CHENNAI: British medical doctor, bacteriologist, and spiritual writer, Edward Bach once said, “All we have to do is preserve our personality to live our own life, be captain of our own ship, and all will be well.” He is well known for developing the Bach remedy in 1930, an alternative medicine influenced by the traditions of classical homoeopathy. The homoeopath claimed that Bach flower remedies “treat personalities” as they comprise the flower’s energy pattern and don’t include any plant parts.
During the summer and spring of that year, Edward Bach collected 38 flower essences and grouped them into seven, curing one emotion each. “The emotions range from fear, anxiety, worries, sadness, confusion, and so on,” explains Sita Rao, a Bach flower therapist. A few examples include “If the cause of your fear is specific, then Mimulus is prescribed. If the cause of the fear is unknown then Aspen comes to use. For panic attacks, Rock Rose works the best,” she shares.
Flawless flower therapy
There are times when famous people, especially actors, are forced to live a double life portraying an all-happy life in front of the public but going through difficult times — then Agrimony is suggested. This flower promotes openness, self-acceptance and inner joy. Narrating an instance, Sita says, “Whenever I buy a sapling from a nursery, I expect them to bloom the very next day, which cannot happen. I am over-enthusiastic for wanting it to grow and dissatisfied when the results do not meet my expectations.”
In such situations, the plant is going through a phase of finding comfort during the change of atmosphere and care. Noting the mutual feelings Sita consumes Vervain (given for over enthusiasm) and Gentian (for encouragement). “I drop walnut pills or mother tincture in the water used to water the plants to help them acclamatise,” says Sita, adding that Hornbean is for growth and Crab Apple for infections. She continues, “While treating the plant, my enthusiasm and dissatisfaction is treated because healing works two ways.”
These flowers can be consumed as pills with or without water or interestingly in words. “Take a clean white sheet, draw two concentric circles. Write your worry or fears or confusions about anything in the centre. In the second circle, write the name of the relevant flower and put it under your pillow or on your work desk, the remedy works,” she points out. This can be sprayed in our surroundings, healing the energy around us.
Bach flower remedies help individuals to reconnect with their higher potential. According to Sita, “everybody is born with equal potential but emotions like fear, worry, and others overtake us, cracking our energy and nature of being, eventually breaking into pieces.” This is similar to the concept of Kintsugi (a Japanese technique to assemble broken parts by applying urushi lacquer, powdered or blended, with platinum, silver, or gold dust).
Alternate healing methods “This can be understood as accepting life with its limitations and flaws and being optimistic that the broken pieces can be put back beautifully,” explains Sita, also a certified pranic healer and EFT facilitator. With Bach flower therapy, she provides pranic healing and tapping services. Through pranic healing, Sita aligns the various chakras in our body to the centre and with the tapping process, she changes how we react to situations. “Pranic healing involves working with the disharmony and imbalances in the aura (energy) around one’s body. Any physical ailment is first manifested in the energy body and then affects the physical body,” she shares. Any kind of distortion is removed to ensure an easy energy flow. “The chakras are scanned to understand the issue. For example, the heart chakra is scanned to find the problems in the heart and lungs,” says Sita. Along with this, when tapping is performed, “healing is faster.” There are 15 tapping points in our body, from the crown of the head to the fingertips. These techniques help individuals to be aware of their emotions and understand them. Raising a question, Sita asks, “Show me an occurrence where emotions and mind are not involved?”. To heal from them it is important to have a source by which a balance is formed between the physical, mental, and emotional body and energy as Edward rightly reminds us, ‘Seek the outstanding mental conflict in the person, give him the remedy that will overcome that conflict and all the hope and encouragement you can, then the virtue within him will, itself do all the rest’.