Please read Savouring Scents first.

I repeat: Tastes and smells involve inner-body awareness. This is so subjective that it would be easy for any individual to start deluding themselves about how it feels, and i don't want to get involved in anything an innocent animal wouldn't feel.

So on the subject of inner-body awareness, we need to ask young children how it really feels. We need them to teach us. What is a healthy and natural approach to taste, smell, and inner-body awareness?

When humans smell-in normally through the nose with the mouth closed, a large amount of the smell enters into the back of the mouth and is tasted in the mouth. This sensation is reinforced on the out-breath, when the smell curls round in the mouth, before being expelled through the nostrils.

The everyday felt-reality for humans, is that the breath and smell seem to curl round into the back of mouth, and are sensed, in fact tasted, with the upper surface of the tongue and the roof of the mouth.

And – if you forget everything you know – especially when breathing out, the out-smell-breath seems to come directly from the roof of the mouth out through the nostrils. So that the way it feels internally is that our mouth is far larger and the roof of the mouth is much higher than it actually is. And actually, quite irrationally, that the roof of the mouth is connected directly with the nostrils.

The in and out-smells fills up this larger mouth area. By concentrating on the sensation, the oral cavity can become so large that it can sometimes feel as though it fills the entire brain area, leaving about an inch of skull around it.

Even a rudimentary self examination by putting your fingers in your mouth, shows that this cannot be true. But even though they always have their fingers in their mouths, i doubt if any young children or animals would ever think about examining themselves in this way.

This sensation of the mouth being very big, almost as big as the head, needs to be confirmed by questioning young children.

I obviously can't prove this, but i think if you forget all you know and just smell, it's easy to experience it yourself.

With our 'normal' way of smelling, the in and out-smells become merged in the mouth, neck, and head area.

The bodily sensation of the in-smell going to the sides, legs and arms, with the out-smell coming from the stomach are still clear, but the head and neck sensations are totally different.

Identity and Felt-Reality
I suggest that the felt-reality for humans where the in and out smell are confiused, unclear and complex, is the normal. And if this is the felt-reality for humans, then it is necessary to experience it fully.

It is vital to recognise the felt-reality. In the same way that emotionally and psychologically we need to be in touch with our feelings, even if they are irrational, in order to be whole. To heal ourselves and make us whole, we must acknowledge these irrational inner-body sensations and work with them.

Smelling is governed by the lower brain. The sensations are felt especially in the soft palate and the back of the throat near the lower brain, this is in very close physical contact with the lower brain. I suspect this has far greater significance than i can explain.

There are sure to be other areas and methods of smelling which i haven't yet discovered. I welcome your feedback.

Back to Chapter Six : Smelling and Tasting Exercises
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