I went in search of information regarding the old wives tale that oils will smell differently based on your body’s needs. I spent the morning trying to differentiate between an energy oil and an oil directed at PMS.. they should have completely different aromas but to me they smell the same.. and neither of them smell great.. supposedly that means I need them both? But why?
I found this old blog post by a seasoned aromatherapist:
“Some essential oils you will have a love affair with the fragrance, and others you think you will be happy if you never smell again. Essential oils work on all four levels, Emotional, Mental, Physical and Spiritual. They are a powerful tool for bringing the body back into balance.
So when you have an essential oil that has a “horrid” smell, its just a signpost along the way to showing that there is something out of balance or unresolved in your life.
If you Love the smell thats great, I use that oil to help bring me back to myself because it makes me feel like I’ve come home. (Note: this rule only applies to a pure therapeutic grade essential oil like Young Living’s, because if its not therapeutic grade, its possible that you will be experiencing negativity from the synthetics or unbalanced constituents in the essential oil.)
How does it work?
When you inhale an essential oil, the fragrance travels via the olfactory nerve and sends an electrical pulse directly to the limbic region of the brain, our emotional centre. This area is known as the amygdala and it plays a major role in storing and releasing emotional trauma. The interesting part is that the only way to stimulate this gland is through your sense of smell. This means that the emotional brain only responds to smell and not to words read, spoken, heard or felt by touch ie: braille.
So it shows how powerful a tool essential oils can be for releasing or clearing emotional stress or trauma in your life.
The other thing that happens when you inhale an essential oil is that particles travel through the nose and into the lungs, where they are absorbed into the blood stream. Chemical interactions can occur between oils and our bodies that also result in physical changes. Our bodies can become sedated, stimulated or relaxed by the action of certain oils. Pain may be relieved, wounds may heal, inflammation and spasms may cease.
So as much as I love rubbing oils onto my body, the smell alone is VERY powerful and can bring effective permanent transformation in your life.
So back to the stinky oil.
My secret to dealing with the oils I can’t stand the smell of is to rub 1-2 drops on the soles of my feet, put my shoes and socks on and then go and wash my hands. It means that I’m getting the essential oil into my blood stream and its gently shifting my frequency and helping to unlock/unblock the issue that I have, with out the smell assaulting my nose.
I’ve found that after using the oil for a period of time that the smell becomes less abhorrent and moves into the “its not my favourite, but I don’t hate it realm”.
Its up to you how long you choose to use the oil but I’ve found that the smell is a great indicator of where I’m at emotionally.