In general, people feel the effects of flower essences within two to six weeks. Because each individual is unique each essence will affect different people differently, and because the effects of flower essences are subtle people sometimes say that nothing seems to be happening.

However, something is happening, and we have prepared the following guidelines to maximize your awareness of flower essences' effects.

How to Prepare Your Personal Formula

Fill a 1 oz. empty dropper bottle to the halfway point with pure spring or filtered water. Add two drops from each stock bottle (the essence you purchase is referred to as the stock bottle) of the Bach Flower Essences you have chosen. If you use FES Essences add four drops. Add a teaspoon of brandy or apple cider vinegar as a preservative. Then fill the bottle to the top with more spring or filtered water. This now becomes your personal formula.

Please note: you may combine Bach and FES Essences in your mixture.

In order to experience results take the flower essence mixture regularly. If you are using a mixture of several flower essences the minimum suggested dose is: 4 drops under the tongue, 4 times a day. You may take the mixture as often as you like. Your special mixture is taken until the problem disappears. Once the emotions are stabilized, the flower essences may be discontinued.

For immediate stressful situations: Put 2-4 drops from a stock bottle into a quarter to a half glass of juice or spring water and sip at frequent intervals.

Getting the Most From Flower Essences

You will get results from flower essences whether or not you keep track of your responses to them. However, we find it to be more helpful and also more exciting to notice the changes they make in your life. The very act of noticing creates an openness to change.

Follow Your Dreams

The dream state is a bridge between our inner and outer selves which gives us many valuable messages about the true roots of our difficulties and how to solve them. Just the process of training yourself to remember them will clear up much of the emotional fuzziness, confusion and half-asleep feeling which unremembered dreams can cause.

In taking flower essences you will probably find that your dreams become more vivid than ever before. Keep a notebook by your bedside table and write your dreams down as soon as you wake up. Write down as well your feelings about your dreams. Later on in the day or evening read them over, writing down the feelings or associations they bring up. Don' make this hard work or approach it from the viewpoint that there is a right answer to the meaning of your dreams. Your dreams are as unique as your being; what you feel about them is right for you.

Keep Track of Your Days

Keep also a record of what happens to you during the day. This is a good way to discover the effects flower essences are having on you. The first time one of our clients took Chestnut Bud (to prevent one from repeating mistakes) she noticed that her interactions with a person whom she usually found annoying became enjoyable. She realized that instead of seeing this person in the way she always had she was able both to recognize his own growth and development and to respond to it positively.

By keeping a record of your daily activities you will be able to recognize your own growth. To take the example of Larch again, if you find yourself in a situation which in the past would have made you feel insecure (asking for a raise, going out with someone new) you may notice that this time you approach the situation with more self-confidence. Sometimes other people may notice the changes in you before you do. Notice what people are telling you about yourself, and write this down, too.

I Affirm

Create a set of affirmations relating to the flower essences you are taking, and repeat them to yourself regularly. Repeating affirmations accomplishes on the mental plane the same flooding effect that the flower essences achieve on the emotional plane. Where in the past you' been limited by a negative belief (" can' do anything right"), the repetition of an affirmation (" approach every new situation with confidence and competence") weakens and eventually erases the hold of the negative belief. Say your affirmations as often as you think of doing so (and think of doing so often). As part of our consultation service we give you a list of affirmations which correspond to each essence.

You may simply repeat them or use them as a starting point for the formulation of affirmations which suit your individual needs. You may also wish to create affirmations for special situations; i.e., if you know that in a week you' coming up for a job review design a special affirmation for the occasion (" boss appreciates the skill and responsibility with which I do my work and rewards me accordingly.").

I Feel Worse

Sometimes people will experience what seem to be negative reactions to the Bach Flower Essences. These may include physical symptoms such as cold or flu-like symptoms, rashes or skin eruptions, or intense emotional reactions. Physical symptoms may indicate that the emotional condition being treated has begun to affect the physical body. The symptoms listed represent what is called in homeopathy a " crisis," the body's effort to cleanse itself by eliminating toxins. You can hasten this process by drinking lots of water, taking Rescue Essence (a composite of five Bach Flower Essences), and Crab Apple (an essence which aids in cleansing and physical detoxification).

Emotional reactions represent a healing crisis on the feeling level, as in the following example.

Sam is treated badly at his job; his wife doesn' appreciate him; and even the dog growls at him when he comes home at night. For years he reacted to things that happened with resentment, hardly even aware that this was his habitual response to life.

Then Sam goes to a Flower Essence counselor who identifies his pattern of resentment and suggests that he take Willow. The condition he had ignored for years now enters the forefront of his consciousness. Because of this focus he suddenly notices how resentful he is. He resents everything: a bus which is thirty seconds late, his lack of exact change for that bus, and the man sitting next to him who spreads out his newspaper. Possibilities for resentment seem unlimited. After a day or two, Sam is ready to throw away his mixture because the flower essences seem to be making things worse, not better.

Sam is simply becoming aware of how resentful he has always been. If this happens to you remember that awareness is the first step in releasing unwanted emotions and beliefs.

I Feel Better

The three steps of taking the flower essences regularly, keeping a daily journal, and creating affirmations work as well for those who react intensely as for those who react faintly. Steadily flooding oneself with the flower essences helps to wash an emotional crisis away; being in touch with your dreams and emotions helps keep you being overwhelmed by them; and repeated affirmations remind you of your intention to dissolve the blockages which presently hinder you.

A Way to Learn More

Our principal goal as Flower Essence counselors is to help you to learn how to choose your own Essences. With this in mind, Connie, one of the Beyond the Rainbow partners, has created a course by email. You're invited to explore this course.

Our Consultation Service

Although flower essences have always been intended as a self-treatment, we know that it can be difficult, especially in a crisis situation, to be objective about what your most important issues are. That's why we became certified Bach Flower Essence Counselors.

One of our first professional steps was to design a questionnaire which would both save our clients consultation time and engage them in understanding their situations. When you return the questionnaire to us (by email or regular mail) we'll offer recommendations on the flower essences, crystals, and essential oils which we feel are most appropriate for helping you to resolve the most prominent challenges in your life.

The cost of this consultation is $50, and if you choose to buy the flower essences, crystals, or oils from Beyond the Rainbow we will give you a 10 percent discount off our usual prices.

You're welcome to take a look at the questionnaire

Also see An Introduction to The Bach Flower Essences

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