The East-West Clinic located on Zhong- xiao East Road somehow avoids the roaring noise of that busy area. When you step into the clinic from its sidestreet entrance, gentle background music washes away your worries and your stress. When we arrive, Dr. Julia Tsuei, the clinic's founder, is consulting with a hyperactive young girl in her examining room. Following the doctor's instructions, the girl closes her eyes and relaxes. Before delving into the girl's background, Tsuei begins placing one bottle of flower essence after another into her hands to see whether her body exhibits a natural affinity for any of them. Her body should be attracted to the one that represents her personality.

The East-West Clinic is filled with more than 100 cans of flower essence. Tsuei says that just 30 basic varieties can treat some 70 moods.

A "settling" energy

"Do you like meeting new people?" asks Tsuei, pulling out the information card corresponding to the flower essence. The girl nods. Tsuei then gives her some colored pens and a sheet of white paper to draw on. With bold strokes, she sketches a brightly colored volcanic eruption. Tsuei looks at it, pulls out the corresponding card, and asks: "Do you wish that everyone would obey you?" The doctor's insight startles the girl.

"Would you rather be a flame, or the Sun?" asks Tsuei. She explains that flames are selfish, burning up everything in their vicinity, whereas the sun offers selfless love and tolerance, sharing its warmth with all. The girl ponders the question then says she'd like to be the Sun. Tsuei praises her, gives her a bottle of flower essence, and expresses the hope that she'll continue to be a caring person and will soften her domineering tendencies.

"Flowers are pure," says Tsuei. "You know their personality and characteristics just by looking at them." She cites the upright posture of a blooming sunflower as an example, arguing that you immediately recognize it as a symbol of masculinity. The tulip, which always looks as if it is about to burst into flower, represents femininity and conservatism.

"Animals' emotions are more complicated," says Tsuei. "That's especially true for humans, who must adapt to rapidly changing environments. Our mood swings are wider and our losses of control seriously impact our ability to adapt." Tsuei says that consuming the "settling" energy in flower essences adjusts our moods and increases our adaptability. She sees these essences providing one of the best examples of natural healing.

Julia Tsuei avers that seemingly delicate flowers are in fact endowed with infinite power. Flower remedies teach us to resonate in sympathy with flowers and so to restore our physical and spiritual health.

From symbolism to psychology

Tsuei was originally an obstetrician and gynecologist. After returning to Taiwan from the United States at nearly 50 years of age, she was introduced to acupuncture and qigong, and began her long effort to promote the integration of Chinese and Western medicine. Her efforts in the years since have included establishing the Foundation for East-West Medicine and the East-West Clinic.

Tsuei's experiences with energy medicine in the 18 years since she established the clinic have really opened her eyes. Measurements and diagnoses obtained through the use of testing devices have proven the existence of the meridians and qi theorized by Traditional Chinese Medicine. Flower-essence treatments, which she began working more than 10 years ago, offer her another means to adjust patients' emotional states.

"Spiritual injuries lie at the root of emotions," states Tsuei. "Flower essences that correspond to a patient's emotional state trigger vibrations in the portions of the mind experiencing an imbalance, and these vibrations stimulate the body's ability to heal itself." Tsuei argues that many illnesses arise out of emotional injuries that have never healed. Once these wounds are treated, the body is able to recover fully from whatever ailed it.

Tsuei relates the story of a "superwoman" working in business who suffered from chronic menstrual pain. Under the influence of flower essences, she revealed that she had grown up in a chauvinistic household, and had hated her gender. With the help of flower-essence treatment, she got over her anger and came to terms with being a woman. Her pain went away as well.

Tsuei stresses that flower essences are different from the essential oils used in the popular aromatherapy. They were developed by Dr. Edward Bach in 1936, drawing on the homeopathic approach and his experience with bowel nosodes. For example, he recommended impatiens, which has an easygoing look, for anxious, impatient people, and slender, sensitive mimulus for timid, panicky people. In all, Bach studied 38 flower essences, identifying each with an emotion.

Her last shot

Administered orally, flower essences are widely used in Europe. Taiwanese practitioners have been active as well, researching and developing more than 80 local flower essences. One of the more unique things about Tsuei's approach is her use of an ARDK system (a device the measures activity at acupuncture meridians) to test individual responses to different essences. She hopes in this way to find the most appropriate essences and maximize the effects of their energy vibrations.

Tsuei, who enjoys research, has carried out a series of experiments related to flower-essence therapy. By screening the emotional reactions of more than 4,000 patients to flower essences has she made a number of discoveries: that while the eldest and youngest sons of Taiwanese families are under a great deal of pressure, it is the middle children who always feel that they suffer the most; that people presently in their 50s and 60s still suffer from the scoldings and beatings they received at the hands of parents and teachers when they were children, with the violent actions of drunken parents leaving the deepest impressions; and that the male chauvinism of traditional society causes women to strive especially hard to be prosperous, and to be the biggest contributors to their birth families. She has also learned that these women tend to have difficult marriages or to remain single, and that men overburdened with familial and social expectations sense that they can never fulfill them, leading to strong feelings of inadequacy and social withdrawal.

"I didn't spend much time in Taiwan when I was younger," says Tsuei, "so I don't fully understand the issues that Taiwanese family structure and culture give rise to. But flower-essence treatments tell me everything [I need to know]."

"Flower essences reveal far more than is usually expressed in human language," she explains. Hoping to attract government and industry attention and support, Tsuei is currently gathering data on the administration of these essences to patients suffering a variety of illnesses. She has already conducted research into the use of flower essences with AIDS patients and held hearings with legislators in the hope of establishing homeopathy as a recognized medical treatment. Unfortunately, her efforts have so far failed. To date, what goodwill she's seen has come from the mainland Chinese authorities, who may well provide funding for her proposal.

"Naturopathic treatments take time to work, making it hard to get people outside the field to acknowledge their effects," says Tsuei. Her next objective is to gather the funds and volunteers she needs to offer psychological treatment to the victims of the Sichuan earthquake, an endeavor that she hopes will help win her field some respect from the mainstream medical community.

"This is my last shot," she says, her 82-year-old smile tempered by hints of worry.