Exclusive Interview with Stan Deland Founder of Siddha Flower Essences

Stacey Chillemi

What inspired you to come up with the idea of Siddha Flower Essences?

Stan Deland

It was not my idea…I’m just the one running with it.  When I got back from my second deployment in Iraq as a Marine, I went to an alternative health center…a girlfriend took me there. I saw all the different practitioners. The last one I had a session with was an acupuncturist, Geoffrey Greenspahn.    I was his client for about three years before we went into business together. He had been making these remedies for himself, his family, and patients at his clinic. Eventually, Geoffrey had a pretty good sense of me and figured I’d calmed down enough to partner with him. And really, I just had this underlying sense that this was the thing for me to do. Sometimes I still can’t believe it; although I’m glad I listened to that part of myself that just knows.

Stacey Chillemi

How will your products help others?

Stan Deland

I like to think they can help in many ways. That said – flower essences, and really all homeopathy, work on the subtle physical level. Think of emotions, energy, or even electricity. In all forms of traditional medicine like TCM or Ayurveda, this is where preventative medicine starts.

Stacey Chillemi

What makes flower essences and homeopathy unique?

Stan Deland

In the West, I see our approach as fairly masculine.  Take warfare for example.  We participate in a lot of it.  It’s all about ego, exertion, separateness, decision, intimidation, possessing…the list goes on.  It’s decidedly left-brain, home of the list-making capacity of the mind.   What about the feminine – that life-giving, organizing force that calls us to sit in the unknown without fear; that is creative, accepting, and nurturing?  All of us, man and woman, are a mix of female and male qualities.

Flower essences and homeopathy are about working synergistically with the healing momentum that is in all of us.  It’s not about adding anything to the mix and forcing the body to do something; it’s about harmonizing what is already there.    I guess the Iraq experience freed me from a lot of expectations and convention.  We, you and I, are the most radical things we could ever conceive of.  How do we wake up to ourselves fully?  It’s a realization that nothing needs to be added; it’s just about experiencing what is already there.  I think flower essences and homeopathy can help clear away some of the detritus so we can get closer to that realization, as well as help us with everyday health issues like sleep, etc., along the way.

Stacey Chillemi

Do flower essences really work?

Stan Deland

When they “work” they are working on the bio-energetic vs. the bio-chemical part of us.  Because of this, it’s much harder to measure by current western medicine standards.  That said, they’re probably like most things out there. For a third or so they are wonderfully effective, another third get decent results, and the final third don’t experience the results they are looking for.

Even if they don’t work for people, there are no negative side effects. The cost for a month’s supply is less than $20 and that should be enough time to know if something will be beneficial or not. When these products do work, however, they can shift long-standing emotional and energetic patterns, which can then lead to a lasting and substantial improvement of physical health.  Keep in mind, a big pharma company has a big winner on its hands if it gets something like 20% efficacy, and then there are the side effects that border on comical in their ability to rob vitality.

Stacey Chillemi

Are flower essences and homeopathic medicine safe?

Stan Deland

Yes. They are about the safest thing on the market. Sometimes there is what we call “a healing reaction” – meaning a person can feel a little worse before feeling better.

It’s kind of like a flu shot where you feel slightly sick for a bit. Since homeopathy and flower essences are dealing with the emotions, sometimes instead of feeling physically sick, one will go through stronger than normal emotional states.  As most of us know, our emotions affect our physical health so there can be reactions that arise on that level too.    If one of these “healing reactions” occurs, one simply needs to back off the remedy for a few days.

For me, any discomfort is a sign that something is happening and, while there is no reason to overdo it, I do like to continue with the remedy in a reasonable way until that emotional issue or negative state has been resolved as much as possible at the time.

Flower essences are generally uplifting so they don’t seem to push people too far too fast. Just think about how flowers are used by cultures all over the world to add an uplifting or soothing note to just about any milestone event or celebration.

Stacey Chillemi

Why should someone buy it?

Stan Deland

If someone wants to address their physical and emotional wellness in a way that can help resolve things on a deeper level, these remedies are an easy, low-cost approach. Lots of times, the people who are drawn to homeopathy and flower essences are people who’ve tried all kinds of more common supplements that address their biochemistry or even pharmaceuticals that work on that level.

And still, their issues, whether they are physical or emotional, remain. By addressing their health on a bio-energetic level, it opens up a whole new realm in which healing can occur.

Stacey Chillemi

You mentioned that homeopathy and flower essences have helped you in your own personal life. Can you explain?

Stan Deland

I got back from my second deployment to Iraq, which included the sacking of Fallujah, so I needed to take some time to recalibrate. I’d been overseas for 18 of the previous 36 months. Everyone associates warfare with stress and rightly so – it is a highly discordant environment.

The thing with me is that in a lot of ways I’m most comfortable in high-intensity situations, where adrenaline kicks in and I get out of my head. Combat is just that. However, in comparatively mundane social situations I’d get anxiety and panic attacks.

Being “good to go” when bullets were flying and then getting anxiety when simply interacting with another human who meant me no harm was something I had to deal with.

My Dad is in a wheelchair with a degenerative back disease and I’d watched him go down the western medicine route. Thus, hospitals and pharmaceuticals were not an option for me. Ten years later, I can safely say I’ve ingested more of these remedies than anyone, as well as tried all kinds of other complementary and alternative approaches.

Enough layers have been peeled away, or perhaps more accurately enough patterns have shifted, that I am able to stay more present and have quite a bit less anxiety than when I began this phase of my life.     It feels good when I pause and reflect…but, of course, the journey continues.

Stacey Chillemi

How passionate are you about your product?

Stan Deland

I’ve been giving this endeavor all I am able to for about seven years now. Naturally, that’s no different than most entrepreneurs, but I do feel blessed that I followed the internal pull even though on the surface it was pretty foreign from my upbringing and certainly from the Marine Corps.    For instance, I’m just returning from a trip to Texas where I visited about 30 stores and spoke to approximately 100 members of the Sprouts Farmers Market, Whole Foods, and Sunflower Shoppe vitamin departments. 90% of those people are open to products like these, and all of them seem to genuinely care about helping their customers, and have inspiring stories of their own.

Being in that kind of environment, connecting with people like that, and getting their feedback or their customers’ feedback as to how these products had a positive impact is all I need to continue in this direction.

Stacey Chillemi

What makes your products better than your competitors? Would you say your product has had an impact on satisfied buyers? (You can provide testimonials if you like.)

Stan Deland

I’m not going to go as far as saying that our products are better than our competitors, especially when these products are all about individual direct experience. Edward Bach created Bach Flower Essences almost 100 years ago. Without his efforts and the subsequent efforts of the company in his name, the remedies and space would not exist.

That said, there are plenty of differences. For instance, Bach practitioners believe that no more than seven flower essences should be blended together into a single remedy.  When Bach was formulating, the world was not moving at the pace it is today.  People’s attention was not being pulled at the rate it is now and thus it makes sense that people have adapted and can generally assimilate more these days.

I work with formulators who see the world in this way. The three that I’ve worked with extensively all think that rules like only seven flower essences per remedy no longer apply.

We combine a number of flower essences and homeopathic ingredients in one remedy. One of those ingredients might be the most important for you at a certain time and another at another time. Conversely, spending the time to go to a traditional homeopath to find that one right remedy is not something most people are doing these days.

Stacey Chillemi

Where can people find your product if they want to learn more about it or if they are interested in purchasing it?

Stan Deland

Ideally, people go to our website (www.siddhaflowers.com) and read up and purchase there or use the store locator to find a store close by. In addition, our products are also available through numerous other online e-tailers.

About Siddha Flower Essences                                                                                                                                                                                            

Co-Founded by Stan Deland, a Marine who served two tours of duty in Iraq, Siddha Flower Essences offers a contemporary take on the centuries-old Eastern practice of homeopathy. Based in Malibu, California, the company offers a wide array of products designed to alleviate the stresses, aches, pains, anxieties, and emotional imbalances all too common in today’s Western society (and worldwide). Safe and effective for adults, children, and pets alike, Siddha’s homeopathic flower essence products – available at www.siddhaflowers.com and in a growing number of retail stores – are being embraced not only by longtime homeopathy advocates but by mainstream consumers yearning to avoid side-effect-laden drugs as well.