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Editor’s Note: Barbara Schuster feels it is important to note that, while the version of Impatiens glandulifera she used is derived from the same seed and location as indicated by Dr. Bach, it was then cultivated and prepared as a flower essence at Terra Flora , California (FES). Barbara is a long-time flower essence therapist, who is familiar with the original Bach flowers. She and another colleague detect a difference in the healing properties of this version with regard to how the soul experiences time. She encourages ongoing research in possible differences due to environmental conditions. Readers are encouraged to network with Barbara for a further exploration of this topic. The following article has been edited and formatted for publication in the FES International E-Journal .
The Compulsion of Haste and the Lack of a
I never considered myself to be the classic Impatiens archetype described in the original Bach literature. However, in a discussion with Patricia Kaminski during the FES Practitioner Seminar , I gained renewed insight and understanding regarding its potential healing qualities and chose to then use it for an in-depth period of four months. I had always felt and observed general hastiness in my movements. It seemed to permeate my activity no matter what I was doing. I felt unable to direct my movements from a center that coordinated these actions. Instead I always felt as if I were pulled into the particular components of my activities, unable to coordinate my movements from a place of overview.
For example, a quality of haste impelled me to the cutting board when I was preparing a meal, pulled me to the pen in the bottom of my purse, or pushed me to retrieve the item from the drawer. I hastily rushed forward into the activity, rather than seeing the totality of the work to be done from a center, and then addressing the various aspects in composed sequences. When preparing a meal, I would find it hard to think of all the items I needed in an “overview” manner, so that I could assemble all the tools and ingredients and then start working. Instead, I rushed to the carrots first and the cutting board later; looking for the knife in the drawer with one hand while holding the carrot in the other. It meant also that I was often moving on to the next part of the activity, having completed only 80% of the previous one. I had tried many essences to remedy this ‘feature,’ which seemed to harbor components of hastiness, scatteredness, greediness, lack of will power to bring part of an action to a finish, lack of overview and control, plus something else I couldn’t define. There was something that just eluded me. I didn’t know what it was or where it came from. I used the Impatiens glandulifera essence in dosage bottle form consistently for approximately four months. I was astonished to observe four distinct changes:
1) More deliberate and decisive movements when performing any activity,
These four aspects are discussed further below:
More Deliberate and Decisive Movements
One of the changes I noticed was that I would move my hands and arms more slowly when I was doing things. Also, when I would need to get up from a chair to get something from another room, I wouldn’t zoom up and forward to go get it, but just walk over without extra speed, sometimes downright slowly! The feeling of being at the hub of the wheel and steering things from a centered perspective was not necessarily there, but I didn’t rush with my movements into an activity. I was not “sucked” towards the objects in the same manner as before. Freedom from Experiencing Time Only as an Outer “Pressure”
Next, I noticed that time seemed to lose its capacity to exert pressure on me. For example, there would be multiple things I needed to get done. I had a list, either in my mind or on paper. Yes, I had these things to do. Somehow, I just went about doing them. The feeling “Oh my god, I have a, b, c, d to do, is there going to be enough time for everything?” was not present. The list of things to do did not exert time-pressure on me. A Soul-Sense that Time is More Inwardly Spacious Something else I observed at some point was that I would look at my watch, thinking for example, that it must be 3:30 pm, but it was only 2:30 PM. Or at times I was saying to myself: 20 minutes must have passed, but the clock only indicated 10 minutes! I might be expecting a client to arrive in 20 minutes and I still had all kinds of things to get ready beforehand. I would say to myself, “Oh, no problem, I still have 20 minutes!” One day, I had to get from a place in Ottawa West to a car vacuum place 10-15 minutes even further west, vacuum my car, then go back downtown for a doctor’s appointment, all within one hour. Ottawa is certainly no metropolis, but the timing was tight. Should I really go and vacuum my car or wait and do it another time? I decided to go, and somehow I arrived at the doctor’s office within 45 minutes! Often I asked myself: “Where is all this time coming from?” My Habitual Pattern of Being Late Changed Since taking Impatiens I have been punctual and not late anymore. I would often be just a little late or I would arrive at the last minute. Now I found myself always a few minutes early, and I rarely felt rushed when I had to go and arrive somewhere at a particular time.
This is something enormously profound. People who are habitually late have a very difficult time being punctual, no matter how hard they try. There is something at work that interferes with their time consciousness and intentions that they cannot really control. I knew that from my own experience. An Awareness Crisis Emerges After Two and Half Months Patricia Kaminski’s research regarding the stages of flower essence therapy, called The Four R's of Flower Essence Response, notes that a third alchemical stage typically occurs in deeper healing work called Resistance, Regression and Reconciliation . While this stage can seem like a setback, it is actually an important aspect of deep soul healing. The individual is presented with a profound opportunity to experience a vivid contrast, and “see” one’s old pattern or feeling. It is a conscious meeting with two aspects of the Self involving the past and present that can then be more deeply resolved. Indeed this happened to me about two and half months into the healing journey with Impatiens. I wrote in my journal, “whenever I looked at my watch, it was later than I had thought. Where was this wonderful calm state where I could look at all the things I had to do, and time could pressure me not? It was gone!” This was the total opposite of my previous healing experience. I once again felt an inner tension which had a hue of panic.
The Healing Role of Alchemical Polarity in
I continued taking Impatiens, and within a few days I was back to the state where I would look at my to-do list and feel, “Yes, I will get to those items.” There were even moments when I mused, “‘There are a number of things I had to do, what were they again? Let me check on my list.” It seemed they had been somehow released from my immediate concern. This experience was a revelation for me. I had just gone through an intense recapitulation of the “out of order” state of my relationship to time; I had again acutely experienced time pushing and rushing me and feeling powerless in the face of it. Then, a few days later, I found myself in exactly the same life circumstances, and time did not have this pressing effect on me. This was an incredible experience of polarity, all within one week! My experience confirms what is noted in the Flower Essence Repertory regarding the unique healing attributes of flower essence therapy. Flower essences don’t work through the Law of Similars like Homeopathy, nor through the Law of Opposites as do allopathic drugs. They work through the Principle of Polarity. Allopathic substances are used to counteract a given symptom, for example, the use of an anti-inflammatory medication that reduces swelling and pain. On the other hand, homeopathic substances use the law of similars to provoke the symptom being experienced, thereby stimulating the immune system to respond. Flower essence therapy reaches into the soul identity, helping the individual to first cognize and then resolve or harmonize two opposing aspects of the Self. Recognizing Alchemical Polarity in the Impatiens Plant Plants also contain dynamic polarity, and this is why they can stimulate healing in the human being.
On the one hand, we can observe that the Impatiens glandulifera plant has shallow roots that can easily be pulled out. It doesn’t take time to settle and put roots down. It is considered an invasive species because it pushes other plants aside, seeming to declare, “Just get out of my way.” It grows fast—in its main growing season, it is said to grow as much as an inch a day. The growth lines on the stem are straight and sinewy; there is no meandering. The leaves are pointed and lanceolate, sharp like lances or spears. The seeds within the ripe pods quickly split open when touched and shoot out like bullets. I have played with the Spotted Touch-Me-Not (Impatiens capensis), which grows in the area where I live, and watched the seeds splatter.
See Julian Barnard’s book Bach Flower Remedies - Form & Function, or his video presentation on Impatiens , for further commentary on these qualities. On the other hand, one can see delicate receptivity and openness in the Impatiens glandulifera . Its pink-white blossoms have a complex and intricate shape, compared to the straight-forward growth of the stem and leaves. In botanical terms, this flower is deeply invaginated, with a pronounced inner center that is open to the world and to the insects crawling into its receptive space. The flower heads, gently swaying on the stem on their small stalks (peduncles), don’t trap the insects like some plants do but allow them to crawl in and out. Here we see the balance of polarities so typical for the plant world. The upward rush and intensity of the Impatiens plant is balanced by gentleness, sensitivity and a delicate pink-white color with an intriguing receptive form in the blossoms.
Chronos & Kairos: The Mystery of Time and Soul Experience Impatiens was the catalyst I needed to be “within the flow of time," as described in the Flower Essence Repertory :
Through experience and reflection, I have arrived at the understanding that time is mysterious and can change its appearance, manifestation and quality as it moves through our lives in different ways at different moments. The more I observe, the more I am certain that time can expand, contract, accelerate, slow down, stand still, disappear. It has its own tread and velocity. During my healing journey, I listened to a presenter describe Time as the sculptor of our lives. Certain experiences can get locked into time: for example, when we have suffered trauma, the past intrudes into the present and assumes an identity that doesn’t rightfully belong to it.
Phrases like "time doesn’t exist," or "time is relative," or "the past doesn’t exist," don’t really have much substance. Nor is time this thing we try to measure with our clocks that has sixty seconds a minute and is always constant. That is, at best, the mechanical corpse of time. Something as living and flexible as time cannot be apprehended or comprehended with the concept of a clock. Time is cyclical, periodical, and has rhythm. It brings repetition, yet new things that haven’t existed before enter into the recurring cycles. The year always has the same four seasons, yet every year and every season brings something new. Time can also come towards us from the future. Sometimes we have dreams in the now that already carry an element from the future. The essence of Time is more akin to the way a plant grows rather than to the movement of the hands of a clock. What would a plant be without time? What would wine be without time? What would music be without time? The Greeks had two words for time: Chronos and Kairos . Chronos is the basis of chronology, or measurable time. Kairos is difficult to define, exactly because it isn’t finite and measurable. Rather it has a qualitative nature and denotes an opportune moment. In archery, Kairos indicates the moment when an arrow can be fired with sufficient force to penetrate a target. In weaving, Kairos signals the moment in which the shuttle could be passed through threads on the loom. Kairos eludes the neat little blocks into which our modern mind craves to fit our experiences. My own experience of Time and the teaching of the Impatiens flower is a testimony to this.
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