How to select Flower Essences

One of the most frequently asked questions we receive is: "How do I select flower essences for myself?"

You can start with one of the easy to use essence formulas we blended for every day situations. If you'd like to learn how to select essences yourself, then begin with some self-reflection and by setting a clear intention for what you want. For example, ask yourself these questions:

  • What kind of support do you need right now? What is going on?
  • What emotions and thoughts are coming up?
  • Which qualities within yourself would you like to strengthen?

Focus on one theme or issue and don't try to resolve everything in your life with just one combination of 25 essences :-)
Limit yourself to a maximum of 4 to 6 essences.

Below we’ve described several ways to choose flower, gem and environmental essences for yourself.

Take some time to quietly sit down, reflect and write your intention. Once you know what your intention is, there are different ways of choosing the essences.

1) You can browse through our cross-reference. This is a document with keywords for every flower essence (and gem elixir and environmental essence) and a cross-reference of healing qualities of all our essences organized under various therapeutic topics. Try to find keywords that match what you want to work on. Write down the names of the essences that pop up. You can also use our online repertory the LivingBook (free 3 day trial).

Read about these essences in the catalog and see which essences speak to you. When you find the right ones, they will really resonate with you “yes, this is it!” Write the names of the essence(s) down including what was resonating with you when you were reading about them. You can also hold the essence bottle in both your hands or look at its picture and see if you can feel it’s energy and what it does to you. Congratulations you just picked your first set of essences! You can take those for 3-4 weeks.

The other two approaches are intuitive, which are often spot on and a very interesting way to work as you put your assumptions aside and just let the essences (and your Higher Self) speak.

2) Use an intuitive method of selection such as kinesiology, muscle testing or a pendulum. These methods allow your intuition to guide you to what is right for you at this moment. Set your intention and test which essences come up for you. You can do this by working with a list of the names or if you have several essences or even kit boxes, you can work more quickly by asking for a yes/no for every kit-box and the same for the bottles in the ‘yes boxes’.

An even simpler approach is to set your intention, open the box(es), take a moment to close your eyes and become quiet for a few breaths, and then open your eyes and pick the one(s) that draw your attention. You may think it was the label that is different or the light was shining differently on the bottle, but at that moment, the essence and you made an energetic connection and you felt or saw that.

After you’ve chosen the essences you can look them up in our catalog and read their indications and healing qualities. This is very insightful and you can also see it as a diagnostic tool; what is it that is going on and I’m not really aware of? Often you’ll be surprised to see what comes up and when you read about them, you feel like ‘wow, I really need that!’ or ‘I had forgotten about that, but this is truly what I need’.

Another easy way to select a flower essence is to use the Flower Energy Cards. Take a moment to formulate your question, and pick a card. You can read the keywords and positive affirmations on the card, but you can also read more in the catalog. If you feel that’s your essence, then take that one for 3-4 weeks.

For children (and adults) it can also be fun to work with the cards by spreading them over a table or on the floor. See which one you feel attracted to, what is it saying? Do you recognize what’s in the description? Then pick one that you feel resistance to and see what is has to tell you. Both flower essences may be perfect for you right now.

Whatever method you choose, you will notice that if you do the same work again one month later, a different essence will come up or draw your attention, as you and your energy have changed and you need something new. By taking an essence, you integrate that energy/quality in your system. The more often you do this process for yourself, the easier it will get to select essences for yourself. It is so much fun to realize that these energies from Nature really want to work with us and really can help us change our life.

The good news about learning to select for yourself is that if you take the "wrong" essence nothing will happen.

It’s okay to start simply. If selecting from the individual essences feels a bit overwhelming for you, then start with one of our 12 Combination Formulas. Read more about them here. These formulas are unique blends of flower, gem and environmental essences. They address a variety of common needs that are easy to identify. Ten of the twelve formulas are also available as a spray for extra support.

Be curious, play and enjoy these Healing Essences from the Heart of Nature!

Read more on how to use our essences here, and here for more FAQ's.