The healing power of flowers

Can flowers heal you? Take this quiz and find out.

There is a refreshing interest in flowers as beverages and infusions, all thanks to the rising number of tea rooms and bars offering a variety of flavours.

Perhaps not many of these neo-converts, who see it only as a light substitute for coffee, realise that these floral infusions are health supplements and even regarded as powerful herbs.

Some of these floral infusions are a part of healing traditions across the world, and must have been in the medical cabinets of most ancient healers.

This explains why myths were created around these flowers that are regarded as healing today and are treated as sacred universally.

They are a part of Ayurvedic healing as well as that of Bach flower remedies. Unani, naturopathy also uses it widely, both for external and internal use.

In aromatherapy flowers are mostly used as external aids. Many of these healing flowers are natural aphrodisiacs, a quality which is exploited to fight depression, dullness, low self-esteem.

Shameem Akthar, yogacharya trained with the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre, takes you through five questions which will reveal the beautiful health secrets of flowers.

Photograph: aJ Gazmen/Creative Commons