Breaking the secret Code of how we live through our senses. The drive behind self-indulgence is not simply today’s fashion, but an elemental and biological desire rooted deep within the body, answering more central and intractable human needs. The sensory connection between indulgence and health is coming of age.
It cannot be long before we realize that holistic therapies are not alternative, but integral to our health. Everybody’s different, and nowhere is this truer than the senses. Men and women touch, hear, feel, see and smell at profoundly varying levels and intensities. The individual is everything.
There is clearly an innate recognition that something is amiss in the world of health and wellbeing. We have moved away from an outdoor, physical lifestyle to one in which we spend 90% of our time indoors. Although this makes life easier, it doesn’t satisfy our basic need for a balanced multisensory diet. Satisfying our senses provides an antidote to the pitfalls of modern living, many of which we don’t even realize exist.
This is, after all, a world in which ‘touch-hungry’ children, work-related illnesses and a nature-starved lifestyle have become the norm. Sensism is a vital ingredient for modern living, and understanding this will lead to a paradigm shift in the way we plan for all our futures.
Sensory deprivation is an ailment of modern society. While our visual senses overdose on information, the emotional senses of touch and smell are neglected. Indulgence and pampering provide the natural counterbalance. Hence to dismiss cosmetics and perfumes as superficial fashion accessories are to ignore their ability to satisfy basic cravings for a multisensory experience. The creation of materials that touch our skin or enhance our smell should be designed to stimulate pleasure and indulgence.
Too often ‘natural’ or ‘organic ‘ products are poorly constructed lacking texture and creative fragrance. Additionally, the effect on the skin whether emotional or biological is not considered only the ingredient.
Changing our view to that of an organic cosmetic being attuned to the biome from pH to bio-compatibility is the best way to define an organic material not simply by ingredient however poor quality or lacking vitality. This is human science in action not just an adjunct to sustainability in the land but within the terrain of the human.
