Emotional Balancing and Healing through Bach Flower Remedies
I had always been attuned to the realm of emotions, although expressing them effectively was never my strong suit. I would experience and feel a vast range of emotions but never allowed myself to completely be with them fully in order to process and release them. And so, I would adopt dysfunctional ways to cope with them, often through work and achievement. That resulted in me suffering from depressive episodes throughout my 20’s until the last one just before my Saturn return when I decided that would be my last, for I resolved to understand and demystify the world of emotions. I went on to get a Master’s degree in psychology and worked in mental health thereafter. Soon I realized that there were so many like me who had been suffering with effective emotional processing. Emotions remained mysterious and confusing to them.
And so, I began on a quest to understand the subject of emotions, everything from emotional processing, expressing as well as healing though alternative, more holistic ways instead of suppressing them through work, achievement, distraction or even medications.
I experimented with various nutritional diets as well as alternative healing modalities and found value in many. Flower essences is one of these, especially the Bach flower remedies that I have been using on myself and my loved ones that I discovered through the late astrologer Donna Cunningham’s book ‘Healing Pluto problems’ in 2014.
The Bach flower remedies are natural vibrational essences that contain the life force of the plant. They were discovered in the 1930s by the British physician Dr Edward Bach. He gave up his lucrative medical practice and research to devote full time to the finding and perfecting the art of Flower Healing. He studied and researched the plant world, looking for remedies to restore vitality to the emotionally ailing. Until his death in 1936, he was able to discover 38 such flower remedies that correspond to 38 negative emotional states.
Dr Bach developed them not to cure physical symptoms of diseases but rather to overcome their mental correlates in order to allow the inhibited life energy to manifest itself and to proceed with the healing process, that which comes from within us. These essences are all prepared from the flowers of wild plants, bushes and trees. None of them are harmful or habit forming. They are to be ingested according to the sufferer’s state of mind and moods in order to bring vibrational alignment within the being.
They do not suppress the underlying emotions one is feeling rather they harmonize the vibrational state of a person to a more stable level which would then assist in a more adaptive and healthy way of experiencing and processing of the emotions.
WISDOM OF EMOTIONS
Certain flower remedies such as Impatience and Cherry Plum are for instance good to stabilize oneself to a state where one can become an observer of their feelings instead of being a reactor so they can calmly begin to attend to their emotions as a parent attends to their child when they demand their attention. Once we get better at this process of feeling everything instead of ignoring and suppressing the uncomfortable ones that arise, accepting and valuing their role in our lives becomes easier.
We can develop a habit of recognizing and acknowledging our emotions. The way to acknowledge them is to feel and accept them just as they are. They are like messengers; we need to understand the information they are trying to convey. Bach flower remedies and similar essences help in this process by facilitating a sort of meditative awareness, a mental space between our emotions and our responses to it. The more we practice this, the better we will get at being mindful of our every emotion and the message they are conveying and once their role is complete, they will ebb and flow on their own.
Dr Bach developed these essences to primarily play a role in prevention, before they manifest into physical diseases. As years of disharmony between the soul and the mind or personality eventually results in its physical correlates, thus the correct use of the remedies can subtly correct the underlying mental conflicts and dissonance, so that the physical disease will never manifest itself as the abundant life energy of plants brings the state of homeostasis in our cellular structure.
In an excellent book on this subject titled “Flower Essences and Vibrational Healing by Gurudas”, the author explains the essences follow a path through the physical and subtle bodies. Once ingested and assimilated into the circulatory system they settle mid-way between the circulatory and nervous systems. An electromagnetic current is created by the polarity of these two systems as there is an intimate connection between these two systems in relation to the life force and consciousness that modern science has not been able to understand.
The author highlights in his book that these two systems contain quartz-like properties and an electromagnetic current that is subsequently created. The life force and consciousness use these properties to enter and stimulate the physical body.
Dr Bach intended these remedies to be used at all times, however these flower essences are especially important when facing challenges or some crisis in life as these are the times of extreme emotional stress as major external life events rock the stability of our inner world.
These flower essences raise our vibrations and open up our channels for the reception of our spiritual self and it’s guidance by flooding our nature with the particular virtue represented by the flowers we most need as well as neutralize the existing ones that are causing harm to us.
They seek to raise our very natures and bring us nearer to our souls and by that very act bring us peace and relieve our sufferings. Dr. Bach had immense gratitude for the plant world as he believed they provide us with an unequalled example of unconditional love. Their willingness to share their medicine, bounty as well as their spirit freely helps us with the insights, we need the most. He believed that our souls which he believed was God itself speaks to us through the medium of our intuition, and our ideals and that is our inner sense of knowing, very different from our rational cognitive thinking.
HELPFUL GUIDES DURING BIG LIFE TRANSITIONS
The flower remedies are an extremely helpful companion to have during outer planetary astrological transits namely Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto on one’s natal chart placements as these events can trigger extreme volatile changes, chaos as well as losses thus disrupting our inner balance in the process. The transcendental planets transits all have a higher meaning and purpose in our lives which requires a higher level of consciousness to move through them and allow the subsequent life changes they trigger and this is where these flower remedies heighten the awareness of who we are and where we are going thereby assisting us in accepting what and where our higher self wants us to be.
For example, when Saturn and Pluto transited over my natal moon several years ago, I experienced a complete breakdown of my inner security structures. During those times the Bach remedies Cherry plum and Willow helped me the most to process the old unresolved emotions and hurts of my childhood and work through them. Whilst Gorse and Gentian helped to keep my faith and hope alive for a better future.
Currently with the Uranus transits over my natal Scorpio planets, I find it helpful to take essences such as White chestnut and Vervain as Uranus transits can be especially hard on our nervous systems triggering insomnia and unwanted mind chatter and thus these can help in restoring the tranquillity that seems out of grip with the disruptions and chaos that occurs with Uranus transits. The Bach flower remedy Walnut is also extremely helpful for times of turbulent changes and it helps to guide us through the events in life so that we do not lose our way.
For Neptune transits Chestnut bud as well as Clematis are useful as these flower essences help to ease the stress of changes and uncertainty by bringing us to a more grounded state where we would benefit the most from theirs as well as our own insights and healing.
HOW TO USE
Use up to 4-5 drops in a litre of water or any beverage of choice. Keep drinking it throughout the day. Repeat and add more if feel you need more, listen to your intuition. Remember the remedies will be effective whatever option of dilution you use. Some even take a few drops directly on their tongue.
I prefer always having the entire 38 remedy kit at home however individual remedies are also available for purchase in homeopathy and alternative healthcare stores and also easily available online. These remedies need to be stored in dark and cool places and they will last for you for years.
REFERENCES
- Handbook of the Bach flower remedies; Dr. Philip M. Chancellor, 1971
- Flower Essences and Vibrational Healing; Gurudas, 1989
- Healing Spirituality- A Practical guide to understanding and working with Bach flowers; Gudrun Penselin, 2016