Four Flower Remedies for Highly Sensitive People

When I first found out that I was a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), I finally understood why my mind and body felt overstimulated and overworked, why I was utterly exhausted all the time, and why my normal emotions evolved into big, massive waves of fear and insecurity.

Because HSPs like me have sensitive nervous systems and heightened senses, certain foods, loud noises, violence, social media, large screen televisions, wifi signals, airports, or people with angry or anxious energy can be very overwhelming. These stimuli can cause HSPs to feel emotionally unsafe and physically drained.

Before I knew what an HSP was, I knew I was tired of being so sensitive. I had spent most of my life feeling everything all of the time. It seemed like I’d tried everything possible to tamp down my feelings, but none of it was really working.

I had practiced energy healing modalities for over 10 years, but most of them didn’t address the wild emotional depth that I was seeking to make peace with (and, to be honest, take a break from). Herbal medicine helped me feel better in my body, but some of it was just too much for my sensitive system to handle. Eventually, I started to wonder if there was anything I could do about it all.

To my great relief, I eventually learned about being highly sensitive after reading books about HSPs by Dr. Elaine Aron, and about empaths by Dr. Judith Orloff. However, connecting the dots didn’t change the fact that I was still feeling pretty ungrounded and tired in my body, mind, and spirit.

Enter flower remedies.

What Are Flower Remedies?

Flower essences are a form of vibrational medicine. When they are used topically or ingested (always research the toxicity of a plant before using it!), the vibration of the flower floods the emotional body with specific vibrations – sort of like a tuning fork. The vibrations disrupt harmful emotional patterns, and any ailments that result from them can begin to recalibrate. Then, new and more beneficial patterns emerge as a result of the healing emotional frequency.

I don’t know exactly when or where I first heard of flower remedies (or flower essences), but I had been taking a course on herbalism and was reminded that flowers can be a very powerful source of emotional support for sensitive people.

I wanted to try them for myself. So, one summer solstice day, while I was visiting my sister for my birthday, I asked if we could harvest some flowers from her garden and make flower essences. My sister was always up for a summer solstice ritual, and so she agreed to try it. We intuitively chose flowers like yarrow and jasmine, filled clear glass bowls with water, covered the surface of the water with flowers, and set them out to soak in the sun so that they could leave their vibrational imprint in the water. (Here is an article that shows you how to make your own flower essences.)

After we bottled the flower essences, I began to use them as a spray or add little droplets to my water each day. My sensitive system began to feel the calming shifts within the first month.

That was when I fell in love with flower essences. They were so gentle, yet so powerful in the way they transformed how I felt emotionally, and how much more grounded I felt in my body, even after experiences that would normally have overwhelmed me.

Dr. Edward Bach

Soon after visiting my sister, I started making flower remedies for every flower in my own garden and studying the work of Dr. Edward Bach, the originator of English flower remedies (also described as a sensitive person).

Dr. Bach was a British physician in the late 1920s and 1930s who worked in vaccine development. However, because of Dr. Bach’s sensitive nature, he didn’t like the needles used to administer vaccines. He also studied homeopathy and favored a holistic approach to medicine.

Dr. Bach believed that if a patient’s physical injury was healed but the emotions, mind, and spirit were still not, then the patient was not actually healed.

After Dr. Bach resigned from practicing Western medicine and moved to the English countryside, he discovered that the dew on wild flowers carried a uniquely healing vibrational imprint. From the dew, he created flower water; from there, he started making flower remedies to address specific ailments.

Ultimately, Dr. Bach created a complete system of 38 flower remedies, with each remedy intended to match the emotional vibration of a specific ailment.

Due to the specificity of the system Dr. Bach created, I have seen so many positive changes in my own and in my clients’ emotional states and physical vitality. Flower remedies can begin to work in as little as a few days.

Flower Remedies for Highly Sensitive People

Here are four flower remedies that Highly Sensitive People can try taking to achieve more emotional balance and vitality in mind, body, and spirit.

1. Olive. This remedy helps to aid exhaustion or depletion and helps you feel more vital. I like to use olive after being around crowds of people, or if I have been working hard and my energy reserves feel like they are getting low.

2. Walnut. This essence provides a shell of protection when you may be overwhelmed or if you are feeling under attack. It also helps us cut ties with the past when we find that certain events, circumstances, or people no longer feel good for our well-being. Walnut also helps with physiological or circumstantial transitions.

3. Centaury. This flower remedy is great for helping us to prioritize our own self-care instead of focusing so much on others. It also gives us a boost in willpower and helps us assert better physical and emotional boundaries.

4. Rescue Remedy. You may have seen Rescue Remedy at health food stores. It is probably the most popular flower remedy and is useful in multiple circumstances. This blend brings us comfort during times of shock, trauma, numbness, or grief. It can also help soothe anger, frustration, pain, or agitation. I always say, when in doubt, choose Rescue Remedy.

I use flower remedies for all of the above reasons, but I also use them for feeling more sure of my path, more trusting of my intuition, and more confident in myself. I even use them when I am feeling nervous about public speaking or going to a big event. But, mostly, I am so grateful that I've found something that helps me feel at peace while navigating the world as an HSP.

Looking for more support? Try these three flower essences to build courage.