FLOWER ESSENCE SHOWERS, OFFERINGS & LIFE-SAVERS
Hey you! Taylor here!
As you know, we just got back from a life-changing adventure to Nepal & India.
I wanted to share some of the ways that we used flower essences on our trip in hopes that it inspires you to use them recklessly (for yourself & with others) in ways that you may not have thought of before.
1. To shower, when showering isn’t possible.
Since we didn’t have heat or hot water 95% of the time we were traveling, showers weren't a thing. Sometimes we’d have enough hot water for a bucket bath, but to do that, you had to work up a lot of courage to be cold & wet at the same time.
So before walking out the door to embark on the day's adventure, we’d take flower essence showers by misting ourselves with whatever we had on hand. Our favorites during the trip: Divine Within, Sacred Body & Joy Juice.
2. To make an offering of perfume.
While visiting special places in India & Nepal—like the place in Bodhgaya where the Buddha attained enlightenment or the cave that one of his students sat in on Vulture Peak—we'd first always make an offering.
Sometimes it was beautiful orange & yellow marigold flowers, red roses, hibiscus, or a bouquet of magenta water lilies.
Other times, we'd burn incense & make a fragrant smoke offering.
Or we'd burn a butter lamp to offer the clarity of light.
On several occasions, since one of the 8 auspicious offerings is perfume, we offered precious drops of anointing oil! So much goes into every bottle --- and to share that with some of the most sacred places in the world, was pure joy.
Fun story: When we were in Kathmandu visiting the Boudha Stupa, they were putting a fresh coat of paint on the outer walls. As I walked by one of the paint buckets, I put a few drops of my Divine Within anointing oil into the paint. I made a wish that everyone who passes by the paint infused with flowers, experiences a wave of happiness, and the feeling that divine love is all around.
If you ever visit, now you know there’s LOTUSWEI magic imbued into the very walls that protect the Boudha Stupa.
3. As gifts to those who touched our hearts.
Pretty much every person we met was given an offering of flower essences.
Here’s one of my personal favorite stories of how one single bottle can impact someone overnight:
One of the Ani’s (Buddhist nuns) we spent many of our mornings with in Kathmandu was having some issues with her throat. She would cough a lot while chanting her Green Tara practice & would gesture to us that her throat was in pain.
Wanting to help her, I looked in my bag to see if I had some Sacred Body to share with her, but the only thing I had on hand at the time was a Sacred Awareness anointing oil. I gave it to her to rub on her throat.
She didn’t speak English & I don’t speak Tibetan … so I showed her how to use it by demonstrating it on myself. I added a few drops onto my fingers & rubbed it onto my throat.
I told her that it was “menla” ~ that’s Tibetan for medicine.
The next day, one of the other Ani’s who spoke some English, shared that she used the oil that night and it soothed her throat & even helped her sleep! And that day, her chanting was much clearer & more effortless – amazing!
I shouldn’t have been surprised that it actually helped her throat … but I was. And then I remembered that Sacred Awareness has the Stream Orchid flower essence—which cleanses our speech energies, activates our throat chakra and helps liberate stuck energies in the body through vocal expression!
Katie shares more about flowers that open your throat chakra here.
4. For JOY on our 6-day adventure from India to Nepal on a bus.
Whoever’s idea it was to bring a giant bottle of Joy Juice on the trip … thank you. We made it a regular ritual to storm the bus & make sure everyone got their dose of Joy Juice–even our amazing driver, Arun. Check out that smile after 6 days on the mountain roads that looked like this ...
5. As a massage oil for massaging precious ones.
While we were in Kathmandu, it unexpectedly became our daily practice to do what needed to be done to take care of this precious human being.
He needs more okra in his diet? Ok, we'll go find it & cook it for him.
He needs to replace regular table salt with Pink Himalayan Salt? Ok, we will go find it. Side note: you’d think this would be the easiest task in the HIMALAYAS, right?! Nearly impossible to find.
He needs to get up & exercise more to improve circulation? Ok, we will go for walks with him during our visits.
To help get his blood moving, Katie had a daily ritual of massaging his feet & legs. It was the sweetest thing to watch. He’d often get so relaxed that he’d fall asleep and start snoring. :)
6. To boost ALL BEVERAGES we consumed into our highly dehydrated bodies.
Both India & Nepal have highly contaminated tap water. We only drank bottled water unless we were 1000% sure the place had a water purifying system. And even then, we’d make sure the water was boiled first and served into a glass that was 100% free of water droplets.
So, drinking enough fluids was a task! Our fluid intake was usually in the form of something hot. Honey lemon ginger tea … coffee … licorice tea … chai …
As much as we could, we’d boost the beverage with flower elixirs.
Most of the time it was Joy Juice elixir … but, notice how the bottle Katie is holding doesn’t have a label yet? Before we left, she formulated a new blend (the second in the DIVINE series!!) & had us all take it while traveling together. It had 6 of the 7 flower elixirs that complete the formula; she collected the 7th flower in Nepal.
8. To soften the pain of hard good-byes.
On our final morning with our favorite three Ani's at their monastery, I remember looking at the elders and thinking: "If I don't come back here soon, I might not ever see them again." *heart pain*
Or as we we were getting ready to take off for airport, I had such a hard time saying goodbye to the monks. They'd see me crying and say: "Sister, sister ... be strong."
They all became our family in such a short time. Thankfully, flower essences help soften the blow of painful partings. Joy Juice is particularly helpful if you have the means to prepare yourself ... but anything of them will do the trick!
8. To stimulate acupressure points when things get weird.
If you travel with some sort of survival pack or first-aid kit, Sacred Body mist/anointing oil/elixir should be in that bag.
When you’re traveling in 3rd world countries, anything can happen.
The water is different, the food is different, the air quality is different, the spirits are different.
When we were in Varanasi, Sacred Body anointing oil was a key player in pulling me out of a really unusual & scary physical experience; it was the oil combined with Katie & Alan’s intuitive expertise, acupressure points, mantra & time.
The short story is … I fainted, puked & had half my body seize up like a stone statue—all while riding a tuk tuk!
Want the long story? I wrote about it here.
Sending happy thoughts to you in the wind,
Taylor
