Scent as a Backdoor: How Memory and Emotion Connect Us to Spirit

Have you ever had one of those moments where something you’ve known forever suddenly reveals so much more? Like your first understanding was only the surface and there’s a deeper, richer story waiting beneath?

That’s exactly how I see my faith journey and how I relate to scripture. For years, I approached the Bible by carefully dissecting every word and chapter, trying to analyse it like a puzzle.

But over time, I realised the Bible wasn’t meant to be treated like that. It’s alive and meant to connect with us on a deep, whole-body level beyond just the intellect.

This insight truly clicked for me recently during a conversation with my husband Matt. I was sharing about how scent affects the human body, and he made a connection that opened my eyes wider than before.

Did you know that words related to scent like scent, aroma, fragrance, and incense appear over 90 times in scripture? The one that stood out to me most was incense.

In alternative healing practices and other religions, incense is often used daily. For a long time, I’d dismissed incense as a bit “hippy,” not fully appreciating the powerful role it plays in scripture or why God chose it for such intimate worship.

As a perfumer and lover of scent, scripture’s references to smell have always excited me. Scent is my favourite sense, though I never fully understood why I leaned on it so much until now.

The real breakthrough came when I understood how scent communicates uniquely with our bodies.

Scent is the only sense that enters through what I call the “backdoor” of the brain.

Unlike sight, sound, or touch, scent doesn’t go through conscious reasoning or the hypothalamus first. Instead, it instantly bypasses the logical mind and lands straight into the subconscious specifically the limbic system, where memory, emotion, and our sense of safety live.

This instant, direct access explains why scent is so deeply tied to memory and emotion.

It’s like a secret shortcut evoking feelings and unlocking hidden parts of ourselves before our rational brain even knows what’s happening.

This is the core of aromacology the science of how scent can recapture and recall deep memories and feelings.

And here’s the aha moment that changed everything for me:

Because scent can instantly access the subconscious, it also means we can have immediate access to Christ within us anchoring His presence deep in our whole body.

But it goes further than that.

As a somatic and root cause facilitator, I now see how we can use scent as a powerful tool to help others process unpleasant sensations stored in the body.

Many clients come to therapy so dissociated from their bodies and minds that inner enquiry feels impossible. But when combined with practices like regression and timeline therapy common in root cause healing scent can awaken the subconscious gently and quickly.

It helps reveal what needs to be discerned.

Similarly, in somatic inner enquiry, scent guides us to the places where tension and trauma are held, helping us locate and feel those sensations safely.

In this way, scent becomes a bridge: a backdoor that connects mind, body, and spirit opening pathways for healing, remembering, and integrating Christ’s presence within.

Looking back at scripture with this understanding, I see why scent was so intentionally used, especially in the most holy places.

It doesn’t just smell pleasant it imprints memory and embodies spiritual truth deep inside us.

Let’s look at two beautiful New Testament passages that highlight this:

Ephesians 5:2 says,

“And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour.”

Paul uses the metaphor of incense and sacrifice to describe Christ’s love and self-offering.

This shows us how every act of love whether serving, forgiving, or worshipping becomes a fragrant offering rising to God.

Worship isn’t only a Sunday event; it’s every moment filled with love.

Philippians 4:18 tells us,

“I am full, having received… the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God.” Paul describes gifts sent to him as a fragrant offering pleasing to God.

Scent is a profound spiritual metaphor. Like incense that fills a room and lingers, our love and generosity leave a lasting fragrance in the lives we touch.

This rhythm of love and worship becomes an internal anchor reminding us of Christ’s sacrifice and God’s presence every day.

The early believers would have physically felt this “sweet-smelling savour” because scent bypasses the logical brain and connects directly with the limbic system the home of memory, emotion, and safety.

Walking in love isn’t just an idea. It’s something we feel in our bodies.

Generosity, like scent, is felt deeply:

• Acts of kindness lower stress hormones (cortisol) in both giver and receiver.

• Receiving generosity with gratitude releases oxytocin the bonding hormone creating warmth, safety, and trust.

This is why Paul calls the Philippians’ gift “an odour of a sweet smell” because it brought peace and joy physically and spiritually.

If you’re curious about how scent can unlock memory, emotion, and your body’s wisdom, I invite you to join me in BACKDOOR PATH: SMELL, MEMORY, EMOTION my 4-part webinar series.

Or, if you prefer, dive into our blog, The Power of Scent, to explore this fascinating connection even more.

Let scent be your guide on the backdoor path bringing you closer to yourself, to healing, and to Christ.