The power of scent
The more I work with plants over the years the more I'm aware of their scent and the stronger their scent gets. As soon as I step outside I can tell what plants are letting me know they are ready to harvest and the more their medicinal benefits can be taken in without even consuming the plant.
Plants contain volatile oils which give them their aroma. For the plant, it's a way for it to defend itself from predators and acts similar to an immune system. For humans, it's where some of the plants' medicinal actions come from and it's a very potent medicine.
When you smell a plant that has volatile oils the volatile oils/scent goes to your olfactory receptors (also known as smell receptors) that exist primarily within your nasal cavity. Here they can have a direct impact on your nervous system and can immediately have medicinal actions such as stimulating your mind waking it up and also calming and relaxing the mind down. This is part of what causes you to feel relaxed when you sniff a flower that you enjoy. That flower is actually having a direct impact on your body.
We actually have smell receptors in other parts of our body, including our digestive system which helps our body with our digestion and immune system! Scent is an amazing and powerful thing!
Some of my favorite ways to work with the scent of plants are through herbal oils and salt scrubs. These methods extract the natural smell of the volatile oils in plants but not in a way that is too strong and overly powerful like essential oils.
Essential oils are basically the volatile oils extracted from plants, however very large quantities of plant material are needed in order to make them, and therefore they are intensely concentrated levels of the volatile oils. With them being so concentrated their actions are very strong and must be heavily diluted to avoid potential severe reactions, especially in children, pregnant mothers, autoimmune conditions, and other conditions/individuals. Making medicine from a single plant in its whole form is a lot safer and smells a lot more like the plant smells as it's not a concentrated form of the volatile oils.
Don't get me wrong, essential oils can have their place as well, but for everyday use, I prefer the gentleness of whole plant medicine. So below is a recipe on how to make salt scrubs using your favorite scented blooms.
Lilac Salt Scrub
In honor of one of my favorite smells and all the mommas and caregivers out there as we are all caregivers to someone, including ourselves, below is a recipe for making a simple Lilac Salt Scrub.
Salt scrubs are very easy to make and a great way to preserve the scent of flowers especially when you want to smell them later in the season such as in winter when there are no flowers in sight. They also help with detoxification, and smoothing the skin, and are very relaxing to use.
The salt gently exfoliates and detoxifies the body as you scrub it on and is amazing for pulling out toxins physically and spiritually. You can compare the action of salt scrubs to purifying the body with burning herbs like Sage. Salt is the ultimate cleanser and you can put your intent into it to pull out what you no longer need or want and let the water wash it away down the drain.
This recipe uses Lilac flowers but any flowers that you enjoy can be used... Rose petals and Lavender are two of my other favorite ones to make. I even love to make one with Pine needles, especially for gifts in the winter. Let me know if you make it and how you like it.
Ingredients:
- Fresh lilac flowers- several stems of flowers
- Fine sea salt
- Glass jar with lid
Recipe:
Start by adding a good layer of salt to the bottom of your jar filling it with about a half inch of salt. You can use any kind of salt but I find the finer it is the better as it's more gentle on the skin and easier to work with.
Then sprinkle some flower petals of your choosing (removed from all stems and leaves) on top of the salt to create a layer about a half inch thick.
Now cover the flowers with a layer of salt. Make sure the flowers are fully covered in between the nooks and crannies of the petals and create an additional half inch layer of salt on top.
Repeat this process until the jar is full ending with a layer of salt on top making sure all flowers are covered. Seal with a lid and set aside.
* The size of the layers isn't important. You just want to make sure there is no air between the petals and they are fully covered. The salt will preserve the flowers and pull out their volatile oils leaving you with blissful smelling salt. Let it sit for a month or longer for the smell to transfer.
To use the salt scrub you can either leave the flowers in or strain it out. You can either sprinkle a little on the palm of your hand during a shower and scrub your body with it. You can also add some to a bath.
Enjoy!
