Kinetic, Auditory and Visual - these are the 3 universally recongnized styles of learning. They are the sensory channels through which we as individuals learn and process.

We each do have all styles of learning but from what I have seen in my work and research, a majority of people have a favorite or more advanced mode they rely upon a great deal.  That would be the one we are most open with in terms of flow dynamics. The one through which we can most easily give and receive information.

We also have secondary modes which are half open for us in terms of flow dynamic. We can get by with these modes but they are not where we will shine and they will not affect us nearly as much as our most open modality. I have even noted that many of us have a challenged modality with one or even more learning styles.

We process (aka learn) best when we use the modalities that are most openly engaged for us of course, so we will instinctively turn to those and try to use them. On the other hand, we will be extremely frustrated , learn very slowly or not at all if we are trying to process information using a modality we are not accomplished with. This can happen far more than we imagine. It usually begins to show up formally when we enter school , as testing and most classroom activities rely almost exclusively on visual or auditory styles of processing being well-grounded for us. (This is why the kinetically oriented boys may be floundering ..a subject of great concern for the past two decades .) This also can mean that when our quality of life or health hangs in the balance, we need to turn to our best learning modality to help us move back to the divine grace we each came here with as our birthright. This begins with validating and honoring our best learning style or styles. Do you know what your most openly engaged leaning styles are? If you have not thought about this before, there is no time like the present to begin learning how you learn best!

I am not going to highlight the 3 basic modalities here since there are many people far more capable than I with regard to informing about those learning styles. The Internet is a rich source of information if you should feel inclined to search for more details. If you have children who are struggling in school, I would highly recommend getting specific information about these modalities as chances are extremely high that your child's best learning style does not match the school system. There are ways to teach our children how to "translate" so that they can quickly catch back up and there are many gifted people trained in learning modalities who can help.

With this article, my intent is more twofold: first, to offer my opinion that it can be very helpful for us to assess ourselves and understand our primary learning style(s ). There can be for many copious amounts of guilt, anger and even depression centered squarely on learning style challenges. If this is the first you are hearing about having a primary learning style, and it's not visual or auditory, then you are likely one of the many who have felt frustrated trying to live in a visual and auditorily weighted world.

Secondly, I am presenting another learning style , one that may be pivotal to quite a large percentage of humanity :   that of our Olfactory sense.   Simply put, there are some people for whom scent and fragrance are not just niceties but are necessities to a healthy quality of life.   To this group within humanity, everything scented matters, from the foods they eat to the fabric softener scent they use. They probably secretly smell everything or comment on smell more than the average person, feel a deep quest for balanced meals (superb cooking) , spices , and either stay far away from personal scents or they feel they must have many scents because they want to always "smell good". Smell is extremely critical and moving for them.

For many reasons our olfactory sense can be constantly invalidated or ignored except in a very surface type of way, in favor of trying to focus specifically on the 3 usual learning styles that may not be ones' strongest suit. This is where deep core problems begin as we are essentially invalidating who we are.

A Link Between Olfactory Brilliance and Codependencies?

According to the subtle energy flows I have looked at in research on an olfactory "learning style" , those who have been or are still addicted to substances like alcohol or drugs may be people who rely very strongly on scent to truly process life. There is an extremely open flow dynamic with olfactory sense for the subgroup of humanity who are co-dependent on alcohol or drugs. Extremely open. Yet we don't work with this in traditional intervention in any meaningful ways beyond a basic understanding that smell triggers emotional memories and mood through the limbic system. From what I am noting, this looks like a huge door that we have so far neglected to explore for helping codependent persons become free of their addictions. Beyond addictions though, if we have the open dynamics to process life through scent and don't honor it seriously , then we are accepting a far more substandard quality of life than we could be living.

Scent moves those who have extremely open capability with olfactory modality. More powerfully and more quickly than visuals, counseling (auditory) or any other sorts of standard intervention may. Is this why drug addicts are rarely able to come fully back to a quality of life even though they may go through 3 or more clinic stays , have years of counseling or endure enormous physical and emotional pressure to stay clean? If we involved the olfactory sense very, very formally in the process of healing, what could happen?

From what I have been noting in my research on this thus far, there is an exceptionally good chance that what some people smell is crucial to their very day to day lives. Noxious , synthetic essences can harm , in exactly the way a chunk of iron can throw off a compass reading. Perhaps even more importantly, however, the correct sequences of essences that are soothing could possibly be healing . Scent may in fact speak to some of us - move us deeply - in a way that nothing else may approach nearly so well.

Theoretically all our five senses provide the tapestry for our learning processes. Surely smell would be first among the bunch, especially since it is such an ancient sense for we humans. That alone makes it worth exploration in my opinion, but especially so for those who have been or are still addicted drugs or alcohol. Or, like myself, if you have always felt that smell is vital to your world.

Practical Explorations for an Olfactory Learning Style

There are 2 main directions to consider with respect to honoring one's strong olfactory capability. One is Do No More Harm . Take Away all the scents you have placed into your life that are harming you. After you have cleared the decks , the next step would be to thoughtfully begin introducing fragrances that will help soothe and heal your total energy field. You are lucky in that smell can truly heal and move you! Exploring this could possibly free you from long held patterns of disfunction - and will absolutely do so for any patterns that got created and then held in place as a consequence of olfactory bludgeoning. Any disturbances the limbic system had a part in creating are those that are up for realignment and renewal.

Do No More Harm.   This may seem like a very obvious idea, however you'd be surprised at what can harm a sensitive olfactory capability. Most perfumes and colognes, for example , are made with mostly synthetics. Toothpaste and other personal care products like lotion, soaps, massage oils, shampoos , air fresheners and every piece of makeup you use may all be irritants rather than being positive . Walking down the cleaning section aisle at stores can be enough to harm. The new aromatherapy products put out by the masse marketers these days sold in large stores are prime examples of products that for much of the population are just fine...but which would be enough to cause headaches, nausea and / or irritability upon first smell - perhaps even hard-to-define ailments with prolonged use by those who rely on their olfactory sense to process! I have a very acute olfactory sense myself and can tell you from first hand experience that I can smell an air freshener or dish soap once and feel my 3rd eye / sinus area rear up in alarm. Synthetic incense, synthetic anything will be prone to this effect.

Be choosy about the days you go to hair salons to get a cut. There are going to be days when you are not working as well with the symphony of cycles that are up and those would be days when you will numb your capacity by breathing in all those synthetic scents that most all salons have. Or, if you really feel a salon visit to be harming on any day, see if you can have a stylist do an outcall to cut your hair.

Stop hitting all your food with 10 spices. Chaos happens in the kitchen and in our energy field when we throw everything we've got onto our dinner . Stop eating foods that have synthetic sugars and such in them as not only do they taste off, but they smell off - and if you process through your olfactory sense you are getting this loud and clear whether you consciously acknowledge it or not. Food is a large area to look for revamping. Pick your teas by smelling them more than you may normally. Your nose will know if you allow it to.

Throw away those sale gym shoes you got a great deal on that smell so synthetic that the scent covers half your house. I have personally seen that many shoes made today, but especially sports shoe wear, can have an odor that will never go away. My son came home with such a pair (which he didn't even seem to notice) and I had to eventually throw them in the garage to be kept there they are so synthetically bludgeoning. You get what you pay for in clothing and shoes - 100% natural fibers are a good way to go in clothing .

Placing Fragrance Into Your World Correctly.

I have always had an affinity for the plant kingdom so I surround myself with herbs and flowers that have fragrance as much as possible in my life.   I will wander into my backyard in winter, picking a bit of oregano or snapping off a long dried flower stem of basil . I will rub it between my hands and then inhale deeply. The nuances of scent are, to me, savored . If you have smelled fresh basil, and dried basil , you still have yet to smell middle-of the winter basil seed stalks...it is truly magnificent. Smelling one item to nurture yourself like this can turn around your entire day!

Going out and getting a potted herb for your windowsill is also almost mandatory for anyone who has a keen olfactory sense. Not for cooking as much as for being able to rub your hands on the fragrant leaves and inhale as needed. Basil , Rosemary and Vietnamese cilantro are especially good choices for a sunny windowsill in winter. If you are not a grower, however, you can go to most stores today and pick up small packages of many herbs in the produce section. I will sometimes pick up a small bunch of parsley or dill or basil and place it in vase, to be a fragrant addition to my life for a few wondrous days.

Taking a walk anywhere in nature is also going to be soothing for an inundated olfactory processing center. Smelling humid earth and myriads of foliage or floral scents can be potently revitalizing and we can get this from any nursery, should you be close to that and far from a state park.

Place 100% pure essential oils into your life . Making up your own combinations of massage oils or lotions by trusting your own superb sense will not only be delightful for you, it will also be extremely healing. You quite likely might need to make a new mixture for each day to capture the day and your reaction to it correctly, as each day is different, so making very small batches is a good idea. Instead of cloying incense, work to find natural ones or get a heat diffuser so that you can use your essential oils to adorn the air of your home with fragrance that will be good for you. But beware of using scent all the time when you may need far more to smell nothing. Candles are another area to go with natural or with unscented unless you really tune into your body after taking a whiff of a candle and know the scent is working with you, not against you. While we are detoxing our sense of smell, we can be quite surface in our scent choices .

Make your own all purpose cleaning product by combining baking soda with enough liquid soap to make a cake frosting consistency. Then you can add in some antibacterial power through essential oils like Lavender or Lemon or even Thyme if you like that scent.   I like to additionally add in favorite EO's strictly for the fragrance synergy to come up with something that I feel like smelling while I am cleaning. Each time I make one it is different in makeup and yet they are all natural and , far from annoying me , they actually soothe me.

Scent Synergy  At this point I have only a basic idea , though I have begun to work with creating scent sequences.   Not only the scents we choose, but also the order in which we smell them, may have profound effects on our being. I mention this briefly for whatever it may be worth as a springboard for you but if you are interested in more about this idea, please contact me. I see this as a way to formally approach facilitation of alcohol or other codependencies primarily - like Fragrance therapy. It differs from standard aromatherapy practice in that the goal would be to create a synergistic set of scents that will trigger and soothe at the proper time. Instead of office visits that can at best be scheduled 3 times per week (and would usually only be scheduled once per week or month) , one would use such a set on an ongoing basis for longer periods and apply themselves - by simply smelling - the correct scent as needed. It is far more empowering to have a collection of scents made up to "speak" to you exactly at the moments when you feel you need it the most.    What I have seen thus far in my small trials of this indicate it could be a viable and effective mode of facilitation. I also have noted that it is helpful to be able to tune into the person's unique vibrational signature while creating such a set - so no two sets would be alike in all probability .  as well, I've seen in practice that as the person grows into themselves more and more, the scents and sequences would need to be updated to match them .  How long before changing the set of scents would depend entirely on each person and their growth rate but they themselves would know by how they felt about the scents.     I can see this being useful for aiding focus for children with anxiety or who are having a difficult time with focusing on school so the applications really are unlimited.

This is but a very basic list of the ways we could place scent into our lives in a deliberate way to improve quality of life. Whether we use our olfactory sense to process life very openly or not, these are good , common sense suggestions for all of us!