How Flower Remedies Work
Somebody asked me the other day about taking Rescue Remedy® on the day before she took her homeopathic constitutional. She was concerned about any negative interaction, and that surprised me – it got me realizing that people still have misconceptions about how flower remedies work, so I’m offering a new explanation here:
Just like people, flowers have their own personalities, and those floral characteristics have a vibration. For some, it may be too abstract to think that those vibrations can be bottled, but just as some people leave the impression of their personality in a room long after they’ve left it, so can flowers leave their vibration in us. As flowers are the pinnacle of nature’s expression of joy and renewal, flower essences only work to soothe unhappiness.
Dr. Bach’s mission was that people should be happy, and flower remedies are only capable of working toward that end; they have no negative effects. The more you take the drops, the more the flowers’ simple understanding of joy and happiness becomes available to your consciousness. Dr. Bach wrote, “The action of these remedies is to raise our vibrations and open up our channels for the reception of our Spiritual Self….They cure, not by attacking the disease, but by flooding our bodies with the beautiful vibrations of our Higher Nature, in the presence of whom disease melts away as snow in the sunshine.”
Think of how you feel when you smell a rose. 
In that moment, all thoughts of unhappiness, fear or depression disappear as your senses are filled with the rose’s beautiful scent. When you turn your attention away from the flower you may feel negativity again, but every time you return to the flower, its beauty overpowers unhappiness.
That’s how the flower remedies work. Unlike drugs, herbs, or even homeopathy, flower remedies work on a very fine, subtle, emotional and spiritual level. When we take the essences, we are remembering to embrace lightness and happiness rather than confusion, pain, fear, etc., and the flower essences then can bring those positive qualities into our awareness. Moment by moment, drop by drop, they gently offer peace, happiness and higher understanding in accordance with our willingness to grow.
Remember, flower remedies are not homeopathic remedies; they work on a different vibratory level and do not address physical or chemical conditions directly (a few sensitives have told me they feel flower essences as vibrating much “faster” than homeopathic potencies). Physical benefits received from using flower essences are the result of the mind-body connection that allows a body to heal faster and better when psychological stress is removed. Flower essences are compatible with other medicines in that they have no contraindications – but you should still ask your homeopath if he or she minds you taking the flower essences at the same time you’re taking a homeopathic constitutional. The reason is for clarity of “picture:” if you are taking something that works similarly to your constitutional (homeopathic) remedy, how will your homeopath know which one’s working? Many homeopaths don’t mind you taking flower remedies after you’ve been on your constitutional for a few weeks or months, after they’ve been able to get clear feedback on their prescription. But all the homeopaths I have talked to agree that Rescue Remedy®, because it acts globally to reduce stress and shock and is not a specific “personality” essence,” is never a problem to take while using a homeopathic remedy.