A few days ago, Meredith, our registered clinical therapist and certified herbalist, was in her lab working on some new blends and had us gals sniffing samples and ranking our favorites.
When she waved one under my nose, that sparkle of excitement in her eyes dimmed as I made a face and turned my head away.
“What’s wrong?! This one is my favorite!”
“Oy, it smells like cat tinkle to me,” I had responded meekly. I felt bad for bursting her bubble, but she looked more curious than upset.
“Really? Huh.” then she smelled it again, quirked her lips in confusion and shrugged. “I don’t smell that at all. I love this one. It just goes to show how important smell is in individual care when using aromatherapy.”
It left me wondering, how can something smell so different from one person to the other? After all, chocolate just smells like chocolate to me. Roses… well they smell like roses! But what if the way my brain interrupted smells wasn’t the same for everyone?
Your nose has a direct link to the brain through your olfactory receptor. So when you take in a deep breath of freshly baked bread, and suddenly you are transported to your 10 year old self kneading bread with your belated grandmother, and your chest tightens and your eyes prick with tears - that’s because neurons are triggering memories and emotions in your brain.
So what might make your stomach growl and your mouth water, may affect someone completely differently depending on how the smell travels to different parts of their brain.
While on my search to understand the science of smell a bit better, I stumbled across this gem. Check it out to better understand the power of scent, then comment below what smells usually smell different to you than others, or trigger powerful memories - good or bad.
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Author: Melissa Sanchez Marketing Coordinator |
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Rowan, otherwise known as mountain ash, is a descendant of the rose family. The fruit of the tree is similar to dates and can be used fresh a variety of ways. There is not a lot of medicinal information on this plant as it’s not typically used in herbal medicine, but it is used a lot as a building material.
These trees and shrubs offer birds, insects, and some mammals a great deal of food because their harvests are so plentiful.
There are pure blends in this series that will touch upon self-reflection and meditation. I believe that in order to be our best selves, we need time to get to know ourselves.
I have a friend from college that I hadn't seen in almost 10 years. The person that she was to me in college, was not the person that I had lunch with. To say that she had changed is an understatement. As my brother would say, she did a 180.