on cognitive function in dementia. After several years in primary healthcare, she’s returned to the field of essential oil chemistry, training practitioners on the evidence-based therapeutic effects of essential oils. Helping people understand the chemistry and pharmacology of essential oils is one of her life’s passions.
Course Breakdown – Beyond the Bottle
Lesson 1 - The Plant
- What is an essential oil? Defining it in scientific terms
- How plants make essential oils – the biosynthetic paths of specific compounds
- Why plants make essential oils – the functions of volatiles in plants
- Detailed overview of botanical families that produce essential oils
- Demystifying botanical names and why they are crucial vs. common names
Lesson 2 - The Grower
- How cultivation and growing conditions (environmental factors, age of plant, pollinators and microbes) influence essential oil composition
- Understanding chemotypes, and how they are determined
- Wildcrafting vs. cultivation – the pros and cons
- Conventional vs. organic cultivation: standards, certifications and sustainability
- Proper times of year and optimal plant development phases for harvestingl
Lesson 3 - The Extraction
- How different methods of extraction can mean different properties, even from the same plant
- Compositional comparisons: essential oils, hydrosols, absolutes, C02 extracts
- Steam-distilled oils, expressed oils and hydrosols/hydrolats
- Solvent-extracted absolutes, concretes and flower waxes
- C02 extracts, oleoresins and other resinoids (gums and balsams)
- Essential oils vs. water extracts, alcohol tinctures and oil macerations
Lesson 4 - The Product
- Why a ‘pure’ oil is not necessarily a ‘quality’ oil
- Types of adulteration and manipulation, and their consequences
- Hydrosols/hydrolats and contamination
- What Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) can tell us, and how to read a GC-MS report
- The pros and cons of essential oil standardization
- How to evaluate an essential oil in terms of quality, composition and price, and how to prolong shelf life
Course Breakdown – Aromatic Chemistry
FUNDAMENTAL CHEMISTRY (Part 1)
Recorded Lessons
Lesson 1 - Atoms & Molecules
- What chemistry helps us to explain
- Types of atoms found in essential oils
- The bonding capacity of hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen atoms
- Why most atoms form bonds to make molecules, and examples of molecular bonds
- Using symbols to represent atoms and molecules, including simple carbon-based molecules
Lesson 2 - Essential Oil Molecules
- Types of molecules found in essential oils
- Molecular features that impact therapeutic properties
- Overview of essential oil chemical families and their biological effects
- The clinical significance of relationships between essential oil chemical families, such as alcohols and esters, phenols and phenyl-methyl ethers, and more
Lesson 3 - Important Constituents
- The therapeutic properties of five key constituents: Limonene, Linalool, Terpinen-4-ol, 1,8-cineole, and Beta-caryophyllene
- Summary of essential oils where these key constituents are typically found
- Comparison of the therapeutic activities of these essential oils in relation to the proportion of their active constituents
MOLECULAR DYNAMICS (Part 2)
Live Lessons
Lesson 1 - Chemical Structure & Analysis
- GC-MS analysis and examples of whole essential oils and their constituents
- Acids, lactones, furans, furanocoumarins, diterpenes, diketones, peroxides and sulfur compounds
- Differences in composition of steam-distilled essential oils, solvent-extracted absolutes, super- and sub-critical C02 extracts
- Effects of constituent concentration on essential oil properties
- Constituent profiles: bergapten and coumarin
Lesson 2 - Chemical Relationships
- Chemical names that sound similar but have different endings
- Close relationships that are not obvious from their common names, such as limonene and perillyl alcohol
- Why isomers matter, and molecules that have (and don’t have) optical isomers
- Constituent profiles: carvone isomers, carvacrol, and thymol
Lesson 3 - Chemical Changes
- Overview of chemical changes that occur over the lifecycle of an essential oil: within the plant, on distillation, through storage, and on application to the body
- Explanation of degradation and catalysis
- Processes involved in chemical changes, including hydrolysis, reduction, and oxidation
- Constituent profiles: menthol, citral, and citronellal
Lesson 4 - Chemical Messages
- Molecular features that might influence biological effect
- Synergy versus antagonism, and the challenges of predicting effect
- The risks of extrapolation from constituent to whole essential oil, and the need for good clinical studies
- Constituent profiles: eugenol and methyl salicylate
When You Complete the Courses
CERTIFICATES
Each course comes with a separate Certificate of Completion, based on you passing assessments along the way. Your certificate – issued by the leaders of evidence-based instruction – demonstrates your knowledge of the areas of expertise covered in the courses.
CONTINUING EDUCATION CREDIT
The Tisserand Institute is a NAHA approved Continuing Education Provider, with other organizations accepting our credits with supplemental documentation. We are happy to assist you in order to make sure your continuing education counts.
What previous students say about our classes:
This is a rare opportunity to study with the world’s leading experts on essential oils – don’t miss this chance!
Ready to get started?
FAQs
Will there be notes for me to review?
I am a certified aromatherapist. Will I learn anything new?
I am new to essential oils. Is this course for me?
“The information presented is appropriate for all levels, and although I am just beginning my aromatherapy journey it all makes sense.”
Will there be assessments or exams? What kind?
Each weekly lesson is followed by a multiple choice quiz, and there is a summary test at the end of each course. Passing both the weekly quizzes and the final tests is a requirement for certification.
You will be given enough time to prepare for the test as well as three attempts to pass.
Will I be able to ask questions?
Absolutely! In addition to the live Q&A sessions, you can post your questions in the dedicated student forums where the tutor and the TI team will address them.
What if I cannot participate on a live session?
All of our live sessions are recorded and are posted on the learning platform within 24 hours so you can watch them, or rewatch as needed during the course.
How long will I have access to the recordings?
You will have access to all the videos for at least four weeks after the last lesson (see course description for clarification as this changes for individual courses). All the printable materials (notes, handouts, charts, etc.) are of course yours to keep for reference forever.
Do you offer continuing education credits?
Because we have students from all over the world and of many professions we are not able to offer credits for specific organizations – there are simply too many. However, we issue a confirmation of CE hours gained on the course that you can apply with your professional organization and will be happy to assist with any additional documentation.
At the moment, we are an Approved Continuing Education Provider with NAHA.