[unpaid/sample] I’ve taken my time over this fragrance experience – it’s really quite mesmerizing if you are in the mood to immerse yourself in something that’s fascinating and challenging at the same time. To cut a long story short, Others uses fragrance in combination with breathwork, sound and philosophy via an app – I think it’s the philosophy that’s the most intriguing, voiced by Alex Ebert, a singer-songwriter with a side hustle of philosophy guru.
You need to spend a little time working your way around the app – there are three categories, each with a selection of audio within them. Ponder (philosophy), Immerse (stress reducing sounds) and Breathwork which honestly, I found this a bit weird. It can help you to tune in or tune out but listening to someone else fast breathing through their nose isn’t quite relaxing as doing it yourself I find, although maybe it’s a question of being more in tune with the voice of the narrator (Rodolfo Escalante). Before embarking on any of these options, you are reminded to spritz your fragrance.
I’ve focussed on using Red Skies – a blend of orange blossom, Bai rose, pink peppercorn, neroli and mandarin zest. It’s a sharp fragrance with middle and bottom notes ranging from carrot seed and sap to oakmoss and red resin to bring in some earthiness.
Pre my yoga days, I don’t think I would have been nearly so open to this concept but I really understand the power of those mindful moments – Immerse has me almost comatose and I’m not sure I need the fragrance to support it, but on the other hand, why not let the olfactory senses play their part in taking you to place of peace? Philosophy would be the one I’d use walking to work for example, or after a low energy day when I know I need sharpening up – it gets your mind working on bigger picture stuff that you probably don’t have time to consider at any other time. I really like it.
Others describes the experience as a way to hack your mindset, organise emotions and create positive behaviours – if you can just lean right into it, I find this completely believable. I’m not really an app fan (it’s a case of can’t be botheredness) but I’m not of the age where they’re just part of your life – I still look at them on my phone and wonder what half of them are! But, it’s worth it in this case. Bed time seems the obvious time to get involved with Immerse and Breathwork – I can very easily see myself drifting off into a deep sleep with Immerse and I’ll try it when I don’t have to be up and down with Dora (once a night now – we are winning!). Funnily enough, I’m listening to Immerse as I type and I’m physically yawning. Others is a nose/mind/body exploration – I can see it becoming an absolute hit and I actually feel lucky to know about it. I feel it’s reasonably priced at £90 HERE but do take a bit of time to find your way around the app first so you can flop and float – nothing more irritating than wondering if you’re doing it right.
PS – the boxes are a deliberate part of the ritual so you can keep it on your bookshelf (or wherever) and make a conscious decision to open it up and enter the zone.
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