Holistic Nourishment: A Look at Flower Essences
Mind, body, and spirit.
Body, heart, and soul.
There are different ways that we as humans may recognize our holistic selves. In our last newsletter, we defined “soma” as Greek for “living body,” and how this is foundational in our practice as Somatic Practitioners as we honor the inherent interconnectedness in life – and of all life.
Our Equinimity University opened the year with a class on Healthy Essences - liquid solutions (essences) that capture the healing energy of flowers, stones, crystals, or other natural sources. The class focused primarily on flower essences. And in understanding how flower essences work, it called to mind our holistic selves - that we are more than just a physical body. The use of flower essences is founded on the idea that flowers have healing vibrational energy that responds to human energy fields, which in turn can influence our mental, emotional and physical well-being.
Many of us are aware of how music can stir the soul, evoke an emotion, or spring us into action. In the same way that music uses sound as a vehicle to carry its meaning, flower essences work through the medium of water. Flower essences are created by submerging flowers in natural spring water and then exposing the water to the sun to extract the flowers’ energy. The water is filtered and preserved and the finished product is the flower essence.
While flower essences became renowned through the work of Dr. Edward Bach in the 1930s and his development of flower remedies, flower essences have been used by different cultures around the world for thousands of years.
At our EqU class, our very own Jeanie Shepherd, who has been using these essences for many years, prepared specific flower remedies for each participant by taking into account their emotional states based on their answers on a set of worksheets. Each participant learned the names of the essences prepared for them and the descriptions of what the essences are known to help with.
Flower essences can be wonderfully specific. For example, based on Dr. Bach’s quick reference guide, a flower remedy containing Scleranthus can be helpful for those who are struggling to choose between alternatives. Practitioners of Flower Essence Therapy also believe that essences can help the body’s healing process as it creates a positive emotional state which restores the balance in the body.
When asked about her experiences with people who have used flower essences, Jeanie says, “Most of the people I have made remedies for have reported subtle shifts, but always found more ease in their life after taking their remedy.”
Flower essences is not a cure-all but an effect that it certainly has, both then and now, is its ability to reinforce our connection with nature.
And with that, it also reminds us of the fundamental connection that exists within ourselves and the world around us.
And when we nourish these connections, we nourish our overall well-being - mind, body, heart, and spirit.
______________
Equinimity University’s theme for this year is “Journey of the Soul-Body.” We will deliver classes designed to help us grow our soul-body, and recognize, nourish and attend to ourselves in ways that include our subtle body, soul-body, energy body, and spirit self.
Please visit our Offerings page to stay up to date with our upcoming classes.
