We live in a world filled with different scents, so what happens when we smell an essential oil? How can we even discern it from all the scents that are always around us?
Plants are powerhouses of chemical diversity and evolved volatile aromatic molecules for a variety of purposes, including communication to other plants of the same species at a distance, but even more amazingly, to communicate with other species. This communication with other species isn’t just limited to attracting pollinators, although aromas play a role in that.
Aromas touch us at the deepest level, at the closest distance of just a few atoms, when the aromatic molecules connect with our olfactory receptors. When we smell, when we perceive an aroma, consciously, but even unconsciously, we not only perceive there is a material, that is the scent molecules, but there is also a disembodied, spiritual dimension to the communication.
We feel something when we experience an aroma. (Something AI wont ever be able to do.) We rapidly get taken out of the automatic, habitual patterns of thinking and moving through the world. The smell evokes an emotion, it bypasses the intellect and it makes us feel and discover ourselves more. It makes us aware of parts of our psyche we were unaware of. And, if we allow it, it makes us aware of the soul of the plant from which the aromas came, often long after the actual plant is no longer, and all that remains is the essential oil.
I’ve been reading the research on scent perception, and while there are fascinating facts, such as that sniffing, like we see dogs do, changes how our brain processes scent, I find that the research is limited. Mostly it’s been focused on scent objects. A scent object is an association formed in our brain. The best analogy is visual. Think of a chair. You’ve seen many chairs and when you see something that looks like a chair, your brain can identify it as such, even when it doesn’t exactly look like any chair you’ve seen before. The studies on scent are based on a similar assumption and there is much evidence to support it. We learn to smell, you could say. We learn to associate certain smells with danger and others with other experiences or feelings. This happens at the level of the brain, not the olfactory bulbs at the top of our noses. This research suggests that people associate lavender with relaxation because they have somehow learned this.
There are all sorts of limitations to the research, including that it’s hard to do controlled studies, meaning that you can compare a situation where you make a participant smell something with smelling nothing (or something else), because the participant can detect the smell. The other common limitation is to use animals, or even do in-vitro (meaning in a petri dish) studies, which can’t really tell us anything about human emotional reactions. Yet another limitation is that many studies use pure chemicals, such as single molecules that occur in a scent, or even synthetic aromatic molecules, instead of complete essential oils, which can contain dozens of different molecules. It has been shown in other studies that the entire essential oil is usually more effective, be it as an antimicrobial, or for other benefits, than any single molecule.
What I find the research hasn’t been able to conceptualize and develop studies for are the effects of essential oils on the human psyche, which I have seen happen, even when a person has never smelled a particular essential oil before. To me this means that there is an archetypal way the aroma touches us, far beyond any scent objects we have learned previously. Research also makes it hard to honor the soul of the plant and the soul to soul communication between plant and human through aroma. And yet, I think research is really important and fascinating. And eventually, when researchers are able to adopt more holistic models, far beyond the reductionist models that are the foundation of the research so far, we may be able to validate, as only research can, the deeper communication that takes place.
But we need to remember that long before research can come up with (reductionist) models to design studies, there is observation, sometimes called natural history. All research starts with observation and this observation is a fundamental part of research, without which the subsequent stages, such as the reductionistic studies, couldn’t happen. It’s particularly challenging when we ourselves, and our unconscious psyches are part of what needs to be observed.
So in a way, every time we work with an aroma, we are doing research. We are continuing to discover how we are touched and what is ready to come up from our own unconscious. More than research, we are contributing to across-species communication and exploring our own psyches. This desire to discover ourselves more is at the heart of a lot of human endeavors, including the recent renaissance of psychedelic therapy, and aromas are powerful, ancient allies that can teach us more about ourselves.
We always say, it’s better to be deeply acquainted with one or only a handful of essential oils, instead of having only a superficial knowledge of a wide range. I carried a bottle of sandalwood oil in my pocket for many years and it taught me many things. Pick a few of your favorite essential oils and keep smelling them, keep working with them, keep listening. There’s a lot they know that they will reveal to you.
Smelling aromas frequently does enhance our ability to discern and recognize different aromas and research has shown it does lead to the formation of new brain cells and pathways (neurogenesis). There’s even a recent study it may help prevent cognitive decline.
This is some of the inspiration why we set up the monthly Aromatic Journeys. In our journeys, every participant smells the same essential oil and we go on a guided meditative journey together. Then we compare our experiences. But in addition to the joy of exploring together, we hope this inspires participants to continue to work with essential oils more deeply, meditating and listening.
We hope you continue to deepen your aromatic connectedness.
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