Tea And Aromatherapy

Often I am asked why we offer so many teas and scents at
ScentbySpiritcom rather than focusing on one or the other For
me the answer seems easy, but the more thought I put into it,
the dawning realization is that maybe some people haven’t made
the connection
In an effort to connect the dots for myself and others, here are
some random thoughts about tea and scents and their perfect
marriage to one another
Our complex olfactory system is constantly on overdrive and hard
at work for us Primitive man was able to smell danger literally
hundreds of yards away and prepare for attack if need be An
opportunity not only to stay safe, but to find food and water as
well shelter The olfactory system smells scents even before you
are aware of them and transmits the information to our brains so
we can disseminate what action or non action to take
Take fire for example, as a form of aromatherapy The ability to
smell smoke, elicits a wide variety of emotions or thoughts To
name a few, warmth, food, danger or other human activity This
is a large scale example to “aroma therapy” Knowing that there
is warmth near by and potentially shelter can be very
therapeutic in nature for the travel weary and hungry!
To narrow it down a bit more, lets think of roses and notice
what you feel/think as you read this paragraph The old adage,
“stop and smell the roses” may come to mind For many the scent
of the rose brings about a variety of feelings or emotions based
on memory Some wonderful and some, shall we say not quite as
pleasant To say, a rose is a rose is a rose in regards to
scent, is just not accurate on many levels, especially when you
take in to account several factors Such as, each person has a
unique olfactory pattern, each human brain relates data in
different ways there by affecting the range of emotions that
could be potentially experienced Being the unique individual
that you are, when you first read the word “roses” you may have
had an immediate thought or memory of them Or perhaps you read
the word and could actually smell roses Or one step further
maybe you had an unpleasant experience with roses that caused to
you to recoil in an instinct to protect yourself based on that
memory It is apparent that scents and aromatherapy can be quite
powerful in our lives And that it plays a continuing roll in
how we interact with the world whether we realize it or not
Moving right along, when thinking of scents, perfume, herbs and
the lot, one may wonder, which came first the plant or the
fragrance? In a word, both Plants are quite aromatic in and of
their own nature as we saw in the example of the roses It is
easy to enjoy the scent of flowers and other aromatic herbaceous
plants all year round depending on your location At some point,
humans became enamored of scents and the emotions they illicit
With a desire to capture those scents and have them with them at
all times whether the plant was in season or not, came the quest
for creating a way to capture this olfactory beauty
Cultivation or harvesting of aromatic substances has been around
for thousands of years Whether it be for cooking, spiritual
ceremonies, disease control, healing or simply for pleasure
Humans found that certain plants were excellent for healing
certain ailments Often the plant material was eaten raw, or in
some cases boiled or infused as a beverage Plant materials
contain oils that are essentially the chemical make up of the
species Those essential oils can be released and capture in
several ways Crushing or bruising a leaf or flower will release
the “essential oils” This method could be used for ingestion of
non toxic plants or even as a compress for wounds and other
afflictions
Infusing plants in water also releases essential oils or boils
them out The essential oils in plants are what potentially
elicits healing or pleasure from the plant in question through
smell and ingestion
Hence the birth of herbal beverages and the one in question
today, tea Tea is a caffeinated beverage, infusion made by
steeping the dried leaves or buds of the shrub Camellia sinensis
in hot water
Now that the eating and drinking of plants had commenced, at
some point humankind sought to keep these scents with them and
perfume their bodies What may be the world’s oldest known
perfumery, set atop a Cyprus hillside, was excavated by a team
of archaeologists from the Italian Institute of Technologies
Applied to Cultural Heritage, this last March Showing that the
desire for perfume has held strong for literally thousands of
years
We have talked about the benefits of smell and various ways to
incorporate them into our lives, but how do you choose which
medium is right for you?
Personally I use a combination approach Others wouldn’t dream
of leaving home without a spritz of their personal favorite
perfume Still others would not function without their morning
tea and an aromatic shower
Some situations where perfumes or scents would not be
appropriate would be a work place with a scent ban You can rest
assured that you can still have your aromatic fix without
violating any rules or offending other olfactory palettes near
by If you love vanilla and would bathe in it all day if you
could, you can have your vanilla in the form of tea This allows
you a subtle yet still powerful connection to your favorite
scent The oils from the tea are released into the air and your
olfactory system finds comfort in them, before you even realize
it your body and emotions may relax Really, the possibilities
of olfactory bliss are endless, chai spices, jasmine green tea,
herbal remedies, you name it, it can be yours
So, what about the scenarios which don’t allow you to have a cup
of your beloved tea or herbal beverage? The answer quite simply
is perfume, lotions or oils worn on the body to illicit the
desired effects Just as there are thousands of teas to choose
from, there are even more scented perfumes to fill that gap
So, the short and the long of it, is that you have many ways to
harness the powerful effects of scent at any time and in any
place Therefore, tea and scents made sense to us, and thus
ScentbySpiritcom was born!
Use of this article is permitted as long as there are clickable
links back to us at: http://wwwsscentbyspiritcom and all
credit is given to the author

Tags | adage, aroma, brains, factors, olfactory, overdrive, perfect, random, realization, result, rose