rescue remedy

When my sons were growing up, the march of the previously unknown fire ant descended upon us in Austin TX. Without Rescue Remedy summers would have been long painful hopping and jumping contests to avoid falling into ant mounds. And when their feet weren't quick enough, it would be crazy stomping once those tasty toes were zapped. We never left the house without a treasured bottle of Rescue Remedy. We were regulars at Barton Springs in Zilker Park. In fact we were regulars at all the neighborhood pools and parks. We met those pesky ants everywhere. One drop of Rescue Remedy and the extreme and stinging pain of a fire ant bite dissipated nearly instantly. A child went from tears to smiles.

Parents, take Rescue Remedy with you wherever you go. Bring along or substitute Rescue Cream which is easy, maybe easier, to apply to bites and stings and bruises. A fallen down tot, scraped and bruised legs or arms, tears and wails, can all be calmed with a little drop or dot of Rescue Remedy.

What is RESCUE REMEDY? What is a Flower Remedy? Why should it be in my Green First Aid Kit? When I first introduce this little miracle remedy to my patients, I get these questions often.

Are you familiar with Homeopathy? Homeopathy was developed in Germany in the late 1700’s, a healing system based on two principles: the Law of Similars or ‘Like Cures Like’ meaning that illness or disease can be cured by a substance that will produce symptoms in a healthy person similar to those of the disease; and the Law of Minimum Dose, meaning the lower the dose of medication, the greater its effectiveness. Most homeopathic remedies are diluted to the point that no molecules of the original substance remain. Remedies are derived from plants, minerals and animals, and are most often taken as sugar pellets placed under the tongue. They are made into ointments, gels, creams and liquid drops.

In the early 1900’s Dr. Edward Bach, a British physician and bacteriologist, followed his work in vaccine therapy and homeopathy with the discovery of the flower remedies which he believed would help harmonize the emotional imbalances he saw as the real causes of physical illness. Each flower he chose embodied a positive and harmonizing force for a negative emotional state (fear, resentment, despair, for examples). To transfer the ‘healing force’ to a patient, Bach prepared essences from the flowers. He saw that as the remedies affected and changed negative moods, his patients’ lives turned back towards health.

Two methods are used to make remedies. The more delicate flowers are prepared using the sun method: floating the flower heads in pure water for three hours in direct sunlight. Woodier plants, and those that bloom when the sun is weak, are generally prepared by the boiling method: boiling the flowering parts of the plant for half an hour in pure water. Once heat (from the sun or from boiling) has ‘transferred’ the energy in the flowers to the water, the energized water is mixed with an equal quantity of brandy. This mix is the mother tincture. Mother tincture is further diluted with brandy at a ratio of two drops of mother tincture to 30 ml of brandy to make the flower remedy stock bottles.

I go to all the ‘trouble’ of explaining this background information because, as a user and consumer of medicines and healing myself, I want to know where techniques and medicines come from, how something was discovered or is made, how and/or why things work…and I imagine that my patients, family and friends want to know too.

Now specifically on to Rescue Remedy...

The traditional crisis (or RESCUE) remedy is the most famous of the flower remedies while not actually being of a traditional single flower essence. It is a blend of five different remedies or flower essences. The mix was created by Dr. Bach to deal with emergencies and the moments when a proper individual selection can't be made because there's an emergency (!) and the mind can't slow down to assess or determine.

Use Rescue Remedy to calm nerves in a panic - any panic - after an accident, to get through a stressful incident or event, to allay fears and tears, for children crying after a fall or a bump or an insect bite, when the mind won’t stop to let you sleep. There are so many moments for Rescue Remedy!

impatiens

These are the Five Flowers that compose Rescue Remedy:

• Star of Bethlehem – for shock
• Rock Rose – for panic, fear, terror
• Impatiens – for impatience, irritability
• Cherry Plum – for losing control
• Clematis – for dreaminess, drowsiness, lack of focus or attention

Directions:

Put four drops directly underneath the tongue without touching your lips or tongue…if possible! to the dropper. Or, put four drops into a glass of water and sip at intervals. Take Rescue Remedy every fifteen minutes for the first hour at the time of ‘crisis’ and then every hour or few hours if needed after that. You may find that one dose is all it takes.