How To Use "Natural" Aromatherapy To Help Ease Anxiety and Stave Off Panic Attacks
It is well known that the sense of smell is the strongest of the 5 senses in conjuring up vivid memories and emotions.
It follows that aromatherapy can be very beneficial to easing anxiety and staving off panic attacks.
However, I'm not necessarily talking about aromatherapy in the modern sense of the word.
I'm thinking more of more natural ways to use your sense of smell to improve your mood - things that you can do in your every day life that will ease stress, make you smile, and help ease your anxiety.
You really don't need to go to the aromatherapy store to benefit from aromatherapy.
In other words, you don't need to buy essential oils, incense, and candles, etc...
In fact, totally natural scents can actually work much better.
The first thing you need to do is taking special note of how smells affect you.
Eliminate the smells more quickly that affect you negatively and make a special effort to incorporate more of the ones that relax and/or give you a positive feeling.
Let me give you some examples to show you what I mean.
Does the faint odor in the trash basket put you in a sour mood? If so, maybe you should make a special effort to remove your trash every morning and maybe put some baking soda in the bottom of the container to soak up those not so pleasant smells.
What do you smell when you open the refrigerator? If it has any negative effect on you, make an effort to keep some baking soda in the refrigerator and be more prompt about removing spoiled food.
Are there food smells that put you a great mood? For me, it's freshly ground coffee - and freshly roasted coffee! If you're like me, maybe it would be worth the investment to buy a coffee grinder and whole coffee beans.
You could start every day with a wonderful smell that makes you happy.
Maybe you could make a point of walking past that place on the corner that roasts coffee or visiting your favorite coffee shop that grinds coffee often! Basically, any smell that has a powerful positive effect on you may be worth an investment of time and/or money.
Take special note of anything else that makes you happy or has a calming effect on you.
Another good one for me is the smell of fresh cut lemon.
I make a point of cutting open a fresh lemon every day and using it in water and food (lemons contain double the vitamin C than oranges by the way) and when I do I also always take several deep breaths of the lemon.
In fact, I leave it out on the counter so I can smell it again later.
I clean with lemon too because I love the smell and those artificial lemon smells in cleaning supplies can never top that of fresh lemon.
The smell of a car interior cleaned with fresh lemon always puts me in a good mood.
Do you like herbal tea? If so, you might also try smelling the tea bags before they're brewed.
I love to smell any tea bags containing mint, particularly SleepyTime tea.
I will actually sometimes smell one while listening to some soothing music.
It has a very calming effect on me.
Do you like the outdoors? The smell of fresh flowers always brighten my day.
If you're like this too, maybe you could make an extra special effort to visit local parks when the flowers are blooming.
Visit at different times to smell the different flowers and see which ones make you the happiest.
Then you might consider planting those in your own yard! I also love the smell of the ocean and fresh cut grass.
You can explore what outdoor smells give you the most pleasure and try to become exposed to those as much as possible.
So many times, people plan their outdoor excursions by what they'll SEE when smell is just as important if not more important for the purpose of easing anxiety and staving off panic attacks.
I'm sure you have many ideas that you could share with me.
Please leave comments and let me know what smells are the most calming to you - and what smells make you the happiest.
The main point I'm trying to make here is that natural smells can really improve your mood if you take special note of how smells affect you.
I also want to emphasize again that you really don't have to go to the aromatherapy store in order to benefit from aromatherapy.
It follows that aromatherapy can be very beneficial to easing anxiety and staving off panic attacks.
However, I'm not necessarily talking about aromatherapy in the modern sense of the word.
I'm thinking more of more natural ways to use your sense of smell to improve your mood - things that you can do in your every day life that will ease stress, make you smile, and help ease your anxiety.
You really don't need to go to the aromatherapy store to benefit from aromatherapy.
In other words, you don't need to buy essential oils, incense, and candles, etc...
In fact, totally natural scents can actually work much better.
The first thing you need to do is taking special note of how smells affect you.
Eliminate the smells more quickly that affect you negatively and make a special effort to incorporate more of the ones that relax and/or give you a positive feeling.
Let me give you some examples to show you what I mean.
Does the faint odor in the trash basket put you in a sour mood? If so, maybe you should make a special effort to remove your trash every morning and maybe put some baking soda in the bottom of the container to soak up those not so pleasant smells.
What do you smell when you open the refrigerator? If it has any negative effect on you, make an effort to keep some baking soda in the refrigerator and be more prompt about removing spoiled food.
Are there food smells that put you a great mood? For me, it's freshly ground coffee - and freshly roasted coffee! If you're like me, maybe it would be worth the investment to buy a coffee grinder and whole coffee beans.
You could start every day with a wonderful smell that makes you happy.
Maybe you could make a point of walking past that place on the corner that roasts coffee or visiting your favorite coffee shop that grinds coffee often! Basically, any smell that has a powerful positive effect on you may be worth an investment of time and/or money.
Take special note of anything else that makes you happy or has a calming effect on you.
Another good one for me is the smell of fresh cut lemon.
I make a point of cutting open a fresh lemon every day and using it in water and food (lemons contain double the vitamin C than oranges by the way) and when I do I also always take several deep breaths of the lemon.
In fact, I leave it out on the counter so I can smell it again later.
I clean with lemon too because I love the smell and those artificial lemon smells in cleaning supplies can never top that of fresh lemon.
The smell of a car interior cleaned with fresh lemon always puts me in a good mood.
Do you like herbal tea? If so, you might also try smelling the tea bags before they're brewed.
I love to smell any tea bags containing mint, particularly SleepyTime tea.
I will actually sometimes smell one while listening to some soothing music.
It has a very calming effect on me.
Do you like the outdoors? The smell of fresh flowers always brighten my day.
If you're like this too, maybe you could make an extra special effort to visit local parks when the flowers are blooming.
Visit at different times to smell the different flowers and see which ones make you the happiest.
Then you might consider planting those in your own yard! I also love the smell of the ocean and fresh cut grass.
You can explore what outdoor smells give you the most pleasure and try to become exposed to those as much as possible.
So many times, people plan their outdoor excursions by what they'll SEE when smell is just as important if not more important for the purpose of easing anxiety and staving off panic attacks.
I'm sure you have many ideas that you could share with me.
Please leave comments and let me know what smells are the most calming to you - and what smells make you the happiest.
The main point I'm trying to make here is that natural smells can really improve your mood if you take special note of how smells affect you.
I also want to emphasize again that you really don't have to go to the aromatherapy store in order to benefit from aromatherapy.