Entertaining your Senses with Scents

Let aromatherapy be your guide to a good night's sleep, and a better mood!


The great thing about scents, is they can almost instantly change your mood or perspective. I tell people all the time to create their list of Special Scents today, to help instantly change their view of tomorrow.


The Scent sensory is the strongest linked to memory, so it is no wonder, summertime will bring up good childhood memories, and burning chemenies make us think of roasted ham and hot chocolate on an icy winter night.


This is my best advice i have to offer you on Scent Therapy, from personal experience. 
The funnest part about this article is you get to fill out a survey!




1.Make a list of at least 4 of your favorite all-time scents
2.Write down the Four Seasons, and try to think of 3 of your
favorite scents from each Season.
3. Write down atleast 4 of your favorite holidays and scents associated with them
[it is also good if some are holidays you have enjoyed since childhood, or for many years.]


Now, it may be hard to come up with this list as some of your favorite scents may come from beauty products or parfum.

Breathing Techniques for the Anxious Mind

Today's Blog is about something very particular to me. 

Today i am going to be discussing meditation as applied to breathing techniques for beginners. 

Now, first of all i want to address the level of anxiety that you may be experiencing.

Sit down and consider how disturbing your anxiety is to you on a monthy, weekly, daily, hourly, or even, minutely basis.

The more disturbing the anxiety, the easier it will be to learn how to incorporate breathing techniques and meditation into healing your mind of the things troubling you.

The idea is that, in the end, you have eliminated the anxiety from mind and soul. 

It is not a good thing to have a high level of anxiety, but rather, if this is the scenario applicable to your situation, then this can make out to be a prime learning experience on how to deal with future anxieties, big or small. 

You may choose to get out a sheet of paper or open notepad on your desktop, to help yourself collect thoughts and analyze them, not through your thought but, visually, through your own eyes, to get a better perspective.

Anxiety can have many, or just one of many, contributing factors. 

Take a look at this list, slowly going through each topic, and jot down which ones bring up that feeling you are all-too familiar with.

Money, finances, job loss [or fear of job loss]

Relationship problems, fear of being alone, fear of being cheated on

Anger, an inability to forgive the past and move on, regret.

Jealousy.

health problems, or health problems of those close to you.

Trauma, which can include anything from witnessing a bad event, experiencing a bad event, or fear of experiencing bad events. [Car accidents, death, injury, and so on.]

The extent of anxiety and its root causes is extensive, and therefore it is also important to note that, as such, it is very common as well. 

Give yourself a pat on the back. Yes, even your chest hairs have been falling out due to some circumstance, but you are not the only one, and you are not going to go bald for very much longer.

You may of not even seen the exact reason for your anxiety but that is fine like i said, the list goes on.

Maybe by now you have come up with a list of the things that are bothering you. 

If not, go ahead and take at least five minutes to write down as many things you can think off the top of your head that give you anxiety.

-----come back in 5 minutes-----

Now, look at your list.
soak in each one as it comes to your eyes and registers in your brain.
Acknowledge that there is a problem there, it exists, and needs to be dealt with at some point.
However, take a moment to let reality soak in.
The reality is, realistically, you cannot adhere to all the
problems in your life right now.
With patience and persistance, you can surely
defeat all the obstacles standing in your way.
But not right now.


Now.
I want you to take a deep breath, and count to 3
breath in the essense of your problems. 
Let them come to life in your chakra.
[inhale...one....two.....three]
Now.
[Exhale...one...two...three]
And as you exhale, let all the feelings of
exhaust, anger, anxiety, and defeat
extinguish.
As you exhale, you are breathing 
the stress outwards.


let it come inwards
inhale...one....two....three
and release it outwards
exhale....one....two....three
let it come inwards
inhale....one....two....three
and release it outwards
exhale...one...two....three 


repeat this process as needed.
Here is a neat tool to assist you.
stopwatch
 This is simply a stopwatch. 
Something that i will do, is i will start the stopwatch as i begin breathing,
and i will either 
1. do the breathing technique until it has reached a certain time
[15-25 seconds is a good one to start out at. But by all means, let yourself
emerge in this for a few minutes.]
2. or, i will tell myself, all the stress i need to extinguish will be gone by
the time this clock reaches [insert time here]




Another technique is visual along with using the breathing technique.
This is what you will do
First, take your list of stress factors and take a few minutes to study it.
if stress begins to form that is alright, but do not allow yourself to
become overwhelmed or upset.
Now, put the list away. You do not need to look at it anymore.
Sit so that you are comfortable, with your back straight, legs side by side, and your hands in your lap, and such that there is no physical stress.
Close your eyes.
Allow yourself to contemplate the stress factors you have just read.
Visually, i want you to see them as layers of dust on an old coffee table, untouched, and layed on as thick on the table as they are in your mind.
They are layed on thick, but nothing that cannot be dusted or blown off.
Now
Just the same as earlier,

let it come inwards

inhale....one....two....three

and release it outwards

exhale...one...two....three 

As you "release it outwards"

you are this time, going to blow a stream of air

as your exhale.

And imagine this stream of air, slowly blowing the dust off of the coffee table.

Slowly, you are making your stress factors disappear.