Making Scents

by Rita Trieger

When I was a young girl, I loved playing with make-up, teetering in my mom’s high heels and sampling any and all perfumes. Consequently, I can apply lipstick without looking in a mirror, walk gracefully in stilettos, and have a knack for mixing up batches of essential oils to use as aromatherapy for my yoga classes.

As a teen-ager, I became obsessed with finding a signature scent, as I felt it would help create just the right persona as well as identify me as a mysterious and intriguing woman.

It began with musk oil which I found, at the time, to be completely sexy. I doused myself daily in its earthy stickiness until its cloying odor became too overwhelming for my father (he thought it smelled like a cat marking territory), and he banned me from wearing it anywhere near the house.

To soothe my wounded olfactory ego, my mother bought me a bottle of Jean Nate, a kind of nondescript, un-offensive after-bath splash that I found totally boring, and totally un-sexy. Thus began years of searching for something that would evoke the same kind of thrill and mystery as my beloved musk oil.

I tried everything – some were really sweet and over-the-top (think Shalimar or Tabu), while some smelled like baby powder (Love’s Baby Soft). I even tried men’s aftershave for a brief time (I really liked the blend of citruses) but had to give it up when a date showed up wearing the same scent. None of the fragrances I tried seemed to reflect all the personal nuances or sensual signals I was hoping for until I discovered Anais Anais.

I’m fairly certain it was named for the racy author Anais Nin, and I was totally captivated by her torrid love affair with Henry Miller as well as the sweetly innocent sexuality of the fragrance. (Yes, I'm a hopeless, somewhat ridiculous romantic.) I wore that for a number of years and would always be quite pleased when people would ask what fragrance I was wearing or better yet, associate the scent with me. It took a few years to get sick of it, especially when too many people started wearing it, and so once again, I was on the hunt.

Then one summer, my French art school buddy arrived for a visit. Adeline was very chic, as most French women are, and she left me with a fabulous golden St. Laurent cuff bracelet, a Prada bag and, best of all, the thing I had been most longing to discover – my signature scent.

I've been spritzing myself with Mitsouko (by Guerlain) ever since, loving its distinctive earthy sweetness with its citrus top notes, and the intriguing Hollywood legend that wafted along with it. (Apparently Jean Harlow's husband, distraught because of his lack of manly prowess and her subsequent departure, doused himself in the sensuous elixir and killed himself!) I know it's a tad over-the-top and begs the term Drama Queen, but to me that's exactly the kind of intense emotional energy that scents can and do evoke.

Imagine what powers the combination of aroma and asana could produce? The heady combo has been proven to heal physically, emotionally and energetically. Even modern science agrees. These days it's not not unusual to find medical doctors who regularly prescribe essential oil therapy as a viable adjunct to western medicine.

Before your next yoga practice take some time to smell the roses, or the lavender, or the frankincense, or the bergamot, and enjoy the dance of asana with an entirely new and sensuous -- maybe even a little over-the-top dramatic-- perspective.

Rita Trieger is the former editor-in-chief of Fit Yoga magazine, and the author of Yoga Heals Your Back (Fairwinds, 2005). She teaches yoga in all sorts of ways, from vigorous vinyasa to restorative to yoga therapy, and always punctuates each and every practice with a blend of sweet, sultry, earthy, melodious scents, because she truly believes in the magical power of aromatherapy. Join her at Elements Yoga, in Darien this coming Saturday, January 25th, for Elixir Mixer, a workshop to help you explore the sensuous world of essential oils as you make your very own, personal aromatic blend. Rita teaches at Elements Yoga every Thursday from 12:30-1:30pm.

Visit Elements Yoga online at www.elementsyoga.com.