Smelling fragrance can not only identify women, but also cure diseases. Smelling Fragrance in Traditional Chinese Medicine's External Treatment Methods: "Odor Therapy"

Incense therapy, formerly known as "swallowing qi". The ancients put fragrant herbs in sachets, carried them in clothes, and smelled them all the time. Smelling the fragrance of the herbs gradually became the qi of taking medicine, and later even taking medicine was called taking medicine.

Since the Han Dynasty, aromatherapy has been included in the category of traditional Chinese medicine, playing a role in enhancing physical fitness and preventing problems before they occur. After liberation, aromatherapy was mistakenly regarded as a feudal superstition due to the inability to see or eat it. But as long as used properly, traditional Chinese medicine such as sachets, powders, and spices can indeed drive away pests and defend against diseases. So I began to rediscover and value Chinese aromatherapy. Chinese aromatherapy was recognized as an intangible cultural heritage in 2009, further demonstrating the authenticity, importance, and inheritance of aromatherapy.

From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, smelling fragrance belongs to the "odor therapy" in external treatment methods. Fragrance can enter the human body through the mouth, nose, and pores, thereby affecting organ function and harmonizing qi and blood.

From a modern pharmacological perspective, odor molecules can stimulate the production of immunoglobulins in the human body, enhance metabolism, regulate neural function, and achieve the goal of treating diseases, preventing diseases, or boosting morale.

There are many methods of traditional Chinese medicine fragrance therapy, such as smelling fragrance, wearing fragrance, drinking fragrance, and pillow fragrance. People use fragrance to balance yin and yang in the body and self treat diseases. Therefore, the role and significance of aromatherapy are actually far greater than treating diseases.

In fact, the vast majority of spices themselves are medicinal herbs, such as agarwood, sandalwood, cloves, cinnamon, calamus, borneol, musk, and benzoin. They have different effects, such as moistening the lungs and stopping cough, immune evasion, sterilization and disinfection, or strengthening the spleen and relieving pain... Therefore, many spices can also be taken orally as medicinal herbs.

2500 years ago, the Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon stated: "Humans have five organs that transform into five qi, generating emotions such as joy, anger, sadness, worry, and fear. Therefore, emotions can harm qi, cold and heat can harm form, anger can harm yin, violent joy can harm yang, emotions are not regulated, and excessive cold and heat can lead to unstable life." This means that although the environment of the four seasons has a great impact on health, it is not as severe as the impact of emotions on human health.

Refreshing, also refers to the fragrance that can affect the heart and spleen, making people feel happy. So, the Yellow Emperor also said, "Each of the five qi has its own characteristics, only the fragrance plays in the spleen." That's why as we go to high-end clothing and skincare specialty stores, even SPA centers, the air is filled with enchanting fragrances that instantly calm us down and bring us a comfortable state of pleasure and enjoyment

Simply put, high-quality fragrance can make people feel good, enjoy delicious food, sleep deeply, and have a healthy body.

Of course, according to records, as early as ancient times, other ancient civilizations also discovered that aromatic plants could affect human health. China used aromatic plants to drive away epidemics and avoid pollution 5000 years ago; Babylon and Assyrians used incense to treat illnesses 3500 years ago; 3350 years ago, the Egyptians used scented oil or ointment for bathing, which was beneficial to the skin; The ancient Greeks and Romans also knew that aromatic plants could calm, relieve pain, or stimulate the mind; Murals depicting ancient Egyptians using aromatherapy products; Famous doctor Hua Tuo made sachets from musk, cloves, and other herbs to treat tuberculosis. By consulting the information, you can find many amazing "Using Fragrance Treasures".

The ancients liked to go to temples to recuperate, not only to seek blessings from bodhisattvas, but also because temples burned incense made of high-grade fragrant wood such as sandalwood and agarwood, which helped people to calm down and heal. Another reason is that the temples have good greenery. In the Jin Dynasty (266-420 AD), Yongle Temple and Yongfu Temple planted 40 acres of land and forests full of peach blossoms, named "Taohua An", which used fragrant flowers to treat people's illnesses. Zhang Zihe (1151-1231), a great rehabilitation expert, recorded in his book "Confucian Family Affairs": "Use orchids to eliminate their Chen Qi. He also used peach blossoms to make patients' spirits rise day by day, and their qi and blood harmonize day by day.

Shen Kuo (1031-1095) recorded in his book "Dream Creek Essays" that Emperor Zhenzong of Song (968-1022) made Suhexiang liquor from Suhexiang pills and gave it to Wang Wenzheng, the Grand Commandant. This liquor was "highly effective in regulating the five organs, but also for various diseases in the abdomen. Every time the cold rises, one drinks a cup." In the Song Dynasty (960-1279), fragrant herbs were also added to the diet and made into fragrant fruit and sugar water.

Li Shizhen (1518-1593) wrote the "Fragrant Chapter" in the "Compendium of Materia Medica", which recorded the therapeutic functions of hundreds of aromatic plants: Xiangfuzi decoction can treat rubella, and can treat wind cold and rheumatism; Burning agarwood, honey, sandalwood, true incense, Suhe incense, and benzoin together can ward off epidemics.

In modern times, traditional Chinese medicine can also be seen using incense to treat diseases, such as using mugwort incense to smoke the navel and uterus cold in women, and using mugwort incense to smoke acupoints to relax the meridians and activate qi, or using a large amount of mugwort incense to smoke and burn the yang veins on the back to remove coldness and eliminate diseases.

In addition to wearing sachets and sleeping pillows, one can also burn, eat, and soak incense. Incense burning is the process of heating incense to evaporate its fragrance. This way, the fragrance evaporates quickly, the aroma is rich, and the effect is better than sachets and pillows. Eating spice is adding spices directly to cooking food. For example, cinnamon and fennel are actually spices that can improve Yang deficiency constitution. Soaking in fragrance refers to adding fragrant herbs such as roses when soaking feet or taking a bath. Rose has a warm nature and has calming, soothing, and antidepressant effects.