Dancing the Bach Flower Remedies
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I hear and I forget |
At first it may seem really strange to imagine feeling the energy of the Bach Flower remedies in dance but, on studying the folklore of every country, we realize that the main themes songs and dances are hymns to human emotions, to the elements, to nature and to all that is sacred.
Thanks to the symbolic movements, the attitudes and the music, we can integrate the energy of the flower, just like in the shamanic tradition of singing and dancing a medicinal plant to feel its healing properties. The flowers are the physical presence of a thought form; and like all thought forms they are to some extent interactive. All living things inter-relate. For me, it was a real revelation to notice that I could, with very simple movements, experiment all the emotional states of the flower remedies and actively develop my positive potential. As Bach so aptly says : "Sublimate fear, develop tolerance"
The idea of these dances stems from Anastasia Geng who, on retiring in the eighties, started to teach the dances of her native country, Latvia. In Latvian folklore, "Mara ", the Holy Mother of life is surrounded by sixty little mothers of nature. So flowers, trees and the elements were part of her repertoire. Little by little the correlation with the flower remedies became evident. Anastasia and the groups with which she used to dance started to percieve that the particular energy of a dance corresponded to that of a flower. Consider the elm dance, which by a simple spiral on self, re-centers the dancer and reconnects us with deep inner strength and trust when we doubt of our own capacity to face up to challenges. Or Mimulus, which makes people laugh and pushes one into action, we can then sublimate our fears and face up to life's trials with courage and determination. For tolerance, to illustrate Beech, nothing like stepping into someone else's steps and changing place with each other.
It's the whole being that learns the message of the flower, with mind, body, heart and spirit. All this inner work happens in a joyous and liberating atmosphere. The fact of drawing our emotions in space allows us to welcome them, to examine them, to live them and then to take some distance from them. It's quite common to get a ah, ah experience like the young woman who said after dancing the Impatiens, where two groups move at different rythms on the same music, "It's the first time I realize that I have a choice!"
Like a living Mandala 
The dances have always had a place in the community to celebrate fertility, harvest,
transitions, etc. To dance is to express a prayer, to show one's gratitude or
joy, to exorcise one's sadness or fear. To be together in a circle is to feel
one's place in the world, to open to each other and to communicate eyond words.
It is to harmonize our human rhythms to those of Creation. The vertical harmonization
with the Cosmos and horizontal one with the group, combined with the recognition
of a strong centre, channels a healing enegy and thus creates living mandalas.
Anastasia and Mechthild Scheffer, a well-known Bach flower therapist and author,
wrote a book describing each dance (in German only). In it you'll find popular
wisdom encoded in the symbolism of the steps, movements and choreographies; for
example, swaying, like rocking a baby, generates wisdom, the arches that we make
with our arms are openings for the other dancers. If we stand on tip toes, we
can change our outlook and perceive things beyond the barriers. With our arms
and hands we can open our hearts, like in the holly dance or protect it like in
the Aspen dance, we can draw energy from our surroundings with Olive or ask for
help and comfort with Gentian.
Sometimes we dance in pairs, changing partners like in Walnut or Honeysuckle, at other times in two circles which interpenetrate each other (intertwine). Thus we become aware of our own place in space and our effect on the circle. And this is where we explore our own path, seeing our own life in relation to others. Thus the group becomes a support and a mirror which reflects our own consciousness.
Contacting the joyful inner child 
Sometimes it's enough to introduce two or three dances in a gathering to relax the atmosphere and create subtle links between participants to allow real in-depth communication. As these dances are very simple, they can be danced at all ages and even with various physical and mental abilities. What strikes me each time is the joy of the inner child who can at long last express himself and blossom. We can clap hands, stamp feet, jump, turn, draw rays of sunshine, points of the stars, curves of the moon, the lemniscate and three dimentional mandalas, while our bodies revel in sacred shapes. We become flowers opening, trees swaying in the sky, roots digging in the earth or a river flowing between the rocks and hurtling into the sea. We can explore every dimension with our bodies and our hearts. We touch, we look at each other, we can laugh or cry, let the music move us and just simply live our emotions supported in a group.
In Summer, when we dance outdoors, among pines, aspens, willows, beech, oaks
and others, it becomes even more obvious that we are part of the whole, through
a common energy frequency which is the universal priciple of all life. The beauty
of our dances becomes a hymn of gratitude for all we receive. And in Winter,
as is the tradition in the Baltic countries, we embroider, paint, sculpt, sing
and dance the flowers to keep their souls alive.