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Unveiling the Science (and Soul!) Behind How Flower Essences Work Their Magic


"Flower essences don't fix what's broken.

They remind you that you were

never broken to begin with."



I'm going to let you in on a little (big??) secret right now.


Okay…deep breath…here goes:


I am a flower essence practitioner (that's not the secret, everyone knows that), and I am also a flower essence skeptic.


Alright, maybe skeptic isn't the right word. I have no doubt whatsoever that flower essences do magical things. In all of my years of working with them- Oh, boy, have I seen some stuff! Wild transformations that seem almost unbelievable in their swiftness, deep shifts that have allowed my clients to bring real change into their lives, and countless smaller impacts that give people the space to heal.


I will admit, though, that every single time someone tells me how the flower essence formula I created for them has created huge results, I think to myself, "No shit? Really??"

Every. Single. Time. I can't believe that they worked!!


Ultimately, I know that they do work. My issue is that it’s basically impossible to say definitively HOW they work, and that has always made me question WHY they work. I have my little spiel that I give people when they ask me what flower essences are: They're vibrational medicine. They're physical medicine for the emotional body. They're magical hippy flower waters. But even after nearly twenty years of using, teaching about, and advocating for flower essences, I still feel so awkward explaining how they work because I'm literally trying to define something that defies definition!


I had another one of those conversations recently, and I was once again left wanting better words to communicate with people about flower essences. So, I decided to compile all the information I could find from all areas of scientific and spiritual thought and explain to myself once and for all HOW flower essences work!


And finally, I feel like I really get it. So now let's take a look at what's really happening when you take a flower essence - through the lenses of science, psychology, and energy.


The Science of Subtle Change


At first glance, flower essences just look like a bottle of water with a little bit of alcohol or glycerin added to preserve it. And while it's true that on the surface that's all they are, there's a lot more going on than meets the eye.


You may know that when you take a flower essence, you're not changing your body chemistry the way an herb or supplement does - you're changing your emotional chemistry. That subtle shift ripples straight through your whole system. But how does it happen?


Enter psychoneuroimmunology  (Yes, that's a real word!) - the study of how your thoughts and emotions affect your nervous, immune, and endocrine systems. 


Here's what happens:


Your brain lights up. When you take an essence with intention, the same areas activate that fire during meditation - regions linked to calm, reward, and self-awareness.


Your stress system chills out. That activation helps regulate your HPA axis (your internal alarm system) and your vagus nerve, gently nudging your body back toward balance.


Your body learns a new ritual. Over time, the simple act of taking drops becomes a somatic anchor - a signal to your nervous system that it's safe to exhale.


You could say flower essences help your nervous system remember what safety feels like.


 The Energy of Resonance and Frequency


Next, if we zoom out a bit - or maybe in - we enter the world of vibrational medicine. This is what I generally focus on when talking to people about flower essences but, again, words are so inadequate!


So here's the concept: every living thing has an energetic signature, a kind of frequency. Flower essences capture the energetic pattern of a flower in water - like recording a song into a liquid. (Yes, I realize how wild that sounds. Stay with me.)


Your body, which is mostly water and electricity, responds to that song through resonance. It's the same principle as two tuning forks vibrating together: when one is struck, the other begins to hum.


  • Each flower carries a unique vibrational code - calm, courage, hope, forgiveness.

  • When you take it, your energy field "entrains" with that vibration, reminding your system of a more balanced frequency.

  • Quantum biology calls this coherence - the return to harmony at the subatomic level.


It's not about chemistry. It's about communication.


And honestly? While the concept of "vibrational medicine" can be hard to wrap the ol’ mind around, I always try to remember that the lived experience of people using essences is real. Sometimes the how matters less than the simple fact that it does work.


The Psychology of Symbol and Soul


Though I'm not sure this will become my go-to explanation for flower essences, I do love me a little Carl Jung and this is a really interesting theory. 


Every flower essence holds an archetypal story - courage, compassion, renewal, love. When you take an essence, you're not just swallowing drops; you're engaging in symbolic dialogue with yourself.


  • Mimulus whispers to your fear, reminding you that courage isn't the absence of fear- it's movement through it.

  • Holly heals jealousy and rage by revealing the deeper need for love underneath.

  • Star of Bethlehem tends the wounds that came as a grievous shock.


Flower essences act like emotional mirrors -they show you what's ready to heal and help your psyche integrate it gently. They don't replace therapy (please, keep your therapist if you have one!), but they support the inner work by giving it language and resonance.


Think of them as gentle emotional translators. Your subconscious speaks in symbols, and flowers? They're fluent.


The Spiritual Conversation with Nature


This is the theory that I feel deep down in my soul, but it's a tough one to pitch to someone I met at a dinner party who asked me what I do for a living.


The theory is this: In the spiritual sense, flower essences are nature's love letters.


They remind us that healing doesn't always have to be effortful. Sometimes it's about allowing something wiser than our own anxious thoughts to move through us.


When you work with flower essences:

  • You're engaging in co-creation with nature—a conscious relationship between human and plant intelligence.

  • The essence transmits the flower's energetic message of balance, helping realign your subtle bodies - emotional, etheric, and spiritual.

  • Many people describe it as reconnecting with their soul's original blueprint - that innate, undistorted state of being.


Though I often refer to flower essences as magical (because they are!), in reality it's less "magic potion," and more "remembering who you are."


(Though honestly, if other people want to also think of them as magical, I'm not going to stop them. We could all use a little more magic.)


The Ritual of Healing


People often talk about the Placebo Effect as though it's a bad thing, but I've always thought that if something works, does it really matter by what mechanism? Let's strip away every theory - the science, the energy, the archetypes - and look at the one truth that remains:


The ritual itself is healing.


Pausing.

Noticing what you feel.

Taking the drops and whispering an intention to your heart.


That act says to your body, I'm here. I'm listening. I care.


And your nervous system? It believes you.


Neuroscience calls this neural retraining.

Spirit calls it prayer.

We can call it medicine for the modern mind.


🌈 In Essence


Flower essences don't push, fix, or force - they invite.


They speak a language your nervous system and your soul both understand, even if they interpret it differently. Flower essences bridge the tangible and the ineffable. They align the chemistry of your brain, the energy of your body, and the language of your soul.


They don't change who you are - they help you remember your natural state of coherence, compassion, and wholeness.


P.S. I’m including a full bibliography with this one, just in case you want to read more on your own. 


Ready to Explore?


Curious which essence might speak to your current emotional pattern? Explore my Signature Flower Essence Blends HERE or get your own custom formulation HERE.  


Ready for a full reset? Join me in The Complete Anxiety Overhaul—my step-by-step course to reclaim calm, clarity, and self-compassion. Learn more HERE. 


Want to dive deeper? Take the Nervous System Style Quiz and discover your personalized emotional support toolkit.



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