Andrew (00:03)
So

so I'm very curious to hear about your journey in discovering flower remedies and why you chose to make it your profession.

Alexis Smart (00:18)
well, Andrew, you know, as I've learned as I've gotten to know a lot of healers through my time doing this, ⁓ I found that everyone who's become really passionate ha has they are the wounded healers. So they were they were sick and ⁓ nothing helped them. They looked

to Western medicine and and eventually they they found the modality that healed them and that's what got them interested. So, you know, some people with some people it's acupuncture, some people it's energy healing, and with me it was flower remedies. and so I'm a very sensitive person and I'd gone through a lot of

Grief and trauma and you know, stuff in childhood that is just kind of accumulating, but I was physically very healthy and ⁓ just had anxiety and and some like garden variety ⁓ neuroses and stuff. And then when I was ⁓ I was around Saturn return, if you know about that.

Andrew (01:32)
Mm-hmm.

Alexis Smart (01:33)
twenty seven, twenty-eight. ⁓ I went to Egypt and got very sick there and never got better. And somehow like the guy I was traveling with was we we were pals, but then we tension started developing. So I was, you know, ⁓ shaking, chills, fever on a train to Oswan. I don't know where I was 'cause I was in a to complete hallucinogenic fever state.

Andrew (02:02)
Mm.

Alexis Smart (02:02)
And he was of no help. He was he was ⁓ we were fighting kind of. So it was I was basically alone in Egypt with this headache that I thought might be a brain hemorrhage, because my mom had just had a brain hemorrhage a few years before. So I was ⁓ but I was I couldn't really perceive my own condition. I was so out of it and I just thought, okay, I don't I'll be home soon.

Andrew (02:08)
Yeah.

Mm.

Alexis Smart (02:31)
And then this weird flu will pass. And then I got back to the States and I recovered, but then like the fever would come back. And I go, God, I got this crazy Egyptian flu I can't get rid of. And then I had a very big loss, ⁓ grief. like my the my first love died and there was a lot of ⁓ weird stuff around it, like

Andrew (02:47)
Mm.

Alexis Smart (03:00)
Like I wasn't allowed to see him in the hospital, you know, 'cause I'd haven't told this very specific story, it's ⁓ personal, but I feel like it it's helpful for people to hear about this. ⁓ because it illustrates the way the the psyche and the emotions can can just take the body down. So, you know, I came back from Egypt and I was sick and I was getting these fevers, but

Andrew (03:10)
Mm.

Hmm.

Alexis Smart (03:30)
I was kind of strong constitutionally, like I look at photos from myself and think, that's when I was getting the fevers, but I was sparkly eyed and looked vital. And then he he was this this person was in the hospital and ⁓ his mother wouldn't let me see him. So and it just destroyed me and then he died and it was like this lasting wound that was so deep that

Andrew (03:41)
Mm.

Mm.

Alexis Smart (04:00)
⁓ suddenly these fevers became worse and more debilitating and then ⁓ you know I'd lost all this weight and so it was I did have this physical illness, but the the bloat of my vital force from this grief was so strong that the physical path the pathogen that was that my body was fighting took over. And I just developed a lot of physical symptoms. ⁓

Andrew (04:24)
Mm.

Alexis Smart (04:30)
I lost weight, I told you I had acne. I I was sensitive to everything. Suddenly I couldn't drink alcohol or eat certain foods. I couldn't be around certain people. It was just and it was kind of just getting worse and worse. And I saw many healers, like alternative healers, and nothing was really helping. And then I was

What how did this happen? I was taking my mom my mom who survived the brain hemorrhage. ⁓ I was taking her to her doctor and I needed to kill time, and I went to ⁓ get a juice at the Beverly Hills Juice Club on ⁓ Melrose and in LA. And I ever I every time I'd go there, I would pass this place on Orlando.

Andrew (05:24)
Mm-hmm.

Alexis Smart (05:30)
Called the Healing Waters, and it was always closed. And I thought it was like a weird Swedish spa or something. And then on that day where I parked in front of there, and ⁓ it was the door was open, and I peeked in, and there were all these crystals and weird. I I don't know if you know what orosoma is, but it's like I I can't even wrap my head around it. But they're there also some kind of healing modality and they're beautiful in these beautiful jars with.

Andrew (05:51)
Yeah.

Alexis Smart (05:58)
that are two colors, the bottom is fuchsia and the top will be turquoise. And I saw those and and I I'm like I got a yeah, aura soma And I I thought I'm going in here. And and it did there was a sign that said English flower essences in the window. And I had just been reading an article about someone who had similar a similar story to mine who was healed with flower essences.

Andrew (06:06)
Aura Soma.

Alexis Smart (06:27)
The night before I had read this article and thought, I've got to look into this. But the practitioner was on the island of Jersey. I mean it was like s so out of my reach at the time. So is this too long a story? ⁓ Okay. So so ⁓ and by the way, at the time I was in an unfulfilling career as a commercial actress.

Andrew (06:40)
Mm-hmm.

No, I love it.

Alexis Smart (06:56)
And I had just fallen into that from I'd wanted to be a writer and then somehow I started modeling as a teenager in LA and that segued into commercials and the money was great and I got to travel and so it was very hard to quit because the money. And but I was getting more and more miserable as I felt like ⁓ I'm ignoring, you know, my soul's calling but I didn't know what that was, but it wasn't

being in Pepsi commercials. And so and and because of that, like not only did I have this kind of tropical recurring fever, but I also had started getting panic attacks when I would drive to auditions. They and they were they were manageable, but I would start sweating and I would feel kinda out of my body and just be a wreck by the time I

Andrew (07:42)
Mm-hmm.

Alexis Smart (07:53)
arrived and then I of course wouldn't get the jobs because I wasn't cute. And so so this was all happening. It all converged and I I walked into this store and ⁓ there was a woman there and I said, ⁓ do you have anything for panic? Like I'm getting these anxiety and ⁓ she said, Yeah, write your name down on this piece of paper and come back in ten minutes. Go get a juice.

So I did, and I came back and she had a bottle for me, a little dropper bottle, and she said, Take this four times a day under your tongue, and ⁓ in a few days you're gonna feel a lot better, and in three weeks you're gonna be a new person. And I was like, I completely believed her. And I'd been to so many people who promised things, but nothing ever worked, you know, and so but there's something about her, and I said, ⁓

Can I read about like what what is in this? And so she gave me a little booklet and I read about each she'd put six things in there and I read about them and they described me perfectly my per like it was like six aspects of my personality, you know, feeling out of body, not trusting my intuition, ⁓ depression, indecision, focus on my imperfections. ⁓

Andrew (09:07)
Hmm.

Mm.

Alexis Smart (09:19)
dwelling on the past. I mean it was like I don't know how she did it. So I s hightailed it back to get my mom. Said, Are you gonna be here? I gotta bring my mom. So I brought my mom and she did the same thing with her. Write your name on this piece of paper. And my mom is into all of this stuff. I mean she she did give me rescue remedy growing up. She's a herbalist and astrologer, so I knew she'd she'd be into this. So ⁓

Andrew (09:38)
Okay.

Alexis Smart (09:46)
And I looked at her formula and she got a completely different thing. And it described her perfectly, like self-pity, possessiveness, dark depressions, ⁓ hopelessness, you know, fatigue, all this. And I'm like, how did this woman know all these things? So so my mom and I both started on this flower remedy journey together, and it was literally

one month later we were completely different people and like my life was never the same after that. And she changed. I so if it had just been me, I would have been I would have had doubts like, ⁓ is this because I believe this whole you know, the placebo or but I I witnessed my mom completely change and she wasn't possessive anymore. She was very just

Andrew (10:21)
Wow.

Alexis Smart (10:42)
⁓ our relationship changed. She started she'd gone from wearing all black to wearing all white. So this darkness lifted from her and and I just felt so inspired. So and I felt so well. It was like I'd been obsessed with finding as we do, ⁓ I we are obsessed with diagnosis. I mean, I'm still talking to my friends, I'm getting blood tests, I'm getting some scans, I'm getting

Andrew (10:48)
Hmm.

Alexis Smart (11:12)
You know, I'm gonna see my inflammation level. Just obsessed with the diagnosis instead of like, don't you want to but what about feeling better? What about the cure? What about the and ⁓ like just naming your disease is not a cure. But w but and I was stuck in that. If I could just figure out what's wrong with me, then I'll get better and ⁓ and

Andrew (11:13)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Alexis Smart (11:39)
I took these remedies and I felt so happy and all of this grief lifted and confidence came back and clarity where I realized I can't stand doing these auditions anymore. It's killing me. I cannot do one more. I am gonna get out of this. And this boyfriend I had who's like a gaslighter model, he was in the agency too, and like, what am I doing with this guy?

And the agent himself was was like ⁓ low-key abusive, you know, and demeaning and but I had d I had kept saying to myself, surely your agent wouldn't diminish your conf why would they do that? They benefit from you getting work and but as soon as I took these remedies I saw everything really clearly and I could not tolerate my life any longer the way it was. and so I I quit the

Andrew (12:13)
Mm-hmm.

Wow.

Alexis Smart (12:37)
modeling, acting, I broke up with the guy and I thought, well, yeah, I'll make money some other way. But I w in the back of my mind I was like, this is this is it. I want to do this. Whatever this is, it was so miraculous. And my panic attacks went away as soon as I stopped this job and broke up with that guy. And realized

years later, because I know the formula that woman gave me when I became a practitioner, I always thought about this remedy because there was nothing for fear in it. So like a newbie practitioner, if I'd said I have panic attacks when I'm driving, they would have given me these certain essences, mimulus or rock rose or aspen. They weren't in that remedy. But what was in there was were remedies for trusting your intuition.

Andrew (13:28)
Hmm.

Alexis Smart (13:34)
confidence, things clarity, and so when I stopped living this wrong life, my anxiety stopped and I went, wow, those that anxiety was telling me ⁓ it was helpful, it was saying you're you're on the wrong path. So I corrected it and I felt great. Physically I felt great too. ⁓ but but th the

Andrew (14:03)
So the flu, the fevers went away.

Alexis Smart (14:06)
No, they they what happened was through the intuition I started knowing what health practices to do to to start getting stronger and cleanses and things and did parasite cleanse. I just knew, okay, I've never been well since Egypt, but that was overlooked by a lot of doctors. And then f finally I I talked to someone and they said

Andrew (14:08)
Okay.

Alexis Smart (14:34)
the an Egyptian woman, she said, it sounds like you had malaria. Real casual. I malaria? What? She said, yeah, it's really common there. I didn't know this 'cause I'd gone in nineteen ninety nine, before I didn't have a smartphone to Google things and I just had no idea. So I raced home and looked at the symptoms and I had every it exactly textbook.

Andrew (14:53)
Yeah.

Alexis Smart (15:02)
So I went on this goose chase again, fell back in the pattern of trying to get the diagnosis, went to these doctors. I couldn't get a diagnosis because I was still getting the fevers and I did still have fatigue. And that's when I discovered homeopathy or rediscovered it. ⁓ I met a homeopath who treated me and ⁓ my fever it ⁓ I had a slight aggravation after the remedy and then never had a fever again.

Andrew (15:08)
Mm.

Alexis Smart (15:32)
And ⁓ so it was kind of like that and the ha and the flower essences together were li I was like this is this is what I wanna practice. And so yeah, and then I started studying all of it. And

Andrew (15:33)
Wow.

Wow.

So to give, I'm sure I'm gonna have some listeners who don't understand or maybe have never even heard of flower remedies or homeopathy or just don't understand what it is. So to sum it up in the most laymen and ⁓ easy to understand digestible way, what is a flower remedy and homeopathy, how are they different and ⁓ how are they similar?

Alexis Smart (16:00)
Yeah.

Okay. I'm I'm gonna start with homeopathy because historically that's what happened first. In you know, that modality. a little over two hundred years ago, a a doctor named Samuel Hahneman was ⁓ translating some medical ⁓ Materia Medicas and those are books full of herbs and ⁓ he was reading about one Peruvian bark ⁓

Andrew (16:25)
Okay.

Alexis Smart (16:48)
conchona and it said it was a malarial ⁓ remedy and and it was ⁓ the the curative thing was attributed to being bitter and he just thought that that didn't make any sense and for some reason something it compelled him to to obtain some Peruvian bark and take it himself. And he did and he had all the symptoms of malaria. And that got him thinking, that's interesting ⁓

Andrew (17:15)
Hmm.

Alexis Smart (17:18)
⁓ a healthy person takes this, they get sick, but if you give this to someone with all those symptoms, they get better. And he knew about the law of similars, you know, like cures like from ancient Greece, but but there wasn't a medicine really like this. And anyway, that that birthed his idea of of finding a medicine, ⁓ using medicine that

⁓ in a l in a larger amount would cause exactly your illness and in if you take in a small amount this substance would c would cause the immune system or the vital force to kind of rally and heal itself. Does that make sense? So so the principles of homeopathy are ⁓ law of similars, so like say arsenic, ⁓ they that's a remedy. But

Andrew (18:04)
Hm. Yeah. Yeah.

Alexis Smart (18:16)
So you use something that like if you had arsenic poisoning, you'd be nauseous, you'd be chilly, you'd be anxious and restless. So a lot that's you just stomach ache and burning pains and ⁓ so that remedy, arsenicum is for stomach disorders, often digestive stuff that's that's like characterized by those that symptom picture. And

Andrew (18:43)
Yeah. I actually have a a short story about Arsenicum. Last it was just last year I I woke up, I had a regular nights sleep and I woke up with the word arsenicum in my mind. It was just there. So I was like, huh, that's interesting. And then a couple hours later I got so sick.

Alexis Smart (18:46)
tell.

Andrew (19:09)
And I I I had some kind of food poisoning or some I was poisoned by something and it was several days that I was poisoned. But something in my mind, in my subconscious, told me arsenicum. And I can't remember if I actually took if I had arsenicum available and I took some. But my body knew before it knew the the healing before I even felt the symptoms. So

Alexis Smart (19:31)
Yes.

I've had a lot of those experiences and and I've had the experience too where and I've been told by clients slash patients this has happened to them where you have a consultation and

The homeopath at the end says, okay, I'm gonna give you ⁓ phosphorus 200 C and get it from the pharmacy and take it once, and then he call me and we say goodbye. And then ⁓ I go, I feel amazing. Like over the next few days I start going, I feel like I took the remedy. I hadn't taken it yet. And it was just because it's vibrational and there's no substance in it. That's what I'll I'll explain that too, but it's so diluted.

Andrew (20:21)
Hmm.

Alexis Smart (20:23)
This medicine is so diluted that it it doesn't exist anymore. It's past the point of it's now just energy. So that's one of the one of the principles was that Hahneman diluted, diluted, diluted until there was no arsenicum in it. It was diluted so many times that it was just like the imprint of arsenicum energy. And

So that those yeah, the the the principles are like cures like so arsenicum for poisoning. Food pois it's a great food poisoning remedy. And then dilution. So they're so diluted to be not physical anymore. So there's all the bad stuff is out of them, you know. We use things like snake venom and ⁓ I mean arsenic, snake venom, phosphorus, minerals, plants, everything.

Andrew (21:07)
Mm-hmm.

So what is the process? Because I I grew up with homeopathy and those little blue blue tubes and the little sugar balls, they just taste like little sugar balls and you put them under your tongue. So and they all look the same. They're all these white, white little balls. They taste like sugar. So how do how is what is the process to make those?

Alexis Smart (21:26)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

So, ⁓ the substance is acquired, like say, ⁓

say like pulsatil as a remedy. So they'll get ⁓ this flour and grind it up in with a pestle and mortar and and then I think they a I mean this is I should know this better, but they I think they add like alcohol or n th they they create a s ⁓ a ground up version of that. Then they take

a drop of that and then put it in to a volume of like one one drop to a hundred parts ⁓ water or something and then they take a drop of that and and depending on ⁓ there's a thing cut like the centesimal scale. It's gonna this is I'm gonna get so confused, but ⁓ the more diluted it is that if that's the number, like if you have a six C

twelve C you've seen thirty C at the supermarket or at the ⁓ like at Whole Foods two hundred C then one ⁓ So the Cs are centesimal, which means they were I think diluted by one hundred. so anyway, there's just so they're very diluted. They go through this process of dilution and something called succussion, which is that like between these dilutions they were then succussed, which means like

Andrew (23:05)
Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Alexis Smart (23:18)
hitting the remedy really hard on like the bottle of remedy really hard on a book or something. This it sounds it sounds really cockamey. ⁓ and I'm just not explaining it well. so

Andrew (23:25)
Mm.

Okay. And so with a so with a low C, is that a more powerful than so a six C is is weaker than a two hundred?

Alexis Smart (23:40)
No. Okay, so a six C has more of the original material in it, is more crude, and is weaker. So the what's interesting is the less material in it, the stronger it is. And the more vibrational it is and the less physical, the stronger and deeper it is, and the longer lasting the remedy is. So a six C potency

actually still has physical matter in it. So does and the twelve C does. And after the twelve C there's no matter in it. It's there's a number called Avogadro's number where something goes from being matter to non-matter, where it's just quantum. It doesn't exist anymore. So six C and twelve C still have a little bit of the substance in it. And then once they're diluted past that point, ⁓

Andrew (24:29)
Mm.

Alexis Smart (24:39)
th then they're just truly ener energy. and so, you know, I like 30 C potencies because they're they're physical, but you feel them emotionally too. a six C is something you'd use for like a chronic skin complaint, like nothing very deep. ⁓ I don't really like low potency. I like thirty C. And then so as you go up higher,

they go more into the spirit. So the more dilute they are, the more they're actually just spiritual. Like ten ⁓ would be amazing for like a deep psychological healing. ⁓ if that makes sense.

Andrew (25:25)
Ten So what does the ten mean? Like ten million?

Alexis Smart (25:27)
So it goes like say six C, twelve C, thirty C, two hundred C, then after that we jump to one So it goes from a hundred, two thousand. They're like Roman numerals. So one ten A anyway, so and there's a whole there's an art to that's why you know, one homeopath might pick a remedy for you and a different homeopath would pick another.

Andrew (25:41)
Okay. Right.

Alexis Smart (25:57)
'cause the remedies are chosen from like, you know, a deep discussion with the person and then you interpret their symptoms and their personality and you find one remedy that matches everything their their emotional, physical and mental condition. And then this one remedy matches all of their symptoms and you give it to them and then they it's like ⁓

Andrew (26:17)
Mm.

Alexis Smart (26:25)
a an instrument that's out of tune. It just gets tuned and then everything starts running smoothly. so

Andrew (26:34)
So a highly intuitive process. I I would imagine the more intuitive the practitioner would be, the you know, maybe the better.

Alexis Smart (26:37)
Yeah.

I think intuition yeah, definitely intuition is helpful. But there's also objectivity, like sometimes I'll want someone to be a certain remedy and and I'll lead they call it leading the witness. Like you you'll ask questions that will prove and I've seen homeopaths who do this, you know, Yeah, but but do you really like cats? And I'm like, look, I know you're barking up the wrong tree with no pun intended, but like

Andrew (27:14)
Yeah.

Alexis Smart (27:14)
where they th I can tell they want a certain remedy to fit me and they so you ask certain questions to make that remedy fit 'cause they have an idea about things and you have they they teach us in school to be very objective when when interviewing the person. You let them do most of the talking. I feel like I'm

Andrew (27:23)
Mm.

And then so with and then with flour remedies, the difference.

Alexis Smart (27:40)
Yeah, so and and so one thing though about homeopathy is that Hahneman who discovered it was he said in his book, The The Organon, that the medicine of our time at back then is is medieval. He said it's absolute ⁓ like you're lucky to get out from the doctor's office alive because ⁓ at the time they were doing leaching, they were bloodletting for fevers, they were giving

Andrew (28:08)
Mm-hmm.

Alexis Smart (28:10)
high doses of mercury for syphilis. They were basically killing people. And he said it was barbaric. And and so he said this is the medicine of the future. And he said that illness is spiritual in nature. You don't see someone physically pa like someone get smallpox from someone. It's it's spiritual, meaning etheric and therefore the medicine should be

Andrew (28:14)
Yeah.

Alexis Smart (28:39)
Spiritual, like tiny, invisible, energetic. And so so and that he believed that all illness generally begins from a disturbance and the vital force, generally like an emotional trauma or psychic trauma. That that's what weakens the body. Just want you to know that so that when I get into flower remedies you'll see how that develops.

Andrew (28:43)
Mm.

Alexis Smart (29:08)
Then two hundred years later comes doctor Edward Bach, a physician who ⁓ always believed that he he felt he wasn't offering ⁓ true healing to his patients because he would see chronic conditions come back and he'd see the patients come back and he'd help them temporarily but they'd always come back and they he did

start to observe that the patients of his who were happy and had no anxiety and were had optimistic outlooks would would get better and not return. And the people who had anxiety and depression would return over and over with relapses. And so he he started getting this idea that, ⁓ hey, maybe maybe illness isn't just

Andrew (29:52)
Mm-hmm.

Mm.

Alexis Smart (30:07)
in the physical body and and then he read he discovered homeopathy and he read ⁓ the organon and he felt like this is this is it this is the answer. So he became a homeopath and he started doing that. And then he felt like actually this isn't the last frontier. ⁓

I think he he believed that there should be a system of healing wherein people could heal and treat themselves and their family, that it would be ⁓ completely harmless, only benevolent, and that ⁓ something that didn't require the kind of ⁓ education that homeopathy required, that was simple. And and he sold his practice in he had a successful Harley Street practice in London.

and went to the country and started experimenting. He felt like flowers were were the thing. And he said, Okay, if all illness begins in the spirit, then I wanna make a system of healing that treats just the spirit so the body won't get sick. So you know, if you can if like he said, you know, when when you're coming down with a cold, you can observe yourself and you see that

the day before I was really irritable or really spaced out. There was a change in your mood before you got sick and that if you could treat that mood, then you wouldn't need to get sick, you know, just through the balancing of the emotions. And he believed that flowers he I think that all these geniuses channel 'cause just I mean, where they get this information, where Hahneman got the idea to like dilute these remedies and then

Andrew (31:49)
Mm-hmm.

Alexis Smart (32:03)
Succuss them, like hit them on a book and you know, just it's wild. So so ⁓ Dr. Bach w worked with ⁓ like he prepared some of the remedies with the whole plant and then he came to the conclusion that it was the flower, the blossom, that was the spirit of the plant, that the roots were the kind of earthy physical part of the flower, and that the b the blossom was

Andrew (32:07)
Yeah.

Alexis Smart (32:34)
the was the spirit of it and that had a personality in it. And ⁓ so he discovered thirty-eight different flowers and each one is for a different emotional condition or personality type. ⁓ there's twelve remedies, twelve flowers that correspond to personality types, and then the rest of them are all for kind of

Andrew (32:54)
Mm.

Alexis Smart (33:03)
conditions and layers we have on top. And ⁓ so he he over some years, you know, one at a time, found one remedy at a time. And ⁓ and then that when he found the thirty eighth, ⁓ he died soon after. It's like his work was done. And

Andrew (33:19)
⁓ wow. So th the only reason there's thirty eight was because that's the time that he had.

Alexis Smart (33:27)
No, it was that he died because he was done. He didn't die prematur. Yeah, he was supposed to die much earlier, similar to myself. he ⁓ he was not doing Pepsi commercials, but he had a cancer diagnosis when he was quite young and he was given not that much time to live, and that's what compelled him to sell his practice and go to the country and start doing w his real work, what he felt like.

Andrew (33:31)
really?

Alexis Smart (33:57)
he was meant to do. And then he he stayed alive for I think it was like another twelve years or or ⁓ not sure exactly, but quite a long time while he was doing his research. And he felt like walnut, I believe, was the last remedy he ⁓ Did did I lose you?

Andrew (34:09)
Wow.

Alexis Smart (34:22)
⁓ we lost our connection.

Andrew (34:22)
No, I'm still here.

You're just fro you you're just frozen for a minute. Can you still hear me? You back?

Alexis Smart (34:30)
Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. It seems like I've in Greece I get yeah, I k can you hear me?

Andrew (34:38)
Are you back there? You see you're back on my side.

Yeah, I can hear you. You're good.

Alexis Smart (34:49)
It seems like in Greece I I I'm allowed forty minutes of Wi Fi and then it starts acting up.

Andrew (34:59)
We'll keep trying. So black walnut was his final remedy? Just walnut. Okay.

Alexis Smart (35:05)
Just walnut. Walnut. And what's in yeah, and and what's interesting is walnut is the remedy for transition, birth, death. It's like to help you cross over the bridge of change and let go. And ⁓ that was the last one he found. And and he felt like, well, this system's a complete now. And so the idea was that every family should have this kit in their home.

And if someone should have a shock, then they would take Star of Bethlehem or if your kid came home ⁓ and had a disappointment, you could give them some gentian and and that you would generally stay healthy if you kept your emotional state balanced, that happiness was the key to healing. That was true healing and peace of mind, and that the body's just

The body follows the spirit.

And so

Andrew (36:11)
It's it makes sense that he found that through flowers because for me flowers are just pure happiness. They're they're sunshine condensed.

Alexis Smart (36:22)
Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. They're and they're only for our for our joy and benefit, you know, like

I and so yeah, so and those are prepared I mean, the homeopathy is difficult to explain, but the flower remedies are very simple and they're prepared just by the idea is you're supposed to pick them on a clear day and ⁓ you should go pick them in their natural growing habitat. They shouldn't be like cultivated, they should be wild and

⁓ the best and brightest blooms are picked. And then on site, ⁓ you float them in a bowl of spring water, and it should be a crystal bowl. And ⁓ you leave the blossoms in this water for some hours until the water starts to bubble and change a bit, and then you gently lift the blossoms out, and then you have this essence and you

Andrew (37:12)
Okay.

Alexis Smart (37:27)
you ⁓ bottle it with brandy as a preservative and that's a mother tincture essence. So

Andrew (37:34)
And what is a mother tincture essence?

Alexis Smart (37:36)
It's just ⁓ more concentrated. So you can take that and then ⁓ create a dosage strength like ⁓ that they would s yeah. And and so how they are different is that ⁓ it's not treating opposites. It's like the the the homeopathy works by introducing something ⁓

Andrew (37:46)
similar to homeopathy. Okay.

Alexis Smart (38:05)
to stimulate you to heal, like a negative thing to help you, or like a vaccine, something that in a larger amount would make you sick. With the flower remedies, they only introduce positive energy. So they flood you with v with all of the virtues you want. Wherein you're say you have a negative trait like jealousy or hatred. Rather than like what we're how we're

brought up to think as ⁓ you have a bacteria, take an antibiotic. You have ⁓ acid stomach, take antacid, ⁓ just destroy it, suppress it. ⁓ but with flower remedies, if you have jealousy and hatred, you would take holly remedy, which floods you with love feelings and trust and open heartedness, and you would feel so loving and

to blissed out that like jealousy and hatred could no longer exist in the in the presence of that strong love energy. So that's the the f the philosophy behind the flower remedies is you just they increase the good to where the bad can no longer exist. And and they make you a better person. So there is a philosophy behind it of like ⁓ self betterment and

Andrew (39:07)
Mm.

Mm-hmm.

Alexis Smart (39:27)
⁓ self-awareness. His books, Dr. Bach's books were called like Know Thyself, Heal Thyself. And it was all about kind of healing yourself that and that that we get sick because we've we've had we get sick because we've gone off our paths. You know, we've there have been errors in our personalities and our behavior or in

Andrew (39:34)
Mm.

Alexis Smart (39:57)
in our ⁓ in our pursuits or you know and that they're supposed to be learning experiences. The the illnesses show you where you've gone wrong.

Andrew (40:07)
Yeah. Mm-hmm. So it seems to me that homeopathy is like a treatment and flower remedies are almost like the prevention. You know, 'cause in a way, ⁓ if you are if you are a hateful person, if you're always if you have a focus

Alexis Smart (40:18)
Yeah.

Andrew (40:27)
And it could be even a subconscious focus too, like you just have anger towards towards people or towards yourself or towards things. Like one would argue that that would breed health issues.

Alexis Smart (40:33)
Yeah.

For sure. And we it's interesting 'cause Dr. Bach stressed that you never prescribe for the physical complaint. You know, if someone says I have ⁓ eczema or what you know, it doesn't matter. You always just find out their emotional state, how they feel. However, that said, there are physical conditions that really you do see with like people who are really angry, they and hateful

they do tend to have high blood pressure and heart stuff. And, you know, people who are ethereal and dreamy and not in their bodies, they tend to have ⁓ circulatory pro the cold hands and feet. There's there's a sluggishness in their like the blood is stagnant, you know, 'cause they're not even in their bodies. So their their blood is kind of lazy. And you know, people who are irritable and impatient tend to get

conditions with sharp pain, like nerve n you know, sciatica and like what that makes sense. It's it's the same language, like the body speaks this language. and even when people when when I do flower remedies for people, I ask them to describe their physical complaints and they will they will describe kind of an emotional condition like, you know,

feels sluggish, I f it feels sharp and it's an angry rash and it's a you know that they they use this language that tells you a lot. So

Andrew (42:19)
And I've been hearing more and learning a bit about German new medicine. Are you familiar with that?

Alexis Smart (42:26)
is it like drama therapy or

Andrew (42:29)
N no, so it's essentially it's called German New Medicine and it's essentially linking physical ailments to emotional connections. So anything that we we feel or have physically is a direct result from an emotional it's an emotional response. ⁓ so it feels very connected to all of this, right?

And I don't I don't know enough about it to really speak about it. But but it just feels like it lives in the same world of, you know, our emotional state really affects our physical state more than we realize.

Alexis Smart (42:59)
Yeah.

Absolutely. And ⁓ the thing is is like

That idea is is brought up as this like as if it's new, like, the mind-body connection or the you know, and I think that it's quite I think it's wisdom that we always had, but that was suppressed. When when it's like the Industrial Revolution and the mechanistic idea of the world was was we were kind of indoctrinated with that. And

forgot that we are whole beings with spirits and you know, that there's this like ⁓ not conspiracy, but there's there's been a trend to suppress even that idea that of spiritual natures, you know. not sure why exactly, but anyway.

Andrew (44:11)
Yeah, and I've seen that and I think you have a better finger on the pulse, but it seems that homeopathy is almost at risk of being of disappearing in the United States, being threatened by the American Medical Association. And what's the what's the reason for them wanting to discard it or disregard it?

Alexis Smart (44:26)
Yes. Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, I have a lot of theories about this, but and and you know and I have an article on my blog ⁓ about this, the history of homeopathy, but and I've seen there's some kind of there's a few homeopaths on Instagram who have huge followings, that's what and they tell the same story. So it's actually getting around and people keep sending it to me and I'm like, Yeah, I wrote this on my blog. I already know this but that so so

At the turn of the century, ⁓ homeopathy was quite popular and there were homeopathic hospitals in the states. Hospitals that homeopathic hospitals and then I guess it was the Rockefellers ⁓ formed the AMA. ⁓ they were starting the pharmaceutical industry and

They told all of the doctors who because all the doctors practiced homeopathy and it was cheap and effective and ⁓ you know Mark Twain used homeop homeopathics, like there a lot of people used it. And but they told all the doctors that if you want to be part of the AMA, ⁓ you cannot practice homeopathy. And so ⁓ and they closed all the homeopathical hospitals, they you know, all the scholarships.

medical scholarships ⁓ were like contingent on like there there was no homeopathy taught anymore. So it was it was destroyed. And why? 'Cause it was a threat to the new thing they were bringing in, drugs. And ⁓ so what I think because it's been living fine, like ⁓ it's been on the shelf at Whole Foods.

⁓ there's homeopathic pharmacies, like we've not been under threat. We've been fine. And be largely because homeopaths homeopathic companies don't make medical claims and so it's been fine. Suddenly COVID happens and COVID was really weird. So in the past, every time I've had a virus or helped someone with a virus, like okay, take olive leaf extract. ⁓

Grapefruit cedal extract, there'd be certain herbs and stuff that I'd there were my go to for treating COVID. And when I got COVID myself, none of these things worked. Like, you know, the high doses of vitamin C nothing none of my usual stuff is working. And homeopathy was the only thing that cured my COVID or treated my thing. And same with people who would like

my clients. So homeopathy was incredibly effective for COVID. And I knew about that homeopathy was used during the, is it 1917, the flu epidemic? ⁓ had a very high success rate. And interestingly, that epidemic, the remedy they used the most was gelsemium. And ⁓ so and that's a remedy I've used a lot with long COVID.

Andrew (47:45)
Yeah, yeah.

Alexis Smart (48:01)
regular COVID. So ⁓ also the other thing I noticed that helped COVID was NAC. And so which is you know NAC, it's a precursor to glutathione. ⁓ just through because I had mold illness and I I was prescribed NAC and I had some around. So I tried it and it really helped my symptoms of COVID. So interestingly like twenty twenty one

Andrew (48:12)
Yeah. Yeah.

Alexis Smart (48:27)
NAC was removed from the shelves and told they were we were told that it was gonna be like prescription only and it was a drug and I bought a shit ton of it. Like I stockpiled it and now I and now I have so much NAC and it says it's expired, but you know that stuff lasts a long time. So and then they started pulling homeopathy off the shelves. And

Andrew (48:37)
We yeah, we did too.

Yeah. Sorry.

Alexis Smart (48:54)
if they're listening to chatter I mean if they listen to us as I'm pretty sure they do and read everything we write and you know, comments on Instagram and ⁓ then they would have seen that homeopathy was one of the only things that I saw that was treating COVID 'cause COVID was such a strange now we know more about it. It it was not just a virus. And

There were things in there that that's why the olive leaf wasn't working and all of these other things weren't working, but these remedies that are of the spirit were working. And so

Andrew (49:35)
It I mean, I think covet had something of a spiritual energy to it. Not necessarily a good spirit, but

Alexis Smart (49:41)
Baked. No, I mean, when I got it I don't I'd love to hear if other people felt this 'cause I know a few people who did, but the first time I got it, it was before they announced what it was. And my friend was sick too. She was in LA and we were on the phone together and I said, This just is such a weird feeling thing. I go, This is man made. This is not analog and I said, I'm having very weird feelings like

It sounds crazy, but I feel like I'm a computer. And she said, I feel like I'm a computer. And I go, What? You feel like you're ha have you ever said that in your life? I said, I feel like I'm a computer and I'm running a software program. I can't even explain it. I'm not human. And I always think about that because then I've got COVID a few more times. And I did have this depersonalization feeling when I got it and

But the first so I think, you know, I there's definitely like some software, there's some there's some programs in there that get into the psyche. And so I think I I that's the o I mean, I just think it was weird timing that suddenly homeopathy is a threat, just out of nowhere.

that suddenly it's and so now it's not in any of the whole foods ⁓ or bigger health food stores. Erwan used to have it, it's gone from there. And so I don't know.

Andrew (51:22)
Hmm. Well, I mean, ⁓

Yeah, there's a lot more to say on that. And they're gonna stop us from going down that rabbit hole. I think I think you and I might align on a lot of thoughts about that.

Alexis Smart (51:33)
yeah. I mean, yeah, I have

I'm sure we do. And you know, it's sad that we can't talk this way. I mean, we can, but ⁓ you know that you're gonna alienate half the people and they're gonna go, brother, here we go again, the conspiracy theorist But it's just like look, if you're alive and awake and observant and you're noticing things then you know, ⁓

Andrew (52:02)
Yeah. That's a really interesting take though. I like the the analogy of the analog 'cause I had it as well. And it felt so foreign from anything else it ever experienced. And it it did kind of feel digital. It didn't feel analog.

Alexis Smart (52:14)
Yeah.

yeah. And and I I I knew that because like a few years before I have a friend who's sensitive and w when we I I noticed a few years before COVID that flus started getting really weird. Like, you know, when we were kids you'd get like a sore throat and it and then it would go to your lungs and then you'd cough or and then you get better or you get a fever. Or or you'd get a stomach flu and you'd barf and

have diarrhea and it's just like they followed a certain process. Yeah, and then like maybe five or six years leading up to COVID, there were these flus that were so weird that would be like, I've got a stomach flu. Wait, no, no, I've got an upper respiratory thing. ⁓ you know, wait, I have anxiety they'd be this kind of strange bunch of symptoms and with emotion like also with some psychological stuff attached. So

Andrew (52:53)
Mm-hmm.

Alexis Smart (53:19)
I don't know. so home Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, so homeopathy and still ⁓ is really effective for COVID and long COVID. So it's one of the best things I've seen for long COVID. But you have to have the remedy that matches your symptoms. So, you know, specific to to how your symptoms are being expressed.

Andrew (53:22)
Well I want to bring it back to the finish, yeah.

Now back to the flowers. ⁓ because I'm just so I love flowers. It's one of the so I in my new garden here in the Netherlands, it's the only thing I've decided to grow because I usually grow vegetables. But if I'm in a new place and getting to know the soil, I'll just grow flowers. You know, it's food for the bees and the butterflies and it's just something beautiful to look at.

Alexis Smart (54:15)
Do you grow it from seed?

Andrew (54:17)
Yeah. Yeah. And a lot of the seed I just carry with me year after year. So I'll just I'll always collect the seed and then bring it into the next year's garden. So so when you're making your remedies, you get all of your flowers from England still? Tell me tell me the process of when you're making your remedy and what that looks like specifically for you.

Alexis Smart (54:41)
so so ⁓ many people think that I'm making the flower essences, like, you know, picking the flowers and I don't do that. be well, first of all, I live in the desert and these all the flowers remedies I use are they're English. So they're from England and Wales and so those those plants would not grow where I am and they'd be cultivated and ⁓ so I work with a company there that

makes them and exactly to the preparation ⁓ methods of Dr. Bach. So it's like and so I get the mother tinctures and I make my formulas. So I'm a I'm ⁓ a formulator and ⁓ you know I'm practitioner. So over I I was doing this like over twenty years now and so at the beginning I used to just see people one on one and

we'd talk for an hour, hour and a half, and then I'd make them a custom formula, similar to the one I got from that woman. And and then during these years practicing, after about four or five years, I started feeling like ⁓ I think somebody came for a that was heartbroken and I made them a formula that was very different from what I normally give them. And then

they came back and said, Hey, my friend got dumped. Can you make me one of those heartbreak formulas that work so well? And then another person came in who'd had a heartbreak and I was writing their formula down and I realized, hey, this is this is the exact same remedy I gave that girl. like 'cause as I was taking notes on what they were going through, then at the end I realized, it's the same formula. what if what if grief is a universal thing that we experience?

similar symptoms. You know, we all go through similar similar things when we have loss. And ⁓ so I started thinking about that. Like, gosh, there's there's nothing like this out there. Like g I wish I could see everybody for a custom consultation, but like, what if I made formulas that address these universal conditions and ⁓

Andrew (56:44)
Yeah.

Alexis Smart (57:05)
So I started kind of trying them on my clients and ⁓ would say like, wow, all my ADD patients all need these certain things. There's 'cause there's not just one aspect of A D D, there's there's a kind of kaleidoscope of things that ADD people go through. So I s I started formulating one at a time, like first the heartbreak remedy.

and then one to help me with procrastination when I had to move my mom's house. Like a lot of these formulas were born out of actual things that were going on in my life or that my clients were going through. And then I'd try them on different people for f for some time. And then I'd make and then you know, I'd have I had five formulas, then it would be seven, then and now I have like twenty and kids ones and so so

Yeah, my formulating process is one of like of just interviewing people and starting to it's like making a recipe. that would taste really good in this. And then it needs some acid and ⁓ so then I make these formulas that have up to seven different flower essences in each one. And they're very ⁓ like

Andrew (58:15)
Right.

Alexis Smart (58:30)
I call them emotional adaptogens 'cause a lot of them are like like f braindrops, which is for ADD, ADHD, for focus. ⁓ it's for both ki some people with ADD ⁓ are spaced out, ungrounded and kind of dreamy and they can't concentrate because they're head in the clouds kind of people. The other kind of ADD people are hyper

mentalized and have so much so many thoughts they can't focus because their their brains are working too fast. So they can't slow down to process things, they're impatient. And then there's another kind that's like a scattered person that's that thinks that's chaotic thinking. And so there's all these different aspects of so so that brain drops is kind of like whatever kind of flavor of ADD you have, it will

it will find its way the remedy will find its way into what you need. and ⁓ so yeah, so I get the the mother tinctures from England. I make them in my studio in the desert and then I send them to you.

Andrew (59:30)
Mm.

Mm-hmm. And so with so how long do you recommend somebody goes through one certain remedy? And can you take multiple remedies at the same time?

Alexis Smart (59:57)
That's a good question. so if you've had a condition, the longer you've had a condition, usually the longer you need to stay on a remedy. So like but like say for example, you you just had a heartbreak, ⁓ it wasn't a long relationship, you feel down, you could take ⁓ one bottle of whole hearted and that's about a month, so you take it till it finishes. If you have like say

longstanding grief, repeated griefs, sad childhood and abandonment and you want to work through that stuff. You would take that same remedy wholehearted, but you might take it for ninety days. So I love like nine a ninety day program of the same formula, like three bottles back to back, for to really ⁓ to go deep and really create things and that y ⁓ to have lasting change.

⁓ but like one month for something that's of recent onset, two months if it's kind of in the middle and y and you can't overdose. So like if someone wanted to stay on the same remedy for six months, it's fine. They might just really love it and works for them and keeps them balanced, that's fine. and if you take the wrong remedy, nothing happens, nothing bad happens. So the the worst thing that could happen is nothing.

⁓ if you just choose the wrong remedy and you go, I don't feel anything. Which is unusual 'cause if you're if you're self aware and you identify what you need help with and you choose a formula based on that, you should feel something. 'Cause of those seven essences in the bottle, one of them will be a match for you, you know. And then what was your c wait, what was your question? yeah, and yeah, don't do that.

Andrew (1:01:52)
Using multiple at the same time.

Alexis Smart (1:01:56)
Yeah, so so normally ⁓ less is more. ⁓ so the more f essences you take at one time, the less clear the messages. ⁓ the the it's harder for your psyche to receive all these this information. So like I don't like to go over s yeah.

Andrew (1:02:17)
Is that why you limit it to just seven yeah.

Alexis Smart (1:02:22)
So if you if you wanted to take two formulas, you'd then be taking like fourteen different essences and then it would be like a cacophony of like it would be muddled and you'd feel you'd probably not feel anything. So yeah. so but I have one formula called first aid kit, which you mentioned, which is like my rescue remedy. And that's like for acute crises, really it's fast acting, stress

stress reliever and you can take that whenever. So like I always take a formula every day, four times a day, and then I have my first aid kit with me all the time. So if I have some crazy stressful thing, airports, ⁓ or I'm getting sick, then I do the first aid kit ⁓ like every ten or fifteen minutes until I feel better. And that won't interfere with the action of your daily formula.

Andrew (1:03:23)
And so how has this changed the way that you know, from from the beginning when you first got into this, how has this changed the way that you interact and see the natural world around you? Like do you see flowers in a different way now? Do you Yeah.

Alexis Smart (1:03:39)
yeah. yeah. I I feel I feel their energy like there was a time when I first started doing this where I I felt like I can only get the healing energy from say olive flower essences by taking the olive but here I'm in Greece and there's olive trees everywhere and and like I there's this little road I take and I'm

I call it the portal c and it's just lined with these silver olive trees and w and you know, I've pulled over and just sat with them and when I'm around these olive trees I I really feel ⁓ the the flower like what the flower essence does. And so olive is for ⁓ it's the one of the only remedies in the thirty-eight that's for physical stuff.

It's for deep physical exhaustion and depletion. And so it's really nourishing and so when I sit among olive trees I can really feel that energy or oaks, like when I f when I'm around a bunch of oak trees, that's another remedy. Oak is for ⁓ people who are very dutiful and conscientious and carry a lot of responsibility. They have a lot of attention and they never they never let let the da let go.

⁓ so when and then when I've been walking through oak forests I just have this kind of exhale of relief. So yeah, it's they talk to me more, you know. I can I feel they're just they're so benevolent, they're so ⁓ for us. They're just want us to feel better. And yeah. Yeah.

Andrew (1:05:33)
Have there been any flowers or plants that you've wanted to understand more but they're almost being ⁓ Is there been like a challenging flower? Like one that you've tried to like tap into the energy of but you just like couldn't access?

Alexis Smart (1:05:52)
I mean

You know, I I think there's remedies that it's like our shadow like I I know there's remedies in in my kit that are f full all the time because I'm like, why am I not prescribing that remedy? You know, and like, ⁓ I must have I've got some fear of this remedy, or fear that I have this condition inside me or you know, ⁓ yeah, like like there's there's a remedy Heather.

that I'm only just accepting, ⁓ I might need that once in a while. ⁓ because I have such judgment about Heathers people, that you call I call them Heathers. And they're they're called the needy child and they're for talk it's to they they're very talkative and needy, ⁓ but it's mostly talkativeness that it manifests in and and like I've said often that Heathers are like my kryptonite, like

Andrew (1:06:36)
Right.

Alexis Smart (1:06:55)
And I would get a lot of Heathers as clients and I go, Why is this happening to you know, where you can tell a heather because after you've talked to them you just feel absolutely drained. So yeah, you know, when like look, I'm talking a lot now 'cause 'cause we're doing this, but yeah, and ⁓ but you know, you can have a a conversation with someone where you're talking a lot, but there's give and take and you feel

Andrew (1:07:07)
Interesting.

This is a podcast.

Alexis Smart (1:07:23)
you feel energized after and stimulated and curious and like, wow, that was such a great talk. But when you talk to Heather, it's they just need to discharge so much and they need you to listen because to to confirm they exist, it's like a small child ⁓ needs you to reflect back to them. ⁓ I'm here, I'm here. And s what yeah, and so so I know that I have judgment about Heather

Andrew (1:07:42)
Mm. Well that's yeah. Yep, continue. Keep going.

Alexis Smart (1:07:53)
the remedy and I'm just like, my God, I hope I'm not Heather. You know, and then recently I took one of my formulas and it has Heather in it and I could feel it working. I knew that it was the remedy that I felt the Heather and I was like, this is such a great feeling. Because one of the things Heather does is gets your mind off yourself.

So it's really good if you have some health problems or problems. When you have problems, they're generally like you're being obsessed with yourself, you know, and you're being you're not looking like looking outward like, how can I be of service? Or how can I listen to this other person and be there for them? You're very inward focused when you've stressed. And I felt this great sense of relief and just ⁓

Andrew (1:08:32)
Hmm.

Alexis Smart (1:08:51)
I and I thought okay, yeah, this is crazy that I would have like shut this remedy out for so many years because I couldn't f I couldn't accept that I might have the Heather thing in within me and ⁓ so there's things like that, you know.

Andrew (1:09:00)
Mm-hmm.

Mm.

It makes me think about where heather grows in the wild. And the places that I've seen it in abundance have been the the hills of Scotland, where there's almost nothing else on these on these mountains, but just pure blankets of heather. And they're demanding your attention when they're in flower. Because it's just these blankets of pink and purple. And so it's interesting that you say that because the the flower itself kind of demands that attention. It's like

Alexis Smart (1:09:21)
Yeah.

Yes.

Yeah.

Andrew (1:09:43)
it kind of like draws you into it.

Alexis Smart (1:09:43)
Yeah. It does but it's also it's funny you brought that up because ⁓ there was a story that Dr. Bach found that remedy by that he had a patient ⁓ that's another thing is ⁓ that's why I was worried I was Heather, ⁓ 'cause they can be hypochondriacs like and they they will tell you every single symptom and eat d in detail and

You know, ⁓ and they have a lot of suffering physically and focus on I had this mole and it was this big and now it's this big and I'm worried it's cancer and and then and ⁓ so he had a patient like that that ⁓ and he so he wanted to find a remedy for her and he said, ⁓ what brings you peace? Like, can you tell me what what makes you feel better? And she said,

Andrew (1:10:21)
Mm.

Alexis Smart (1:10:36)
⁓ when I when I look upon the hillsides with Heather, I just I feel so calm in my spirit and ⁓ so much better. So he took the Heather and made a essence from it and gave it to her and she got better. So yeah, that was inspired by like she I think so because they grow on these lonely hillsides, you imagine if you were feeling all alone and you were in this like barren landscape, but you were surrounded by these

Andrew (1:10:51)
Wow.

Alexis Smart (1:11:07)
beautiful purple flowers, you would feel some kind of company. And they all grow together like they're social flowers. The waterviolet grows ⁓ opposite of Heather's. The waterviolet likes to be alone. And that's kind of more how I am. And they like to be alone, they don't need company and and and they grow in water and not in groups. And they have a very thin ⁓ root that's

Andrew (1:11:09)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, yeah.

Alexis Smart (1:11:37)
that shows they're kind of not attached to things. And ⁓ so it's interesting, like the Julian Bernard, who who was the maker of essences, had a great book that was, I think, called Form and Function, and they talked a lot about how flowers grow and the reflect and the kind of ⁓ how that reflects in the remedy personality, like ⁓ walnut, for example, like

Andrew (1:11:40)
Hmm.

Alexis Smart (1:12:06)
⁓ he'd compare walnut and oak ⁓ essences and talk about the tree and he said like that the walnut tree puts out this thing I don't know what it is but where nothing will live on it. Like predators or ⁓ parasites won't live on a walnut tree and it's completely self contained and that's the the remedy walnut is to keep you protected from

Andrew (1:12:28)
Right.

Alexis Smart (1:12:35)
outside influence. So it's a really good for protection. whereas the oak ⁓ lets every parasite live on it and there's like animals living in it and moths and like just so many things living on it. And they seem strong and they host everyone just like the oak person takes care of everyone. But the oak tree one day will just crack and it's like hollow inside and it's, you know, sick.

Andrew (1:12:37)
Hmm.

Hmm.

Alexis Smart (1:13:05)
because it's hosted everybody, kind of. So yeah.

Andrew (1:13:09)
Hmm, interesting.

yeah that's so fascinating. And so if somebody wanted to say, I mean, so the oak sounds like a people pleaser in a way.

Alexis Smart (1:13:25)
Well, I shouldn't have made it sound like that. Oak is strong and gives they're like the hero. So they're they they're like ⁓ giving from a place of strength. And they feel like everyone needs me. I have to they're duty duty bound. The people pleaser is centauri, which is a tiny little pink flower, and they have trouble saying no. And yeah, they're more giving out of weakness.

Andrew (1:13:29)
Okay.

Mm.

Alexis Smart (1:13:54)
and they're weak willed. ⁓ and then eventually that that weakness will show up in the body and and they feel drained and exhausted and ⁓ they often have anemia or kind of ⁓ so I shouldn't have made the oak sound s like such a doormat. That's more the centauri.

Andrew (1:14:15)
Okay, so but what I'm getting at is if ⁓ somebody is more of like the people pleasing type, doormat type, would they go for an opposite kind of flower remedy or are they to, you know, if we're thinking about flower remedies as the prevention, what kind of flower remedy would they go for to kind of get them out of that habit, out of those cycles?

Alexis Smart (1:14:24)
Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

⁓ so they would take centauri for that personality type. And Bach was very clear that like ⁓ that there are virtues in all of these type remedies that ⁓ it's when they get out of balance. Like so so the positive aspects of a centauri person would be that they would

⁓ be in the line of service. They might be a nurse or a social worker or spiritual advisor, a healer. Like they they like to give. ⁓ and when it's out of balance, it's they're giving too much and they're neglecting their needs. And so they would take Centauri, so they would start giving when they have enough to give and saying no when it's appropriate or saying no to the right person. And ⁓

Andrew (1:15:34)
Mm-hmm.

Alexis Smart (1:15:40)
It's funny 'cause when I would when I would treat centauri people, they were the only ones that were afraid of the remedy. ⁓ 'cause they'd say, Hold on a s a second, is this gonna make me like a real asshole? Or ⁓ and they go no, you're not gonna become a tyrant. Like they would be they're they're afraid they're gonna become bullies or mean or something. And and often though they would have a few days

Andrew (1:15:59)
Hmm.

Yeah.

Alexis Smart (1:16:09)
of being really angry for no reason and then I go, just go don't worry, it'll pass. It's like all the times you've you've ⁓ not stood up for yourself or some that anger was like lodged in you, it's coming out and so so yeah, you don't become the opposite. You become a balanced version of of that remedy, you know.

Andrew (1:16:21)
Mm.

And so you would take the same remedy that of of the energy that you're embodying?

Alexis Smart (1:16:35)
Yeah.

Yeah, like the centauri flower is for that type of person. And with the oak, the oak remedy, you would take oak for the strong, dutiful, conscientious person who can never let go and then it makes you it's it's good if you feel like you've been adulting too much. Like it helps you connect more with ⁓ well, it's like they soldier on, like no matter what the oak person soldiers on. So

Andrew (1:16:42)
Mm, okay.

Mm-hmm.

Alexis Smart (1:17:09)
Those look like good qualities, ⁓ strong and responsible, conscientious, but that can be ⁓ just take all the fun out of life, you know. So when you take oak you feel really relaxed and like you don't have to I don't know, you take your pack off and rest for a while.

Andrew (1:17:30)
Hmm. Yeah, each I mean each one has such a distinct character to it. So if you I just have a couple more questions and ⁓ I'll let you go. ⁓ but if somebody listening is like this is this is complete wacky, like has no interest in flower remedies or homeopathy, what would you tell them to go and do with a flower or with a plant?

Alexis Smart (1:17:54)
Yeah.

Andrew (1:18:02)
to kind of bring them into this world.

Alexis Smart (1:18:06)
W with an actual flower?

Andrew (1:18:08)
Yeah.

Alexis Smart (1:18:10)
I mean on I don't know, I mean

I I can just be with fl be be around flowers, go to gardens. Like I'm going to London on my way home and I was trying to think of like sh which museums should I go to? Should I go to shows and then I'm no, I'm gonna go to gardens. That why wouldn't you know, there's all so many great gardens there and rose gardens and ⁓ so I mean I think that spending time in nature and around flowers

⁓ and just seeing if they make you feel anything or give you joy is just observe that, you know, it's kind of undeniable. And yeah, yeah, and like I mean if someone's listening to this and just thinks it's it's super woo-woo. Part partly it's because I've probably not done a good job explaining it, 'cause ⁓ usually everyone wants to try them.

Andrew (1:19:00)
Hm, I feel that's

Okay.

Alexis Smart (1:19:18)
you know. well also 'cause there's very r little work involved. I mean that i I I admit or confess that that's partly why I love them is because in all other forms of spiritual ⁓ transformation or, you know, when f people are pursuing higher consciousness, there just always seems to be work involved. Like, ugh.

to meditate or do I have to read that book or like come on don't make me do that and so with flower remedies you just take them you just put them under your tongue and all this transformation happens. You know like like these people who my friends who are into Joe Dispenza and I'm like, okay, I'll listen to it. And then like he's talking about look, you change your vibration. You don't will it you don't you know his whole philosophy is ⁓

Andrew (1:19:57)
Yeah.

Alexis Smart (1:20:17)
you manifest things by you have to change your vibration. And and then I go, Well, I'd rather do that by just taking these drops than listening to Joe Dispenza's workshops for hours upon hours and meditating for hours upon hours. Like so these remedies just totally change your state of mind. But without being like a psychedelic, they they they bring you kind of closer to yourself. So

Andrew (1:20:45)
Hmm. And you do have a manifestation remedy as well.

Alexis Smart (1:20:49)
Yeah. And but here's the funny thing. All of them are manifestation remedies in a way because you they do change your internal state and then inevitably external reflects that. but yes, I ha so I have ⁓ a one I did with Lacey Phillips who's like the manifestation queen from Te to Be Magnetic and ⁓

Andrew (1:20:54)
okay.

Mm-hmm.

Alexis Smart (1:21:16)
we have one called unblocked and one called expanded and and those are different kinds of formulas than all my other formulas because they're like fast track to to manifestation like ⁓ whereas some of my formulas they they almost combine like three or four of my formulas so they're they're like heavy lifting and they they do a lot. ⁓

And so yeah, but and then I have one called Ganesh, which is also a manifestation remedy. And that's for well, Ganesh is the remover of obstacles, the Hindu deity, the elephant god who removes obstacles. So that one removes all of the self sabotaging things we do that stop us from manifesting. So doubt, indecision, fear of failure, ⁓ easily distracted, ⁓

Andrew (1:21:48)
Mm-hmm.

Mm.

Mm-hmm.

I was actually taking Ganesh when I was in the process of getting my citizenship in Italy. Which I ha which I have. Yeah. Yeah.

Alexis Smart (1:22:18)
really? ⁓ great. ⁓ yeah. ⁓ so 'cause 'cause you knew you'd be like coming up against these challenges and stuff?

Andrew (1:22:27)
And I came up a against a lot. It took it took about three years to go through the process, but I did it.

Alexis Smart (1:22:34)
my god, I can imagine well, because is it like here where bureaucracy is kind of like, Maybe tomorrow like like

Andrew (1:22:43)
Well, it was I mean it was also in part because i I started the process during the pandemic. So there was there was one office that was just closed for a year. And it was a time where a lot of people were looking at kind of like a an an exit out of the United States, so

Alexis Smart (1:22:53)
Right.

Yeah, yeah. So are you Italian on your father's side or and what is your mother?

Andrew (1:23:06)
Yeah.

She is, they're both American, so they both have a lot. But I was able to get the citizenship. My mother has predominantly Portuguese. Yeah. Both both from islands So my father's, it's all it's a lot of island lineage for me, actually. So I was born on Martha's Vineyard Island. Yeah, yeah. So I was born there. My mom was born there, my dad was born on Staten Island.

Alexis Smart (1:23:17)
Yeah.

interesting.

Yeah, yeah.

I love Martha's Vineyard.

Andrew (1:23:40)
His parents also born in Manhattan, but then my great-grandparents from Italy came from Sicily. My mother's parents came from the Azores in Portugal. So a lot of island. Yeah, beautiful.

Alexis Smart (1:23:51)
Wow. Have you been to the Azores? I wan I wanna go there. Yeah.

Andrew (1:23:58)
Highly recommend. If you like to soak in hot springs, it's amazing.

Alexis Smart (1:24:02)
Yeah, I do. It's all I w wanna do. Or be in the sea, like if I could do both perfectly.

Andrew (1:24:09)
Well there's actually there's one on the ⁓ is it Sao Miguel, I think is the the main island. There's a s hot spring that meets the sea. So there's a spring coming out of the rocks in a tidal pool. So when the tide comes in you feel the cold rush of the the ocean and then the warm from the from the land. It yeah, really special. ⁓

Alexis Smart (1:24:30)
my god. well when we get off you have to send I want all your information on this, on Azers. ⁓ so okay, so sorry, ⁓ we sidetrapped. So what was your last question?

Andrew (1:24:37)
Yeah, yeah. Okay, I'll yeah.

I was just so I actually have I'll I'll ask one final question and I ask this to everybody that comes on the show because it's rooted in you know, my my goal for this podcast is to provide some inspiration for people to find a path back to connecting with the earth.

And you know, I think flower remedies is a beautiful way to to connect with the earth because you're really connecting with these ⁓ these earth earth beings. ⁓ but often I I also speak a lot about food because you know flowers also produce food. So the Well the question that I ask everybody on the show is, what is one of your favorite food memories?

Alexis Smart (1:25:19)
Yeah, yeah.

I love food.

it's my first well my first real food memory ⁓ was in Mexico. My my parents were kind of Bohemians and ⁓ they wanted to travel when I was little and we we drove to Mexico in a Volkswagen bus and lived with ⁓ Indians and ⁓ these weavers in Oaxaca and Cornovaca and ⁓

the the women in the village would they were up really early making tortillas in this hut. And I was up early. I I always woke up before the rest of my family. So when it was like three and four, I would get up every morning and go into this hut with these ladies, these women of the village, and hang out with them. And then they taught me how to make tortillas. And I'd like, you know, with my tiny hands like

Pat these little tortillas and then and the smell was incredible, like ⁓ it's such a sense memory and they were so delicious and fresh and like I'd bring a basket to to the van and wake everybody up with a basket of tortillas and and then we some like we'd also have like hot chocolate, hot Mexican chocolate in the morning and ⁓

But it but yeah, those tortillas were my first food memory.

Andrew (1:27:08)
Hmm. Beautiful. Love it. Well I'm gonna ⁓ that's it. I could I I feel like we could talk for for hours on end. But I'm gonna hit s I'm gonna hit stop on the recording.

Alexis Smart (1:27:11)
Ha ha ha.

Yeah, me too.