Flower Power - available in England since 1930!

Recently, between rushing around with the children to school and to music class and getting me to the gym for a two hour spin sessions to help work out demons, I had a few conversations with my lovely friend in Nashville. She and I are quite similar in that we both have a penchant for trying all kinds of New Age healing processes. (Cranial-Sacral massage! Fabulous! Make me an appointment, would’ja? Eye Movement Desensitization and Regression Therapy? Sounds super, and I think I actually know a practitioner! Honey, did I tell you about that Feng Shui reading I did on my house? Ever since I hung that mirror next to the door to help my Qi bounce back into the home, I have felt sooo much better….)

I called her as I was running errands, as she had left a message, concerned about me from my last post. (Gee, I wonder why? Heh.) Anyway, as she was telling me all about these flower essences she has been taking as part of her therapy, I walked into my local Happy Granola Organic Market. Just as she was describing the power of Oak extract, I walked over to the part of the market where all the natural cosmetic and vitamins are sold. What did I see before me? A whole shelf full of flower essences and mixing bottles and sprays of this concoction called Bach Rescue Remedy. Do you know how many times I have been in that store? Maybe 200 times in the past four years. It is the source for non-chemical skin care products, organic laundry soaps and the like. I get 90% of my vitamins from HGOM, and I have been to that section almost every time I have been shopping. Had I ever seen the selection of Bach Flower Essences and the enormous “Guide to Using Bach Flower Essences” hanging on the wall behind the register where I have paid for hundreds of purchases? Nope. They were just there, waiting for me to have my consciousness awakened.

I got several different essences and started taking them right away. I chose Crab Apple, Impatiens, Oak, White Chestnut and Willow. Here are the brief descriptions of each essence’s intended use:

Crab Apple helps you when you feel self-disgust, and cannot look in the mirror and appreciate how you look. Crab Apple helps you look at yourself without unrealistic critique.

Impatiens helps you when you get impatient and irritated with slow situations or people. Others appear slow and inefficient and you get frustrated; Impatiens helps you relax and cope calmly and diplomatically with irritating problems.

Oak helps you when are exhausted but you keep to struggling on. You are normally strong and brave, but because of your sense of duty you ignore your tiredness and do not allow yourself rest. You feel tired, frustrated, stressed and depressed. Oak helps you restore your energy and makes you recognize the need to take time off to relax and look after yourself.

White Chestnut helps you when your mind is full of unwanted thoughts and mental arguments. White Chestnut helps you clear your mind and get the thinking under control and can be put to positive use in problem-solving. Worry is replaced by trust in a positive outcome.

Willow is for those times when you feel bitterness and self-pity. It is also to assist you in forgiving past injustices when you feel resentful and critical. Willow helps you regain faith and optimism and. Feel that you are in control of your own destiny


There is another company, from California called FES , that sells slightly different blends and essences. I am quite interested in one, Buttercup. Here is a description:

Buttercup: For potentially self-assured people with a radiant inner light, who suffer from feelings of low self-worth, and an inability to acknowledge or experience that inner light and uniqueness. Buttercup helps rebalance the self-deprecating.

I’m going to get a gallon of that.

I am sure some of you might think this is all in my mind, and that drinking flower essences don’t really help anything. One of my friends actually suggested I get the DH to slip me a placebo drink for a few days to see if I notice the difference. I thanked him for his suggestion, but I’m so totally not going to do it. That is precisely the thinking that caused a bit of bother in the recent past.

You know, thinking my troubles are “all in my head” and that I should try the “just don’t worry about it” tack. Repressing my desire for help has led me to the edge of the cliff of mental instability. I have only been seeing my Dr. Tell Me About it for three weeks, but already I feel more confident in my abilities to decide what I need to do to help me. I will not let self-doubt and un-needed worry get me in my own way, damn it.

This flower essence thing has been around in its present form for about 80 years, and, obviously, has been used for thousands of years. It is working already.

Why, just the other night, I happily brought home my new oil paining, purchased from a real gallery, by a real artist (with a real price tag, 'natch). I leaned the painting, wrapped in paper and bubble wrap, against a low cabinet as I took off my shoes in the dining room. Baby A, who had not seen me in a few hours, was equally delighted to see me as the large amount of bubble wrap I had brought home. Before I could move, he knocked over the picture and stamped on it, to pop a bubble, of course.

Naturally I was a bit concerned for my picture, and took it into the kitchen to assess the damage. Of course it was damaged; there was a big dent in the top quarter, because, of course, when he knocked it over it fell with the picture up and the hollow space behind the stretched canvas down. When he stamped, the canvas went down that 1 and a half inches and left a dent. I fixed it by moistening the canvas right behind the dent and allowing it to air dry. This shrank the canvas and smoothed out the dent. But really, Baby A! Such violent exuberance. Please note, I did not freak out. The DH was on the cusp of flipping, I saw it in his face and heard his voice, but I felt oddly floral and calm. I really think the Impatiens Essence helped in that situation; I had just taken it a few hours before.

I am going to ask Dr. Tell Me what she thinks about flower essence therapy. She might tip her head to the side and ask me “What do you think I think?” but it’s worth discussing.