BACH FLOWER REMEDIES
By Dr Andrew Tressider
Cancer is a shock the very word makes us fearful.
Flower remedies and essences are not a treatment for cancer, but they can help our feelings at a time when all help is much appreciated, especially if it helps us feel better.
Although cancer affects our physical body, the fear and worry can affect our minds. We now know that positive thinking and feelings affect the flow of neuro-chemicals in the body, and help the immune system work more effectively. In short, if we feel better, we heal better.
Our feelings need support from the very moment we are given the shock of a diagnosis so let’s take a look at a journey over months from diagnosis, through treatment, to return to normal life.
Flower remedies are now known to help the resolution of stuck emotions and frames of mind. They work on our invisible software, our thoughts and feelings, to retune and rebalance us back to our selves again. How often do we hear You don’t look yourself? well, flower remedies help bring us back to our Selves. They have no direct effect on the physical body, and are absolutely safe to take alongside any other treatment you may be using, surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy or complementary.
The initial shock always needs healing. So, from day one, if you take nothing else, take Calm Down (Balancing Blooms), Five Flower (Healing Herbs), Recovery Remedy (Ainsworths), Rescue (Nelsons), Shock and Trauma (Bailey), Australian Bush Emergency Essence or Emergency Essence (Jan de Vries). Put drops on your wrist, or drops in water, or drops on your tongue, frequently through the day. It’s worth continuing for several days or even weeks to get full benefit, and heal the nooks and crannies of negative emotions from deep in our minds. Star of Bethlehem in the mix helps resolve the effects of shock, Rock Rose melts terror and brings courage, and others act to restore inner balance.
Fear is often a big issue throughout treatment. Peace and Confidence (both Balancing Blooms), Recovery Plus (Ainsworths), Recovery Spray, and Fears (Bailey) are all helpful here amongst other flowers, Mimulus helps resolve fear of the future and fear of illness, whilst Aspen catalyses the resolution of fear of the unknown those vague unmentionable fears that beset us. Incidentally, Rock Rose and Aspen together will often calm night terrors in children.
Inevitably, we have our down days, sometimes actual despair. Our confidence in life is knocked, we realize our mortality, and we feel down. Gentian can lift our spirits, Gorse dissolve hopelessness, Mustard melt clouds of gloom, Sweet Chestnut lift us out of that tunnel or pit of despair where we feel nobody can help us and Wild Rose restore zest for life. Mood Essence (Jan de Vries). contains all of these. Other useful combinations are Depression and Despair or Sadness and Loneliness from Bailey Essences.
Other feelings we can feel are It’s not fair, or even bitterness and resentment. Willow can transform these feelings into optimism about the present and the future, whilst Holly allows love to flow through us more effectively. Pine can dissolve that feeling of it’s my fault of guilt that many of us carry deep in our minds. Calm Down contains both Holly and Willow, whilst Confidence contains Pine. Anger and Frustration from Baileys can be of benefit.
Often we feel tired over the months of treatment and recovery Get Up and Go (Balancing Blooms) or Vitality Essence (Jan de Vries) can be of use. Centaury is useful to help you say no when other people ask you to do things sometimes little Pleaser is our life’s script, and we rush around pleasing other people but ignoring our own soul’s needs. Confidence and Confidence Essence both contain Centaury.
Often things go round and round in our minds then White Chestnut can help calm our minds. Agrimony helps for that Brave smiling face, but worries underneath. Peace and Night Essence contain both of these. Tranquillity from Baileys is also valuable.
Throughout the whole time, inner balance, unshaken by what is going on around us, and ability to move on from issues, is valuable. Walnut and Chestnut Bud help bring us into this state, assisted by the emergency combinations above. They also help us adjust to our return to work, often assisted by Confidence and Calm Down.
Our Confidence through treatment and when returning to work can certainly need support, so Confidence (Balancing Blooms) and Confidence Essences (Jan de Vries) can help here.
Flower Remedies (or essences) can be valuable for us at many stages in our lives, but never more so than when we are challenged by the prospect of serious illness. And it’s not just ourselves that can benefit, but those around us as well, for they too have their fears and worries. They may all be helped by Calm Down, Peace and others, and also by Red Chestnut. This one is specific for when we worry about other people not ourselves, and we care about them so much that we become deeply attached. Red Chestnut allows us to do our best, and to care with compassion but without anxiety. Bailey Liberation also helps this state.
Although you can use a flower remedy for just a day or so, the best benefits are found when you take them for several weeks continuously. Combinations make it easy to help choose, as we have seen. Take 3-4 drops on your tongue, on your wrist, or in water, several times a day.
Occasionally more emotions come up from inside than we feel able to cope with all at once if this happens, use one of the Rescue type combinations such as Calm Down as well. It make help to slow down the rate of taking your chosen remedies, or adjust the mix, or add Walnut and Chestnut Bud as helpers to smooth the path
Of course, do find a friend to help you, or a counselor, and do make sure that you know how to find professional help from your GP or Hospital. Flower remedies are certainly not instead of any antidepressants or other prescribed medication; instead they work help our thoughts and feelings and our qualities of personality become more positive.
And when we feel better, we heal better.
The very best of luck on your journey.
If you want to learn more www.drandrew.co.uk
www.balancingblooms.com, www.healingherbs.com, www.baileyessences.com, www.flowersense.com, www.edwardbach.org, www.bachcentre.com, www.ainsworths.com,may all be of interest.
Actually, flower essences are far more than just emotional balancers, they can act to support us as we move forwards on our life’s path. And if life is a journey of learning, why not use tools that make personal development easy?
I hope this is of interest and help to readers at this time, and I do hope that you find comfort from the beautiful vibes from nature, either in a garden, or, more specifically from the specific flower essences that support you personally.