When a child shuts down his painful emotional side, he also loses the ability to express his joyous side. Emotions are a whole. With anger comes the ability to express delight; with sadness comes the ability to express lightheartedness. This is the breadth of emotion that allows an adult to experience intimacy with a spouse, with God, and with his children.”
David Carder et al., Secrets of Your Family Tree: Healing for Adult Children of Dysfunctional Families
The Power of Smell to Heal Trauma
Odors take a direct route to the limbic system, including the amygdala and the hippocampus, the regions related to emotion and memory.
In this powerful episode, “The Power of Smell to Heal Trauma,” I get to introduce you to one of my favorite clinical psychologists and friend, Dr. Ben Perkus.
In January 2019, I was introduced to him through a vivacious friend and life hasn’t been the same since. There are those times in our lives when a day changes the trajectory of one’s course.
She said to me, “You have to know about AFT.”
I said, “AF-what?”
She then shared everything she knew about Aroma Freedom Technique + how it had helped her resolve some deeply rooted, trauma-related issues in her life.
Two days later, I had signed up for the practitioner training and became certified in AFT six months later.
It changed my life.
It changed my practice.
It changed me.
Today, I pray it brings a beautiful change into your life. Or at least the beginning of one.
In this episode, you will:
- Learn all about Aroma Freedom Technique and how it works.
- Listen to Dr. Perkus’s story and how the “idea for AFT” came to him.
- Be schooled in the four parts of the memory complex.
- Be inspired to trace God’s hand in your own life story.
- Be invited to use the power of smell to heal trauma that might be keeping you from freedom.
- Experience a beautiful heart-centering exercise.
- Start your HEARTLIFTING JOURNEY today.
This week’s resources
Welcome to The Heartlifter Way—a gentle path back to yourself.
Hosted by award-winning author Janell Rardon, this podcast is a calm, reflective space where healing begins not with pressure or perfection, but with presence, awareness, and grace. Rooted in a somatic, mind-body approach, each episode invites you to reconnect your thoughts, feelings, and body—learning to move from overwhelm and anxiety into a steadier, more grounded way of living. Through gentle teachings on nervous system regulation, emotional healing, and embodied awareness, you’ll begin to live The Heartlifter Way.
In this gentle conversation with Elizabeth Berget, author of ”Love Like a Mother: How the Sacred Work of Motherhood Reveals the Maternal Heart of God,” we continue exploring how enlarging our understanding of God’s maternal tenderness can transform the way emotionally weary women experience faith, healing, and belonging.
Together, we reflect on the sacred work of nurturing, caregiving, carrying, comforting, and remaining present through suffering—and how these deeply human experiences mirror the compassionate heart of God.
This conversation invites us to move beyond harsh or striving images of spirituality and rediscover a God who gathers, comforts, nourishes, and stays near to the weary.
If you have ever longed to experience God as safe, gentle, emotionally present, and compassionate, this episode offers a healing invitation into a more embodied and tender faith.
Because perhaps divine love has always been more nurturing, attentive, and compassionate than we realized.
🤍 The Heartlifter Way
Visit Elizabeth's website and order her powerful book: Elizabeth Berget
Visit Janell's revised and revitalized website: Heartlift Wellness
Join a community of thoughtful women on The Heartlifter Way: Heartlift Wellness on Substack
Order Janell's most recent book: Stronger Every Day
Connect with Dr. Perkus & Aroma Freedom Technique
- Dr. Perkus’s Training Vault
- Order Dr. Perkus’s book, Aroma Freedom Technique
- Article on “Why Smells Trigger Such Vivid Memories”
- Article: How scent, emotion, and memory are intertwined
- Aroma Freedom website
- Become a Certified Practitioner
- Order Your Aroma Freedom Essential Oils Starter Kit
- Schedule your FIRST AFT SESSION with Janell