Life as a main ingredient

YOU may already have used Rescue Remedy, and probably with dramatic results. But did you know you were using a vibrational essence - or that there are loads of other remedies to help you? CYNTHIA ALVES says essences can be used effectively by therapists and clients

FROM time to time something comes into the world that is wondrous and life-changing, and incredibly universal - but, because it’s so important, it takes a while for the human mind to be able to comprehend it.

Part of my role in the world is to help people to ‘turn on’ to essences; to grasp what an extraordinary gift can easily be brought into their lives - anyone’s life, everyone’s lives. And not just people, but also for animals, for the land and for our planet. Yes, that vast. As big as life.

Let’s first be clear about what we are, and are not, talking about. Even though Rescue Remedy is now well known, not a lot of people know what they’re using. Though usually called flower essences, or remedies, they should really be called ‘vibrational’ or ‘nature’ essences because they are made from any aspect of nature and life - not only the plant kingdom, but also the mineral and animal kingdoms, as well as environmental phenomenon.

And not only Bach. There are over 50 well-established producers of essence ranges in Britain alone, plus an astounding number in nearly every country on every continent of the rest of the world. We are not talking about a minor English eccentricity.

Nor are we talking about a herbal remedy, essential oils or homeopathics. Vibrational essences are in a class of their own.

I think the most informative description of them is as, “a recording in water of the plant’s life force pattern"’(or the crystal, the antelope, the waterfall, the eclipse...).

Essences can be used for assisting the most mundane and daily needs: helping the body to repair from a burn or bash; the mind to recover from a shock; the emotions to re-balance after a knock (sad or joyous). In other words, for all family and friends in day-to-day life.

Being a safe means of care, people are experiencing the tremendous benefits of using essences for babies, for themselves as parents, and the joy of being able to help their friends.

Yet, even though our world view is expanding generally to see that ‘health’ is about much more than the condition and care of the physical body (the phrase ‘mind-body-spirit’ is even used in TV adverts now!), few people as yet automatically include ‘relationships’, ‘attitudes’, ‘personality and behaviour patterns’.

But essences do - they see psychological and social aspects as part of health and healing. And they do so far beyond the catch-all buzz word, ‘stress’.

So what are essences for? You choose... and essences will be there. Because Life will be there. Nature gives us our life on this planet, and life’s gift of Love comes in unlimited forms.

A main area of my life activity is to ‘help the helpers’. Applied to essences, this means I am especially (but not only) focused on assisting those involved in the healing arts, whether as professional practitioners or as lay workers for community and family.

Whatever discipline or disciplines therapists might be working in, including essences in their practices can be far more than ‘just another add on’. They can be the ‘X-factor’ that synergises all their means and skills; that heightens and offers the greatest efficiency to each and every healing practice.

Essences can be very simple, quick and inexpensive to use, and, while they can be applied as a therapy in their own right, they also come into their own in other ways.

Carers have an inclination to burn-out - essences help us look after ourselves as practitioners so our caring doesn’t dry up or get mechanical, and to ease us into rest before we drop from exhaustion.
Essences are also efficient for room cleansing, along with other means or on their own (there are now excellent ‘off the shelf’ sprays for room clear.) And having looked after yourself, and your healing room or space, you can better serve your clients.

Essences can be integrated into all healing arts. They are superb at helping a person to re-balance after a therapy session; to ground and anchor the refreshed and realigned energy or pattern that the session has enabled. Just a few drops at the end of a session helps the person retain and integrate what they received, or their ‘new state’, far more easily and comfortably.

Depending on what discipline you practice, there will be essences to help: for the scent of oils to be more easily absorbed in aromatherapy; or the meridian system to respond better during shiatsu; or the electrical system and pulse to stabilise after a cranial sacral session.

They can be ‘delivered’ in the form of drops in the mouth, by mixing them into massage lotions and oils; by spray; or by external application to chakras and meridian points.

Which ever way they are used, essences offer at least that sparkling extra, at best what shifts the session to whatever it is that ‘reaches the parts’.

The only word of warning for practitioners is that when you use or give essences to someone else, you are partaking of them too. Be prepared for your own healing to continue - with the essences helping to keep you grounded and balanced.

For therapies that involve going into a ‘special’ room for treatment, a ‘take-away’ dose bottle of essences gives a link between the healing room and the client’s home/workplace life, as well as offering a means of self- responsibility.

I have spoken with many body work practitioners - masseurs, physiotherapists, chiropractors, etc - who knew for sure that their client would benefit tremendously from something that would address their state of mind and emotion, or some psychological issue they knew to be at the root of the physical condition. Essences can easily give such healing arts workers a simple, yet profound means.

What if you are visiting a therapist who is not also using vibrational essences? You can take your own and use it during and after the session.

For each and every one of you reading this, I wish you at least a toe in the huge and wonderful world of essences - and if you already have a toe in, come on, dive in. The water is fine!



WANT TO KNOW MORE?
CYNTHIA ALVES practices with several ranges of essences, and has been teaching for nearly 20 years. She will be running a practitioner’s course in Bideford from January 2004. Tel: 01643 862990.