Please Contact Us At: thescentgurugroup@gmail.com For Bulk Discounts

0

Your Cart is Empty

January 11, 2023 3 min read

The scent memory associated with the photo of my daughter (her birthday is today) is now published on The Scent Guru Group website. This ad was for the Unilever Signal toothpaste brand and recalls the smell (and taste) of chocolate the crew gave her in order to coax her into posing. I don't recall how many chocolates she ate, but when she was finally ready to pose, the crew then had to take away the platform she refused to stand on (she was the youngest model that day), cut the flag pole and adjusted all the lighting for her height. They took just one role of film and used hers in the national ad campaign. Claire still loves chocolate, so that's what we are indulging in today to celebrate another year for her on this planet and I will need to go on a hunt for After Eight Mints for the chocolate-combined-with-mint memory!

Claire was born in France where I discovered brands like Nutella, Toblerone, Lindt and some of the best bricks of dark chocolate ever. I also discovered one of my favorite breakfast treats, pain au chocolat (a croissant with a strip of dark chocolate inside) and when I go to France, I will always make a special trip to a patisserie to engage all senses:  Sight, sound, aroma, texture and flavor presented to me by this special treat.

When I started the development of Essential Awakenings® Smell and Memory kits and activities for seniors living with dementia, I tested about 65 distinctive scents with seniors, and quickly realized that the chocolate scent was always connected to positive scent memories.  Stories told by my attendees were often sweet and some comical (like Joe at Atria Stamford who said he wanted to date the woman who wore a chocolate scented perfume) to fond memories of chocolate bunny rabbits at Easter time, boxes of chocolates given on Valentines Day, and birthday cakes. 

My sensory kits are purposeful with the mission to improve lives through scent because scent triggers memories, memories trigger conversations, and conversations lead to increased socialization--a basic human need, but often absent in many peoples' lives.

How does scent trigger memories?  Here's just a few facts as pointed out in Dr. *Rachel Herz' Smell Training Guide developed for Essential Awakenings® Smell. Recall.Connect sensory kit:

1)  Our ability to smell begins inside our nose with two patches (one in each nostril) of mucus tissue called the olfactory epithelia.

2) When scent molecules are inhaled and land on the epithelia, they stimulate the odor receptors causing a signal to travel into the olfactory bulb in the brain, and then decoded as a certain scent. 

3)  From there, the scent signal is relayed to the areas of the brain (Amygdala and Hippocampus) that processes emotion, memory and learning

4)  According to Dr. Herz, the sense of smell is the only sensory system directly linked with the neuroanatomical substrates of emotion, learning and memory. 

If you would like to have a free copy of a presentation that goes more into depth about scent, memory and communication you can write directly to me at the email address on the top of the first page of this website. You can also order a Smell Training Guide on the "products" page if you want to do some smell training with any of my available sensory kits.  Please note that these materials are considered intellectual property and should not be copied without my written permission.

To close this blog, remember to keep your sense of smell stimulated and practice mindfulness:  The sense of smell is vital to our emotional wellbeing and gives us a sense of place and can also save our lives. 

 *Dr. Rachel Herz is a neuroscientist and expert on the psychology of the sense of smell and taste, Ted Talk speaker and faculty member at Brown University. 

 

Leave a comment

Comments will be approved before showing up.


Also in News

Feedback From Caregivers As Reported By The Alzheimer's Association of New York City Chapter
Feedback From Caregivers As Reported By The Alzheimer's Association of New York City Chapter

February 15, 2023 1 min read

I am always grateful for feedback and I love what I do.  Thank you to all caregivers who will be using Essential Awakenings® in their activities with whom they take care of.  You shine the light onto the lives of people who you help! - Ruth Sutcliffe, Founder, The Scent Guru Group, LLC
Read More
Conversations With Eyes And Heart Wide Open
Conversations With Eyes And Heart Wide Open

December 19, 2022 4 min read

Read More
Next To Bat:  More Scent Therapy From The Scent Guru Group
Next To Bat: More Scent Therapy From The Scent Guru Group

October 20, 2022 2 min read

I often use metaphors when I write and since baseball was a big part of my childhood growing up, I like to use terms from this sport in my storytelling.  As a rookie entrepreneur and small business owner, I admit it has been a challenge to get to 3rd base but it will be even tougher to reach home plate and I'd rather run there, versus walk. Being a small business owner has its good and bad points:  The good ones are that we can forgo some of the multiple layers of management to make decisions because there is one clear goal and no politics involved.  More often than not, the key to a smooth launch is the ability to pull the right talent together to make a great team. On the other hand, the downside is that we suffer from the lack of economies of scale and have to pay to play--usually all up front-- before any production lines get the "go" sign. Whether you are a small or big business, there will always be some hiccups along the way.  For me, there were just a one or two foul balls, and some curve balls that went array, but my glove fits
Read More