The power of flowers

Moira Krum displays some of the dropper bottles of flower essences she uses in her therapy practice. Scott Langley photo

 

By STACEY MORRIS
Contributing writer

HILLSDALE, N.Y.

Moira Krum smiles when asked to explain the philosophy of flower essence therapy.
“Plants have been medicine for millennia,” she said. “They’re actually nothing new in terms of preventions and cures.”

And as a therapist using floral essences, Krum believes strongly that flowers and their healing potential aren’t to be underestimated — whether the goal is to help alleviate anxiety, work through grief, acclimate to a life transition, face blocks related to procrastination, or simply feel more centered and grounded.

Krum says the subtle effects of flower essences are ideal for working on issues at the level of emotions, which is often where imbalances can begin in the first place.

“Emotions themselves can be a wonderful guide to our disharmonies — if we pay attention to them,” Krum explained.

She works with local clients in person — and also via Zoom with those outside the region. She begins with an intake session with each client, exploring the issue with which they’re seeking help.

“It’s a thorough conversation,” she said. “We talk about where they are, what they need, and look at how they’re experiencing life. We’re all dealing with challenges from the world, from our past, and from our current life situations.”

Based on this conversation, she then recommends flower essences she thinks would be helpful in restoring balance to the problem.

The essences come in dropper bottles from one of several organizations that specialize in making these preparations from flowers and water. Krum suggests taking the drops four times a day, under with tongue or with water. Some brands she works with, such as Alaskan Essences, also provide flower essences in spray bottles for topical use.

On her website, Krum describes a kind of spiritual link between the vibrant scents, colors and shapes of flowers and the emotional needs of people – one in which “aspects of each flower essence resonate and amplify particular qualities within the human soul.”

“This kind of healing through flower essence therapy is relevant for our time,” Krum said. “I think we intrinsically know there’s something exquisite in the blossom of a flower — that it has qualities of nurturing, healing beauty and mystery.”

 

Tapping into a tradition
Although many plants have been valued for centuries for their medicinal properties, Krum said the modern-day concept of flower essence therapy was pioneered largely by Edward Bach, a British physician who began in the 1930s to experiment with the healing qualities of flower blossoms after becoming disenchanted with some aspects of western medicine.

“As a doctor, he became interested in immunology and developed intestinal vaccines,” Krum said. “Dr. Bach felt something was missing, so he gravitated to homeopathy and later, the healing qualities in blossoms. He began by creating essences and experimenting with people he knew and his patients, and they kept coming back because it was working.”

Through Bach’s belief that flower blossoms contain a particular pattern of energy, he developed what are now the 38 Bach Flower Remedies sold around the world — dropper bottles containing various blends of flower blossoms and tree blossoms that are used for healing or abating various emotional conditions.

Cherry plum, for example, is said to help with fear of losing control. Holly is used to treat hatred, envy and jealousy, and honeysuckle helps those living in the past.

“It’s a gentle, subtle form of inner healing that can bring about change through re-patterning and getting unstuck from long-held patterns,” Krum said, explaining that people adopt certain emotional patterns “to survive and get through a trying situation, and they can unknowingly become a part of us and thereby cause blocks in future situations.”

Floral essences, she said, stimulate inner responses that are linked to the alchemical creation of a flower through the elements of soil, water and sun.

“Through that alchemy, I can move through grief, fear and procrastination,” Krum said.
A few of Krum’s recent success stories include a client working through ongoing challenges with her adult son.

“Through talking about old patterns and the use of the essences, she’s able to see how her behaviors affect him,” she explained. “When she shifts, he shifts, and it opens their dynamic and creates space for new patterns to emerge.”

In addition to people, Krum also works regularly with pets and mentioned a recent experience helping a dog deal with sudden bouts of aggression after a cross-country move. After an intake and background information from the dog’s owner, Krum concluded that the dog was grieving due to the upheaval of leaving behind the familiar surroundings, including two fellow canines he had befriended.

“There was a reason the dog was becoming unfriendly,” she said. “Through attunement to a pet’s needs, and by listening, we can help a pet shift behavior, and like a person, the animal doesn’t need to stay stuck. … I tuned into what the dog was feeling and holding. The dog was clearly suffering after the move, … but he didn’t have to stay there.”

 

‘Powerful and profound’
On her website, Krum describes how she was first introduced to flower essence therapy in 2010 and how the therapy helped her decide in 2012 to go to California to pursue training as a Waldorf high school teacher – a decision she describes as a life-changing event.

While in California she was introduced to the Flower Essence Society and the essences it produces from its biodynamic Terra Flora Gardens. Krum’s training in flower essence therapy now includes completion of the Flower Essence Society’s professional course, the Alaskan Essences practitioner training program levels 1-3 and the Bach International Education Program levels 1 and 2, among other certifications.

After a consultation, she recommends a “remedy cycle,” usually consisting of four weeks of using the flower essences she recommends based on a client’s individual needs. She follows up about a month after the initial consultation to assess the client’s progress and to see if more work is needed.

“Flower essence therapy is not necessarily a quick process, and it’s not passive,” Krum said. “There’s work for the client to do. It’s a self-healing journey, and they learn out of their resonance with the essence to pay attention to feelings and subtle changes.”

But the therapy also depends upon the interaction between Krum and her clients.
“There’s something very powerful and profound when two gather for healing,” she explained. “Something happens in the conversation that you can’t replicate on your own. To attune and listen to someone is the most important aspect. It creates a space where the other can speak, and in doing so, what lives within them can be uncovered, recognized and hopefully healed.”
She added that flower essence therapy, while ideal for a crisis or transition in life, can also be a part of regular self-care.

“Some clients use essences for a short-term situation,” she said. “Others use them every day as part of maintaining wellbeing, whether it’s essences that are ingested or used topically in sprays.
“It’s a natural way of keeping healthy and brings us to a state of inner wellbeing — and it works well with other modalities,” Krum said. “Allopathic medicine has its place. Healing is not an all-or-nothing endeavor. Medicines, massage, acupuncture, flower essences — they’re all different lenses into healing and health.”

 

Visit www.livingblossomswellness.com for more information about Moira Krum and her practice of flower essence therapy.