Bach Flower Remedies
& Nature Essences

What do you want in and for your work? / Care of self / Care of your workplace / Enhancing your practice / Assisting the people you serve / Which Essences? / Learning just what you need / Using Essences within law and responsibility

WHY LEARN ABOUT ESSENCES FOR THERAPISTS? I am not happy with the professional constant pressure to get better and better, as if without constant CPD we just aren't good enough. On the other hand, if something that is simple, safe, easy and inexpensive helps to make me shine in my work and love it even more, I reckon that's worth looking into! The information I offer here about therapists' use of Essences is about supporting you in your healing arts, whatever form, from nursing to 'spiritual healing', from reflexology and massage to Reiki, from Energy workers to Earth healers.

You may groan, "Oh no, not more to remember, to do – and buy?!" Stay with me here a bit yet: incorporating Essences into your work can be simple, easy, inexpensive, and bring a synergy to your work that lightens and enlivens the whole. Even if only a few Essences are used, what they teach and catalyze can help lead us into the truly wonderful realm of co-creativity with Nature.

WHAT DO YOU WANT IN AND FOR YOUR WORK? In your most wonderful dreams, what do you imagine could be great helps in your practices? OK, lots of you will be saying 'more clients' - or less if you are overburdened!, and 'lots of money' - yes Essences can help the release of blocks against prosperity. Go deeper, and consider how you feel in yourself, what your room is like, the effectiveness of what you give, communication with the people whom you serve. . . For instance, I've been addressing overcoming my personal nature's tendency toward timidity and impatience, and instead cultivating self-worth and inner clarity. Our attitudes are a very important part of what draws clients to us – or not.

I recommend Vibrational Essence use especially for three major areas of concern for healing arts workers:

1. Care of self
2. Care of workplace
3. Support and enhancement of practices: a) enhancing the practice itself (e.g. the massage you give becomes the most helpful and effective it can be; the Reiki really 'touches those parts'; etc); b) helping the client to benefit as fully as possible from the session, including through grounding and integration of the session's work.

CARE OF SELF It seems a common professional hazard that we often put others first, forgetting that unless we ourselves are at our best, then what we have to offer others begins to diminish – in quality as well as quantity. Beyond daily basics (good nutrition, rest / meditation and play, elementals of fresh air, light, water, and so on) we also need to nurture our inner being. Self maintenance for 'good work' may include help with

• Inner balance (do you feel balanced within? Are you aware of your emotion and thought patterns?)
• Presence
• Developing the strengths of your personality
• Personal energy integrity (Are you getting drained? Taking on others' trials? We may be taught this stuff, but are we living it in our daily work?)
• Emotional and spiritual sustenance, mental ease and clarity
• Relating Flower Essences to meditation development, I reckon most would agree that presence, focus, quiet mind and compassion would help every day!
• And, most common issue among therapists and healers, boundaries (whose energies and time? when to say 'no'), confidence and self-worth (including to charge appropriately – equal energy exchange!)

These are some of the ways that Essences can help you be happy, shining and most effective in your work, and to enjoy all aspects of your daily living more.

One example of an all round support Essence is "Healing", from Himalayan Enhancers. "Helps healers to be in touch with the basic life-forces in nature. Clears channels, centering and bringing them back to their natural relationship with existence. Encourages an instinctive relationship between healer and client, particularly if taken in conjunction with Heart Essence and the essence most suitable to the client. Of great help where the life-force is weak. Apply directly to the hara or wherever there is a marked absence of energy." We don't have to be a professional spiritual healer to benefit from this gift of nature!

CARE OF YOUR WORKPLACE "The obvious", which is so easily overlooked especially when we're busy with back-to-back appointments and the daily general demands, is that the people we're serving release. No matter what or type of therapy, form of adjustments made, there is almost always 'release', physically, emotionally, mentally – into our treatment room. Release of energies is often subtle, and the regular cleaning required is more than an open window, sage smudge and ting of the Tibetan bells. As well as cleansing, Essences help to cultivate and maintain an ambience relevant to what we are offering, and a safe space. There are a wide range of space clearing and feng shui sprays available, and you can also easily formulate your own.

ENHANCING YOUR PRACTICE To give you a specific example, "Silver Maple" from Green Man Essences: "Helps balance the flow of energy through the body and regulates mood swings. Realigns the meridians, so useful for acupuncture" [and shiatsu, any other similar therapeutic approach]. We may say, "But that is what my practice does, why bother with an Essence?" The enhancement with this Essence is that we also have the energy of nature working with us to do so. The synergistic co-creative relationship between practitioner and Silver Maple adds a powerful new dimension to the therapy that is given.

"Nature Essences help..." A few more examples:
There are ranges of Essences that have been designed to work in tandem with meridian system therapies (including Pacific Essences from Sabina Pettitt; and the Bailey Five Element Set of 12 essences which correspond to the Chinese Five Elements System). When we have addressed a particular meridian stream or set, specific Essences help to maintain the changes we have facilitated, and to stabilize the whole system following those shifts. That means that our work becomes more effective, and integrated more easily and fully.

Similarly for those whose work focuses through the chakra systems, there are a huge range of Essence sets which address individual chakras, as well as the system as a whole. Their use often also helps us to gain insight as to how the system came to be out of balance, or the next step in its evolution that is immanent, and which we are assisting.

Many Essences aid relaxation, helpful for massage, for bringing ease to the nervous in counseling sessions, and most any situation you can imagine. As a nurse, it may help to bring the healing energies of Essences into the room or ward, as well as supporting you in a generally stressful occupation.

ASSISTING THE PEOPLE YOU SERVE Essences can help those receiving therapy / healing, including:

• Grounding after a session
• Re-stabilizing after release
• Integrating shifts including of outlook and perception, energy flows and renewed integrity, alignment, expanded consciousness, and after major cleansings
• Anchoring new patterns into daily routines
• Assistance and support through healing crises
• Communication, therapist / client, plus e.g. client talking to others about changes that occurred through therapy session, or changes in expression.

WHICH ESSENCES? Traditionally, some Shamans communicate and work with a large host of spirits; others work with the life intelligence of just a few, perhaps individuals, or with only one sphere of nature such as water spirits. Ii is just the same in working with Essences. Whether Essences Practitioner, or other therapy professional, we may use from many different sets and / or individual Essences.

Knowing which in particular are for you to work with comes from a combination of information. Certainly above all you need to know what makes a high quality Essence, and how to tell which are crank or 'bona fide'. It also helps to have information about which Essences sets / systems are parallel with your points of view and approach to healing, and to the people you serve. Intuition and attraction help us find what's appropriate. Look out also for producer's published work – book and online, to learn what their Essences offer and their approach. The same kind of Essence made by different producers can have subtle differences that turn out to be important for your work.

What is crucial to understand is that you do not need to do another Practitioner's course, or even an inappropriate CDP module, to help yourself and clients use and benefit from Flower Essences. On the contrary, if you are already skilled and happy in your current mode of health practice, it can be an unhelpful and expensive distraction, and confusing for clients. Rather, its a matter of learning how you can gain the many benefits from Essences according to how you already work, and what you already offer.

USING ESSENCES WITHIN LAW AND RESPONSIBILITY Much of what is lawful and ethical comes down to how you use Essences. Different countries classify Vibrational Essences differently (in Britain, they come under food law, not medicine). Most legal problems arise when we administer Essences orally. As you can see from Using Flower Essences, internal use or even on skin is not necessary for Essences to be efficient. Because Essences are chosen and used according to outlook and situation, they are not involving anatomy, physiology or pathology. And even if we decide Essences are not appropriate in any way for our clients, we can still gain great benefit for ourselves – and so also benefit our clients indirectly, and our healing arts work.

At the TOP of your profession