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Tag: stress relief

Bach’s Rescue Remedy: A Natural Remedy for Anxiety

Looking for a natural, safe, and effective way to address anxiety without taking pharmaceuticals or self-medicating with drugs or alcohol? Check out Bach’s Rescue Remedy.

Bach flower remedies are made from water infused with wild flowers. Dr. Edward Bach discovered 38 different flowers that could influence emotional and mental states by removing negative emotions. They are safe and gentle without any side effects.

Rescue Remedy is actually a combination of five different flowers and works to bring a sense of calm and relaxation to the user.

I recently was able to see Rescue Remedy work its magic on the little dog we got last year. She had been found in the middle of December, covered in ticks, in Joplin Missouri. Weighing in at 9 lbs. and less than a foot tall, she had to be on high alert all the time to survive. Even after she was picked up, she spent months in shelters, was shipped across state lines, lived with a foster family, was adopted and then returned before finally coming to land with us. When she arrived at our house, her coat was thin and scraggly and her skin raw and inflamed. She was aggressive toward other dogs and too nervous to be left alone.

After showering her with love and affection, putting her on a grain-free, meat-based diet, and investing in working with a dog trainer for several months, she was much improved healthwise with a full shiny coat and two more pounds of weight, but she still suffered from PTSD.

Then I remembered about Rescue Remedy. I began adding a drop or two to her wet food at dinner. After a few weeks I found I could tell when I had forgotten to give it to her as she would be more demanding and needy of my time and attention.

Now, after more than 6 months of taking the Rescue Remedy regularly, she’s a much calmer and more secure dog in general. She can watch me move between the rooms in the house without the previously-constant anxiety driving her to be at my heels every moment.

The Rescue Remedy has made a big difference in her anxiety and stress levels as well as her PTSD. It can do the same thing for humans.

Put one drop in a glass of water and drink it four times daily for relief from chronic anxiety or stress.

Manage stress naturally with visualizations

On Oprah a few days ago, Dr. Oz asserted that Americans would be significantly healthier if they could just find effective ways to manage stress without drugs.

I’ve been thinking about this statement recently as I find myself pulling out an old visualization stress-relief technique to calm those feelings of being overwhelmed with life. It helps me to remind myself that there are times when I can’t be everything to everyone, and sometimes I just have to let some things go for the moment until I get back to a space where I can manage them again. (You may have noticed an ebb in my posting schedule lately? Too much on my plate right now.)

Visualization is a form of self-hypnosis where you will yourself to change your mental and/or physical state. When I practiced Hypnobirthing as my birth method, I leaned heavily on visualization and guided imagery to keep me in a zen-like state during labor. In regular life, I use a different visualization to calm myself when it feels like my life is slipping into chaos.

Here is my calming visualization. It works best when paired with belly breathing (as in yoga), but can be pulled out anytime its needed by just remembering to be the leaf:

I picture a perfect green leaf, like one off a maple tree, floating on top of water in a gently moving stream. I am the leaf, I tell myself.

The leaf floats effortlessly by on the current without struggling against it. It swirls briefly in the eddies along the edges, but continues on its way downstream. Rocks poke out of the water signaling rapids ahead… does the leaf struggle? No, the leaf continues trusting that the water knows the path of least resistance through the deepest channels. The leaf veers near the rocks, right alongside them in fact, maybe even bumps them, until the leaf relaxes and allows the water to choose the safest course. I am the leaf.

The sunlight dapples through the trees overhead, the water laughs and gurgles, and the leaf clears the rapids and floats easily into calm and safe water. The path ahead is clear and obstacle-free.

I am the leaf. I am the leaf. I am the leaf.