After 12+ years Karyn is leaving her regular shifts at Rainbow Natural Remedies to chart new territories for herself. Our community has been a better place because of Karyn’s work at Rainbow. She is leaving behind a long and wonderful legacy of helping thousands of people. Her help might incorporate recommending a herbal compound or a homeopathic remedy. She is also known for instilling confidence, relief, safety and security as well as a lot of laughter.

I know someone who had the privledge of having dinner with several Nobel laureates. After dinner they all went for a walk and my friend commented on how thirsty for knowledge these people were. This story reminds me of Karyn. She is someone who loves learning, seeking new ideas and showing me new ways of looking at life. I am proud that Karyn and I worked together all these years. And like the many, many people Karyn has helped I can say that my life is better too.

While Karyn won’t be around as much we’ll still see her at Remedies filling a shift here and there and perhaps teaching a class. I invite you to meet Melissa – someone Karyn was instrumental in hand picking to take her place. While there will never be a substitute for Karyn I know that Melissa is an excellent person to follow Karyn.

I wish Karyn the very best! (And I will always remember your birthdays.)

It is my personal experience that emotional events, especially traumatic ones, can have a huge role in physical ailments and conditions, but “modern” allopathic medicine is not designed to incorporate a mind-body-spirit philosophy. What may be emotional or spiritual in its origin is treated as physical only and therefore is never fully resolved.

Flower essence therapy is a method of natural healthcare that addresses the link between emotional and physical responses in the body. It originated in the 1930’s with British doctor Edward Bach, and it has since expanded to include many more varieties of flowers and applications worldwide. The preparation is simple, flowers are chosen for the vibrational qualities within each plant, and sun infused in pure mineral water, preserved with brandy and bottled in droppers. The effects are not meant to be bio-chemical, but energetic. The energetic qualities of each plant taken in liquid dropper form addresses the emotional/energetic issues a person may be facing by providing a “suggestion, whisper, prayer” (choose the word you like best) to the body on how to address the physical manifestation of the emotional issue.

For example, someone has just come out of an abusive relationship and is trying to make it on their own but they are overwhelmed by anxiety and low self esteem from years of abuse. Physically, they have gained a large amount of weight and feel fatigued and weak, unable to find the energy needed to get back on their feet. They also find that they now have regular stomach issues and nausea that seems to come whenever there is a fearful situation at hand. While there may be herbs and supplements that will help some of the physical symptoms, they do not address the emotional fear that may be at its core. Larch addresses fear of failure and lack of confidence, Oregon Grape addresses the feeling of expecting hostility from all around you, Black Cohosh addresses a fear of threatening relationships. These and many others offer a way to pinpoint and address the emotional content that may really be at the root of the physical symptoms one has.

The energetics part is where people become confused and/or skeptical. Multiple studies on the scientific effects of flower essences have yet to be done and honestly we lack the methods to fully test them at this point. Whether or not there is a physical effect through the resonance of that plant seems negligable to me. If the remedies are merely a way for people to meditate on debilitating or even just troubling emotional responses and take on more effective positive ways of interacting with themselves and others, I say that sounds like an important effect to me.  If they actually gently and painlessly offer a way for the body to recognize its emotional energetic nature and find a way to heal without the more intrusive drugs and remedies, then I think its fantastic.  Try it for yourself….

Books in store on Flower Essence therapy:

The Flower Essence Repertory, by Patricia Kaminski and Richard Katz

Flower Remedies, by Peter Mansfield

The Flower Healer, by Barbara Olive

New Bach Flower Body Maps, by Dietmar Kramer

Bach Flower Remedies for Children, by Barbara Mazzarella

In this day and age of humankind there is much concern about what is good for you and what isn’t. It seems though, sometimes a person can turn this concern of living well, into a pathological obsession. For example: ‘I GOTTA have my omega 3, 6, and 9’s, multivitamin, prescriptions for condition x, y, & z, B complex, amino acids, greens, probiotics, protien powder, coq10, enzymes, detox capsules, immune booster, anti inflammatories, and I gotta eat whole foods that come from italy and nowhere else, otherwise I’m gonna GET EVERY DISEASE IN THE WORLD!! AAAAH!!!!’

Now listen carefully, I am not saying caretaking for one’s health is a bad thing. Just that there is a point- a threshold- where a healthy concern can transform, rather subtly, into a pathological uneasiness. A most clear example of this is the stress ulcer. Stress = feeling of knotting in stomach which down the line may turn into an ulcer. Booo!

Interestingly enough- the way to not get too neurotic about your health is to get involved with your health. Contradictory? Perhaps- but not really. It is the difference between eating your food and tasting your food. Both processes require participation, but only in the latter scenario are you actually reacting to what is happening. For instance, someone tells you that after drinking kombucha you will be healthy and happy. You try it- it gives you more gas, and you think it doesn’t taste good, but whatever. You trust your friend’s word more than your physical reactions. Hmmm. Try and listen to your body. Participate. The same can be said for your supplements/medicines (Supplements are medicine- don’t play around or kid yourself any longer).

Ask yourself:

- Do I feel better since I’ve started taking medicine _____?

- Why am I taking this medicine? And then follow up with yourself one month later and see if that condition is better and the reason is still valid.

- Talk to a trusted practitioner or friend. Get an outside opinion. Your own perspective is just that- one perspective. Get another one. It takes a village to raise a human, not just a kid.

Don’t let your obsession of being healthy turn you into that person where the only people that can stand to be around you, are others just as pathologically obsessed about their health as you. That just ain’t healthy!