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Take Charge of Your Life with Flower Essences
By Nancy Buono

Did you ever have a heart wrenching argument with your sweetheart, only to wake up the next morning with a runny nose? How about a near miss on the freeway that left you terrified, with your heart pounding? Perhaps some trouble at work that you bring home with you so that you toss and turn with no sleep while the problem churns around in your head? The price of all these repeated stressors ultimately takes it toll on our mental, emotional and physical well-being. One day we wake up a bit lethargic and dread going to the office. We lose interest in things that we once loved to do and avoid friends like the plague. Our stomach aches, our head hurts. We realize it is the fast pace and pressure but see no way out that will not involve demanding more hours from our already crammed schedule. We know that an hour of meditation and another hour of exercise is important, but where do we fit them in? Just thinking about it makes us more stressed. There is a way off this hamster wheel, back to owning our own lives. It is a simple system called the flower essences.

Aspirin is a substance that you will find in almost every type of food store or pharmacy. It is in most medicine cabinets. It is a drug, albeit a mild one, and it can have side effects. In England, the flower essences sit next to the aspirin in the stores, even at the train station. Yet they are not drugs. They are the medicine of the future, for they deal with energy and vibration, not chemicals. They have no side effects and are totally safe to use for our entire life, from infancy to one’s final hours. They serve to balance out our personalities and reduce our reaction to the stressors in our environment by making us more in tune with ourselves.

Maybe you have a tendency to get aggravated easily. You know that being irritated is not good for your health. In fact, you may even have a history of high blood pressure, yet other people are so slow that they just drive you up the wall. In fact sometimes you even finish their sentences for them while you think “if they would only just hurry up and spit it out already.” Using the flower essence Impatiens will help you to accept the minor delays and frustrations of life without stressing yourself out. You will still be bright and capable and able to see the solution quicker than others. But the delays, traffic and long lines won’t bug you any more. Your stress triggers won’t pop off as easily and ultimately your health will benefit. So this must be some kind of drug, you say? Absolutely not!

Flower essences encompass the most modern concept of vibrational healing, yet come from a grounded, medical background and have almost 70 years of history. In fact, this simple system was developed in the 1930s by Dr. Edward Bach in England. Dr. Bach was a physician, homeopath, bacteriologist and pathologist. He had a lucrative practice on Harley Street in London—the equivalent of Park Avenue in New York. Yet he became disillusioned with orthodox medicine. He felt that many of his patients’ illnesses were stemming from emotional causes and he set out to find a true cure. He abandoned his practice and searched for a solution in nature that would be totally safe for anyone to use in the home. The result of his research is the system now known as flower essences.

Dr. Edward Bach, M.B., B.S. M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., D.P.H. 1886–1936 Dr. Bach was a Harley Street physician, bacteriologist and homoeopath, he dedicated his life to the healing of the sick. He spent some 20 years researching the cause and treatment of chronic disease and was finally led to discover a natural method of establishing inner harmony by means of 38 wild flowers—Flower Remedies.


Dr. Bach found that different flowers have different vibratory signatures which address specific emotional states. Color-plate Kirlian photographs developed by the German engineer Dieter Knapp taken of the individual flower essences show that a single drop of an individual essence has its own unique energy pattern (Mastering Bach, Methchild Scheffer, 1996, Healing Arts Press). Flower essences are prepared to capture the vibration, rather than the chemical properties, of the plant. They are made by clipping the flower heads, placing them in spring water and setting them out in the sun or boiling them on the stove. The bowl or pot is then drained of all plant material and diluted to become the basis for thousands of bottles of essences. Brandy is added as a preservative. The final dilution is almost immeasurably small one part in 500,000. At this point, what is left of the flower is not chemical in nature but energetic.

Flower essences are similar to homeopathy in that they are a dilution. The similarity ends there. There may be prohibitions in the use of homeopathics—no mint, no coffee, no alcohol, no other drugs—or the action of the homeopathic remedy will be affected. This is not the case with the flower essences. You can put a few drops into your cup of coffee as you drive to work in the morning or in a glass of wine in the evening. You can take prescription medication and the essences will still be effective because they work energetically. If this sounds strange to you, think of the last time you listened to your favorite music and your breathing became calmer, your pulse more even. The music is not a drug, it is vibratory, unaffected by what you may have just eaten or the coffee in your system.

Flower essences can work beautifully in conjunction with other healing modalities including aromatherapy, homeopathy, Reiki, acupuncture—the list is endless. You may release stress and tension from your muscles with a massage. The massage also may trigger an emotional release which can be addressed by flower essences. You may alleviate tension through meditation. Flower essences will assist you in integrating your emotions, to keep you from over-reacting to the specific stressors that aggravate you in daily life. Flower essences are used all over the world by nurses, chiropractors, doctors, dentists and many types of healers. They are truly a complementary therapy, as they can do no harm and will not interact with any other modality.

“This system of treatment is the most perfect which has been given to mankind within living memory,” says Bach. “This system of healing, which has been divinely revealed unto us, shows that it is our fears, our cares and our anxieties that open the path to the invasion of illness.” (Dr. Edward Bach, The Twelve Healers, 1933.)

Now 67 years later doctors claim that stress is an inherent factor in 50 to 75 percent of all illnesses. Our emotional well-being is critical to our physical well-being. Dean Ornish, in his latest book, Loneliness and Survival, cites numerous studies showing that our emotional connection with others is a key indicator in heart health—at least as important as diet, exercise and meditation. Many experiences in our lives can block us from having healthy relationships with those close to us. Flower essences can gently clear those blocks—be they fear, loss, disappointment, lack of confidence or lack of intimacy—and empower us to relate to others in a way that is healthier for our bodies and our spirits.

On a grander level, flower essences can take us further than just the relief of day-to-day stress. Carolyn Myss, in Anatomy of the Spirit, provides 15 years of research into energy medicine, claiming that every illness corresponds to a pattern of emotional and psychological stresses, beliefs and attitudes which can be healed by connecting with an inner and outer spirituality.

Dr. Bach, in 1933, wrote “Disease is a result of a disharmony between the Personality and the Soul.”

Our true inner nature knows our mission and purpose in life. It is just that we allow the outside world, our fears and worries, to influence us and pull us away from our core spiritual being. The use of flower essences, while initially relieving stress, will ultimately bring us closer to our true soul—our own essence. As such, they are an invaluable aid in our search for personal growth and self-development.

Did you ever have a heart wrenching argument with your sweetheart, only to wake up the next morning with a runny nose? You may want to try some Sweet Chestnut to relieve the anguish.

How about a near miss on the freeway that left you terrified, with your heart pounding? Take four drops of Dr. Bach’s emergency formula (known as Rescue Remedy® or Five Flower Formula™), as often as every five minutes, until you feel calm.

Perhaps some trouble at work that you bring home with you so that you toss and turn with no sleep while the problem churns around in your head? White Chestnut will turn off the problems, granting you some peace to sleep.

Our lives move at a fast clip. Sometimes we are swept away by day-to-day influences and lose our peace of mind. We may lose sleep, become tense and agitated, feel as if we are about to explode. We may lose our faith in others, in ourselves, or even in God. We may doubt our ability to succeed and begin to play at life only half-heartedly. Fortunately there is a simple solution to aid us in finding our balance and center once again, to reconnect us with our inner selves. And this solution can do no harm, serving peacefully in cooperation with our other treatments and practices.

“The herbs given to us by the Grace of the Creator of all, in addition take away our fears and worries, and leave us happier and better in ourselves.” Dr. Edward Bach, 1933.

Flower essences are a simple system to add to your household. They can bring only benefit to ourselves, our friends and our families. In future issues we will explore the use of flower essences for a variety of specific circumstances, personalities and conditions.
 
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