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Health & Fitness

Holistic Hints - Seasonal Aromatherapy

Choosing room scents by season.

I want to make snickerdoodles. My grandmother had a great recipe for snickerdoodles.

Can you think of a nicer smell on a rainy, cool-ish spring day than the scent of baking cinnamon?

Like herbal medicine, oriental medicine and holistic health in general, aromatherapy is all about balance. Genuine aromatherapy uses natural oils distilled or pressed from plants, without chemicals, synthetics or over-processing. Like the original plants, aromtherapy scents can have warming and cooling properties.

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You can keep that warming/cooling balance in mind when choosing scents for your home, and change them for the seasons.

Imagine the smell of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. What foods come to mind? What time of year comes to mind? Any one else thinking of fall and winter holidays? These spices are considered to be very warming, so it is little wonder we associate those tastes and scents with colder weather. Their warmth balance the cold and thaw us out a little in cold or damp weather.

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The opposite is true, too. Imagine a glass of lemonade. What time of year do you think of then...not a blizzard, I bet. Lemonade is summertime in a glass, whenever you drink it. Citrus scents are considered cooling. If you want to scent a room in the summer, lemon, orange, bergamot, lemonbalm or lemongrass are good choices. These scents are refreshing, even when the weather isn't.

How you diffuse the scent can enhance the balancing act. Incense and candles litterally add the element of fire, and are a warming touch to cold-weather warming-quality to spicy, woody scents.

Diffusers and room sprays give an airy quality to the cooling, refreshing warm-weather fragrances.

When the weather changes faster than you can plug in your diffuser, candles are nice option for either type of scent.

Today, snickerdoodles. Tomorrow, lemonade. Or maybe both at the same time, one in each hand. After all, it is spring in Pittsburgh.

 

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