your sense of smell
Sensing Wellness looks towards satisfying your sense of smell by bringing your attention to your nose, nostrils and the process of your body intentionally breathing in and out through your nose. Breathing exclusively through your nose not only provides physiological benefits for your respiratory system, but it also directly influences your nervous system. Breathwork through your nasal cavity supports more efficient oxygen exchange throughout the body while enhancing circulation. Your nose naturally filters pollutants and optimize one of the first lines of defense in your immune system. Repeat aloud: “I am setting the intention to take deep breaths throughout my day and find gratitude for my nose as my body relaxes."
As you strengthen your nasal breathing practice and thus your nasal functioning, you can directly impact your parasympathetic nervous system and lower cortisol levels. Putting this into practice can become a superpower you can tap into by directly regulating your body to manage stress better. As you practice this awareness daily, you are essentially training your brain to return to this breathing pattern throughout the day, whether you’re navigating a challenge, reflecting on a success, or practicing visualization. Nasal breathing also directly impacts your sleep. Sleep hygiene is so important as good quality sleep can help regulate your hormones, repair cells, and allow your brain to clear metabolic waste through the glympathic system. Consistently prioritizing deep, restorative sleep supports nearly every aspect of your physical and mental well-being. Your awareness of your breath and your sense of smell can have a profound impact on your health, your nervous system, and ultimately your lifestyle.
Sensing Wellness takes your sense of smell a step further by encouraging you to connect emotions with the scents around you. The smell of freshly cut grass, a bonfire, gasoline, or fragrant flowers can trigger stored memories that not only allow you to tap into deep emotions but can become a channel that elevates your current energetic state. When you become aware of a preferred scent, you can intentionally bring forward certain practices to heighten your sense of smell for optimal life satisfaction. One of my favorite methods is using a candle warmer or oil diffuser to fill my home with a citrus green tea sanctuary, or a limoncello escape, or cleanse my space with eucalyptus and spearmint. When I take small steps to enhance my environment, I can't help but notice my brain naturally assessing my space and put effort into organizing and establishing my space as a supportive environment for the routine of my best self. Setting daily intentions for your sense of smell could look like doing laundry, cleaning a room in your home, taking a bath, or leaning into any act of self care or self love to your internal and external well-being.
Lately I've been prioritizing the power and art of purging. This can look physically, digitally, socially, energetically wherever it may be. As you strengthen the image of your best self and how they live their life, it's important you work towards blurring the lines between your current reality and your best self’s. When considering your daily environment, designing your space around your preferences, habits, and desired lifestyle can be a powerful way to blur the lines between your physical environment and the internal energy of your best self. The art of purging also highlights detachment, which is an important practice to consider, both within the physical and spiritual worlds, as detachment allows you to compartmentalize your emotions with different external triggers. This practice can also support your well-being as you let go and detach from outcomes, creating space for miracles and desired outcomes to come to you more naturally. Purging highlights physical elimination or subtraction of excess in your space and whether you maintain a minimalistic or maximalistic lifestyle, purging allows you to create space for new energy to flow in.
On the contrary, when I think about adding to my space, things like plants that help liven up my space also add so many benefits to my life. Not only do living plants help create a visually beautiful space, but they also have been shown to support nervous system regulation by reducing cortisol levels, lowering blood pressure and may improve concentration, memory retention and productivity. The routine of caring for plants can also be very therapeutic as taking care of a living being requires a level of mindfulness that can heighten your quality of life. From an environmental perspective, indoor plants can help improve the quality of air in your home, by filtering common toxins, improving humidity levels or helping absorb background noise. The scientific research surrounding indoor plants is quite phenomenal. Overall, creating habits to care for and pour love into your space can reflect the care and love you give yourself. Creating a designated space to intentionally satisfy your sense of smell is where The Sensory Awareness Journal can help guide you.
It’s been one year since launching my website and while juggling everything life may throw at us, it’s important to give yourself grace while you cultivate awareness and self-development. There is always something you can work on and sometimes it takes a little time away or a shift in discipline to realign. I’m so grateful I've been able to build new habits and discover new awareness by consistently practicing self-trust and self-love. I’ve officially completed my Sensory Awareness Journal cover to cover and the benefits I feel in my life are truly astounding. My daily journaling has helped me develop a new narrative for how I speak to myself and align with the energy of the version of me who already has it all. My affirmation practice has even evolved into a grounding ritual during meditation, elevating my visualization practice. I've been drawn to learning the neuroscience behind manifestation, and that knowledge has powerfully elevated the impact of The Sensory Awareness Journal. I’m excited to bring this new knowledge into Sensing Wellness, building upon the foundation of The Sensory Awareness Journal to help you create deeper awareness and lasting change in your own life.
I’ve seen my morning routine significantly shift, I’ve refined my intentions throughout my afternoon and I’m currently using this momentum to build an intentional evening routine. Sometimes it can be as simple as changing one small habit to completely change your life and the momentum is incredible. I’m excited to continue growing on the inside and allowing Sensing Wellness to channel my creativity and efforts to give back to my community — helping others discover their best selves, turn intentional practices into lasting habits, and build a lifestyle that reflects their happiest and healthiest selves. Until the next post, as always, I appreciate your time spent reading.
Much love, Jared.
