Smell: a Powerful Health Tool

Nose Our sense of smell gives us powerful information about whether things we encounter will support or deplete us.  Smell can attract us to our mate, identifies to us our children, and remind us almost instantaneously of imporatant events in our lives. [HHMI University]  Smell can even alert us to the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease. [See Dr. Oz’s Alzheimer’s Smell Test.]

Smell is also vitally important to good Feng Shui; after all, everything is connected.
An animals’ sense of smell is highly developed because they use it all the time.  They glean myriad information from the many layers of smell.  Smell is one of the diagnostic tools for a Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioner (watch the movie The Last Emperor).
Our own keen sense of smell has been diminished due to many factors, not the least of which are strong synthetic and manufactured, non-natural substances cummulatively take a toll on our bodies’ abilities to read our internal guidance system and heed the signs that would guide us to our best health–bar none!
In Feng Shui and Health, the sooner you notice an imbalance and the sooner you make a correction, the easier and healthier your life is. There are many illnesses and deaths from “side effects” of our modern day products and manufacturing, we need time for our bodies to process daily toxins and a deep breath is a great start.
Energy is always moving, either growing or declining.  The sooner you make positive changes, the less pain and illness and disaster you encounter.

Healthy Home & Office:

  • Give it a smell test.  Go into all areas of your home or office and actually smell it.  If it smells dusty, moldy, or not fresh, do something about it: Clean it completely.  Using citrus scents, pine, french lavender (with a camphor note) will help reduce the causes of nasty smells, deter insects and create more healthy environments.
  • Out with the bad air: In with the good!  Open the windows often.  Especially after a thunderstorm, when negative ions help to clear the air.
  • Surround yourself with beautiful smells that lift your spirit.
  • Use only natural, non-petroleum candles.  Beeswax is best. There have been some indications that too much soy in our diets and environments has a negative impact on our bodies. I’ll do more research on that but until then, I’ll be using Beeswax candles and aromatherapy for my scenting needs.
  • After you’ve cleaned, add a moving water feature which actually helps to clean the air, by, you guessed it, adding negative ions to the space.  Still water doesn’t do this, only splashing and crashing water, even lightly splashing, moving water will work.
    • Place the water feature flowing in toward the center of the home or office or in a 360 degree fashion.
    • Make sure you clean it often with vinegar and water to keep mold and fungus from forming.
    • I used to every quarter actually clean my water cooler dispenser but flushing it with vinegar and water–keeping the water we were drinking fresh.
    • A fountain placed to the right side of a door as you enter through it can cause daydreaming and drowsiness.  Notice if that’s happening and move the water or the aquarium to the left side of the door (as you walk through the door).
  • Read about Healthy Cleaning Products that are antibacterial, antifungal and anti-immune depleting.
Healthy MIND / BODY / SPIRIT
Well, it’s really all connected–for the “body” part:
  • Aromatherapy:  Small scent molecules that are fat-soluable can cross the filter known as the Blood Brain Barrier.  Not all molecules can do that, but the ones that can directly influence our physiology almost immediately.  Essential Oils, the carefully distilled essence of a plant’s healing capabilities, have molecules small enough to pass the blood brain barrier.  Regardless of whether these substances are affecting physiology, they are powerful and not to be ignored.  Because something is natural, doesn’t mean it is all good, or all good for you.  It’s important to know that you probably can’t get much hurt by your rosemary or thyme, but how to use these oils for therapeutic issues is the realm of a professional who has studied the physiological affects of aromas and oils.  I personally recommend Jan Polansky of Personal Health Dynamics as an expert in Essential Oils.  Jan has a BS from CMU in Chemical Engineering, an MBA from CMU, is a Certified Naturopath along with a host of other education.  On top of all that, she is a very lovely person.
  • Here is a site that will give you more information about the use and specifics of Essential Oils.  It’s not totally easy to gleen the information but it’s unlike sites that are more flippant with their approach.  Young Living Essential Oils
  • www.naturalbloom.com lists a few recognized professional Aromatherapy organizations around the world.
  • Emotional healing:  scents inspire and evoke emotion.  Grapefruit will lessen your desire to eat, vanilla is known to inspire earthy sensuality and also mental clarity.  True Rose Geranium will help to balance hormones, Lavender will deter insects as will Citronella (yep, it’s a natural scent).
  • Alzheimer’s Test:  Loss of recognition of smells is a possible indication of Alzheimer’s Disease, according to Dr. Oz.  Here’sDr. Oz’s Alheimer’s Smell Test: a simple test you can take to determine if the part of the brain that stores memories and smells needs some attention.

Smell can be refined and regained, it takes focus and work so do your nose exercises!