TASTES, EMOTIONS AND AROMATHERAPY

Going back to old reference books often provides insights and inspiration doesn't it. As I was leafing through Dr. Frawley and Dr. Lad’s The Yoga of Herbs, a couple of paragraphs on tastes and emotions caught my attention.

“Emotions have a certain taste or flavor and affect the body according to their qualities. There are bitter emotions like grief, or astringent like fear
—these aggravate Vata. There are sour emotions like envy or pungent emotions like anger—these aggravate Pitta. And there are sweet emotions like desire, or salty emotions like greed—these affect Kapha.”

Cultural preferences
The saying “We are what we eat” is more than a cliché, especially when we learn about ayurveda and the principles of the dosha’s diets. Since various societies tend to privilege certain tastes, what are we to think of their collective emotional patterns? Eating preferences most probably originated because of environmental and weather factors which affected crops. But what about today when ancestral knowledge has mostly been forgotten or lost, and most of our weekly grocery shopping decisions are based on economic and time pressures?

Sugar is sweet and so are you?

During the colonization of North America, sugar and salt were necessary to preserve food and ensure energy for hard physical work and to cheer up the mind. However, today salt and sugar are found in excess in most prepared foods, causing weight gain, obesity and hardening of the veins and arteries.

Can we then extrapolated that we are trying to compensate, or for that matter exacerbate, our addictions? What about Asian nations that prefer sweet and sour foods? South American, North African and Middle East countries that flavour most of their main courses with pungent spices like garlic and peppers? What about Mediterranean cultures that privilege fermented meats, cheeses and wine? And of course, there is India where spices of all tastes have been used and mixed expertly for hundreds of years, to such an extent that all the senses can be over-excited.

Apetite and aromatherapy
Dr. Robert Svoboda, another scholar of ayurveda wrote:

“Taste and emotion are identical forces on different planes of existence, that Taste is to the body what emotion is to the mind. An emotion that appears in the mind tends to produce in the body its corresponding Taste, just as Taste when ingested tends to create in the mind its corresponding emotion.” 

A chili crop in Pakistan.
Courtesy of
 http://www.buzzhunt.co.uk/2012/02/20/chili-crop/.

All of the above, and in the context of North Americans out-of-balanced eating habits, leads me to believe that aromatherapy has a great role to play in helping us back to eat better. This did not come to mind when I experimented and developed Face to Grace’s Émotions – Chakra Creams. However, it strikes me that given the set’s ability to balance the emotions, the results could be powerful when presented in tandem with the information above to help people who are dieting, whether it’s for weight or other medical issues. I would further suggest people could balance their addictions for specific tastes and emotions or satisfy their needs by diffusing appropriate essential oils during the day.

Know yourself, know your essential oils 
The table below lists the tastes, emotions and essential oils of similar nature. Of course, it is possible to discern more than one taste in most plants and the essential oils extracted from them. However, In times of intense emotions, avoid aggravating them by avoiding essential oils of the same emotional signature. That or dilute or blend them to reduce their potency. In doubt, consult your aromatherapist or good reference books to assist you in your search for essentials oils that will meet your needs.

Taste	Emotion	Essential Oil
Sour	Envy, jealousy, guilt	Lemon, lime, citronella, lemongrass, Lemon balm
Pungent	Impatience, anger	Lavender, allspice, anise, bay leaf, black pepper, wintergreen
Astringent	Anxiety, fear, terror	Palmarosa
Bitter	Sadness, grief, insecurity	Brahmi, tarragon, vervain, cedar, pine, petitgrain, yarrow
Sweet	Desires, obsessions	Fennel, spikenard, bergamot, cypress, sweet birch, vetiver, patchouli, musk
Salty	Greed	White angelica, ajwan (rare)

For more information on Émotions – Chakra Creams read my post Emotions live in your chakras. You may also contact Samyukta at info@facetograce.com to purchase a set of chakra creams or to sign up for the upcoming Balance Your Emotions with Aromatherapy course. This course is also available through Skype for people who live outside the Canada's national capital region.