Flower Essences
Flower essences are liquid extracts made from fresh flowers. They are used specifically to treat mental and emotional issues. When a flower is infused in water its unique energy signature is imprinted into the water, and since every flower has its own specific healing quality, this infused water can be used to treat a particular emotional issue.
Flower essences are different from essential oils and herbal remedies in that they don’t contain any physical substances extracted from plants, there is no physical part of the flower in a flower essence, only its healing vibration. Flower essences have no aroma or fragrance.
Who was Dr. Edward Bach?
Dr. Edward Bach began his medical career in 1913 at University College, London where he worked as a surgeon. He then moved to the National Temperance Hospital where he became well-known for his research as a bacteriologist. Despite his success, Bach felt dissatisfied with the way doctors were expected to concentrate on diseases and ignore the whole person, so he transferred to the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital. He later opened a very successful practice on Harley Street where he began working on his own remedies made from plants.
In 1930, at the age of forty-three, he gave up his lucrative Harley Street practice and left London so that he could concentrate on finding a new system of healing involving plant remedies. He took with him as his assistant a radiographer called Nora Weeks.
Dr. Bach began to slowly move away from the reductionist approach to medicine, and instead allowed his intuition to guide him. Over a period of a few years, he prepared and tested thousands of plants, and eventually found the 38 remedies he wanted. Each remedy was aimed at a particular mental state or emotion. When treating the personalities and feelings of his patients he found their physical problems would subside naturally as their mental and emotional states improved.
Bach noticed that morning dew on a plant contained potentized healing virtues of the whole plant. It was impractical to use this for large dosages so he developed his sun method of preparation and later his boiling method.
The Simplicity of Flower Essences
I use a variety of healing modalities in my practice, but if I were forced to use just a single one, then it would definitely be flower remedies. It’s not only that I’m at my happiest when I’m selecting a flower remedy for a patient, but it’s because they work so gently and deeply. When I was young I believed that something had to be complex to be effective, but as I grow older and hopefully wiser, I find that it’s the simple things in life that get the job done.
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci
The practice of flower essences is simple and minimalistic but it’s not simplistic. Steve Jobs once said, “Simple can be harder than complex: you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”
An iPhone is relatively easy to use, but the technology, engineering, and design behind it are extremely sophisticated. Flower essences to are quite straightforward, but the philosophy behind them is deep and profound.
When Dr. Bach completed his research he built a bonfire and burned all his notes because he didn’t want people reading his notes and then complicating his method.
Advantages of Flower Remedies
There are several advantages to using flower remedies over pharmaceuticals. Firstly, they are safe and gentle with no adverse reactions. Secondly, there are thousands of remedies to choose from so you can zero in on your specific issue. If for example, you suffer from anxiety there are a handful of remedies to choose from. You might choose Mimulus if you know exactly what you are afraid of. Aspen will work if your fears are vague and undefined. Agrimony helps if you carry your fears in secret, and Red chestnut helps if you worry excessively about your loved ones.
How do Flower Essences Work?
Understanding how flower essences work requires a recognition that the human being is more than a physical body, but also a spiritual being. Each flower essence has its own energetic imprint or signature, which interacts with the subtle energy of the human being. They work in a similar way to music or art, which carry meaning through the vehicle of sound or light. Flower essences carry meaning through the medium of water.
How are the Essences Prepared?
Early in the morning on a clear and sunny day, fresh, dew-covered flowers are gathered and then placed into a bowl of water. The flowers are left to float in the water for several hours while absorbing the warmth and light of the sun. This process allows the healing energetic imprint of the flower to be absorbed into the water. This “mother essence” is preserved with brandy and then further diluted to form the “stock.”
Some of the hardier flowers require boiling. These flowers along with their stems are placed in the pan, covered with spring water, and then simmered for 30 minutes. After that the water is filtered and preserved in brandy.
Do Flower Remedies Work?
If you google whether or not flower essences work, the first few pages of results will inform you that there is no scientific research proving their efficacy and that any positive results, no matter how profound, are simply due to the placebo effect and nothing more. However, quite a few papers have been published showing that they are effective. Here are three studies.
The Cram Study
Certain flower essences are known to protect against the impact of high levels of EMF stimulation. Using a randomized double-blind experimental design, Dr. Jeffrey R. Cram studied the effects of Yarrow Special Formula and Five Flower Formula on the intense EMF stimulation produced by fluorescent lights. Twenty-four subjects were connected to an electroencephalography (EEG) system and exposed to high levels of fluorescent lighting. The results showed EEG activation of the frontal lobes area only for those in the placebo group. Since the stress response was seen only in the placebo group, the study demonstrated that flower essences were able to neutralize environmental stressors.
The Sastriques Study
This study was done by Dr. Pedro Sastriques Silva and took place at the outpatient clinic of the Center for Specialized Treatments at the Psychiatric Hospital of Havana, Cuba. In the study, 23 patients with depression completed three months of flower essence therapy. The effects of flower essence therapy on both the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Hamilton Depression Scale were highly significant.
The Ramos Study
This study was conducted in Cuba by Lic. Elvira Haydée Ramos González, a psychologist at the Psychiatry Department of the Hospital and Medical Institute Calixto García, in Havana, Cuba. One hundred and nine patients were offered flower essence therapy for their depression, of which 54 completed the study. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Hamilton Depression Scale were used. Significant decreases in depressions were noted for the first two months, with this stabilizing at a 60 to 80% reduction during the third month.
How are essences prepared?
Early in the morning on a clear and sunny day, fresh, dew-covered flowers are gathered and then placed into a bowl of water. The flowers are left to float in the water for several hours while absorbing the warmth and light of the sun. This process allows the healing energetic imprint of the flower to be absorbed into the water. This “mother essence” is preserved with brandy and then further diluted to form the “stock.”
Some of the hardier flowers require boiling. These flowers along with their stems are placed in the pan, covered with spring water, and then simmered for 30 minutes. After that the water is filtered and preserved in brandy.
How do flower essences work?
Understanding how flower essences work requires a recognition that the human being is more than a physical body, but also a spiritual being. Each flower essence has its own energetic imprint or signature, which interacts with the subtle energy of the human being. They work in a similar way to music or art, which carry meaning through the vehicle of sound or light. Flower essences carry meaning through the medium of water.
I’m Dr. Rodger Douglas, DMH, a South African-born homeopath now based in Osaka, Japan. With a psychology degree from Nelson Mandela University and a diploma from the Hahnemann College of Heilkunst, I specialize in holistic care for fibromyalgia. I serve clients by phone or video across the US, Canada, the UK, and beyond, shipping remedies directly from Japan.