Healing Your Life

About Flower Essence Therapy

Use of flower essences is an extremely safe therapy for shifting emotional states which may be causing or perpetuating outward physiological illness. Developed by homeopath, naturopath, and allopath Dr. Edward Bach in the 1930′s, these liquid preparations are intended to work in subtle ways on one’s emotionalspiritual energetic patterns. Through repeated dosage, essences have helped individuals release ‘negative’ emotions or fears, and support transformation to higher states of health and wellness.

While a few ‘formal’ methods are given, there are no hard-and-fast rules for the use of flower essences. It can be best to begin with one of the ‘commonly’ prescribed methods, and explore creative ways to incorporate the flowers into your life as you see fit. Flower essence therapy has a certain flexibility, and will likely be most effective when used in a way that feels right in your life. Here are a few guidelines to take into consideration:

Frequency of Use

Most flower essences can be used directly from the ‘stock’ bottle (the dilution level at which essences are most often sold). A typical usage schedule is four drops directly in the mouth (or added to a glass of water), four times daily. Because of the particularly dynamic nature of daily awakening and retiring, the most important times may be immediately upon waking, and just before going to sleep. The other two times may be before lunch and upon arriving home at the end of a workday – whatever times might best suit your daily rhythms. Some folks apply essences to their heart chakra, pulse points on their wrists, or on their forehead essences can be dropped in a bath or added to a spray bottle and sprayed about a room or house (more about further dilution in a minute). Sixteen drops can also be added to a water bottle and taken throughout the day – this is a very effective method for those with a busy schedule who otherwise may forget to take their essences.

Duration of Use

Because flower essences work on an emotional level, sometimes described as the ‘soul level’, it is important to remember that changes may best be made gradually. Flower essence therapy has been most successful when the essences are taken regularly, most often for the period of about 1 month, for changes in ‘core’ emotional issues to be seen. Some essences, like Rescue Remedy, are blended to have an effect regarding a recent (minutes, hours, days) traumatic event. Yarrow Environmental Solution by Flower Essence Services was created to offer protection from our modern environment on a daily basis, while not necessarily addressing personal emotional situations. Still other essences, like ‘Impatiens’ – used to calm an impatient aspect of personality – works fairly quickly in some cases. One user regularly felt the effect within 10 minutes while the impatience was still a significant part of his personality, with the entire personality aspect being slowly washed away after long-term use. So, in most instances, if trying to clear or change some significant part of your soul makeup, try at least a few weeks of regular use.

Dilution and Blending

Flower Essences can be further diluted from the ‘stock bottle’ (the ‘dilution level’ available on this site) to a ‘dosage bottle’ for regular use. One can add 1 or more droppersful from the stock bottle to a clean 1 ounce (30ml) dropper bottle and fill the rest with spring water (optimally) or other clean water source. Blends can also be made this way, adding 1 or more droppersful from each flower essence to the 1 ounce dropper bottle, filling the rest with spring water. The receiving bottle should either be new, or boiled in water to remove old residue – because of the nature of flower essences, they can pick up etheric vibration left over. Also, whenever using flower essences from the stock bottle, be conscious of not touching the dropper tip to anything – your tongue, hands, another bottle, etc. – to help maintain the vibrational purity of the flower essence.

Dilution Effects

Dilution of the essences will have different effects for different Some do not find the effect as pronounced with a dilution from the stock level, while others find the effect just as significant. Dilution is usually best, however, for children – either from a dosage bottle or from the stock bottle into a glass of water (this can also be good for alcohol-sensitive persons, because of the small amount of brandy in every drop). If you chose not to dilute and are making a blend, simply add equal amounts of each essence to a clean dropper bottle and use from there (unless you intend to have more of one essence than another).

Misting Your Environment

Misting your environment is also an effective means to surround yourself with the energies of your essences. To use as a spray to mist your home, office, or other environment, a dilution in spring water is best. Also, glass bottles are preferred over plastic, as almost every type of plastic has been shown to release at least a little residue into the water.

Pets and Plants

Animals and pets respond wonderfully to flower essences, perhaps because of their lack of expectations or any ‘resistance’ to being healed. If giving flower essences to pets, it’s usually easiest to add drops, perhaps 4 per day, to their water bowl. Success has also been noted with misting growing plants – particularly with Rescue Remedy when transplanting or repotting.

Other Resources

This is in no way intended to be an exhaustive description of ways to use flower essences. Many fine books are available both on the Bach essences (those flowers originally described by Dr. Edward Bach) and the many other flower species now available in remedy form. The ‘Flower Essence Repertory’ from Flower Essence Services is a fantastic guide to essence selection and use, with in-depth flower descriptions and a reference of primary emotional conditions and useful remedies. Experimentation with flower essences is encouraged, for as you begin to use them, their place in the dynamics of your personal healing journey will unfold.

Ayurveda medicine is a very comprehensive medicine system that is more that 5,000 years old, that is based on a holistic medicine approach that has its roots in Vedic Culture. Inside the word Ayurveda you will see the word veda, which means knowledge, tells us it’s important role in ancient hinduism. Charaka Samhita and the Sushruta Samhita are two early texts of Ayurveda. There use to be a tradition of surgery associated with ayurveda.

For the most part Ayurvedic therapies are herbal compounds. This is largerly due to it’s ancient roots. In later times alchemical preparations start to enter the ayurvedic pharmacopieia. Ayurveda also provides therapies to treat different vegetable and animal toxins. Examples of this are things like snake, spider and scorpion venom. In fact there is an entire branch of Ayurvedic medicine that deals with the science of toxicology.

The main idea behind Ayurveda is that an organsism adapts to the food and its environment. By then introducing small quantaties of food and or medicine, the organism can adapt to it and learn to resist it. This is quite a basic principle and illustrates the complexity of the immune system and of the body as a whole.

The information provided above is only a breif look at the medicine, and some of it’s qualities and idea’s. Ayurveda is an extremely interesting form of medicine it is easy to see why it has stayed with us over the past 5000 years!

Acupuncture for asthma may sound like an odd combination. One is a common disease that affects approximately 20 million Americans the other is a mysterious, esoteric, alternative medicine technique. Lots of people have asthma, but not many people have tried acupuncture.

But if you are an asthma sufferer, it can seem at times that anything – even something as mysterious as acupuncture – is worth trying. Breathing is something that most us never think about. It’s an unconscious process and unless we’re ill, we easily get the oxygen we need. But for people with asthma, breathing is always on their minds. There is always the chance that an asthma attack will leave them gasping for air. Sometime these attacks are predictable and sometimes they are not, sometimes they are minor and easily handled at home, and sometimes asthma suffers end up in an emergency room. It’s no wonder that some asthma sufferers have turned to acupuncture for asthma.

Asthma is a chronic disease with no cure. There are different types of asthma, but they all produce the same signs and symptoms: rapid breathing, sweating, rapid heartbeat, and the uncomfortable sensation of suffocation. The exact cause of asthma is not known (there may be a genetic factor at work), but there is no doubt that environmental factors – cold, dust, pollution, etc – trigger the attacks. During the attacks, inflammation and constriction of the respiratory passages limit the amount of air that can be inhaled, the attacks can last for minutes or hours and as mentioned earlier, there is no cure. But although there is no cure, there are constant efforts to find new methods of treatment, and there are practitioners and patients who believe that acupuncture for asthma is the answer.

Acupuncture (the word comes from the Latin words acus, meaning needle, and pungere, meaning to puncture) is a very old system of medicine. It is not clear where acupuncture originates from, but it has been most closely associated with China. In acupuncture, very narrow needles are inserted into the skin (just barely penetrating the surface) at certain key points in the body. The needles are said to correct a disharmony in the flow of energy through the body, a disharmony that is said to be the cause of disease. Traditional, Western medicine has several theories about how acupuncture works (e.g., it may stimulate the release of natural pain relievers, endorphins) but has not yet completely explained how acupuncture.

Of course, the big question is, does acupuncture work? And can acupuncture successfully treat asthma? Well, not unlike the search for an explanation for how asthma works, the answers are not clear – and they depend on whom you ask. According to traditional acupuncturists, yes, acupuncture for asthma is an effective treatment, especially with asthma in young children. There are dozens of websites and thousands of testimonials that all attest to the effectiveness of acupuncture as a treatment for asthma. Acupuncture, they say, has worked where nothing else has.

But ask the same question – does acupuncture for asthma work – of doctors and scientists who have been trained in traditional, Western medicine and scientific methodology, and the answer will be quite different. Acupuncture, they say, is as interesting phenomenon, but the question of how it works is less important than the question does it work, and their answer to that is no. There is no conclusive evidence that acupuncture for asthma works, and a review of the scientific studies that have attempted to answer this question have not proven acupuncture to be a viable technique for treating asthma. If there are reports that it works, these can be explained by the placebo effect (The placebo effect states that medications or medical techniques procedures may be perceived by the patient as effective because they believe they are effective, but there is no measurable effect).

So can acupuncture truly help someone who suffers from asthma? That seems to depend on your point of view. If you feel that illness is caused by disruption in energy flow and you are convinced by anecdotal reports, the only reasonable answer is: try it and find out. Acupuncture for asthma is very safe serious adverse effects are very rare. But if you are the type of person who needs proof in the traditional sense, it may make more sense to stick with the medicationstherapies you are taking and wait for solid evidence that acupuncture can help treat your asthma.

Sinusitis is one of the most annoying nasal ailments known to man. Aside from the headache, eyestrain, and stuffy nose that comes with sinusitis, one also has to bear with the difficulty of breathing. To get rid of this nasal problem, people often turn to a wide variety of medications available in the market.

After having tried in vain to get sinus relief from Western medicine, some people have began to develop a taste for alternatives. Aside from looking for a cure from traditional Chinese medicine, others have looked to growing all-natural medicines movement as a source of lasting, effective treatment for sinusitis. The herbal lore and medical traditions of China have fascinated Western medicine-trained doctors and resulted in the conduct of in-depth research.

The Indian healing system ayurveda is also gaining some recognition in the West as an alternative form of medicine. Ayurvedic theory views all human ailments as rooted in an imbalance in the body and that the proper cure is attained by restoring that balance. The main difference from traditional Western medicine is that rather than simply matching a patient’s problem with the appropriate medication, ayurveda experts first determine the cause of the problem and work from there. As such, if ten people come to the same ayurveda healer for their sinusitis problem, he might need to prescribe ten different methods, depending on what he perceives to have caused the imbalance in each particular patient. A massage using herbal oils can be given for someone if the healer thinks the root of the problem lies in some chemical impurity, with the oils formulated specifically for the impurity in question. Meanwhile, if the healer thinks that the root of the imbalance lies in stress, a meditation regimen might be advised.

In traditional Chinese medicine, sinusitis is like any other medical ailment. In other words, it is a disruption of the natural elemental harmony of the body, similar to how Feng Shui sees how placing water in the wrong place would disrupt the harmony of within a house or building. Going with this philosophy, Chinese healers discovered that certain herbal formulas, when mixed together in the proper proportions, can slowly realign a person’s elemental harmony and, as a result, remove the sinusitis. Cang er san is a typical herbal formula that most traditional Chinese doctors will work with when dealing with sinusitis. Typically, the proportions are altered slightly, depending on the discretion of the doctor preparing the mix. Once the sinusitis has cleared up, traditional Chinese doctors can also provide some herbs to help secure the re-harmonized body using dang shen or huang qi.

Another alternative medication for sinusitis comes in the form of the art of acupuncture. Acupuncture is more than just sticking needles in random locations. Acupuncture follows the ancient Chinese concept of the chi, which is the living energy that flows within and through all life, similar to the concept of The Force. There are certain parts of the body that act as focal points of the chi, with sicknesses emerging when the flow of the chi is blocked, delayed, or somehow stunted. According to some older texts, if the chi focuses or centers in one part of the body for too long, it can also cause an imbalance, though the consequences may prove more severe. The point of acupuncture is to stimulate these wells of chi to resume regular flow, eventually clearing up the problem by restoring the proper ebb and flow of the body’s internal energy. In most cases, acupuncture is accompanied by traditional herbal medications to supplement the restoration of the body’s natural harmony.

Tea is fast becoming one of the most popular drinks in the world. Tea tastes excellent, and it is a very versatile drink, but it is also extremely healthy for you as well. Many people understand the health benefits of tea, including Chinese cultures, Japanese cultures, Europeans, Taiwanese and African cultures. Health conscious citizens in America are just now beginning to understand the health benefits of tea, and the fact that drinking tea or consuming tea in other forms can be one of the best things that you can do in order to benefit your body.

Green tea is quickly sweeping the nation, because the health benefits of tea are overwhelming. Green tea is widely known for providing a number of health benefits, including anti aging properties, the elimination of free radicals, weight loss benefits and many other advantages.

Many of the health benefits of tea come from EGCG, which is an extremely powerful natural antioxidant. Antioxidants work to rid your body of harmful free radicals, which can damage the cells in your body, reducing your lifespan and causing other illnesses like cancer. Free radicals are responsible for many of the effects of aging, and the aging process can therefore be slowed down by EGCG and tea. The EGCG in your tea can also help speed up your metabolism, giving you a better sense of well being and making it easier for you to lose weight and remain healthy over time.

Because of the health benefits of tea, there is no greater health drink that you can consume not only to keep you healthy but also prevent and cure some illnesses. Green tea comes from the same plant as other teas, like black and Oolong teas for example. Green tea is different however, because it does not undergo the fermentation process and therefore still contains the EGCG. The benefits of green tea include weight loss, fighting bacteria, fighting infection, preventing tooth decay, repairing your immune system, fighting free radicals and preventing cardiovascular disease.

Green tea, because it is not fermented like Oolong tea, black tea and other forms of tea, offers more health benefits that other forms of tea cannot offer. All forms of tea offer their own unique set of health benefits, so drinking any tea will be beneficial to your health and well being. Black tea, for example, contributes to reducing bad cholesterol and has been linked to healing blood cells. Black tea also contributes to good heart health. Oolong, which is only partially fermented, offers a mix of the benefits associated with green tea and those associated with black tea.

Black tea, Oolong tea and green tea all offer benefits, which make them an excellent addition to your diet. If you can incorporate tea into your diet on a daily basis, then you can benefit long term from the antioxidants that these forms of tea are rich in. The health benefits of tea are numerous, and make it well worth adding to your diet if you want to maintain good health for a long time.

Come to think of it, a lot of people suffer from back pain these days without finding any cure with orthodox medicine, maybe because of incorrect diagnosis or ineffectiveness of the prescribed drug or drugs, so the pain becomes a part of most people’s lives.

However, for a lot other people who have not been able to obtain a exact diagnosis of their back pain problems, seeking alternative means of obtaining relief has become their immediate concern. It is becoming a big problem finding solution to back pain with orthodox medicine, back pain treatments are no long yielding the results that are expected. So the none-medical alternatives are coming to the rescue as follows:

Acupuncture

Acupuncture is an alternative treatment for back pain that has been in existence for sometime now. Rooted in ancient civilizations of Asia, acupuncture involves the insertion of needles into specific parts of the body for the purpose of taking away the pain. Acupuncture has been proved to work for chronic pain. It has provided short term relief from back pain for a great deal of people.

Massage therapy

The art of massage has been used for years as a tool of relief and relaxation. An experienced masseuse can massage the points of pain in your back, especially if it is caused by a strained muscle. People have been known to attain a state of painlessness after undergoing a well executed massage therapy. Some people argue that acupuncture or pressure point massage may be more effective than Swedish massage.

Physical therapy and exercise

Under the keen eye of a licensed physical therapist, you can stretch and exercise your back pain away. Exercise and physical therapy as a whole has been known to work well with chronic back pain sufferers than with acute back pain sufferers. Most back pain sufferers have also found relief from the education of the psychosocial factors of back pain.

You can end your suffering from back pain by finding a cure with alternative medicine because of incorrect diagnosis or ineffectiveness of the prescribed orthodox drug or drugs, so that the pain does not become a part of your life.