COMPANION NOTES: ethmoid, the bridge of breath and scent

Welcome to this set of resources. You'll find some ideas for breathing practices, links to anatomy inspiration, poetry and some journaling prompts

Sitting with anatomical information and freeing ourselves to make creative associations is a chance for our body to reveals it’s intricacies and wisdom, and how its form supports function and well-being. Getting to know the odd-looking, little ethmoid bone reveals its significance as a threshold for our breath and our sense of smell. I hope this collection of resources inspires you to make your own unique enquiries.

By the way, if you’re looking for more anatomy resources, try Kenhub whch has free to access information and images (videos and quizzes require a payment plan), check the Ethmoid page here and a detailed video walk through if you like moving images.

OLFACTION - the sense of smell

In beginning to understand the structure of the ethmoid, I can’t not dip into our sense of smell, since this bone’s sieve like form (at the cribiform plate) reveals it’s role as a bridge for smells of all kinds to be perceived and codified by our brain. In fact, the ethmoid is the place where our nervous system mines our breath for scent. The word olfaction derives simply enough from the Latin olfacere, which means "to smell" or "to sniff" which itself is a combination of olēre ("to have a smell") and facere ("to make" or "to do").