Akiko Ikeda MIFA IFA registered principal teacher, AEAJ Aromatherapy Instructor, aromatics U.K
Akiko first met aromatherapy when she travelled to London in the late 80s. She completed aromatherapy studies and started her career in Tokyo in 1992. She was at the heart of an unprecedented boom of aromatherapy which occurred during the ’90s in Japan. With her motto “aromatherapy for daily life”, she has worked on a broad range of projects such as aromatherapy lectures aimed at a wide variety of audiences – ranging from local community centres and corporate employee programmes to professional courses, aromatherapy product developments, ambient aroma design for a retail shop, and collaborations with contemporary artists.
She was taught by Robert Tisserand (Tisserand Institute), Horst Rechelbacher (AVEDA Founder), Kotaro Kurisaki (a pioneer of aromatherapy in Japan) and many others. She gained her Diploma in aromatherapy with IFA after she moved to London in 2000. She has been working with several aromatherapy associations such as IFA, IFPA and AEAJ, focussing on education and setting aromatherapy standards.
She has been contributing many articles for Japanese magazines and translated Robert Tisserand and Rodney Young “Essential Oil Safety 2nd edition” (Churchill Livingstone, 2013) into Japanese, it was published in Japan on 25th Sep 2018.
December 2021: She was appointed as an International Relation on Aromatherii Ltd ; the online aromatherapy school for Japanese people. They offer the latest evidence-based aromatherapy educations via recorded videos. Currently, they have a partnership with Tisserand Institute and have released Robert’s Essential Oil Safety Masterclass in Japanese.
She lives in South London and is teaching, writing and enjoying life with her family and two cats. She served in the IFA council (2005 – 2006).
A small story from me
My first fascination with aromatherapy was a bottle of blended bath oil I purchased from a herbal shop that used be existed at Knightsbridge in the late ’80s. For me, who did not have interest in natural lifestyle then, the aroma of the bath oil made of 100% natural essential oils was astounding: I remember the heavenly sensation I had never experienced before when I was in the bathtub surrounded by aroma arose when mixing the oil in the water.
Unfortunately the herbal shop had closed down several years after that and I cannot experience that blend ever again. However, I still have the empty original bottle that I just coudn’t through away. I can recreate the blend from the trace of aroma from the bottle and from my memory of the aroma. Please see the right column. This is the beauty of aromatherapy!
With aromatherapy, you can create your own original blend easily once you learn the basic rules. The life surrounded by your favourite aroma that does not exist anywhere in the world – this is the ultimate pleasure of aromatic life.
My first fascination with aromatherapy was a bottle of blended bath oil I purchased from a herbal shop that used be existed at Knightsbridge in the late ’80s. For me, who did not have interest in natural lifestyle then, the aroma of the bath oil made of 100% natural essential oils was astounding: I remember the heavenly sensation I had never experienced before when I was in the bathtub surrounded by aroma arose when mixing the oil in the water.