What does the nose say about you?

We are used to seeing faces all the time. But nothing more surprising than contemplating any of them as if it were the first time we did it, calmly, without thinking about anything specific, simply observing. We verify that the physical and psychological come together forming a kind of screen that reflects the inner life, with its expectations, fears and joys. Indeed, The face is the mirror of the soul, the synthesis of what we are: both material and spiritual beings. The word semblance indicates that possibility of glimpsing the interior from the outside, expressiveness in short.

For this reason, it could be said that the face is a human privilege. In a strict sense, animals have a face –with a snout, muzzle, beak or trunk– but not a proper face, and plants only a body.

Everything is reflected in the face

And in the face the three parts of the body are also reflected:

forehead and eyes They are related to the functions of the brain.The nose area with the thorax, seat of respiration and circulation.mouth and chin with the abdomen, linked to the digestive system and the genital area.

These three levels of the face correspond, within the psychological sphere and from top to bottom, respectively to reason, emotions and instincts. Bearing this scheme in mind, we find that the nose is located right in the middle of the face and for this reason itespecially linked to the emotional, but it participates at the intellective and instinctive level at the same time.

For this reason it is said of someone insightful, who he grasps things intuitively, that he “has a good nose”. The nose participates decisively in the dynamics of the voice, as a sounding board. It also does so in relation to the perception of the taste of food. That’s why when we have colds our voice timbre changes and food seems tasteless to us.

The nose is an emotional antenna

Smell is, after touch, the first sense that develops in the fetus at nine weeks of gestation, although it will not assume full function until the newborn makes contact with the outside air.

We can detect more than ten thousand different odors. It is estimated that there may be up to 50 or more primary olfactory sensations, in contrast to the existence of only three primary color sensations and four taste sensations. Through each inspiration, various molecules enter the nostrils triggering the mechanism of olfaction.

If I bring a flower up to my nose, perfume molecules released from the plant are absorbed by special cells in the nasal mucosa that are provided with microscopic hairs called cilia. Five million of these cells send signals to the smell (and taste) center of the brain so we can sigh “I love it.” But explaining a smell is one of the most difficult things. The reason is that odors penetrate directly, without passing through the rational filter, even the most primitive structures of the brain, the so-called limbic system, the area that controls emotions and moods.

Does the vomero-nasal organ smell love?

In the middle of the nasal mucosa there is a small organ called vomero-nasal and also Jacobson’s organ. It plays a very important role in animals, and nothing shows that it is not active in humans. Your role would be capture male and female pheromones present in the environment and emitted, among others, by the sexual and sweat glands.

These pheromones would stimulate the receptors of this organ, which would transmit a special message to the brain: the possible sexual attraction towards a certain person. In this sense, it has been shown that women tend to be attracted to the body odor of men whose genes differ more from theirs, which would ensure better offspring.

sacred aromas

The psychological repercussion of odors has been used since ancient times for religious purposes, as an offering to the divinity in temples, or therapeutic. Chinese, Egyptians, Indians and other peoples knew how to use “osmotherapy” to treat various problems. Great doctors of antiquity, like Galen or Celsus, they used the scented essences to treat diseases. Twentieth-century aromatherapy picked up the thread of that ancient tradition and today we know that essential oils from plants have undeniable effects on the body and mind.

the shape of the nose varies in each person. It depends on the breed, the climate being a determining factor in this sense (cold requires narrow nostrils to better heat the air, while for heat it is preferable that they widen). It changes over time, and is small and rounded in babies. It also depends on the sex, in general the male nose is larger than the female.

Physiognomy is an ancient science that seeks match body shapes and especially the face with certain psychological tendencies. Of course the nose is only one piece of the whole, but important in establishing the dominant line of the profile of the face.

It is considered that a harmonious nose it has a length equal to that of the forehead. Some affirm that a long nose expresses a predominance in the person of rationality, order, perseverance and sometimes stubbornness; while if it is short it denotes an intuitive, impressionable, kind but somewhat capricious and inconstant person. There are many examples that experience often corroborates.

the hooked nose it usually expresses authority and is found in ambitious and tenacious leaders.The upturned nose It can indicate a passionate and affectionate person, often female.With big pointed nose the insensitive miser is usually represented.and to hell he is always painted with a deformed nose in the likeness of the Greco-Latin satyrs and thus denoting an inharmonious and threatening face.

Of course you have to see the whole person and not forget that certain trends, let’s say negative and that show on the face, can be spiritually reoriented. Not all saints necessarily have angelic features.

Breath and Prana

Why does the nose have two nostrils? Perhaps it could fulfill its functions with a single orifice just like the mouth, but it is not so. If we accept, as many spiritual traditions do, the existence of a energetic subtle body that gives rise to the visible physical body, perhaps we can better understand this mystery.

According to the Hindu and Buddhist tantric system, the subtle body consists of numerous channels (nadis) that distribute prana or vital energy. The most important would be three: a central one (sushuma) that follows the vertical axis of the body and in which various energy centers (chakras) are located, and two others on both sides. To the left would be the feminine or “lunar” channel (Ida) and to the right, the masculine or “solar” channel (Pingala).

These lateral canals end just at the respective nostrils. So that the nose directly communicates the subtle body with the dense or material body. Hence the importance of breathing, not only as a capture of oxygen, but also of more subtle energies.

As we can easily check by covering one or the other of the nostrils, we don’t usually breathe with both at the same time, but the air intake predominates only through one of them. This laterality alternates approximately every 90 minutes. When it is done through the left nostril, the right (emotional) cerebral hemisphere is especially activated and if it is done through the right nostril, the left (rational) brain does so. When breathing is through both nostrils, it corresponds to the central channel and a state of balance occurs.

The breath is linked to the mind. There can be no breathing without thoughts, nor vice versa. That is why when we are nervous we breathe quickly and agitatedly. For the same reason, we can calm the mind simply by breathing more slowly. Voluntarily change the rate and depth of breathing, as you do pranayama, allows to modify the mental and emotional states, and even cure certain diseases. It is used in this sense by the Ayurvedic medicine of India.

The symbolism of the nose and its functions covers both material and spiritual aspects. in the book of Genesisthe creation of Adam is recounted in a symbolic way as formed from the dust of the earth on which God breathed the Spirit: “he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man was a living soul”.

spirit and matter

The Greek word for spirit is pneuma, which literally means “air.” In Hindu mythology, the creation of the cosmos is explained by the image of “Brahma’s breathing”: expansion and contraction of the universe following the divine inspiration-exspiration rhythm. Also in our case, each inhalation is equivalent to a “birth” and each exhalation to a “death”, that are repeated cyclically.

The nose seems destined to be a kind of crossroads, uniting the upper with the lower, the internal with the external. Thus, it relates us to individual and cosmic rhythms, as it is closely related to the respiratory and cardiovascular systems.

It is also a kind of guidance organ. Through smells, pleasant or nauseating, It helps us choose food and avoid dangers. Who knows if the spontaneous sympathies or antipathies that occur between people do not obey olfactory, physical or subtle criteria.

The shape of the nose is closely related to the rest of the face and to the psychology of the person. For this reason, it would not be surprising that certain more or less capricious rhinoplasties carried out by cosmetic surgery do not, in turn, modify to a certain extent the mental part of those who undergo them.

The nasal appendage also fulfills a protective function. On the one hand, and whatever the atmospheric conditions, it makes the inspired air reach the lungs with the ideal warmth and humidity. It also filters impurities and eliminates microbes. That’s why it is advisable to breathe through the nose. We see that the nose is not something of little importance and well deserves that we have remembered the meaning of some of its functions.