Why Aromatherapy?
Thursday, April 13th, 2006I have to give credit to my wife for getting me interested in aromatherapy. She has a very keen sense of smell and when we’re out, she’s always commenting on things she smells.
At first, I would have trouble smelling the things she could smell. We’d have exchanges like this.
“Mmmm… It smells like Colorado in the spring.”
(sniff sniff)
“Hmmm… Yeah, I guess so.”
“You can’t smell that?”
“Smell what?”
As time went on though, I started noticing smells more and more. And I found that they would always remind me of something.
I took a literature class in college and one of the things we read was Swan’s Way, by Marcel Proust. In it, there’s a scene where the smell of tea and madelines take the main character back to old memories.
So, smell makes a big impact on us, but the thing is, most of us don’t get to smell all that much. If you work in an office, you breathe filtered air all day and if you do smell anything, it’s probably toxic fumes from the copy machine toner. Even if you do have a job that let’s you get outside, the air quality in most cities isn’t that good. Taxi exhaust may bring back memories, but I still wouldn’t breathe them too deeply.
Aromatherapy seemed like a good way to reconnect with smell. Whether it’s the earthy scent of patchouli, the green smell of clary sage, the flowery odor of ylang ylang, or the crisp citrus bite of lemon, these essential oils put back something that’s missing in modern life.
You’re probably missing out on more than you think. So if you’ve got a store that sells aromatherapy essential oils, go down and smell them and if you find one you like, buy it and take it home with you. And if no one nearby smells essential oils, then stop by a nursery, or florist, or even the grocery store and smell what you’ve been missing.