The Healing Secrets Of Bach Flower Therapy: Expert Advice From Silvia Araya

In this episode of the Vetiver Vibes podcast, hosts Nikki Fraser welcome Silvia Araya, a clinical trauma professional and Boch Flower Therapist from Costa Rica with over 15 years of experience specializing in panic attacks and anxiety. Silvia combines various modalities, including internal family systems, inner child healing, trauma-informed yoga, Bach flower therapy, and family constellations, to support clients worldwide.

We dive deep into the world of Bach Flower Therapy, exploring what it is and how it differs from other forms of plant medicine, particularly essential oils. Silvia shares her personal journey into this healing practice, which was influenced by her mother’s lifelong dedication to herbal medicine and flower essences. She explains that Bach flower remedies are primarily ingested, unlike essential oils, which are typically used externally. This unique aspect allows for a gentle yet effective approach to emotional healing.

Throughout the episode, we discuss the methods of creating Bach Flower essences, including the traditional techniques developed by Dr. Edward Bach in the early 1900s. Silvia elaborates on the differences between flower essences, essential oils, and teas, emphasizing that flower essences focus solely on the energetic properties of the flowers, which can be preserved for long periods.

We also touch on the importance of intention in using these remedies, as well as the holistic nature of healing that encompasses the mind, body, and spirit. Silvia highlights that Bach flower remedies can be beneficial for everyone, including children and animals, and that they can complement traditional medicine rather than replace it.

Listeners will learn about some of the most popular Bach flower remedies, including Rescue Remedy, which is particularly effective for trauma and anxiety. Silvia shares her insights on how these remedies can help with various emotional and physical issues, reinforcing the connection between our emotions and physical health.

As we wrap up the episode, Silvia encourages listeners to keep an open mind about plant medicine and to explore the healing power of nature. She offers a free eBook on anxiety to our audience, providing additional resources for those looking to manage stress and emotional challenges.

Join us for this enlightening conversation that not only educates but also inspires a deeper connection to the healing properties of plants and the importance of emotional well-being. Don't forget to check out Silvia's website for more information and resources!

You can download her free ebook here - 

SilviaAraya.com

https://linktr.ee/silviaaraya

https://www.facebook.com/silvia.araya.psy/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Vetiver Vibes podcast, where your hosts, Nikki Fraser and Rachael Dean, certified clinical aromatherapists. We are excited to have you here on today's episode, where you know that you'll get the best essential oil scoop.
Nikki Fraser: This episode is brought to you by Essentria a leading online school for aromatherapy. If you want to learn more about how to become a clinical aromatherapist, check out the courses at www.schoolofessentia.com. Welcome to this week's episode of Vetiver Vibes. Nikki Fraser here with Sylvia Araya. Sylvia is a clinical trauma professional from Costa Rica with over 15 years of experience specializing in panic attacks and anxiety. She combines modalities like internal family systems, inner child healing, trauma-informed yoga, Bach flower therapy, and family constellations in her work with clients worldwide. Welcome to the podcast.

Silvia Araya: Hi, thank you for having me.

Nikki Fraser: And today we're really going to kind of zero in on the Bach flowers, what they are, you know, what is this therapy? It's one that I've heard about. I have looked into it. I've read on it. And I was just sharing with you a couple of weeks ago, I was in a used bookstore and I actually came across a Bach flower therapy book. So I was like, oh, this is fantastic. It's something that's always piqued my interest. I can learn more. And then having you on is that much even better. But before we dive in, we always like to ask all of our guests, what is your favorite essential oil or scent, or maybe in this case, a Bach flower remedy?

Silvia Araya: Well, I have several. So I got this one that I always carry. It's a little bit, so it's with me on my purse every time. So this is my favorite blend. It's called Valor. And it's got, you know, several things in there, but it's basically just to relax and make you feel confident. I use it when I get nervous, when I'm a little anxious. And I always carry a lavender roll-on with me. This is like my essential kit that I have always with me. And rescue remedy. With those three, I can survive anything, basically.

Nikki Fraser: Awesome. Amazing. So to dive in, I'd first love to know, how did you get into Bach flower therapy?

Silvia Araya: So this is, maybe it wasn't my choice, it was my mom. So basically my mom has been working with flowers and flower essences and herbs really in general since I can remember. So basically she would give me herbal medicine and flowers and things like that. So I grew up with this and then I got training with the back center and then I started doing trainings also. So for a few years my mom and I trained people. So it's just been part of my life, part of my journey, which I'm really grateful for. So it's very natural to me to go and turn into plant medicine, really.

Nikki Fraser: Awesome. I love when there's that family connection of just, you know, it's always been there and then just having that family connection into it. That's fantastic. So for those of our listeners who have never heard of Bach flowers or maybe have heard of it but don't really know what it is, can you kind of explain what is it exactly?

Silvia Araya: Yeah, so I think the biggest difference is that with the oils you use them more like externally even. This, the flower essences, are made for basically drinking, to really to ingest. That is the number one use. You can also do it, you know, like, like a mist or put it on your body for sure. But the number one use is basically drops in your mouth. Um, and, um, has no, um, side effects or anything like that. So anyone can, can, uh, take backflowers. Um, and they're made, um, basically different methods, but it's basically with the flower. So you either boil it, you, uh, put it out in the sun, There are several ways and we can talk about that later, but it's a very easy method. And then from that water that was in with the flour for a few hours, that is the water that you ingest and that you take.

Nikki Fraser: That's awesome. Because a lot of the essential oils, we don't promote internal use. I am qualified in aromatic medicine, so I do know the safety precautions and how to use essential oils internally, but it is not something that we recommend. because it is such a higher level of education, so much more safety around internal use of essential oils. So this is fantastic where it's plant medicine in such a gentle form that you can use it internally. So I think that's absolutely fantastic to be able to do it that way. And so you talked a little bit about putting like the flowers in the water. Can you kind of describe like how does that work, I guess?

Silvia Araya: Yeah, I want to bring the teacher here because this is not, yeah, obviously it's not mine. This is something that Dr. Edward bought and that's where the name comes from. He was a physician beginning of the 1900s and he intuitively started drinking the mist and the little drops in the morning from the flowers of his garden, just intuitively started working with that. And then he used the very old method of like, let's boil these flowers, right? Then he also worked with just putting the flower in a little bit of clean water, the cleanest you can get, and just put it out under the sun for a few hours, and he found out that that is a good way for the flour and the energy of the flour to be released into the water, and that is enough. There are other methods that you can use, but those are the most used ones. I don't even use the boiling method, because I've done also my own essences at home, which is very easy. I just pick the flour, like I said, you put it in water, put it in enough sunlight for a few hours, and that's enough. So that's how it started, basically. He started experimenting with his own garden back in England in, you know, 1920s. Awesome.

Nikki Fraser: So I guess what's the difference between that and teas? As I'm a huge tea drinker and I absolutely love my teas. Now, a lot of times they are dry, but even like during the summer, sometimes I have my fresh peppermint plants outside that I'll just grab some peppermint leaves and put that in. And I'm always cold and even in the middle of summer. So I just like it with hot water. But I will make like a hibiscus tea and have that just at room temperature and drink that as juice, things like that. So I guess what's the difference between the Bach flower therapy and teas?

Silvia Araya: Right, right. That is a great question. So for teas, you can use sometimes all of the plant, like you can use the leaves, like you said, and the roots and the, you know, you can put all of it in there and then you boil it and then you take that and you drink it. For specifically, when we're talking about flower essences, we're just talking about the flower. There is one, which is the exception, at least in the system of Dr. Edward Barth, because there's a lot of systems after he passed away. There are a lot of other systems and flowers that we can get into. This can take hours. But basically, there's just one that is not an actual flower, but all the rest are just basically the flower part of the plant. And so I guess that's the biggest difference. And then the second difference is that once you take the energetic properties of the flower and they get into the water, like I said, then you take that and you put it into, combine it with a preservative. Most of the times we use brandy, we use some sort of liquor, you know, rum, something like that. Brandy is what I normally use. And then you can have that for years. So that's also a difference with tea. The tea that you make in the morning, maybe it's not so recommended that you drink it five days after you brew your tea, right? So in this case, it's preserved with some type of alcohol, and it's not always that case, but you can use other type of preservatives. But I had the privilege to go two years ago to his home where he had all of his tinctures are still there and they're still good and you can still drink a few drops. And again, that's another difference. The tea, you drink the whole thing, right? With the flower essences, not that you can't, but you don't have to. So basically that water that I told you that absorb all the benefits and the energy from the flower, from that, you, you only take a few drops from there. You don't have to drink the whole thing. You can, but only a few drops. You put them into a little bottle and that's what you drink for a whole month. you take that. So it's also thinking from the perspective of a little bit of homeopathy and homeopathic medicine. Yeah.

Nikki Fraser: I was just thinking that I was like, it's coming back to my memory. Some of the things that you're saying, I'm like, it's jogging different information I've read over probably the last decade or I'm like, because you can take that and you can re-dilute it down to make it more potent, like homeopathic, can't you? It's coming back to me. I'm like, I know more about this than I realize.

Silvia Araya: There you go. It's the same because he was also trained. In those days, homeopathy was also having a little bit of attention. He had the opportunity to study a lot of that. And that's where he also got the idea. Oh, this is, and he called that the mother tincture. You got that water where you put the water in the flower. I'm sorry. That's the mother tincture. And from there you can create thousands of remedies for people because it's just a few drops. And like you said, those little two drops basically, they multiply or they, I don't know how to say it.

Nikki Fraser: It disperse in the water.

Silvia Araya: Exactly, yeah. The water then copies that information and then there you go, that little, you know, little thing that you get from your practitioner, it has the same potency as the mother tincture.

Nikki Fraser: And I always find that fascinating. And a lot of times when I'm working with aromatherapy, and especially for mood management, things like that, I often say like, you can have 30 milliliters of carrot oil and only one drop of the essential oil is needed because it's the energy of the plant that we're looking for. So it doesn't need to be 2%. It can very easily be a 0.5%, a 0.1% even. And the energy is there. If it's one drop in 10 milliliters or 30 milliliters, we're working with the energy of the plant and that's what's important. And so I love that it's to it, right? It's like you don't need a whole lot energetically. It recognizes and it multiplies and it spreads and it's there.

Silvia Araya: Correct. 100% what you said. And that's the beauty of I, that's why I love working with nature and plants because it's just so smart and, but, and, and yet so gentle at the same time, because, and this is exactly what I say in the trainings. I tell people. If, if it wasn't about quantity, we would give people gallons, like, here you go, you know, you have depression, you go 30 gallons of mustard, which is the flower for, you know, one of the flowers for sadness or depression, but it's not about quantity. It's not about that. It's about, at least for flower essences, it's about the amount, the frequency, that's the word, the frequency that it gets into your system. Not about quantity, it's about frequency. So for example, if you are going through a moment of crisis in your life, I would tell you, instead of taking it four times a day, I would say, take it six times a day. And if you're going through a really, really, you know, like a panic attack, for example, I would say, take it even five minutes, like every five minutes, take four drops. And people go like, what? And I'm like, yes, because it has to do with the frequency that it gets into your body. It's not about quantity. It's how it gets into your bloodstream and your body starts to, like you say, assimilate that, that new energy that is coming in.

Nikki Fraser: Awesome. And now, and again, this is bringing back so many different past memories for me of things that I realized that I have read about and learned about over time that I know more about this than I realized. Do you ever work with it under the moon with moon energy? Because I remember hearing a lot about that years ago, and I tried it at my old house too, but I Live plants and I, we don't get along. I can do anything with plants in a bottle. As soon as you put a live plant in front of me, I'll kill it very, very quickly. I tried to have like a few plants to kind of do my own herb garden and medicinal things and some flowers that I knew could be edible and use. They never worked, but I remember trying it at my parents. I had picked some things at their house because they are huge gardeners. They're both farmers. They can make anything grow in, I swear, like a desert environment if they needed to. But I remember picking a few things, and I did. I had it in a glass bowl. We don't have spring water, so I had just distilled water. And I had put it under the moon. It was a full moon, so I put it under the moonlight for the night. And then I just, I didn't then dilute it. I just drank it as it was. And it was fantastic. But do you ever work with it with the moon?

Silvia Araya: That is something that, and I know I'm not the only one, but it happened to me intuitively. So I got, um, this beautiful flower and I'm forgetting the name and I'm like, Oh, cause it's just beautiful. And I realized, wow. And the smell was incredible. And I said, if I, the problem is if I wait until tomorrow, that was an evening meditation. Um, and I said, if I'm, if I take this flower and I wait until tomorrow, um, noon, which is the, you know, the strongest sunlight, this flower will not make it. And you basically have to do it while it's fresh. And that day there was a full moon. I was attending this full moon meditation. Right. And I was like, what would happen if I put this under the full moon? And I did. And, um, I just set the intention, you know, and the meditation was beautiful. So I took all that energy and to make this, this, this long story short, that essence still exists it's at my mom's and still smells it's incredible so you open the the bottle and it still smells and this was years ago so so amazing i could tell you yeah that it works i think it's about the intention most and and you know foremost obviously the sunlight helps because that's energy as well so the moon has energy and also our intentions have energy So same thing, yeah.

Nikki Fraser: Awesome, I love that. So we talked about how to use it, that type of stuff, but should certain people use it or maybe even more, should certain people not use it? Are there certain times when someone shouldn't use it or certain health concerns to avoid it?

Silvia Araya: The beauty of this is that I don't know anything that is not, you know, only newborns. That's the only… Yeah, because it's so delicate. So for newborns, we say the mother should take the flower essences, and it's going to go through the breast milk. Absolutely. So it's not a problem. But other than that, there is no one who can't take flower essences. Actually, we give it to animals. And the beauty of working with animals is that you see it right away. And they don't have any preconceptions. They don't have any blocks. Because sometimes that can stop a little bit the process. If a person is like, oh, I don't believe in this.

Nikki Fraser: It's too woo-woo. I don't know. I'm not open. And that does. If you're not open to it, you're not going to get the same results.

Silvia Araya: The same, right. It still works, but it's not the same. So it's beautiful. It's beautiful to see how in animals and children, for example, who don't have the beliefs and the blocks and the, you know, all of that, it works and almost in a magical way. And it's so quick. It's so beautiful. And that's when you realize that this is not just woo woo. Like you say, like, how come this works on a dog? on a child, they don't know what they're drinking. So no, I don't know any conditions, any illnesses, anything that it's not okay with. The only thing I would switch is for some people who are sensitive. to the alcohol. As I said, these are made most of the time with some alcohol in it, some brandy or something like that. You can switch that to other preservatives or non-preservatives, like just the water. Like you said, you drank that day. You can also do that. In that case, if you don't want anything added, you just have to keep it in your fridge. But other than that, that's it. Anyone can have flower essences.

Nikki Fraser: Yeah, and tinctures can very easily be made with like glycerin and things like that. If you can't have the alcohol, absolutely. Yeah. The other thing I was thinking too is, however, we don't want to use this with every single plant out there. Not recommended to just like go out into the forest and start picking different leaves and flowers that you randomly see. Please don't do that because not everything is necessarily safe to ingest and that's not the theory or the therapy or the thought process behind Bach flowers. So don't just go out and start picking random flowers, please.

Silvia Araya: I appreciate that you say that because yes, I believe that all plants have some sort of benefit and some magic and they're here for a reason. And I just have, it's so funny because my mom is so connected to plants and she keeps sending me, right before this program, she was sending me photos of this plant that she got in her backyard. And last week she said, Oh, this one just, it's here. I don't know what it is. And so we started, you know, trying to find out because it looks a lot like start of Bethlehem, which is one of the essences that we work with. It's for trauma. And I said, no, do you think it started Bethlehem? And we did more research and turns out it's not, it's very similar, but it's actually so poisonous that it says, all all parts of the plant you should not touch with your bare hands if you're going to touch it use gloves and so i was like whoa and she was this close to to take the essence because it really looked like the star of bethlehem um so yes please please please just double check and triple check and make sure that yeah that yes you can totally make essences from plants in your backyard, but please, please triple check before you do that.

Nikki Fraser: Yeah. So talking about some of those plants and some of the things that they can help with, can you share maybe a few top remedies that you use? I know you work a lot with anxiety, trauma, things like that. So what could be maybe a few top ones that you often see with people?

Silvia Araya: Uh, yes. So rescue remedy is my to go.

Nikki Fraser: And what's all in that?

Silvia Araya: And rescue remedy, you have five essences and, and it's the first one. Well, actually the only one that the doctor played with, like combining flowers before he passed away. Now there's other, um, like little formulas. Um, so this one has a flower that is for trauma and shock, obviously. Has one that is to keep you in the present moment because when you are going through something traumatic, it's very easy for Parts of you to take you away right and take you you know and distract you or you know So there's one that it's gonna bring you back into the present moment There's another one That is gonna help you with the feelings of I'm not in control Or I'm gonna about to lose control

SPEAKER_02: Right.

Silvia Araya: And so it's beautiful to see that all these five flowers that he picked for rescue remedy, which was actually, it was an accident. He wasn't really planning on finding something. Um, they're all work beautifully for a moment of, like I said, shock or crisis. That's my go to forever. And then, um, I do work a lot with sweet chestnut. I mean, I don't know if I should drop names here. Maybe your audience know. But I work a lot with chestnut because it's for when you're feeling very, very distressed and just anguished. And I work a lot with aspen, which is for fear of the unknown. Mimulus, obviously, for just fears in general. And yeah, I think those are the ones I work for the most. And I mostly work with this system, although, like I said, there's now all kinds of systems. There's the flowers from California and the flowers from Australia and the orchids and dolphins and crystals and like there's all kinds of systems now. I just stayed with the traditional.

Nikki Fraser: Yeah, no, that's fantastic. And I had something and it kind of popped out of my head. they're mostly used for like that emotional support aspect right or is there any that can help with like any physical aspects or like skin conditions or um i mean even sleep i mean the emotional as there is a huge emotional aspect with sleep of if you if you have a racing mind um so i mean that can definitely work for for sleep i would see um but more of like um I'm thinking like hair or skin or pain management, things like that.

Silvia Araya: Absolutely. Absolutely. Because I believe there is a connection between emotions in our bodies. So behind any pain or illness or symptom, there is an emotional component. And if we can't find it, there's always emotions that come out. from obviously feeling things in your body, right? So the flowers can be used for all of that, like what's creating this and also what I'm feeling because of this. So there's rock water, which is the only one that is not a flower. It's used, for example, for pain or problems with your joints, your bones, your muscles. So when you have a stiff neck or you're having arthritis, for example, you can take rope water to help you soften, because it has to do with softening things and flexibility, right? So again, bones, joints, all of that. Insomnia, yes. And there are a lot of formulas that are kind of like pre-made or pre, and you can buy them in stores where it says insomnia, right? And it has probably something for raising thoughts. Like you said, you know, white chestnut, it's for that. and of course you know anything hormonal things of course you can take flower essences for that because again it's everything just connected everything your body your emotions your your energy body everything is connected yes and i say that often of mind body spirit connection we are all

Nikki Fraser: You cannot take the mind out of the body. You can't take the soul out of the body. So there's always a physical, emotional, spiritual slash soul, whatever you want to use to us. And we're a puzzle. And that's why I always refer to, you know, this is one piece of the puzzle and we are made up of thousands of pieces and you can't just take one part out. There's always going to be something that like one thing will always have that ripple effect to everything. So I love that you mentioned that because it's so very true and society always wants to like chop us up and be like, no, it's just physical. No, it's just emotional. No, it's just, I'm like, no, we're, we're all one.

Silvia Araya: Exactly. It's, it's, we are holistic beings. So the, you know, traditional medicine or Western medicine is more about that. Oh, you have a headache. Here you go. Have this for your headache, but it doesn't go into what created the headache or how do you be, how you feel about the headache or all those things. Right. So, um, that's what I love about holistic approaches is that we don't separate, like you say, it's actually the opposite. We start to unify and see the person as a whole.

Nikki Fraser: And often when we're looking at one thing and supporting with one thing, it can kind of trickle into other different parts of us and support other things that we didn't realize necessarily that, you know, it's kind of like, oh, bonus, it also helps with this. And so I always find that to be really, really nice when there's like those extra bonus benefits when, when doing that. And I know you mentioned, so a lot of times you can find these remedies in stores. Are there certain places to go to find baklava remedies?

Silvia Araya: Yes, I believe at GNC stores they have them, the vitamin shop they have them. I haven't, I haven't seen and on Costco, Costco has, yeah, like, like, um, rescue remedy. They don't, they're not going to carry the, the mother tincture and Amazon. Sorry. I'm using Amazon too. You can buy a lot of flower essences. Um, they're not going to be probably the mother tincture. Like I said, they're going to be the second delusion, which is the, the, the one that is for the, the patient, the public, right? Um, so anyone can, can drink it without any problem or worry. Um, but yes, I find a lot even, um, gummies now they also, yeah, yeah, I know they put the essence into gummies and they put the essence into candy or, yeah, I've seen all kinds of things. That's even like a spray thing. Um, so yeah.

Nikki Fraser: Interesting. And I know I do see rescue remedy kind of all over the place. I've seen it at our grocery stores, definitely health, health food stores, for sure. I find health food stores do have other remedies also that aren't just the rescue remedy. But I find the rescue one is I think it's the most popular one that I've been able to just see. And I'm like, Oh, yeah, okay, there it is. Oh, yeah, there it is. And I never actually connected that it was Bach flower therapy until right now, until our discussion of that's what it was. So I think that's awesome.

Silvia Araya: Yeah, yeah. So they're, they're out there. I'm surprised. I come from Latin America, as you mentioned, and they're big in Latin America. And I'm surprised that here in North America, they're not that Yeah, I share with a lot of people and people go, what? Flower essences? I don't know what that is, right?

Nikki Fraser: I think it's becoming just learning about plant essence. What am I looking for?

SPEAKER_02: Just plant medicine.

Nikki Fraser: That's the word I'm looking for. Going back to our roots, physically and metaphorically. Roots of what has always helped. Plants have always been around. The earth made different plants to help support us. Let's go back to nature. Let's tap back into that. So, and I know a lot of people where maybe they feel Western medicine has kind of let them down or they just they want something to go along with Western medicine, right? They're already doing all these things with their doctor, but they're still not necessarily getting the extent of what they want support with. So then it's that combination. It's not, I always, I don't like it when it's alternative. It's more of a complimentary because people can use both whatever you're comfortable with. And it'll just compliment anything that you're already doing as well.

Silvia Araya: Thank you. Thank you for saying that because that is also what I've been saying for a long time. And the good thing about flower essences is that they go with everything. Mm-hmm. They really do. They go with your traditional medicine, your blood pressure medication that you get from your doctor. They go with essential oils beautifully. They go with your diet. They go with whatever you're doing. They complement, like you say. It's not an alternative. And so people in trainings ask me a lot, like, oh, so if I take this for, I guess, blood pressure. So I can I stop, you know, the medication that my doctors and I'm like, No, no, no, no, no, don't do that.

Nikki Fraser: Talk to your doctor. We can't tell you to stop medication.

Silvia Araya: No, you don't have to. That's the beauty of it. You don't have to stop taking this you can take both. And then when you start getting better, and your doctor says, Oh, you you actually can lower your dose of the medication or you can get off completely up your medication. Oh, great. You know, so again, this is something that you can take, um, when you're doing it with therapy, it accompanies therapy beautifully. It's just amazing to see. So, um, that is, that is the, the, again, that, that gentleness, um, but also powerful, that powerful gentleness of, of flowers that I love.

Nikki Fraser: I'm just thinking too of, I know stress, anxiety are huge right now for a lot of people, especially, well, I'm not even going to say just in Canada, all over the world, like things are just rocking. I find we're in one of the most stressful times of the world of everything that's just happening and it's just, crisis going up, we have housing market crisis, like it's just nonstop. Anyone I talk to, it's how do I lower my stress? How do I lower my stress? Do you have maybe a recommendation on, would that be the rescue remedy or would it be something else that could help people with that stress response that so many people are kind of stuck in?

Silvia Araya: Yeah, yeah, for sure. These are very interesting times and I think Since COVID, people have contacted me a lot and say, oh, because I'm an anxiety expert. And people are like, oh, you have a lot of work right now. And I say, sadly, yes, sadly, because obviously, I don't want all of us to go through this. But there's all kinds of things that you can do, either going to your local health store, like we were talking about, and just getting some rescue remedy. but you can also find a practitioner. You can find someone that can create, and that would be my recommendation is to create a personalized formula because it's not the same. If you get it from the store, yes, it's going to work, but obviously if it's made for you, for your particular situation, it's going to be more powerful. And also if you don't have right now the means or the way to find a practitioner or go to store near you, just walk around flowers just go into nature and that is going to be healing it's you don't have to drink it only to get the benefits just being around flowers and nature and like i'm looking at that beautiful image they have in the background of that lavender and i'm just looking at that it suits me it relaxes me so if you don't have a way or or do it all honestly we can do everything with nature, please do because that is such a great support for our nervous system.

Nikki Fraser: It is and we mention it often too when we're talking to different people of just go out, walk around in the forest. I'm a tree hugger and I say it often that I'm a tree hugger. We have a little tiny forest not too far from me and so every now and then I'll Now that the weather's slowly starting to get warmer, venturing more towards over there and walking through and just hugging a tree. Honestly, as soon as I get in, I kind of go over, I find whatever, as I'm walking, it's just all of a sudden one will resonate with me. And I just go up and I literally spend about like a good 30 seconds, just my forehead on the tree, pretty much hugging it and just putting my intentions, letting go of what isn't serving me. and just asking nature to just give me what I need for that day. And it's just so powerful, our intentions. And like you said, that's why going to see a practitioner is always going to be super beneficial because it's your intentions that are going in there specific to you of what you need in the moment right now. And it's really unique and just for you, which is going to be so fantastic.

Silvia Araya: Yes, yes, and I think we underestimate, and you said it earlier, the power of nature, and I'm so glad that we're going back into our roots, into what our ancestors knew, and they did so well, and we forgot about it, and it's time to go back.

Nikki Fraser: Absolutely. Before we kind of wrap this up, any parting words or little tips or words of wisdom for our listeners?

Silvia Araya: Besides what we've said already, I think just open, maybe the invitation to open your mind and your heart to plant therapy and plant medicine, I know that sometimes it's hard to believe that, you know, this little thing can do so much. It's like, really, really? I just put it here and that, you know, you tell me just to just tear my wrist up or flower essences. I know that, um, there's a lot of things out there right now. And a lot of things that people can Google these days and we'll say something like there's no evidence to this or this, no clinical trials today. Sometimes it's because there hasn't been time and money to do it. But if we did, you would probably find a lot of great benefits and results from, from this type of, of, you know, different options. It's just options. So open your hearts, open your minds, try it. It's not going to hurt you. At least flower essences can hurt you. Um, there is no way that you can get worse or that you're going to get someone, some, essence that is not good for you doesn't exist. So maybe just to keep an open mind and heart.

Nikki Fraser: I love that. Yes, absolutely. Having that open mind is so, so, so important. I love the chemistry of when I'm working with aromatherapy. I actually hate the lessons of chemistry. I never retain the information, that type of stuff. But I love looking at research studies. But I don't require them to believe in them because I've experienced it firsthand also. But I'm also open to, and I've always been open of, well, this is something that has worked for thousands of people. for decades upon decades or hundreds upon hundreds of years? And why is it that now all of a sudden it's not real because we don't have the studies behind it? It's just who's going to, it does cost a lot of money to do studies, unfortunately, and who's going to fork up that money? That's the biggest hurdle I find with that. So like you said, I think that's great. Don't let not having the research behind it stop you from trying something. Just keep that open mind. So I think that was very lovely words. Thank you, absolutely. And if people want to get in touch with you, maybe work with you or learn more from you, where can people find you?

Silvia Araya: I think the easiest way would be to go into my website, which is just my name, sylviaaraya.com. And, uh, yeah, I think that's the easiest way I have. I'm on all the socials and all the channels and all the things. Right. But I think that's the easiest.

Nikki Fraser: Yeah. And we'll have that in the show notes also. Um, cause yeah, I did see your website, uh, Facebook, uh, Facebook link tree, all of that type of stuff. So we'll have all of that. So people can connect with you. wherever they are on this internet world.

Silvia Araya: I would also like to offer your audience a free ebook on anxiety now that you mentioned it, because yes, we are living in very uncertain and interesting times. So I would like to offer that as well. mentioned about the links.

Nikki Fraser: Thank you. That is so awesome. Appreciate it. And I know our listeners will absolutely appreciate that. So yeah, we'll have that linked. I'm pointing below. I'm assuming the links are always below. I know they are when I listen to it on the podcast on my phone or on YouTube or anything like that. So absolutely check out that link. Also, thank you for that offer. And I thank you for coming on today. Thank you for our listeners for tuning in to this week's episode of Vetiver Vibes and have an amazing day. Bye everyone.

SPEAKER_00: Thank you for spending your time with us here at Vetiver Vibes. This episode was brought to you by Essentria a leading online aromatherapy school. Don't forget to check out some of our free resources at www.schoolofessentia.com.

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SPEAKER_00: Email us with a screenshot of your review and we will send you a free guided meditation as our way to say thank you. This podcast is for information purposes only. We are certified clinical aromatherapists and holistic health professionals. If you have a medication concern, please refer to your health team. Everyone's health is unique to themselves, so the topics and suggestions stated may or may not apply directly to you.