Heart Health and Mental Health Go Hand in Hand

by Loey Colebeck

The heart, in Traditional Chinese Medicine, is the home of the mind/spirit or shen. The concept is not unique to the Chinese and is very holistic and truly fascinating the more we delve into it. Equally fascinating is that very subtle plant medicines, namely flower essences, can affect the mind/spirit, allowing us to promote physical heart health.

An image that can help us understand this concept is that of a home’s hearth. The central fire is a gathering place where people meet and greet. Shen is what gives organization and coherency to the organism as opposed to total chaos and dysregulation. Think of a nicely contained fire that brings joy and warmth to the house. The heart is the body’s hearth. Too much or too little heat affect the whole house.

When mind/spirit is disturbed, the body is affected and vice-versa.

This holistic view of the heart opens a whole cornucopia of possible treatments with flower essences. Not to be confused with essential oils, flower essences have no scent and no chemical substance. They are, instead, subtle medicines that are water-based and are ingested, very much like homeopathy. They affect the subtle aspects like shen and qi (energy) of an individual which in turn affect the physical body. Flower essences are like specific types of qi in water—like energy patterns stored in water. They are made from certain plants and work much like acupuncture does. One physician, Dr. Ricardo Orozco, calls them “liquid emotional intelligence.”

Photography by Konstanttin

Two flower essence remedies, Agrimony and Heather, treat states that create too much heat in the body’s heart/hearth. The first one, Agrimony, is indicated when a person covers their angst with a cheerful exterior. In trying to outrun their unpleasant emotions, the person may eat and drink excessively and fill their schedule with too many social engagements. As they chase happiness and joy, the bottled-up emotions along with the lifestyle of avoiding those emotions set the whole body out of balance. The remedy can help the person turn inward and face what they are avoiding, and in doing so, gain peace.

Read the full article in the February 2019 issue of Natural Awakenings and at NaturalTwinCities.com

Loey Colebeck is an accredited clinical Flower Essence Therapist. She also teaches a Flower Essence Therapy training course for health professionals and personal development. For more information, visit MindIsBodyTherapies.com.