Let's look at the Sense of Smell

Let's look at the Sense of Smell

Smells can be put to therapeutic advantage and the medical establishment is investigating this. If smell were to be associated with a positive, healing treatment then the smell itself can substitute for the treatment once the link has been reinforced.

If we smell (or taste something) before a negative experience, that smell (or taste) is linked to that experience. The memory is very robust. This can be a problem for unpleasant medical treatments, or surgery when the last meal is often associated with the pain or trauma.

Building our olfactory banks

The converse also applies and is especially relevant to our work in Ayurveda. It is vital that we build into our olfactory memory banks the association between natural food, properly prepared with spices and herbs, for their healing and building qualities.

Natural odours

It is vital that we smell natural odours to embed our affinity with the natural world into our cellular structure; it is vital that we renew and refresh these smell memories by bringing these odours into our homes and working environments using essential oils and other natural fragrances.

Improving our sense of smell

We use our senses of sight, touch and hearing unconsciously for much of the time, because we cannot see without open eyes, we cannot easily shut off our hearing and every physical movement stimulates touch. These senses are engaged most of the time. It is necessary however to make conscious effort to increase our capacity to smell and taste. Because, as a society, we have become accustomed to a limited range of smells and tastes, the act of giving attention to these particular senses elicits a disproportionately greater response in our bodies.

We have already noted that smell is often the most underrated and underused sense and it is therefore really important to work at developing this sense in order to fully experience life.

Taste is similarly underused, consciously, and the two senses are interrelated.