The gift of smell and aliveness
This week my practice has been taking me deeper into my hands and heart and feet and root. It’s been an interesting time because we hold on a lot in our hands (an extension of our heart) and sometimes our feet need to change the path we’re walking along (shift their relationship with the earth and our sense of rootedness).
The heat hadn’t helped this week, let alone recovering from the lack of sleep over the solstice and my body clock now deeply attuned to solar energy, still up with sunrise each day.
I was in the sea by 6am this morning, I like swimming early to have the beach to myself, to feel that deeper connection to nature without the distraction of human noise and activity.
It was the smell that struck me the most this morning though. After an intensely emotional day yesterday, as stuff came up to the surface to be released, heart and root, I can only conclude that this is what has been gifted in that space - deeper sensual awareness. It is difficult to explain this to people when I talk of yoga.
Many think of it as a physical practice, an exercise regime at best. It’s a shame to limit it to this, because the deeper one goes, the more one realises it is a spiritual practice which not only helps to stabilise the mind, but which gifts a certain sensitivity which helps one navigate the world in a completely different way to the norm.
The root chakra is related to smell and the nose. The more we heal any woundings in the root, the more we not only deepen our connection to the earth and ability to trust - to know with absolute certainty that we are held and supported - but our sense of smell improves. It’s not easy, I can’t tolerate artificial fragrance, so all washing and cleaning products need to be fragrance free. Even strong natural smell can be difficult. The challenging bit though, is the fact I can smell sickness on people, know that they’re not well, which is helpful in the work I do, but also difficult to stomach at times.
Yet the joy, the sheer joy of smelling the fragrance of the sweet chestnut trees this morning. The sweet chestnut Bach flower remedy is given for extreme anguish and I can now appreciate how healing this tree is, just from its smell. The honeysuckle could still be smelt this morning too, it’s one of my most favourite smells, that and lavender. Mind you I am quite partial to Bergamot too, and the jasmine in our garden is exquisite.
My heart has been opened a little bit more too after feeling so broken yesterday. I’d attuned someone to Reiki the day previously, in Australia, such is the wonder of distance Reiki, and always after an attunement, my heart is asked to let go, which is never easy to navigate and yet I am grateful for the aliveness it then gifts, in the space that was once heavy with sadness, anger and grief.
I am so pleased to be alive today. To swim naked amongst the rocks, the sun not yet risen above the cliffs, and to hear the birds. I’m learning their song. The chaffinch I know well now, they never shut up, and can be so noisy at times. Their song is a bright, rapid cascade of notes that generally lasts only 2 to 3seconds. The male bird repeats this exact phrase 5 or 6 times a minute. During peak season, they can sing this hundreds of times an hour, delivering up to 3,000 songs in a single day!
I know the blackbird now too, and the tit, and am becoming increasingly familiar with the wren, which abounds in Saints Valley. I have been watching this valley for most of this year, immersing in it, writing about it in my new book, it has keep me sane as I have navigated all the grief and change. I have watched the elders blossom and now transform into berries, and the hawthorn too, the lesser burdock are just stunning and the evening primroses are the most gorgeous yellow.
At home, in the moon garden, the St John’s wort are now flowering and the wood betony too, which are my favourite as they are so ancient. I also have elecampane which I used to disregard, but now I am eternally grateful for their perseverance and ability to return year after year. It’s the same with the marshmallow which I also grew from seed during the pandemic. The mug wort has gone mad. I will need to contain this next year as I am planning to get back into my herbs and creating tinctures and potions like I used to do before other things took priority.
There is a lot of joy to be found in the garden and out in nature generally right now. I am grateful to the practice for helping me to connect in on an increasingly deeper level. It seems that the more I connect into the nature of my body and get beyond my mind, the more I can connect into nature on the outside and the more my senses are refined. It’s exciting, because this approach to yoga offers so much potential for aliveness, and it is difficult to tell others this, because it its just words until you actually experience it.
Enjoy!
Love Emma x
