IN CONVERSATION: ALEXIS SMART PT. 2

Can you tell us more about the kind of training you went through?

When I discovered flower remedies, I did not set out to have a career doing this. I had this passion for learning everything I could. That's how I've always been. If something excites me, like I taught myself to play guitar - I had help- but I obsessively played guitar for months on end. I did the same with flower remedies. I read everything I could read, I listened to old recordings of dead practitioners that I found tapes of. I have a friend who had a store and sold flower remedies and became my mentor. I learned everything I could and started experimenting on myself and then treating my friends and family. It was purely for the love of doing this and wanting to help others. It was a few years of doing this before my friends started showing their friends and I started treating more and more strangers. It was advised that I should think about doing it as a career. I didn't know anyone who did this, who you went to and paid them to do this. I thought it would be too good to be true to have this as my job. Funny enough I took the flower remedy with wild oat which is for finding your soul's purpose, and the next day I broke up with my agent and said I'm doing this for real. I'm not going to do commercials anymore and I'm going to pursue this as a career instead. It was like I had no choice, like if I didn't listen to this I would suffer. So there wasn't really a school or teacher for this, and that's why I started going to homeopathy school which is a 200 year old science and people know what homeopathy is. Nobody was really teaching this at the time except for one place I wasn't really drawn to. A lot of it was self experimentation and a couple years of what I call clinical practice where I treated people for free in exchange for very detailed feedback about what they experienced. 

So you are pioneering this kind of revitalization of these practices from previous decades with your own research, study and intuition and connectivity from self-sourced. These formulas and remedies that you now created within the Alexis Smart Flower Remedies project and brand are really your creative outpouring of all these experiences.

Exactly. They were born from treating people, all except for the last few formulas, they were all remedies and formulas I had given to clients over the years. So they are all based on experience, never theory. I feel like I can just tell when I read a package or take something, I can tell if it was formulated by theory. If someone read a book and wrote things on a list, rather than the synergistic alchemy of the magic of human experience. These remedies are really magical, I think of them as these perfect musical chords or songs. They couldn't do with one less remedy or one more. They are harmonious. I saw what they did with my clients.

Wonderful. That's so inspiring to hear that. I'm really enjoying our conversation today.

Me too! I really think these formulas were just born. They asked to be born and would come to fruition as certain themes arise. I don't know if you've had this but I noticed maybe four people in a row would have the same condition or heartbreak and would need the same remedies in their formula that month. They kind of came about one by one over the years.

May I ask, what is your favorite remedy that you make? Can you share maybe two or three different emotional situations in life, such as when you feel a situation arising and you're having to navigate that, a good remedy to help?

One remedy I take a lot is Unburden. This one I developed for myself, it wasn't a client one. I used it to get myself out of a really big crisis. A caregiving acute crisis. It was a really difficult time and I was at a breaking point from responsibility and adrenal exhaustion. You know that state, I don't know if you've had this in your life, where you feel you need to have a breakdown but you can't because people are relying on you and you have to keep going. It's a kind of false strength where you have to manufacture this soldiering on, that’s what the feeling is. But internally you just feel so alone, helpless, tired and stressed. So I made that formula when I was at a very extreme state of caregiving and pressure I was under. Even though I'm not in a crisis like that now, I can get into feeling overwhelmed easily and like it's all on my shoulders. I'm very independent and like doing things for myself, I don’t ask for help much. I just hired a personal assistant a year ago! I had people helping me but I didn't have a personal assistant. I was doing customer service emails myself. Now that I have her I can't believe I was doing all of that, and no wonder I was going to snap. So I love that formula. That formula pulls me out of the depths of stress and physical tension. It's one I think a lot of people can use because you can easily go into that state just from what's required of us as a society to be productive. The unrealistic expectations of producing and feeding the machine, the monster of consumption. So I take that one a lot.

Another one I love is Beauty Formula No.8. I made it as an alternative to botox and filler for these women that are totally gorgeous who think there's something wrong with them. That was my dream to make this remedy that would be physically beautifying, relax facial tension and plump the skin, but also heal this thing in women and men where we feel there's something wrong with us, our faces, our bodies, there's nothing wrong with us. I take that formula a lot, Beauty Formula #8 if I feel I look tired or tense in the face. It makes me feel I look unaware of myself. I always think of how beautiful children are, because they are just unselfconscious, or when you see someone really magnetic or someone beautiful. As soon as they become self aware and you can tell they are aware of how pretty they are or handsome they are, I kind of lose interest. But when someone’s just being themselves and they are into what they're doing, happy and radiant, you're like, oh they're so magnetic. The beauty formula, to me, makes me feel so unaware of myself that I feel carefree and easy breezy, so I use that a lot. I use Ganesh a lot, too. Ganesh is one of the early ones I made, I was actually still auditioning and I tried it on myself first before I gave it to others. It's for every aspect of the self-sabotager: fearing failure, not wanting to try lest you fail, expecting the worst, indecision, being paralyzed, asking other people what you think you should do, spacing out, not starting...I went through each thing I do that keeps me stagnant, uncreative and stuck. So whenever I feel like I want a creative burst or I have been too left-brained for a while, too business-minded, too pedantic and boring to myself, I take Ganesh and then I think of new things I want to write and creative stuff and get myself out of my own way. I use Ganesh to push me through those times. I take Personal Assistant a lot also. That one is great if you need a little energy. It's for the Monday morning feeling. When you might feel like you just can’t deal.

We can do this!

Yes! I use that one a lot. I love that one because I find it to be fast acting. You can use that for just a few days to get you out of a slump or if you have a project and you need extra energy. It's kind of fast acting and short term.

There's a formula I made in these last 18 months called Páthos. I keep seeing the need for this formula in many different ways. I came up with it at first because a lot of people were writing to me during the beginning of the pandemic saying they have non-stop anxiety and worry about the world, that they are absorbing all the negativity from the media and friends fear mongering and they cant take it anymore. It was generally empathetic and sensitive people who were saying this, who are also some of the same who love flower remedies. So this is for helping people to not absorb everything. We really need psychic protection right now. I made that back then so people wouldn't be so overly empathetic and feeling everyone's pain and fear for others. It keeps taking on new dimensions. There's a lot of bullying, and sensitive people who need that formula are starting to feel hostility from others who don't like their choices. They are internalizing this abuse and it's damaging them. So now they are not suffering from empathy or absorbing other people's suffering. They are actually suffering themselves from being ridiculed or ashamed for their sensitivity or medical choices. I feel like on every level people need this remedy. That's one formula that is not as easy to understand as a Personal Assistant. It's a little complicated so I want to put a little light on Páthos.

I do! Now I do a lot less than I used to do. I used to do mostly private practice and the products were a secondary thing, but now I'm doing less privates but taking longer with people and going more in depth. I have a waiting list but don't be intimidated, I have cancellations and things change all the time. What happens is, it's a very informal conversation of 60 to 90 minutes. The client directs the interview, what they want to have help with. It could be anything. I make sure to tell them there's nothing these remedies can’t help you with. If there's something you feel you need to live with or adapt to, tell me. I kind of see myself almost like a private detective and I'm taking the case. They're telling me what they need help with but I'm trying to see underneath to where these things started or what is asking to be healed. It's often something they didn't realize was the cause of their problem. At the end I make a formula for them with up to 7 flower essences and I go through and tell them what each is for. It's like getting your blood test back from your doctor and understanding why you're feeling a certain way. Even just by telling someone their formula, that's the beginning of the healing because it clarifies something to them. And there's no judgement. It's not like anything is positive or negative, it just is. And so they say they already feel different just talking and having things brought to life. Then the remedy does the big heavy lifting once they get the flowers. It usually takes about a month to see real changes. I send them the bottle and they take it every day. After a month, usually they repeat the same formula because it takes about two months to really change.

The beautiful thing about flower remedies is, often people come to me first from a crisis, such as they had a really bad breakup or someone died, something big happened in their lives and they need help. Then they get out of this crisis and later they say, now I'm up for this job that I really want and I'm doubting myself or I need to write a proposal, some smaller things. They start using it more for daily maintenance, such as how we do yoga and meditate or other things that enrich our lives. They don't have to be triage.

Alexis, I've really enjoyed our time together. If people are looking to connect with your brand and find you, what kind of ways can our community connect with you?

I'm on instagram as @alexissmartflowerremedies. And then my website is alexissmart.com. There's lots of information there and a contact button. We have really great customer service. If someone wants help picking a remedy they can contact through the website. 

Thank you so much Alexis for your time. I'm really grateful we had a chance to touch base and catch up.

Me too! This is so fun.

I'm intending to get myself a whole kit here. I'm looking forward to having more of these remedies in my home. Thank you for making all of these fine, rare, exceptional spiritist gifts.

Thank you Scott. It was so nice to talk to you.