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M. Joy Young, LCSW, CPC
Flower Essences Basics
Article by M. Joy Young, LCSW, CPC Portland Oregon
503-309-1163
What are flower essences?
Our emotions, attitudes, and mental patterns have a powerful effect on the physical body and subsequently physical health. Flower Essences are a subtle form of vibrational energy that corresponds with certain emotional patterns in the personality. Flower Essences are used to help restore emotional balance in our personality. Emotional balance and harmony in turn can help the physical body maintain wellness through the use of the body's natural healing processes.
When are flower essences used?
Flower essences can be used during times of emotional stress, crisis, or turmoil. Flower essences are often used in conjunction with other forms of treatment if there is physical illness accompanied by emotional distress. You can also use flower essences when faced with a difficult situation in life or during challenging events like public speaking, doctor's appointments, dentist appointment, court case, or any situation that someone considers emotionally stressful.
What are some of the benefits of using flower essences?
Every person will have their own unique experience and results from using flower essences. Generally benefits might include:
- Feeling greater emotional ease.
- Feeling more centered and balanced.
- Feeling less worried or focused on some problem or issue.
- Feeling able to continue a task or experience that seemed impossible.
- Greater ability to cope.
- Lots more.
What issues will flower essences cure?
Flower essences do not treat, prevent, or cure physical or mental illness or disorder. Flower essences can be used in conjunction with medical or emotional treatments or medications for physical or mental disorders but is not a replacement. Flower essences are used for unhelpful personality patterns and emotional balancing. Flower essences are a form of vibrational healing and not a form of medical treatment meant to "cure".
I still don't get it... what's vibrational energy?
To really understand flower essences you have to be rerceptive to more then one way of looking at something. With essences there is the physical level and the energetic level.
Flower essences can not be defined solely as a physical level product like most herbal supplements or medications. To understand flower essences you have to consider two levels of definition:
- The physical or tangible level
- The energetic or vibrational level
Energetically Flower Essences are:
- The energy or vibrational pattern of specifically selected flowers found in nature that correspond with certain personality and emotional patterns.
- Another way of saying this: a flower's essence is the spiritual power or essence of a particular plant. It is the plant's most subtle image of it self. Think of how we use plants. We eat the leaves, seeds, roots, etc. for food (physical), medicine (physical), clothes (physical), the actual flowers for emotional uplift. The use of a plant's flowers for essences is a subtle (vibrational/energy) use of plants for emotional, energy, vibrational balancing.
Homeopathy and Water
Flower Essences are classified as a homeopathic remedy. Homeopathy originated in Germany but dates back to the times of Hippocrates (the father of medicine). Homeopathy is based on the medical principle of, "treat like with like" and dilution. In a nutshell, homeopathy operates from the principle that water can copy or record the characteristics of a particular medicine at a high level of dilution (until almost no trace of the medicine exist microscopically) and have the same effect as a full undiluted dose due to memory action of water.
Flowers hold a plant's essential vibrational pattern. Think about this for a few moments. The flower of a plant contains absolutely EVERYTHING about the plant. It is a blue print for another plant, i.e it's seed. It holds all the plants secrets. It's healing qualities, it's nutritional needs, future generations of flowers, and the subtle vibration or spirit of the plant itself.
And it is this energy that we use for emotional balancing when taking flower essences.
Dr. Edward Bach - Father of Flower Essences
Dr. Bach "discovered" flower essences in England and began producing them in the 1920s. They are produced to this day and are known as Bach Flower Remedies. There are many other types of essences produced today as well.
Dr. Bach was a well respected bacteriologist and homeopath who's philosophy of disease was as follows: emotional stress, disharmony, and any negativity that produces worry, fear, impatience, exhaustion and other unhelpful emotional states has a depleating effect on the body's vitality and over time contributes to the body's reduced ability to fight disease. Dr. Bach was one of the pioneers of psychosomatic medicine and the study of the relationship between mind/emotions and the body.
Dr. Bach suffered many illnesses which lead him to study flower remedies. It is said that disease and illness presented themselves to him so that he could experiment with essences. When near particular flowers Dr. Bach experienced particular states of emotional distress and he found that when he took dew warmed by sunlight from a particular flower the wave of emotional distress would pass. By this method 38 flower essences were revealed to Dr. Bach and the world.
How are flower essences adminstered?
Flower Essences are easy to use. No matter what type of essences you choose directions for use will be clearly marked on the bottle. Generally one dose of flower essences is 3-4 drops in water, milk, or fruit juice four times per day. Hold the remedy in the mouth for a few seconds before swallowing this aids absorption. It is okay to take the essences more than 4 times per day. If the situation is urgent a dose can be taken every few minutes or whenever it is thought of.
For children the remedy can be put in juice or sandwich fillings. For animals place drops in the pet's water dish and for plants place drops into watering can.
Take the essences until you have finished the bottle or until the emotional symptoms subside. Learn more about essences by visiting www.mjoyyoung.com or schedule your free 15 minute consultation to discuss which essences are right for you. You can also schedule a consultation at 503-309-1163 or email Joy at
