Aromas delivered directly to the smell receptors in our brains
have a powerful effect on behavior.
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Our journey into the world of scents.
Luke Vorstermans and Linda Ryan, owners of Sniffngo Aromas, make their home in Gibsons, British Columbia. Sniffngo Aromas is a Sunshine Coast, BC-based business that develops products that use our sense of smell for health, wellness and sheer smelling pleasure. Our products are designed to change the way people experience the power and pleasures of aromas, scents and fragrances. Using our sense of smell to Influence and modify behavior by using specific aroma profiles is a new wellness frontier. We are part of that trend. Linda's interest in aromatherapy led to a trip to London in 2008, where we had the good fortunate of meeting with Dr. George Dodd, the famed Scottish perfumer, aromatherapist and smell scientist. Dr. George became our muse, and over the next several years, he took us into the world of aromachology -- the science of smell -- and opened our eyes to the power of this enigmatic sense.
The act of smelling brings conscious awareness to the present moment. You cannot smell something and not be wholly in the present moment. Just try it! And therein lies the power to associate the act of smelling an aroma with a desired outcome. While aromatherapy focuses on the healing benefits of essential oils for health and wellness, it is in the act of smelling where the real power lies. The deliberate act of smelling an aroma provides a momentary connection to the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of the body. Within this moment of awareness lies the power of healing, restoration, and balance. 
In Dr. George's formulations, two strands of the scent world came together to form blends of mood-enhancing scents. The first strand is the tradition of aromatherapy; the second strand involves creating new scent profiles that are designed for a specific result.
To maximize the delivery of these proprietary aromas, we designed the aromapod, a simple personal inhaler that delivers aromas directly to the nose of the user. This was followed by the development of a non-transdermal aroma patch. As thin as Scotch tape and the size of your thumbnail, the aroma patch is worn on the inside of the wrist where it is discrete and easily accessible. While the inhaler and aromapatch has obvious appeal to the aromatherapy market, we were more intrigued by the mechanics of smelling rather than the benefits of any particular aroma. We were intrigued by the power of our sense of smell to encode behavior by consciously associating the act of smelling to a preferred outcome. There’s nothing mysterious here. We associate smells and aromas to a wide range of human actions and emotions, i.e. coffee brewing, perfumes, a skunk, cedar, smoke, sex, etc. Each scent elicits a predictable response. Recent research into the power of our olfactory sense to trigger memories, enhance moods and improve health is giving our sense of smell a whole new attitude. We are on the brink of a scent revolution that will use this sense to manage our emotions, allow early detection of diseases, treat a wide variety of psychological and physiological problems, assist in the ageing process and enhance our health and well being. While the pharmaceutical companies churn out billions of pills and potions to alter the body’s delicate chemistry using the bloodstream, our sense of smell provides a natural, non-invasive approach to better health and wellness.
Update: It is with great sadness to report that Dr. George passed away in December, 2020. He was an incredible source of wonder and appreciation, thank you! For an in-depth interview with Dr. George, visit: www.sniffapaloozamagazine.com/drgeorgedodd.html |
