Stop and Smell the Lavender!
Janice Feuer-Haugen
July–August 2018 • Vol 3, No 99
Perhaps you’ve seen photos of the beautiful, deep purple lavender fields in the South of France. Each field a quilt of perfectly rounded mounds of flowering lavender as far as the eye can see. For years my bucket list included walking a field of blooming lavender flowers enfolded in their soothing, aromatic fragrance. Last July, right here in Montana, I did just that. On a hillside overlooking Flathead Lake at the Purple Mountain Lavender Farm, I walked among hundreds of sweet-smelling lavender plants in hues of purple, pink and white. Heavenly.
Relax with Lavender. One of our most powerful senses, the sense of smell, impacts both our mood and well-being. A recent study from London’s King’s College confirmed lavender’s ability to relieve anxiety. The lead researcher wrote that lavender worked so well that it would make for “on-the-spot anxiety reduction in dentists’ waiting rooms.”