It’s Wednesday afternoon at 14:10, and I’m just settling in to start work for the day. I have flower remedies to thank for this.
I spent the morning at pilates, came home for an everything shower and made myself a favourite lunch (shiitake mushroom omelette, with a side of homemade kimchi), along with pot of nettle + spearmint tea to sip on whilst I work. I feel calm and relaxed - both in body and mind.
I write this coming from a very different place than I was in just a few years ago.
I know the exercise, shower and good food has a lot to do with my current state of mind - but the fact that I chose to go to pilates, then chose to have a long shower, and then chose to make myself a good lunch first before starting work is what makes the difference between the me now and the me you would have met a a few years ago and pre-flower remedies. (I’m also very aware of the luxury of having carved out this self-employed life I am currently living and know that things are always changing - next year things could look very different).
The Fleur of a few years ago would have got up and started work straight away without a breather - not stopping to eat until her work was done and she believed she had ‘earned’ the rest and reward of looking after herself. This often didn’t happen until it was dark outside, and then I would go back to work after a short break and work late into the night. Quite simply, I didn’t have any boundaries - with myself or anyone else - and my self worth was very, very low.
My health and wellbeing comes first now - there’s been a complete shift. I always knew that if I looked after myself, I would have a clearer mind and in turn create better work - compared to scrambling away all hours of the day with that desperate energy of needing to prove something. I just could never put it into practice.
Everything changed after I began taking flower remedies on the regular. And not just for me - but for all the family members in my life that would let me make them one too.
Things changed so much, that after a certain blend worked so potently on one particular family member (and a prayer I’d made came true), I kept my deal with god / the universe / myself to help as many people as possible using the flowers and embarked a new career working as a flower remedy practitioner (and last year launched a collection of ready-made blends).
I remember being introduced to the full range of 38 Bach essences while studying a naturopathy course and becoming completely hypnotised. I knew the classic Rescue Remedy (containing 5 of the 38 Bach essences) - my mum had placed a bottle in my hand right before my driving test, which I am certain is what helped me pass first time (my nerves were through the roof!) But, I had no idea there were 33 other essences waiting to be discovered and then so many more...
A lot of the time when working with plants, we work with the physical aspects of the body - calendula for burns, arnica for bruises, chamomile to calm the nerves etc. But flower remedies…they work with our energy and emotions (energy in motion). And as my lovely teacher used to say when I delved deeper into the world, ‘there really isn’t anything else like them - like medicine for our emotions.’
There really isn’t anything else like them.
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Feeling jealous of a friend or a sibling? There’s a flower remedy for that.
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Feeling lost in life and not sure which direction to take? There’s a flower remedy for that.
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Feeling overwhelmed, like there’s too much on your shoulders? There’s a flower remedy for that.
I could go on…
Flower remedies work consciously and subconsciously - they can help us with emotions we are aware of and currently feeling, but they can also unearth the deep-rooted things we are unaware of.They can help us with trauma, grief, confidence…with the feeling of needing revenge.
They are powerful, but work subtly - adaptogenic in nature - so they will only ever give us what we can handle at the current time.
Feeling angry about an injustice at work? Flower remedies might help you realise that it’s because a similar situation happened years ago - helping you heal and release it, so you can move on in life without that weight hanging over you.
All this is to say…I love flower remedies. They have changed my life for the better and I actually don’t know where I would be today without them (very, very exhausted and bitter most likely ha). They helped bring awareness to my tendency to overwork and my constant need to feel busy and constantly productive.
In other words, they helped me heal part of the void so many of us can feel as humans - the feeling we are not enough.
I remember taking the essence Vervain for the first time, and then later realising I had taken my first Sunday off in years to lie in the sun and read a book. I hadn’t even been aware I’d relaxed this much until the next day when speaking to my mentor and talking about my weekend. They work in very subtle ways.
I use them consistently, and they’ve become my crutch for the harder things in life:
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For the grief that comes with caring for a parent you now know will not get any better (Star of Bethlehem for this - the comforter of all sorrows, you can find it in Re-Emergence).
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For the times I notice a new patch of vitiligo and can start to spiral (Rock Water is my go to - which helps us become kinder and more understanding towards ourselves, you can find it in Unwind; and also Walnut - for help with adapting to change, you can find it in Revive).
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For the mental and physical exhaustion that can come from being self-employed, running businesses, constantly being needed by family and not having time for yourself (Oak - which encourages us to remain strong and steady while learning to let go, take breaks and pace ourselves without straining - you can find it in Grounded).
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For the guilt that can come with living your life, knowing a loved one is suffering mentally - even though everything has been done to try and help and you know there is nothing else you can do other than be there (Pine - for those who often feel full of guilt and have a tendency to blame themselves).
For anyone new to the world of flower remedies, they are little bottles of infusions - made by capturing the energetic essence of flowers in spring water, preserved with brandy or glycerine.
Rather than using physical plant matter to target physical symptoms, they capture the subtle imprint of the bloom to gently support our underlying emotional state, helping to restore balance and ease in the mind.
They come in glass dropper bottles (or sprays) to drop under the tongue or add to our drinks throughout the day. Some people can feel them working right away; although most of the time, they work subtly over a few weeks (or sometimes, months).
Using plant essences dates back through ancient healing systems - from Indigenous Australian traditions (where dew was sucked off flowers in the morning to receive their healing essence), to the observations of the 16th-century physician Paracelsus.
The dropper system we use today came about in the 1930s through a British physician named Dr Edward Bach. Dr. Bach was an immunologist and bacteriologist with a renowned practice in Harley Street, London.
Bach observed that a patient's capacity to heal was deeply linked to their underlying emotional state, personality traits and quality of thought (this always makes me think of Dr. Gabor Mate and how similar their schools of thought are).
Seeking a gentler way of working, he began studying and working with homeopathy, but wanted to something even simpler that he could pass on to his patients. So Bach left his city practice for the British countryside, immersing himself in the fields and hedgerows. It was there, over the course of 7 years, that he identified 38 specific wildflowers - mapping their qualities to our human emotional states and creating essences from them that we still use today.
Consistency over volume is key when taking flower remedies, ‘what you do frequently becomes your frequency’ as the saying goes.
Many of the remedy blends here are ones I found myself making on repeat for clients, before realising they would be able to help more people if they were ready-made. Re-Emergence, for example, is a blend I created after noticing how many people I worked with last year were in a place of having done a lot of deep healing work and feeling ready to step back the world again, but just needed a little helping hand in doing so. It has Water Violet in - for helping to soften the walls we build for protection and move from a place of distant withdrawal to a state of warm, approachable connection.
This brings us nicely to perhaps the most potent ways to take and work with flower remedies: having a one-on-one consultation with a practitioner and then having them mix up a custom blend for you.
A flower remedy practitioner knows the essences inside out and can often spot emotional patterns or personality traits we do not notice in ourselves.
I’ve been working with flower essences continuously for four years now, qualified as an ‘official’ practitioner last year, but still seek guidance from others when making personal remedies for myself - to help shed light on any blind spots I might have missed.
Doing personalised flower remedy sessions are my absolute favourite thing to do! If you would like to try for yourself, you can find out more about sessions with me here,
I also have an idea percolating away behind the scenes…to do with personalised remedy sessions - born out of a desire to give back and explore the different ways flower remedies can help us. Something I’d like to share soon, once it’s finalised - keep your eyes peeled.
And as always, if you have any flower remedy related questions, or have worked with them yourself and experienced some big life changes, I always love hearing from you.
Sending love,
Fleur x
P.S. if you enjoyed this little stream of consciousness, I write more about holistic health, nourishment, food, flower remedies and craft over here on substack xx
