(Dicentra spectabilis)

broken-heartedness, loss, co-dependence

Bleeding Heart flowers look like the broken heart they help to heal. A wonderful overall remedy for any kinds of grief, loss, separation, or depression, it is particularly applicable to any emotional trauma involving family and loved ones. It helps to incarnate and thus enhances sexual energy.

Bleeding Heart is an excellent flower essence to be taken by both partners in a couple to clear out heart issues and co-dependence between them. Bleeding Heart is one of the most universally applicable flower essence in body work. Not only is it wonderful applied over the heart (front or back) for almost everyone, since our life is so filled with grief and loss. It is specific to what is called a heart armor in the body oriented psychotherapies – a bulging hardened upper body in which the heart is held as if pulled in, as if to protect it from another emotional blow (compare Lily of the Valley).

It also has a strong action on the pelvis and sexual sphere. By bringing the energy back into the pelvis, it realigns the pelvic bones and the SI joint, and opens to sexual feelings and joy.

Bleeding Heart can help both partners enter into a deeper, more heartfelt sexual relationship that is rooted in a deep physical awareness.

Being a part of the fumariacea family, Bleeding Heart is related to many fine gallbladder remedies. In Chinese medicine, the energetic health of the gallbladder is related to courage. We need courage to be ourselves, and to happily be ourselves and meet the challenges of life without needing to merge into fusion with someone else. Bleeding Heart strengthens the liver / gallbladder meridian energy and helps us to empower ourselves.

Indications: broken-heartedness, down-hearted, “honey I can't live without you baby”, needing a “better half” rather than being whole, not feeling whole without a better half, grief over relationships, co-dependence, being addicted to a relationship, inability to leave a destructive relationship (with Black Cohosh), grief over loss of a loved one or separation, using sexuality to avoid loneliness or separation, inability to love, scared to do things by oneself, feeling spacy or vague from grief, lack of grounding, depression, sexual trauma, inability to enjoy sexuality, sexual acting out due to inability for real intimacy, fear of intimacy, shame, sexual immaturity, inability to go through phases of celibacy, difficulties to conceive due to any of the above

Attributes: ability to enter and create co-creative relationships, feeling whole within oneself, accepting partings and separations as a part of life, courage to tackle life by oneself, heartfelt love and joy, ability to give and receive love, ability to share true intimacy, relating to one's sexuality in a healthy manner, ability to enjoy sexual pleasure, overcoming grief for a lost child, overcoming grief for a twin who died in utero, helps to enter into sexual maturity, being self-content within one's sexual energy, enhances fertility as a co-creative act

Uses in Bodywork: to relax a heart armor or stiff thorax and shoulders especially if accompanied by a weak kidney area, any kind of ailment or stiff muscles or heart pain following an emotional hurt or blow, over the sacrum for a twisted or rotated pelvis – as such can relieve SI joint pain, after miscarriages, stillbirths, abortions, for an energetic tendency to miscarry, energetic tendency for prolapse, for big fat deposits over the hips in women who store grief and father issues there, tendency for candida infections and watery vaginal discharge, energetic block at T2, helps testes to descend in boys, enhances fertility as a co-creative act

Energetic Qualities: opens the heart chakra, heals blocks from emotional trauma, realigns the pelvis, moves the liver / gallbladder meridian energy, strengthens kidney energy, rekindles sexual feelings, grounding, regulates apana vayu.