Connecting with your sense of smell
As you breathe in, you are bringing all that you breathe into your body, this includes what you are smelling.
“When you are walking down the street, consciously indicate what you are smelling…the more you use your nose, the stronger it gets”. Dawn Goldworm
“Scientists discuss the science of smell and how scent, emotion and memory are intertwined - and exploited” (Harvard)
Is our sense of smell is being bombarded daily without us even thinking about what the “synthetic fragrances” that we use are doing to our bodies and our brains.
Every day we are fighting to process all of these synthetic fragrances and every day we are desensitising our sense of smell even more. When we think about what we use and how many of these are perfumed by synthetic fragrances, the list is quite endless.
Our hair products, face creams, sun blockout, deodorants, soaps, nail polishes, washing powders, detergents, candles and incense just to name a few off the top of my head. Not to mention all of the retardants that our clothes are made with. How many products that you use have natural fragrances?
So, what has all of this to do with nature?
By taking time out to sit quietly in nature, closing your eyes and only using your sense of smell, the more chance you have of keeping this sense working well.
And by breathing in the natural smells that surround you, that are a part of you, the healthier you become.
Your sense of smell can also evoke memories. You can smell something and be immediately transported back to a time and place from the past. Like cooking smells, fresh baked bread or cakes, even a blanket or a piece of clothing that a loved one wore. Sometimes when I breathe in something from a loved one it can make my heart overflow with love and I can get a vision of them being right here with me.
The smell of a freshly bathed baby fills my heart with joy.
A camp fire evokes feelings of being connected to nature and fun family times.
The salty ocean air at the beach reminds me of summer holidays.
The longer I sit and close my eyes when I am outside and focus on the smells that I am breathing in, the more smells I am able to locate. There is a slight popcorn smell that I am smelling where I am now and I’m unsure where it’s coming from. I’m also noticing that when the sun comes out, the intensity of smells change. As the sun heats up the bush around me, the more intense the smell becomes. The wind is also carrying smells from further afield and I enjoy the subtleties of the scents as they move past me. Sometimes the smells are not so great, like the scent of a dead animal somewhere down the track and I scrunch up my nose and try not to breathe at all.
Did you know that the sense of smell is the only fully developed sense a fetus has in the womb, and it’s the one that is the most developed in a child through to the age of around 10 when sight takes over. And because “smell and emotion are stored as one memory,” You can read more HERE
Our sense of smell is also very closely connected to how we taste our food. So, it really makes sense to look after this wonderful sense that we mostly take for granted. The first thing that we do when we are born is take in a great big breath, without that, we don’t survive. And from then on we are reliant on our sense of smell as a baby to find our mother’s milk.
Our sense of smell is called the Olfactory Mucosa. system. Which is a very important system. the more i learn about it the more important i realise it is. it’s also linked with our endocrine system, which controls our metabolism. so if it isn’t working properly we are in all kinds of trouble including our digestion. you can read more about it all in this great article here
There are four different categories that we can look at to support our sense of smell if we feel it is not up to scratch. All of course belonging in nature. These four categories were flowery, fruity, aromatic, and resinous. Examples used in these categories were: Rose, Lemon, Cloves and Eucalyptus.
In generations past they relied on their sense of smell for survival so much more than what we need to do today. they had to use this sense for hunting and gathering - collecting food to eat and for medicine
You can support and protect your sense of smell by using natural products, ones that support both you and the environment. And ones that only contain essential oils or are fragrance-free.
A product that I use is from Miracle II Australia. I use the soap for my body, washing dishes, washing my clothes and the car etc. I also use the moisturising lotion, which is fantastic and fragrance-free. You can find more information about all the products HERE
I have been using these products for years now and I think that they’re just wonderful!
The more time you spend outside closing your eyes and really honing in on your honker (nose), the more you will be tuning into the subtle fragrances around you. Some things you can do are:
take the time to sit quietly in nature - even if it is only weekly
try different locations (beach and bush, parks etc)
try scrunching some leaves and breathe in their different aromas
smell the flowers
the bark of the trees around you
the dirt beneath your feet.
the shells and seaweed at the beach
use a diary or journal to record the scents and the degrees of change and variation that you notice over time
share your observations with your family and friends and get them involved as well
