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with the condition of the nasal passages and their sensitive mucous membrane. Sometimes nose bleeding accompanies the menstrual period and a heightened sense of smell has also been observed during menstruation.
Apart from the autonomic nervous system, the nerve receptors for smell also lie in the mucous membranes at the top of the nasal cavity. There are approximately five million nerve receptors within the olfactory bulb, which conduct impulses to the portion of the brain lying directly over the nasal cavity. This portion of the brain, the rhynencephalon, is one of its oldest parts. Within it are centres responsible for generating powerful emotional experiences, such as fear, aggression, pleasure, the sexual drive and reproductive cycles. The response to smell is not always easy to explain, because these portions of the brain are concerned with primitive, pre-verbal and emotional images which lie beyond our ability to consciously interpret and intellectualize.
Modern physiology is in complete agreement with yogic philosophy, where the jnanendriya (sense) of smell is associated with mooladhara chakra, the centre of instincts, desire for self-preservation and material security. In animals the sense of smell is more highly developed than in human beings. Mooladhara chakra represents the highest of the animal chakras and the lowest of the human chakras.
Yogic philosophy also believes that there is a direct link between mooladhara and ajna chakra, and this too has a physiological interpretation. The olfactory bulb extends back from the eyebrow centre, or bhrumadhya, and is the trigger point for ajna chakra. Thus, the situation created during pranayama in the mucous membrane and olfactory nerves may be a part of the psycho-physiological mechanism for the awakening of kundalini in mooladhara and directing it to ajna.
Nostrils and acupuncture
The region of the nasal mucous membrane is also extremely important in the Chinese healing system known as acupuncture. In acupuncture therapy, the ki or pranic energy
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