Tap into flower essence power

Customers have been buying more flowers lately, but not in the form you might think. An increased awareness of the tie between emotional and physical health is raising consumer interest in flower essences—tinctures that purportedly capture the energetic healing imprint of everything from alpine lilies to yarrow.

Just as overall personal care sales began picking up again after a brief decline, flower-essence sales increased from October 2009 to October 2010 by 5.1 percent in the combined conventional and natural channels, according to SPINS, a market research firm in Schaumburg, Ill. Sales rose 2 percent in the natural channel during this time and 19 percent in the conventional channel. This data does not include sales figures from Whole Foods Market or Walmart.

“Flower essences are popular because they are an inexpensive and cost-effective therapy that produces potent, powerful effects when dealing with emotional conditions,” says Dick Thom, ND, DDS, a professor at the National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland, Ore. For example, flower essences can help calm anxiety, increase happiness in a depressed person or bring focus to someone who feels scattered, he says.