We haven’t given any time to the most primal of our senses – smell, though a couple of you have already mentioned the role smell plays in precious memories.
As well as being a sound healer, I’m also an aromatherapist (these connections to the senses are why I came up with the idea of The Sensory Coach at the start of 2018) so of course aroma is very important to me, and I can get more than a little bit geeky about the science of it all! But you’re not here for aromatherapy 101, you’re here to romance your soul.
What better way to do that than with the age old magic of scent? Our sense of smell is such a precious gift – I like to think of it as I do music; as a time machine that can whisk you back through the mists of time in an instant.
As this is a romance challenge, we can’t escape thinking about roses! There are valid reasons why roses have such an association with love and romance, it’s not a modern thing, it goes back millennia – for instance, the scent of the rose was used to summon the goddess Isis – the archetypal divine feminine! Doesn’t that bring a whole new meaning to ‘stop and smell the roses’?
Rose oil is reputed to be a powerful feminine healer – it is said to ease menstrual pain, help with labour, have aphrodisiac qualities, it nourishes the skin, helps to relieve grief and so much more.
Rose is feminine and powerful – a threatening combination. I wonder if it’s a coincidence that the commercial blooms we have available to us now, have had most of their scent (which is where the power lies) bred out of them? Something to ponder.
One of the many reasons aromatherapy is such a wonderful therapy, is because of the ways in which smells can affect our emotions, and evoke strong memories. We can use this to our advantage by creating associations with certain aromas.
Your Prompt for Today
Create some new, empowering memories with the aroma of the rose.
If you can find roses that have a scent, go for those. If not, or if they’re too expensive (they rocket the price of roses at this time of year) then there are other ways that you can utilise rose more cheaply.
Rose essential oil is incredibly expensive, but you can buy rose water for a much more reasonable price – you can often find it in the baking section of the supermarket.
Steer clear of perfume oils as these are usually synthetic, and won’t work.
You can also buy some delicious rose teas quite reasonably. Then of course there’s Turkish delight!
Whatever form of rose you choose, give yourself a good or 15 or more minutes uninterrupted time, so that you can really concentrate on the qualities of rose that you want to embody.
If you’re eating a piece of turkish delight or a chocolate rose cream, really savour the flavour.
If you’re drinking a rose tea, inhale those aromas.
If you have some rose water you can use it as a toner, or a spritz for your skin.
The possibilities are limited only by your imagination. Go on, smell the roses!
Give it a go, even if, like me, you’ve never been a fan of the rose. Millennia of women can’t be wrong. If you give it a try come back and tell us what you discovered
Yogi Wisdom and Mantra for Day 7
