Does your mind keep you awake with constantly circling thoughts?
Do you wake up in the night and can't get back to sleep with all your worries and to-do lists?
So many of us struggle with our overactive minds. Thankfully, there are flower essences to help.
One of the first flower essences I think of when a client tells me they can’t sleep is Bach’s White Chestnut. This valuable essence is helpful when your mind creates looping thoughts that circle without resolution. There is often an element of worry in this, and you are likely to review your to-do lists and feel anxious about all you have to do. Taking White Chestnut flower essence can bring great relief and help turn your thoughts off so you can rest.
If this pattern of sleeplessness is only occasional, you may simply keep a bottle of White Chestnut flower essence near your bed and take a few drops when you need it.
If instead this pattern is a recurring theme in your life, it would be valuable to take White Chestnut on an ongoing basis to help shift the pattern completely. While you can certainly simply take drops from the stock bottle two to four times a day, you may wish to create a dosage bottle for yourself. This option allows you to more easily work with a few essences at a time to support deep and lasting change. Take the essences for at least a month to start with. (You may wish to read my post on how long to take flower essences.)
While White Chestnut is the first flower essence I think of in this situation, when I work with a client I will seek a fuller picture of what is going on in their life in order to fill out the formula with essences to support them in healing this pattern. For instance, if underneath the circling thoughts is a base level of anxiety they will need essences to support them to feel safe. And many times there will be a tendency to worry that can be eased with the right essences.
Flower Essences To Ease Worry
All the Chestnut flower essences are helpful with different aspects of worrying.
Himalayan Chestnut helps you let go when you fixate on the actions of others, helping you connect to the love you have for the person and release the frustration you feel when you see them acting against their own interests.
Of the Bach essences, the Red Chestnut is indicated when the worries are focused on others, like family members or pets, rather than oneself. Sweet Chestnut works on the deepest pattern, when you feel absolutely hopeless and distraught.
Flower Essences To Ease Anxiety
Holly Grape helps those who have always spent their lives in high alert. Many times this is a survival strategy from living in a household where guardians were volatile and the child must constantly watch out for and try to manage the moods of the adults. The Holly Grape flower essence helps you feel safe and protected through a connection with the earth and your home so you can start to down-regulate your nervous system.
Round Leaf Vitex is an excellent option for those whose nervous systems are operating at unsustainable levels. It soothes fried nerves, and helps you prioritize self care.
Yulan Magnolia helps you restore your breath. When we are feeling anxious, we tend to breathe shallowly (and conversely, shallow breathing will spark feelings of anxiety). Learning to become more conscious of our breath, and breathing more deeply and fully, will help ease anxiety. Taking Yulan Magnolia flower essence can aid in this process energetically, helping to restore your sense of peace and grounding.
Acupressure Points For Sleeplessness
Learning a few acupressure points can be very helpful when you experience sleeplessness. When you wake up and can’t get back to sleep, take your essences and do acupressure to help yourself relax and sleep.
Large Intestine 1 is located on your index finger. To apply acupressure, simply make contact on each side of your index finger at the level of the base of the fingernail. Use the thumb and forefinger of one hand to apply slight pressure. There is no need to squeeze, you are simply making a contact to aid the qi to flow. Hold for a minute or two as you feel the area under your fingers warm, remembering to breathe slowly and deeply as you start to feel calmer. You will want to switch and work the opposite index finger as well.
Conception Vessel 17 is located on the center of your sternum (the breastbone) at the level of the nipples. (This direction always creates some amusement among my female clients, so I will qualify it as being the original location of the nipples!) I usually use my index, middle and ring fingers together, and slide down the skin until I find a slight hollowing on the sternum and rest my fingers there. Once again, remember to breathe and pay attention to the sensation under your fingertips as the qi flows.