Why engage the senses
Engaging the traditional five senses: sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell has long been acknowledged to improve overall wellbeing (Rouby et al., 2016). The sixth sense, often associated with intuition and humour, adds another layer to our sensory experiences, connecting us to something beyond the tangible. Here, we delve into each sense's impact on our mental and emotional states and how we incorporate them into our Natter Boxes.
Sight
Incorporating limited-edition artwork by local Brisbane artists adds not only aesthetic value but also holds potential benefits for mental health. Art has been shown to evoke emotional responses, enhance mood, and contribute to overall psychological wellbeing (Davies et al., 2012). By including these unique pieces, your engagement with sight goes beyond visual pleasure, offering a potential avenue for emotional expression and connection.
Sound
If you’re old enough, you’ll remember making or receiving a mixtape (especially customary in the 80s!), which represented a meaningful and creative way to connect with others, share emotions, and create a lasting, personal memento through the medium of music. Consider the curated playlist included in the Natter Box our way of connecting and communicating with you on behalf of the person who sent you a box. It’s a mix of affection and nostalgia, and most importantly, music has the power to bring down stress levels, especially when times are difficult (de Whitte et al., 2022).
Taste
The sense of taste is closely linked to cultural practices, nutritional wellbeing, and emotional satisfaction (Spence & Piqueras-Fiszman, 2016). Using flower remedies for healing is an ancient practice that many cultures have embraced. These natural, safe, and powerful health catalysts can benefit anyone. By bringing clarity to our minds and enhancing our intuition, flower essences can help resolve negative beliefs and influence our decisions about our emotions, health, vitality, and relationships (Santos, 2018). Through the use of flower essences, we can tap into our positive qualities, such as love, courage, and joy.
Touch
Touch can enhance experiences and bring focus to the body if someone is not feeling good to help support calm, especially if not feeling emotionally regulated (Kuhfuß et al., 2021). A specific stone has been included in the box that can be used to hold in the hand and detect sensation, to bring feeling back into the body if overwhelmed, which can lead to a more engaged understanding of one's experience (Flattery, 2023). Gemstones aren’t magic! They’re actually a microscopic arrangement of pattern-repeating atoms that occur in nature, and the first historical references to the use of crystals to support individuals come from the Ancient Sumerians about 6,000 years ago and have been explored as a healing method in Indigenous cultures around the world for as long as we have existed as a species (Gall et al., 2019).
Smell
Aromatherapy has gained recognition for its therapeutic effects on emotional wellbeing and stress reduction and has been blended into a unique fragrance for each themed Natter Box. Olfactory sensory stimulation produced by the oils in our Natter smelling salts can bring down tension, manage uncomfortable feelings and enhance social interactions, even having a significant positive effect on reducing pain (Lakhan et al., 2016). Aromatherapy practice as a holistic approach encompassing mind, body and spirit can assist in balancing the body’s energy systems, so we focus on this whilst thoughtfully crafting a more complex fragrance for each theme, incorporating top, middle and base notes into our smelling salts.
Sixth Sense
Intuition is a significant form of reasoning that plays a vital role in helping us form ideas and resolve conflict in our minds and the world. Intuition aids humour, which is a strength that can increase feelings of emotional wellbeing and encourage a positive perspective even when times are difficult (Deckers et al., 1990). These acrylic necklaces are designed to add a little bit of humour to your day. Even when things get tough, and you need a reminder that someone is thinking of you, or if you are preparing for a difficult conversation, you can still find ways to see the lighter side of life.
References
British Psychological Society. (2021). The psychology of friends. https://www.bps.org.uk/psychologist/psychology-friends
Deckers, L., Buttram, T. R. (1990). Humor as a response to incongruities within or between schemata. De Gruyter 3(1), 53-64. https://doi.org/10.1515/humr.1990.3.1.53
de Witte, M., Pinho, A. D. S., Stams, G. J., Moonen, X., Bos, A. E., & van Hooren, S. (2022). Music therapy for stress reduction: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Health Psychology Review, 16(1), 134-159. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17437199.2020.1846580
Dos Santos, C. G. (2018). Homeopathic practitioners’ experiences regarding their use of Bach flower remedies in practice. University of Johannesburg (South Africa). https://ujcontent.uj.ac.za/esploro/fulltext/graduate/Homeopathic-practitioners-experiences-regarding-their-use/9911453107691?repId=124717520007691&mId=136332710007691&institution=27UOJ_INST
Flattery, S. (2023). Stim joy: Using multi-sensory design to foster better understanding of the autistic experience (Doctoral dissertation, Iowa State University).
https://www.proquest.com/docview/2829366211?pqorigsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true
Gall, A., Anderson, K., Diaz, A., Matthews, V., Adams, J., Taylor, T., & Garvey, G. (2019). Exploring traditional and complementary medicine use by Indigenous Australian women undergoing gynaecological cancer investigations. Complementary therapies in clinical practice, 369(1), 88-93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctcp.2019.06.005
Kuhfuß, M., Maldei, T., Hetmanek, A., & Baumann, N. (2021). Somatic experiencing–effectiveness and key factors of a body-oriented trauma therapy: A scoping literature review. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 12(1), 19-29. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/20008198.2021.1929023
Lakhan, S. E., Sheafer, H., & Tepper, D. (2016). The effectiveness of aromatherapy in reducing pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Pain research and treatment, 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/8158693
Rouby, C., Fournel, A., & Bensafi, M. (2016). The role of the senses in emotion. In Emotion measurement (pp. 65-81). Woodhead Publishing.
Spence, C., & Piqueras-Fiszman, B. (Eds.). (2016). Multisensory flavor perception: From fundamental neuroscience through to the marketplace. Woodhead Publishing.