As the pandemic continues, our emotions follow their own uncharted path of disbelief, shock, fear, grief, overwhelm, frustration, and now even anxious anticipation for some degree of freedom. As these emotions threaten to engulf us, flower essences can become our plant allies. They can support us with their gentle wisdom and healing. They can provide us comfort and help calm our reactions. As the many challenges and stressors of our present time bombard us, flower essences can provide the healing relief we all need.

What are Flower Essences?

For thousands of years, we have used flowers to celebrate special moments in our lives and to express our love and devotion, our grief and sorrow. When shopping for flowers, we are drawn to blooms and colors that uplift us at that moment. While we may be subliminally aware of the power of flowers, essences—wildflower infusions in water–are based on the subtle healing, energetic vibration of a flower. A flower is the life force of the plant, the site of pollination and reproduction, and thus the main source for healing energies.

Each flower has a signature emotional vibration based on its color, the structure of its plant, the shape of its leaves, where it grows, and how it spreads its seeds. Each energetic vibration responds to an emotion in a human. Just as flowers have been around for millions of years, we too have been governed by the same emotions through time—hate, love, grief, hope, despair, resilience. And each emotion has a polarity or its opposite. Flower essences can bring us to that healing polarity for negative emotions.

First discovered by British surgeon Dr. Bach in the 1930s, there are now many more flower essences than the original thirty-eight he discovered. As a flower essence practitioner, I’m trained to listen to the emotions in my client’s words and to match them with flowers. I listen keenly for the emotion that will be lifted and shifted by a corresponding flower essence.  For example, if I hear bitterness in my client’s voice, I will choose willow flower essence, which will shift the bitterness to gratitude.

Our emotions are driven by our thoughts. If we see someone who has something we want, we might become jealous. Jealousy is driven by our judgment of what seems out of reach, of our desires, and of other swirling ideas. Holly flower essence shifts the judgments which create that negative thought pattern and allows the jealousy and anger to abate. In its place, holly essence gives us calmness, clarity, inner confidence, and direction.

How Flower Essences Work

Unlike essential oils, flower essences are made with water which is then preserved with alcohol. Fresh blooms are picked at the height of their fullness and floated in a crystal bowl filled with fresh water, placed on the earth in full sunlight. With the alchemy of earth, water, air, and sunlight, flowers release their energetic imprint into the water. This wildflower infusion is strained and preserved with brandy.

The late Japanese scientist Masaru Emoto’s research showed that water carries the energetic imprints of thoughts and even music. He found that water exposed to kind thoughts and classical, healing music created beautiful water crystals. When exposed to unkind words or thoughts, the water failed to crystallize. Based on his research, we can see that, similarly, flower essences carry the healing energetic imprints of flowers.

Flower essences are completely safe to take internally, unlike essential oils, and have no side effects. Just like the flowers, essences work so gently with our energy field that it feels like nothing is happening. Yet, if we become aware, we will notice that our reactions to events around us change. Flower essences provide us with clarity and inner confidence.

Flower Essences—Here for You Now

At a time like this–as we struggle with fear, anxiety, and grief–flower essences can be our stress management allies. Dr. Bach created a blend of five flowers that he called the Rescue Remedy. Used by celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Emma Watson, Hugh Grant, and Salma Hayek, it brings calmness and soothes us. Widely available, flower essence practitioners often refer to the Rescue Remedy as a “band-aid,” since it provides immediate relief. It combines the healing strength of rock rose (for fear that grips us), impatiens (for patience), clematis (for helping us stay in the present), star of Bethlehem (for comforting grief), and cherry plum (for struggling to keep control of our emotions). However, for deep-seated issues and to release the emotional blocks that prevent us from creating the life we want, we often draw on a wide range of flower essences to maximize their effect for each person.

Flower essences help create balance. As anxiety mounts with uncertainty about our health, finances, and loved ones, flower essences are there to support and soothe us, to transform our stress and anxiety into calmness and strength. They can become a simple, natural way to heal our troubled emotional states.