Mending A Broken Heart

Alternative Medicine Magazine - Issue 34 March 2000

Feature Story:

Mending a Broken Heart with Alternative Medical Therapies:
Gently Shifting Negative Emotions to Positive Ones

by Alicia Sirkin, BFRP

Your broken heart has rendered you miserable from head to foot. Thoughts about the breakup replay in your mind like a broken record making it difficult to concentrate. The mental chatter disturbs your sleep. You are stuck in an emotional mire and the unhappiness is unbearable.

Bach Flower Essences

Bach Flower Essences (BFE) can help soothe your heart and rescue you from the muck in a simple, gentle way. The homeopathically-prepared liquid preparations can actually shift those unwanted negative thoughts, attitudes, emotions, and personality qualities back to positive ones.

Discovered nearly seventy years ago by British physician and scientist Dr. Edward Bach, flower essences can support you in the 'letting go' process, so you can smoothly transition away from the source of your broken heart. Each of us acts and reacts differently to a broken heart--bringing our unique personality traits, attitudes and conditioned behavior into the experience. Some of you may experience deep sadness and loss, and be prone to sulking or feeling blame and self-pity, indicating the essence Pine. Others may feel uncontrollable rage; the essence Cherry Plum will bring control back to the mind.

To repair your heart, you'll probably need to begin with the essence Walnut to ease your transition and help you break ties to your past relationship. Feelings of anger, suspicion, revenge or jealousy would indicate the flower essence Holly which helps reestablish the potential for an open, loving heart. If you're crying a lot and feeling utterly hopeless with no rainbow at the end of the tunnel, Sweet Chestnut will bring you hope for the future and brighten your days. BFE can also offer relief from depression, confusion, resentment, overwhelm, loneliness and fears of abandonment.

Although flower essences are never indicated for physical symptoms, the body often heals when emotional balance is restored.

For feelings of sadness, grief and loss the essence Star of Bethlehem is indicated to soothe the heart. It can also help you recuperate when an unexpected breakup results in a shock to your emotional system. Although flower essences are never indicated for physical symptoms, the body often heals when emotional balance is restored.

Proper dosage and accurate selection of indicated essences is critical for success. After the correct essences are determined and taken, relief can begin within a few dayscontinuing to deepen for several months. My clients often express feeling lighter, happier and open once again to establishing new relationships.

All natural, completely safe and sold over-the-counter, BFE are easy to use. They can be taken either internally by mouth or externally on pulse points. When many unwanted states of mind occur simultaneously, it is advised to combine up to six or seven of the essences together in a one ounce 'treatment' bottle. You can also use Rescue Remedy, the combination emergency stress formula, designed to restore calm in a hurry.

Although Dr. Bach designed the essences to be self-selecting, working with a qualified Bach Flower Essence practitioner takes the guesswork out of the selection process. Bach Flower practitioners will get you actively involved in your healing process, working with what your conscious mind knows it can handle.

The essences are selected according to what you are feeling in the present moment--thus greatly simplifying the selection process. In addition, we search to find the underlying reasons for your unhappiness--to treat the cause, not the symptoms. You will learn about the 'peeling effect'--the subtle unlayering effect the essences have on hidden or longstanding emotional issues and events--a rich part of Bach Flower Essence therapy. The thirty-eight single flower essences in this healing system are able to repair long-standing emotional imbalances and traumas as well as rebalance passing moods.

To get results, the Bach Essences must be taken a minimum of four times a day--either from over-the-counter 10 ml single flower essence 'stock' concentrate bottles or from a one ounce amber 'treatment' bottle containing your personalized combination formula. When the essences have done their job, you'll begin to forget to take them regularly. If you stop taking them before your positive state of mind is restored, you may feel a bit of emotional 'backsliding.' Resume the dosage until you feel like your former positive self again.

--ALICIA SIRKIN

Alicia Sirkin, B.F.R.P. is a Bach Flower Essence Practitioner, Holistic Health Educator, lecturer and internationally published author. She is on the international register of practitioners of the Dr. Edward Bach Foundation and facilitates educational programs affiliated with Nelson Bach USA, Ltd. and approved by the Dr. Edward Bach Foundation. Ms. Sirkin maintains a private practice and is available for phone consultations.

Tel. 888-875-6753
Email: alicia@flowerhealing.com
Web site: www.flowerhealing.com
Write: P.O.B. 33-0841, Miami, FL 33233

Bach Flower Essences are selected for mood enhancement and are never used to alleviate physical symptoms.

Always consult your physician or licensed health care provider for physical or psychological illness.