How do we wash off and cleanse away worries, fretful nights of sleep and step forward with fortitude? Flower Essence baths! This technique is found in different cultures, and has been popularized as “spiritual bathing” , a practice coming from the Mayan culture. In these baths we seek the essence of the plants, and connect with their spirits. Walk around, are there any plants that sing to you?  This exercise helps you to practice mindfulness and connecting to things on an intuitive level.

Tuning into plant spirits usually starts with going outside and sitting quietly with the ones that pull you to them. I teach students to settle in, and relax with the plants, start to form relationship by listening for a minimum of 30 minutes. When connecting to their spirit, its not about knowing them for their physical selves (what they are made from, the various constituents, etc.) These sorts of things are definitely important for making herbal medicines, or other extracts from the physical parts of the plants, but here we are working on a more subtle level. This “essence” connection is more about allowing our vital energy to communicate with the plants vital energy. For more about this, you can check out my post on flower essences.

To make a flower essence or or bath, requires that you are present and connected. Once you feel grounded, which may come from meditation, singing or dancing, you may start to decide which plants to pull into your bath.

Remember: if you take from a plant, think about how you can give back, even if its just one leaf or flower. Its about forming a reciprocal relationship when we work with plants for healing purposes.

YOU WILL NEED:

• A large bowl
• Fresh plants
• Intuition
• Purified Water
• Time

Steps to make a Flower Bath:

1. Wake up and immediately go outside. Walk around, find what plants call strongly to you. After a long mediation, and asking the plants if you can use them, gather the ones that feel right. Put aside
2. Fill a large bowl or container with water. If you are lucky enough to have an outdoor bathtub, then fill it with cool water.
3. Add the fresh plants to the water, speaking aloud your intentions
4. Let the flowers sit in the sun for 2-4 hours(or if you prefer a moon essence, then let them sit in the moonlight for 2-4 hours)
5. Thank the water, the plants, and the sun or moon.
6. The Flower Bath is now ready for use

To use your flower bath, you may do a cool foot bath and relax outside thinking of everything you would like to release and recycle into the universe. We generally spend about 15-20 minutes. You may also take a cool bath in the flowers, or pour the water over your head. Pro-Tip: If you are able to get naked outside without too much of a problem, then I recommend it! Its exhilarating to be naked in the sun pouring flower baths over your self.

Once you have finished your bath, offer all of the plant material back to the earth. Don’t throw it away, it would be an insult to the plants unless it is going into the compost.