Scents

[Nier]

Has anyone noticed big changes in scents? My 2 biggest reasons for asking this are from myself and my environment. I've noticed I smell different despite not drastically changing my diet, soaps or perfumes. I don't want to say I smell muskier because that brings to mind like bad BO to me, but it is a scent with more body than I'm use to. Not to be too graphic, but it's mostly centered around my genitals, I guess? Becomes very apparent when I'm changing pants or in bed.

 

I've also noticed that the air smells sweeter. I caught the usual scent of autumn in the air a few weeks ago but I noticed a few days later it was accompanied by a sweetness that immediately sent my mind back to a very happy time period for me in high school. Every time I smell the autumn air now, I smell that sweetness. It almost feels like it was there the whole time and the autumn air scent's "spectrum" is just more vibrant.

[silent thunder]

Yes.  Lately, last few years some smells have really become awareness consuming in a way they never used to.

 

My sense of smell has altered dramatically over the last twenty years, twice.  Once downward, and once again back open.

 

When I moved to the desert from the forests of the Midwest and the East Coast, I had never experienced allergies or any nasal issues.  In California, I experienced a chronic desensitization of smell.  Massive reactions to desert pollinators and dry air.  Stuffy nose was standard for a year and a half straight.  Or, it alternated with utterly dry nose, incapable of distinguishing any but the most extreme smells much of the rest of the time.   It began to improve over subsequent years, as I added liberal daily doses raw local honey to my diet on recommendation of a nutruitionist acquaintance.  This slowly improved for years.  Less reactions, less intense when they arose.

 

Looking back, it nasal response seems to foundationally shift and heal, about two years after returning to daily breathing practice. 

 

These days my nose is always wide open and clear, even when the wind blows from the East... but now, when my nose stuffs up, it's for a few minutes.  With very slow, methodical breathing only through the nose, the pathways soon open in just a few cycles.  It may continue to run quite a bit.  I may be blowing my nose often, but it remains wide open and unobstructed.

 

Lately, some scents seem much more intense even awareness consuming, cutting through all other activities, and the driving reason for my response here is the following fascinating development...

 

In recent years, i sense strong scents that seem to be internally generated.  Floral seeming, but unfamiliar... and it seems, simply not there for anyone else.  It used to arise only on the cushion, some time after starting a new practice.  Then it began to expand and arise spontaneously throughout the day.  For a time it was steady, almost rhythmical.  But it was always individual.  No one else smells it when I ask "hey what is that?  do you smell that?".  Curious as it's so intense and it's processed exactly like externally stimulated smell sensation.