Essential Aromatica Amy Anthony

Which is scarier? Going offtrack or staying in a rut? What if you could disrupt the ego driven "norm" (the rut) by working with essential oils, the molecules of connectedness? In this episode, Dr. Florian Birkmayer shares the potential of working with essential oils to help us become whole by disrupting the Default Mode Network (DMN) and emerging from "wetiko" ("cut-offness").

This is where '"Aromagnosis comes in. Aromagnosis is direct perception connecting us to the larger world through the messages carried by genuine, authentic essential oils. We explore how these oils help open access points to initiate innate healing and rediscover our personal myth. We discuss how powerful essential oils, not “nice smells”, can break through our intellectual barriers and open the door to emotional power.

We also contemplate “wetiko” or “cut-offness”, the self-imposed isolation from our unconscious and nature overall. This isolation is often something we are not aware of (forgetting what we forgot to remember: connection and feeling) and is apparent in our welcoming of synthetic molecules into our bodies, homes and environment. We reflect on the Enlightenment-era philosophy of “I think, therefore I am”, and how it has led us to ignore our interconnectedness with the universe.

Deeper into the episode, Florian expounds upon the power of essential oils and their role in mental health. He deconstructs the Default Mode Network (DMN), our personal “auto-pilot” mode, and how aromatics (and psychedelic assisted therapy) may help deactivate its ruts and create new neural connections. As an ex-psychiatrist, Florian critiques the traditional model of psychiatry, which often turns people into professional patients, and proposes an alternative approach that focuses on broader cultural and ancestral factors alongside working with essential oils (aka: aromas) to bypass the DMN. We delve into the importance of emotions as messages from our subconscious, and the concept of “heart awareness” as a means to tend to our emotional needs. We also discuss the teachings brought by essential oils molecules, expressions of an aromatic plant's soul.

In the end, Florian shares that “if you are willing to face what your unconscious gives you [while working with essential oil allies], it will give you what you are ready for.” When we work with essential oils, each one is a teacher we can turn to on our lifelong journey of becoming whole to ourselves. We can change our culture of cut-offness by mindfully working with essential oils, the molecules of connectedness.

Access Florian's work on Substack and his & Cathy Skipper's offerings at Aromagnosis.

Selected Publications:

Birkmayer F. with Cathy Skipper (2024) “Essential Oils for Psychedelic Therapy Support” (Available at amazon.)

Birkmayer F. (2022). Essential Oils for the Wounded Healer: PTSD,

Post-Traumatic Resilience and the Wounded Healer’s Journey. International Journal of Professional Holistic Aromatherapy. 11(3), p.37-41.

Birkmayer F. (2021). Using Essential Oils to Enhance the Effects of Ketamine Psychedelic Therapy in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Substance-Induced Psychosis Two Case Reports). International Journal of Professional Holistic Aromatherapy. 9(4), p.15-22.

Birkmayer F. (2020). The Molecules of Connectedness. International Journal of Professional Holistic Aromatherapy. 8(4), p. 51-57.

Birkmayer F., Skipper C. (2018). “The Role of Aromatherapy in the Treatment of Substance Abuse and Co-Occurring Disorders”, chapter in Modir S. & Munuz G. (eds.) Integrative Addiction and Recovery, Weil Integrative Medicine Library, Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780190275334.

How do you “unveil the magic glow that flows right from the center of your happy heart”? This is something Kristina Siapkara, founder of Ierias Nama has explored since “cooking flowers” as a child—not knowing she was medicine-making while “cooking” those flowers.

This spotlight on aromatherapy episode is intended to share how the power of ritual, frequencies (think physics) and working with botanical extracts and products made with integrity can uplift, rather than sap it.

The Myth of Luxury Around Ritual

Finding solace, direction and purpose in life doesn’t require privilege. Many believe it’s a mindset rather than having or possessing certain things, including “time,” before you can reveal your true nature. The relaxation, mental and emotional space needed to foster our direction, the magic within us, is not a luxury nor meant to be scheduled for “later”. Yet all of these good things are often viewed as luxuries we don’t make time for.

Linear Time vs. Whole Time

Every being on Earth belongs here (yes, even the roaches and ticks). We’re all here, after all. We made it: we were born. Yet many of us human beings lose our direction, stumble down the wrong path and don’t know it. We get lost in and caught up in linear clock-time and ambitions, losing sight of Eternal time. This “softer” time encapsules spaciousness and what we’re a part of (nature, the universe) rather than separate from. This time includes our ancestors, myths, and the unconscious, which can be accessed through ritual.

Stopping Time with Ierias Nama

If you feel you lost your way from yourself and are looking for help finding your way back, there are people like Kristina in the world who are here to help. She’s interested in stopping time, creating time and working with the interconnectedness through frequency (high vibrational matter) to unveil and support your own innate state of inner beauty and bliss. This isn’t about turning back the clock or staying frozen in place—think of it like dipping your whole body-mind-spirit-soul into eternal time each day. This is why she created Ierias Nama.

Episode highlights:


Exploring frequency and considering how we need to make time to slow down. We can work with plants to do this, we can “borrow” their energy (their chemical and vibrational messages) to nudge us in a different direction.
Kristina takes us through the 4 phases of surrendering & awakening that form the framework of Ierias Nama Skin and Spirit. Each phase is inspired by core elements and enhanced with a guided meditation. Look forward to exploring:  Catharsis, Metamorphosis, Genesis, Ecstasy and many of the key aromatic plants that are included in each phase.
The Importance of surrendering yet not giving up your power. This means: letting go of linear thoughts and listen to the inner feelings that tell you when something feels right. Kristina shares how letting go helped bring her deeply explored, years-long project, Ierias Nama Skin and Spirit, to fruition.
Kristina invites you to make the time for yourself, to look in the mirror and give yourself a wink. To tell yourself that you’ve got yourself. One way is by working with botanical products made with integrity—and winking at yourself.

Join us, I hope you laugh along with us at the end.

Learn more about Kristana and Ierias Nama at ieriasnama.com  & IG @ieriasnamaskin

There’s a lot more to share. Please join us and leave
comments or get in-touch via email @ info@nycaromatica.com | NYC Aromatica.

Ciao for now!

How to smell an essential oil. Are you like, "Yeah, right. I know how to smell. Thanks, but no thanks."? That's not what this is about.

It's rather about tapping into powerful messages available from one drop of an essential oil and what that one drop (or two drops) can do--if attention is paid its due.

This episode takes you through what to "do" with essential oils: focusing on olfactive aromatherapy. Yup, good old-fashioned smelling. We'll get into scent detection and reception, volatility, intensity and even solvent extracts vs essential oils.

But that's only where the fun begins.

Go to minute 11:30 for immediate access to one of my signature guided aromatic encounters: a guide to smelling.

Trust me on this one.

Don't forget to download the episode. Have this guide readily available for every time you want and need to connect with an essential oil.

One to 2 drops of essential oil. That's all it takes to create change.

Small is big.

Psychophysics and scent. What’s that all about?

You’re reading this text, taking in visual information while simultaneously breathing in hundreds of scent molecules. How much of your attention is on those various aromatic molecules? How would you describe those scent molecules? Could those scents be considered art?

Meet NYC-based academic and gallerist Andreas Keller who lives, breathes and contemplates these olfactory-based topics on a daily basis! With PhDs in neuroscience and philosophy and specializing in olfactory perception and psychophysics, Andreas revels in the messiness of scent so much that he opened one of the only Olfactory Art galleries in the world: Olfactory Art Keller.

A vanguard of the olfactory art movement, Andreas explores “the scent problem”—how smell is not an analytical sense like the visual one, and how paradigms of perceiving, talking about and analyzing scent and olfaction are lacking in our culture. If scent perception isn’t analytical, what is it? Settle into the episode with some of your favorite (or least favorite!) aromas to find out!

Be sure to say hello to ⁠Andreas at his gallery⁠ when you’re in lower Manhattan and give Amy a buzz to say hello and ⁠book a one-on-one aromatherapy experience⁠! Visit my Instagram post to see the artworks mentioned in the episode.

Learn more about Andreas and Olfactory Art Keller at the ⁠gallery website⁠ and ⁠Instagram⁠.



Episode highlights:


Re-learning from children on staying curious with scent rather than judgmental and "right."
Understanding the “task” nature of smell, its evolutionary roots and why it is often hard to go deeper into scent as information.
Exploring our psychophysical, multivalent relationship with scent: memory formation & retrieval, chemo-neuroendocrine impact, mind-body-spirit connection.
Appreciating the ephemerally degradable qualities of scent molecules.
Creating a scent perception paradigm: talking about, describing and analyzing scent in new ways outside of the default visual paradigm.
Embracing the nature of scent and its perception as a lived, messy, evanescent experience that is intertwined with the malleability of memory.
Opening up to Olfactory Art: why scent-based art doesn’t “belong” in traditional galleries and museums—yet.

Ciao for now!

When you hear the word “goo,” do you think of skincare, sustainability, and psychoneuroimmunology? If you don’t you may think differently after spending time with Jodi Scott, co-founder of Green Goo and Good Goo!

In this episode, Jodi shares insights into herbalism and a need in the OTC market for plant-based first aid care for our family medicine cabinets. She shares how important the foundational-herbalist process of creating macerations is to the company’s philosophy and how we can and should trust plants. I learned a lot about B-Corporations (Green Goo is one!), fostering a sustainability mind-set and how the continuous B-Corp certification process fosters a “learn more do better” perspective.

We also get into the mind-body, holistic importance of skin care and health psychology (i.e., skin care is for everyone and not about vanity).

As Jodi said and many of us herbal and plant people agree, weeds make good medicine. That certainly is sustainable.



Websites and Social:


Learn more about Green Goo and Good Goo (CBD focused
wellness).
Green Goo on Instagram.
Check out what Jodi's up to on Instagram and LinkedIn.

 

Ciao for now!

Join Renèe Hughes and me in a lively conversation that spans her journey into wellness, what drove her to start the Aromaspecialists, psycho-aromatherapy, her “mood makeover method” and an overall roadmap for starting business ventures.

“Begin with the end in mind and highlight your unique gift.”

Starting a wellness-based business promises to entail excitement and challenges. How do you get your unique voice and offering heard through myriad marketing clutter and vie for the attention of potential clients? This is where someone, such as Renèe, who focuses on specialization through a wellness and business lens may come to the rescue!

From talking business, to sharing case studies and thoughts on touching souls (yes, we go there), this is a conversation filled with golden nuggets for moving forward with your business, and shining where you specialize.

Oh, and we definitely geek out about psycho-aromatherapy, the power of one-on-one engagement, ingesting essential oils, chemistry talk, touching souls and information that is “whispered from the plant.”

Make a lovely cup of herbal tea and join us for a spell, being sure not to spill your cup as I did mine in the middle of the episode!

Shout out! Sign up for the Client Attraction Clinic and stay tuned for the “Herbs and Oils Experience” summit.



Website and Social Links:

Web: Learn more about Renee and the Aromaspecialists @
https://thearomaspecialists.com/⁠LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/reneehughescoach

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thearomaspecialists/

Free Guide, Write Like a Human: https://thearomaspecialist.com/writelikeahuman/