Fright when touched

The increasing tension of the seed pods means that one day they will burst open as soon as they are even gently touched, e.g. when a raindrop falls on them. The herbal equivalent of the human touch terror is the hallmark of the impatiens plant family, of which the Himalayan Balsam, is best-known as Impatiens, one of the Bach flowers. One of its sister plants, Touch-Me-Not Balsam, exhibits the same behavior. In terms of flower energy, this is interpreted as severe stress suffered by those in need of this energy.

When athletes prepare for the 100m, they take the starting position in the blocks. The moment the invitation to do so sounds, their tension increases. They know, now it depends. The spectators increase the pressure, they want to see an exciting race in which the participants do their best. The body absorbs this pressure from the outside, the heartbeat accelerates, the adrenaline flows into the muscles to increase their strength, they are highly concentrated and wait for the starting shot. It’s stressful, but bearable. They have made the decision themselves to submit to that stress, and just a moment later, when the go signal is given, there’s an opportunity to instantly relieve all that stress by running as fast as they can.

This is how tense one feels in a state that indicates one of the balsam essences. But what if there is no starting signal? Breathing and heartbeat are still accelerated, adrenaline is still coursing through the blood, but the muscles are unable to respond because it is not appropriate to the situation.

Or what should the hiring manager think of you when you’re running away from the job interview like a scalded cat. Or from the stage on which you should actually portray the main character. Or from the home where the protectors have proven to be bothersome and at the same time are the ones you depend on. Stress becomes chronic, denaturs and shortens life.

The obvious solution is to play dead. I remember in classwork where the teacher would sneak through the rows and occasionally stand behind you to watch over your shoulder what you were doing. Nothing of course. You froze, just like evolution taught you to. A danger from behind that can only be felt but not seen, without a chance of running away. When fighting or fleeing is impossible, the only option is to freeze.The latter triggers the worst consequences, because if the stress remains unprocessed and builds up in the body, it becomes chronic and makes you unfit to live.

What the teacher hoped to gain from his behaviour remains in the dark, it is perceived as a danger.. Imagine approaching the runner in the starting block and innocently asking: what is the VAT of the square root of 798. The tense runner will not even understand the question. Let alone they can answer. Just as little as students can even think clearly during class work in the heightened threat of the person behind them. That’s just not how the human nervous system works.

If the teacher also puts his hand on your shoulder, it’s finally over, blackout. It’s like an unexpected touch on the street only multiplied by the stress already there. You turn around and realize, oh, Lene or Max, it’s you, you scared me. You know them and trust them - and still get frightened when they approach from behind. Turning around and saying „Oh, Mr. Downtaker, what are you doing here?“ is rare.

What does stress do to me when I experience it on a daily basis? In Michelle Elliot’s book, Female Sexual Abuse Of Children: The Ultimate Taboo, I found the following in the Lucy Jenner Story section. The very personal account of a young woman who suffered childhood abuse is an accurate description of a balsam indication:

„I hardly trusted anyone. When people were nice to me, I believed they wanted something from me and would end up hurting or betraying me. Somehow I didn’t find a healthy balance. I was constantly vacillating between total distrust and unconditional belief in everyone I met. I had no self-esteem at all and bad mood swings: from chatterbox to mouse and vice versa, sometimes multiple times in a day. I was very awkward and, for as long as I can remember, always felt a clear and inescapable need to apologize for my existence. I just knew that my mother had never really loved me, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on why. It just made me feel dirty and uncomfortable.”

Anyone who hears such statements from their patients should always first think of Touch-Me-Not Balsam.

Further explanations of Touch-Me-Not Balsam as a flower essence can be found on this website and the corresponding books.

What you won’t find there is the description by Joel Andrews. A quarter century ago I sent a vial of this essence to California where he lived and composed meditative harp music. After his career as classical musician,he worked exclusively as a kind of music therapist, playing healing sounds for his patients since 1970. For him, it was easy to access subtle energies. His special talent was to translate these into sound - and not only that: also into words.

This is the summary of a half-hour interpretation by Joel Andrews, which he sent me as audio recording:

“This flower brings peace to the body. Some people store problems they cannot solve in their bodies, where they prevent them from accepting love. Although there is a great longing for it, previous bad experiences prevent it from being received. You’re stuck in a frustrating dilemma. You close yourself off. The wounds that love once inflicted are to be regarded as rigid scars that make you inflexible and hardly allow you to imagine the whole beauty of life, nature and love itself.

Touch-Me-Not Balsam is an invitation to go out, even out of yourself. This flower opens for natural vibrations, its use is therefore the prerequisite for further development, which enables one to accept challenges, to come into harmony with nature in general and with one’s own nature in particular, to accept oneself and to be able to love.

Longing for human love is redeemed by remembering one’s own ability to love; one comes into contact with the source of love. All love problems can be solved by contacting this source.

One learns to love for love’s sake, regardless of the reactions of others, one learns freedom and ease in love. Learning from love means recognizing the wisdom of life, finding the path of the soul, being able to recognize the meaning of one’s own life.“

One is given permission to leave the starting block of life and finally participate in using one’s powers and unfolding one’s talents. You don’t stay crouched alone, but become active and strive for your goals. This flower can help you with that.