Alternative Medicine Cabinet—Blossom into Health

By Vonalda M. Utterback, CN

Searching for gentle, natural methods of healing for yourself and your family? Consider adding flower essences to your medicine cabinet. We enjoy the beauty and scent of flowers as bouquets in our homes and blossoms in our gardens, knowing flowers have the ability to bring joy and rejuvenation simply by their presence in our lives. Perhaps the true gift of flowers, however, according to thousands of flower essence practitioners around the world, is the unique energy of each flower—its vibrational “essence�?that holds the power to truly heal us.

Although flower remedies have been used in various ways throughout history by holistic healers, it was Edward Bach, MD, a British bacteriologist, pathologist and homeopath, who first formalized their use in the 1930s, bringing flower essences to the general public. Bach was a pioneer in psychosomatic medicine who recognized the negative impact of stress and other emotional states on health. He developed flower essences in response to his belief that physical illness was a manifestation of emotional imbalance. Convinced that there were substances in nature that would correct these imbalances, he began to experiment with various flowers. Prior to his death in 1936, Bach had created a complete system of 38 essences prepared from the flowers of wild plants, trees or bushes. Bach felt that these 38, when used singly or in various combinations, corresponded with all the basic human emotions.

“Flower essences work on the mental and emotional level to restore health,�?says Nancy Buono, a Bach Foundation registered practitioner. “Our body, mind and spirit are linked,�?says Buono, an international educator and consultant in the field of flower essences who is based in Long Island, N.Y. “Our body, mind and spirit are linked. When we are blocked emotionally, our physical body is affected. Essences facilitate physical healing by clearing the emotional distress and increasing the energy that’s available to the body.�?

Preserving the Essence
What began with Bach now has spread throughout the world. Today, according to Buono, there are more than 1,000 Bach Foundation Registered Practitioners in 45 countries. In addition, hundreds of companies create and distribute flower essences. Buono estimates 5,000-plus flower essences are available worldwide, with branded blends from Hawaii, Australia, Alaska, California and numerous locations in Europe.

Although various methods are used to create essences, most companies employ the manner developed by Bach, which involves either floating delicate blooms in pure spring water under full sun for a number of hours or boiling the more hardy varieties, in both cases releasing the unique vibrational energy from the flowers. After the essence has been captured in the water, brandy often is used as a preservative and mixed with the flower tincture and then combined again with water. Drops from the preserved original tincture are further diluted in brandy to make the formulas that can be purchased in stores. At that point, there is very little trace of the original flower scientifically detectable. Flower essences usually are taken orally from a dropper bottle, typically four drops four times per day. Drops also can be placed in water or other beverages and sipped throughout the day.

The Seeds of Change
As with many complementary therapies, flower remedies have gained their popularity based primarily on personal experience and anecdotal evidence. Although there is a dearth of randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies (the gold standard for the scientific community), many published case studies exist, a number of which can be found at the Bach Foundation, www.bachcommunitynorthamerica.com , and www.flowersociety.org , the official website of the Flower Essence Society (FES). FES is an international membership organization based in Nevada City, Calif., that funds scientific research using double-blind, placebo-controlled protocols.

A 2001 preliminary study on flower essence therapy published in The International Journal of Healing and Caring, an online journal, was one of the first of its kind to attempt to quantify, scientifically measure and document the clinical effects of flower essences on the treatment of depression. The results of the small study, funded by FES, were positive, recommending the use of flower essences adjunctively to help resolve mild to moderate depression. A 2003 case report published in Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine details how flower remedies were used along with antidepressant medication and psychotherapy to successfully treat individuals with chronic depressive disorders.

Julia Brayshaw, MA, a licensed mental health counselor and FES certified practitioner in Olympia, Wash., would like to see more research studies on flower essences. “Studies bring validity and awareness to our choices,�?Brayshaw says. “However, the problem is that standard double-blind studies are not, in general, the best suited research design for flower essences, mainly because essence prescribing is so individualized—it is an art rather than an exact science. Each individual requires unique treatment. Therefore, anecdotal evidence and case studies become very important in flower essence research—and the more of these we can collect, the more we can learn and see patterns.�?/FONT>