Flower Essence Therapy as a Collaborative Modality
Watch the video and / or read the fully transcribed interview:
George [00:00:00] Today, I am with Ruth Altschuler and really happy for her to be here to talk about flower essences and the power that it can provide for our healing and transformation. Ruth, great to have you here.
Ruth [00:00:16] Thank you, George, It is always a joy, especially because what you embody and the language you speak, have so many points in common with how I see things and I am happy to be collaborating with you.
George [00:00:33] Kindred spirits for sure. Let me read your bio for the audience, so that they can have some context and then we’ll get into this conversation.
Ruth Toledo Altschuler’s practice as a flower essence practitioner focuses on the soul journey, guiding her clients through initiations, challenges, thresholds, transformations, working on the emotional, mental and spiritual level, using energy remedies. She is certified by the Flower Essence Society and has three decades of experience in this field as an entrepreneur, educator and mentor.
As a Flower Essence Practitioner, Ruth’s offerings include online consultations, courses and mentoring for English and Portuguese speakers around the world. And just for those of you don’t know, Ruth has had a very successful flower essence practice in Brazil before moving to the United States, where she practices, now reaching people all over the world.
So, Ruth, I’m looking forward to what you’re going to share with us today about your flower essence practice.
Ruth [00:01:40] Okay, so I guess I’ll jump right in. Yes. Yes. And so.
Flower Essence Therapy is all about Collaboration
Ruth [00:01:46] What I wanted to bring today is a subject so close to heart, and that is the fact that they work with plants and Flower Essence therapy as a modality is very much a collaborative modality and a modality that helps to integrate. And I will never forget that when I began organizing courses about Flower Essences and about Flower Essence therapy and teaching my own courses in Brazil, as you mentioned, one of the amazing things was the variety of people that would be drawn to these courses. There were dentists, physical therapists, massage therapists, psychologists, medical doctors, homeopathic doctors, etc., etc.. And of course, a lot of people who wanted to learn about the essences to work on themselves and to use them for themselves. And so this combination and this coming together of people, and how essences united all these people amongst the common passion and common interest has always been fascinating for me to watch.
Now I want to bring that to another level: so let’s talk about how much we humans are connected and interdepend in our relationship with plants. So if we think that it’s only because plants exist and have created the atmosphere conducive to humans, and for this I will refer to the previous interview that I did with George that actually has a presentation that mentions this in more detail.
George [00:03:51] And I mentioned that there will be a link. Those of you watching this, you can look for the notes of this video. There is a link to the previous presentation that Ruth did for our audience here. And it’s fantastic, so be sure to check that out to get some more background about the power of flower essences.
Ruth [00:04:09] Yes, and so when we think that it’s been the existence of plants that created the conditions for the diversity of beings that exist in this planet, and that eventually humans came after all this diversity had created these amazing conditions. And where plants, and especially flowering plants, play such an important role. Below, the link to the page: Flowering Plants Impart Wisdom for our Evolution
That is where it all begins, this bigger context of how united and how interconnected and how interdependent we all are as beings, living here on planet Earth. Plants offer us the air that we breathe, the purifying of the air that we breathe, and also the food that we eat, even the animal food that we eat also, as the animals also nurture from plants and breathe the same air. So it’s a basic, and we can even begin thinking of plants as sustenance. But then we can also look at plants as medicine and we know how dogs go and eat certain plants when they’re sick or cats. Instinctively they go towards certain plants for the healing that they need.
And so humans have developed a whole language and way of understanding how they can be helped by plants through teas and different kinds of preparations. And there is all this level of herbal medicine that we also have in the traditional cultures. And of course, most of the medicines that modern medicine has, a lot of the knowledge came from studying plants and then developing these substances as isolated substances in the lab. But originally they learned from the plants. Well, we also have other plant preparations, like we have had essential oils that are distilled and concentrated extractions of the aromatic qualities of plants. And then we have flower essences that are mostly information of plants’ evolutionary knowledge.
So I want to share something with you because I think that’s going to be helpful. And I’m going to show how in my Website, all of this is explained in quite a rich way.
Flower Essences are just the imprint of what that plant has learned, because in the moment of flowering, the plant gathers all that it knows and it expresses itself in this uniqueness. And flower essences are preparations that contain basically just the information of the life force of plants.
In this page: What are Flower Essences is in my website, Essence Mentoring, you can read more about this. You can even see and understand and actually watch the whole.. see a diagram, but also watch a whole video you on the methods of plant essence preparation and then you can really grasp what that is. And it’s amazing because this is a wonderful way for us (and I have this page called Flowering Plants, impart Wisdom for Our Evolution) this is a wonderful way for us to receive information about how to adjust, how to adapt, how to live in this living world, interacting with different beings, with different dynamics.
I even have a page – and this, I think is one that you can share with many people – that shows in very simple ways how plants can help us deal with change, for instance, because they’re so used to having to adjust to change how they help us deal with letting go because plants, they just offer their flowers and then they let go of the flowers and then they let go of that leaves. And how flower essences contain information and in a special way, how flower essences transmit radiance, beauty, and how they help us express uniqueness, our own uniqueness, as we resonate with how they express each plant in the flowering, showing that unique version of plant expression.
And so each plant really has their own way. You know, when you talk with someone who likes to cultivate plants, they will tell you, oh, this plant likes this, this plant really likes to be in the sun, this plant really likes to be in the shade, and it likes a lot of water. As humans interact with plants, they tell us what they’re up to and what they have to offer.
And as flower essences, each plant has a very unique archetypal quality to offer. I will share my screen again to illustrate that. I have, for instance, a blog post in my Blog in which I show how a plant like the Sunflower teaches us how to be ourselves in our shining bright ways, without overpowering others. But also, without allowing ourselves to be overshadowed: just finding that right balance of self expression and self assertiveness.
Whereas another plant like this delicate lily that grows in the Sierras, offers this delicate, gentle holding of nurturing warmth for those who carry within them a sense of lack, of abandonment, of have felt this lack of nurturing in their early life. And so this archetypal quality helps to meet these places of lack within the emotional life, the emotional level of the individual.
So one of the biggest points that I want to make is that we are living at a time that one of the most important things we need to learn how to do is to collaborate and to listen more, to listen a lot more. And, as a result of this listening, engage in co-creative actions and in co-creative collaboration.
The use of flower essences can enhance the workings of other modalities: the sum becomes bigger than the parts
And that’s one of the beauties of the modality that I practice, because the work that I do is one that goes together and can go alongside the work of a coach. Let’s say, you know, a writing coach, for instance, I was talking with our dear friend Rochelle, who is an amazing writing coach, and I just know that there are some combinations that can be amazing for her clients that will help their creativity and focus and so on.
So many times in my career, I have had psychologists refer clients to me because they haven’t bothered to study the essences and recommend them themselves, and also, their agreements with their class organizations don’t allow them to choose substances for their clients, so they they don’t usually do that. But so often I’ve had psychologists refer clients to me because when their clients are using the essences, the work that they’re doing in therapy evolves so much more fluently, because flower essences are such powerful catalyzers, and they also help people integrate the processes that they’re going through, the process of transformation.
Cross fertilization between modalities is bringing us new and revolutionary possibilities of healing and relief
And one of the things that I’m really touched by and really struck by at this time is how different disciplines are coming together and collaborating in terms of the knowledge that is available for us at this time. And how much insight we’re gaining because of this cross fertilisation between disciplines!
Think about the understandings, for instance, of psychology and brain science now, and subtle medicine modalities like flower essences and EFT and different modalities that deal with the more subtle aspects: the collaboration between these disciplines is giving us possibilities, in terms of effectiveness of healing, that we have not experienced before.
And we can’t do this big job that is required of us in this time of peril in which an awakening of consciousness is so needed, if we don’t collaborate. And it’s been the fragmentation and the separation that has created all of this anyway. So, for our own evolution, it’s so important that we collaborate. And the understanding and the possibilities that are offered through this work with flower essences and plant medicine – of collaboration amongst practitioners and of work done together – is one that the sum becomes more than the parts, is really amazing.
Is there anything you would like to ask?
George [00:16:03] I love, I love what you’re saying here. And just to have you walk through some of these pages on your site and have the images show us. There is power there that is beyond words, and I’m going to put the links to these different pages in the notes of the videos. I encourage everyone to go and look at it again, and just behold and enjoy the presentation, really, of these things. I love that you’re bringing this idea of collaboration, and I love that you are saying we need to listen more. Just like, you know, we feel like we need to pay more attention to the subtleties, like flowers. Paying attention to it allows us to gain the wisdom that has been gathered and the collaboration, as you know, I am all about collaboration to grow our businesses. And so thank you for mentioning that, that, you know, the flower essences can be used in conjunction with other kinds of coaching, other kinds of mentoring, healing. So if somebody were to want to work with you, Ruth, and maybe they’re already doing some kind of coaching for their leadership or their personal development, how might they utilize your services in conjunction there?
How Online Flower Essence Therapy works
Ruth [00:17:36] That was exactly where I would want us to go next. So here it is: I’m actually going to show another page that is called Online Flower Essence Therapy, and you can find it here in Services in my Website, and in this one, I kind of give another introduction. And this video is really nice, because it shows how flowers are present in our lives in these different moments, and also the role that flower essences can play in your process of change and how often the consultations would happen, and how long they take. Usually we can meet once every three months (two or three months). Only one consultation, once every three or four months (or around every three months) is enough for an ongoing process that goes in parallel with other inner work that the person is doing either own their own, or separately.
And what is interesting to know is that a reason for coming for Flower Essence therapy can be: I’m going through change, I am wanting to establish new habits, I am wanting to change some really deep patterns that I’ve had in my relationships and that are really getting on the way of my ability to experience intimacy and joy and peace in my relationships. So many of these subjects can be subjects that can be helped with flower essences and so many processes of self healing, self-awareness also, and also processes of deeper emotional healing.
George [00:19:38] And Ruth, you also bring to the work, besides the Flower Essences, and you also have additional kind of tools that you bring to work with clients. You want to mentioned any of those?
The Inner Marriage Process combines Flower Essence therapy and Voice Dialogue
Ruth [00:19:51] I would like to, yes. One of the things is that my work with the flower essences is usually just the essence consultations, but I have felt the need to have some additional tools for processing. I have trained and became very proficient at using Voice Dialogue, that works with inner parts of the psyche. In the merging of these two modalities and also my knowledge of Western Astrology as well, (that studies the Inner Archetypes within us), what I found is that I was led to develop some very specialized forms of healing that deal with attachment wounds as well as relationship issues, and that have helped people transform patterns that are very deep and related to their early journeys with their inner child and all of that.
So one of the processes that I’ve been offering I’m calling Inner Marriage, because that goes to the core of how our early emotional patterns got established, and there’s a healing and a transformation there. And then a whole work on the Inner Masculine, the Inner Feminine and how they can learn to come together in true encounter and collaboration and partnership.
George [00:21:35] That’s wonderful, yes, I can put a link to the intermarriage page on your site as well. Coming up this year in 2020, you want to say a bit about your various offerings? You work with people one to one, and you also have a monthly gathering for people in your audience, you have a Mentoring Program. Tell us more about any of any of these things.
Ruth [00:22:02] Yes, I do have this Monthly gathering that is always free, and it’s almost like a practice that people attune each time. Within the context of a beautiful presentation with images and music, they attune to one Plant Archetype. So I create the presentation and I lead the circle format, and people really love that experience. It’s about an hour, sometimes an hour and 15 minutes. And I have a group in English that I promote myself, and there’s a group in Portuguese as well, that is sponsored by a company in Brazil and I’m the facilitator. So there’s that.
And the other piece of my work and offerings is supporting either professional flower essence practitioners or professionals who want to use the essences in their practice in parallel to whatever they do, coaching work, relationship work, etc. And for this I have finally, after listening to the need, I have finally launched the first Mentoring Group that is going to be Mentoring for Practitioners. And so I already have that in a page on my Website, and there will be more groups according to demand as we go. So that is this part of me that feels I have a very extensive and deep experience as a practitioner and professional and I have a lot to offer to help encourage and inspire Flower Essence people, especially here in the United States and in Europe, in countries where this modality has not become so well established as it is in Brazil. And so there’s a lot of work to be done to increase the awareness about this modality, and I am really willing to support my fellow practitioners.
George [00:24:21] Wonderful. So I will be sure to have the link to your your monthly gathering, as well as the now the Mentoring Group, if that’s appropriate in the notes of the video. And I just encourage everyone watching this. If you have been fascinated by essences and energy remedies, to look at how Ruth is describing Flower Essences on her Website. And Ruth, is there anything else you want to share a bit before we close off, any other wisdom you want to share with us to send this off.
Ruth [00:24:55] Yeah. Maybe I’ll just bring in a closing thought about this idea of collaboration and co creation. I really believe that at this point that we’ve gotten in our relationship with life and the planet, we are only going to survive as a species here, as humans, if we learn to listen and collaborate. So it is time that we work in partnership, listening to spirit and listening to nature. Listening to the earth and working together, we can really find a path forward. But to do that, we need to enhance our ability to attune. And that’s one of the gifts that flower essences also offer. They really help people cultivate that sense of awareness of their integration with these different levels and dimensions.
George [00:25:58] That is beautiful. Thank you so much, Ruth, for your work and for the care that you bring to your audience and just your presence itself is healing. So thank you so much.
Ruth [00:26:10] Well, I thank you, in all same, because care and presence is also who you are, and I have so much appreciation for our collaboration.
George [00:26:21] Thank you so much.