Brooke’s Story of Healing, Meaningful Work as a Mum
For many people, discovering flower essences or enrolling into a course begins with curiosity.
For others, it begins when someone they love is struggling and they find themselves searching for another way to help.
For Brooke, now a qualified and registered naturopath and herbalist with a psychology degree, mother of four and First Light® Qualified Practitioner, it was both.
Today, she shares how flower essences have become part of everyday family life, her own personal healing journey and her professional work, supporting women and mothers who are struggling.
Brooke says, ‘The first time I used First Light® flower essences it just felt right. After taking a personalised blend for a couple of months I remember feeling an overall sense of calm.’
I Saw How They Helped My Son, When Nothing Else Did
Her experience supporting her son became the catalyst for wanting to understand the modality at a much deeper level.
‘After seeing how much they helped my son who was experiencing school related anxiety when every other approach I had tried was not working for him, I was inspired to do the First Light® College of New Zealand Native Flower Essence Therapy courses and learn more about these amazing NZ Native plants and their holistic healing properties.
I was very curious and knew that the essences were a tool I needed in my toolbox, as a mother, and as a natural health practitioner.
‘I have four children, two cats and a dog, and we live on 34 acres of NZ native bush up North. I love reading, learning, spending time in Nature, and being a Mum.
It is so empowering
having the essences right at my fingertips to support myself and my children naturally when needed.
For Brooke, First Light® Flower Essences are not something reserved only for major life events.
’Oh my goodness, I use the flower essences for absolutely everything for myself and my kids. This is one of the things I love the most about the First Light® range of essences, that there is literally an essence for every situation where we are needing support.
I regularly make up constitutional blends for myself and my children as well as a blend of the seven fern essences to help us stay emotionally balanced daily.
I also make up specific blends when we are experiencing a specific difficulty or challenge.
My daughter is energetically sensitive
and she was experiencing headaches every day at the end of school. After formulating a blend with specific essences to support protecting her energy, she was feeling so much better and was much happier.’
And for mothers wondering where they could possibly begin, Brooke’s advice is refreshingly simple:
’Mums have a real feel for their children therefore, I would recommend you trust that connection you have with your children, and follow your motherly intuition to select one essence, to start with, that you feel will support your child.’
A personal healing journey and a long-term disempowering relationship
’I have been working with the essences for years and my experience (and healing journey) has been one of retrospect. Not typical and not linear.’
Over time, Brooke began to recognise how much had changed.
’I’ve always felt good, uplifted, happy and calm when I have been taking essence blends however, it wasn’t until recently when I did some self-reflection on where I was at in my life and how I was feeling that I realised that the essences had quietly and subtly been working on the mental and emotional pain I had been carrying around from my long-term difficult and disempowering relationship.
From confusion to clarity
Very specifically I noticed that I had shifted from confusion to clarity and the emotional charge behind my challenging experiences had gone. I felt emotionally resilient again.
Meaningful work
Nature, and life has a funny way of bringing the very things we need into our lives for healing, whether we are aware of them or not.
I now support women and mothers to heal from unhealthy relationships
I create personalised blends to address the specific stressors they have been experiencing within their relationships, such as confusion, disempowerment, invalidation, anger, frustration, anxiety, sadness, and overwhelm.
I did not seek out the essences to support me in healing from this stressful and traumatic relationship. The plants showed me that this was my way to heal and how I am meant to be working with and sharing their holistic healing medicine; to support other women and mothers to release the emotional pain of unhealthy relationships and to feel more joy and peace.
For Brooke, becoming a practitioner has also brought a deeper sense of meaning to her work.
‘I feel inspired and grateful and full of purpose to be able to help someone naturally who is struggling mentally and emotionally.
My practice is called Inner Rhythms Medicine. I am located in Doubtless Bay and offer online consultations
(you can connect with Brooke here)
Learning to understand the language of the essences
The most meaningful shift has been feeling a deep sense of purpose in how I am living my life and feeling blessed and grateful to be where I am.
If you have a calling, definitely trust
that calling and move forward to learn more about the essences because it means that the essences are meant to be a part of your life in some way.
I have really enjoyed learning about how the essences are connected to Astrology which prior to enrolling in the First Light® courses was a passion of mine that I was studying informally for fun and formally in relation to herbal medicine and plants not native to NZ.’
What surprised her most?
‘The depth. I love understanding things that I choose to learn at a deep level, and the First Light® courses go deep.’
What if you feel drawn to working with the essences too?
Perhaps Brooke’s story resonates because you want natural ways to support yourself or your family.
Perhaps you are already working in health and wellbeing and feel that something is missing from your current toolbox.
Or perhaps you simply feel curious about the healing potential of New Zealand native plants.
Brooke’s advice is to listen to that curiosity. 
If you are feeling the nudge to explore First Light® flower essences: Follow the feeling and give it a go whether it be trying a blend or doing a course. Try one.
NOTE: All metaphysical correlations, energetic principles, and educational language presented in this article are part of the original House of the Bee® system developed by Franchelle Ofsoské-Wyber — multi-award-winning vibrational medicine specialist, author of The Sacred Plant Medicine of Aotearoa, founder and creator of First Light Flower Essences of New Zealand®, and founder of the First Light® College of New Zealand Native Flower Essence Therapy, which provides proprietary and original teachings on holistic healing and New Zealand native flower essence therapy.
