Bach Flower Remedies - An Overview

Addressing our emotions to find better health - the Bach Flower Remedies Philosophy according to Dr Bach

THE FLOWER REMEDIES OF DR EDWARD BACH

The 38 Flower Remedies were discovered by Dr Bach in the 1930's. They represent a complete system of healing in their own right, that works entirely on the personality, mood and emotional outlook. The remedies are individually prescribed according to temperament, state of mind and character.

Dr Bach was adamant that consideration of a person's nature was of utmost importance because he found, through years of careful study and research, that disharmony between mind and soul to be the root cause of disease which subsequently manifested itself as physical symptoms in the body.

The remedies are a gentle means of restoring peace of mind which then enables the body and the person as a whole, to regain strength and along with it, the ability to combat ill health through the body's own healing process.

PHILOSOPHY

Dr Bach believed that each one of us is born with a unique journey to make in life, our own story to tell, with specific tasks and lessons to learn on the way.

Our intuition and inner guide helps us through life but we become distracted from that path by the demands of the society we live within, our parents, peers, teachers. Also, trauma, intimidation, abuse, greed, envy and materialism can be just some of the distractions which culminate in us living in fear - fear of losing our possessions, fear of individuals, fear of becoming ill, fear of failure …. all result in unhappiness and deep sadness which leads us away from our true path.

How many times have you asked yourself, "surely I deserve more than this ?" or "surely there is more to my life than this"?.

Most of us spend too much of our time trying to please someone else and eventually we lose sight altogether of our true purpose.

Some parents have a "blue print" of how their children will be. Teachers can mould a child's character in very rigid ways. We teach our children to compete from a very early age - listen to a group of Mothers talking about their babies achievements. Have you ever felt inadequate because your child was not achieving at the same rate as another! If so, could that affect your relationship with your own child ? How will that make him / her feel ?

The analogy Dr Bach uses is that of a small child who paints a picture for her Mother's birthday. In the child's mind it is perfect … just the way it is. She has put her heart and soul into it. However, on handing it over to her Mother - reactions could be mixed - she could praise the child and tell her it is beautiful etc etc. But what about if she says, "what is it? - it doesn't look much like a house ? Why don't you put curtains up at the window or some flowers in the garden" !!!??

Straightaway, the child's confidence is shattered - suddenly it isn't the little girls picture any more - suddenly it has a chimney or windows with curtains …. that wasn't how she saw it, that wasn't how she planned it. It shouldn't therefore be a surprise that the child doesn't want to paint pictures any more. It shouldn't be surprise that she loses interest and doesn't want to continue down that path. That path leads to criticism. But nevertheless, she will walk away with a heavy heart and carry those feelings with her for the rest of her life. And later in life, whenever she is criticised …. those feelings will emerge as strong as ever …. and she may never know where they came from. She will have tried to forget, to bury them …. and her mind will forget but the FEELING of rejection will be as strong as ever.

Society tends to teach us that we should bottle our emotions - boys don't cry for instance. We are even encouraged not to use the words that describe emotions. Take "hate" or "jealousy" : We are told we must not hate or be jealous. but it is not a sin to FEEL envious or that we hate something or someone….. these are natural responses and an every day part of how we think and feel.

However, these emotions can become extremely destructive both to ourselves and to others if we do not address them and accept them for what they are…. temporary healthy emotions.

But notice I said if we ADDRESS them …. These natural emotions should not be suppressed…. We should be able to talk about how we feel AT THE TIME we are feeling them … it is healthy to express our feelings of hate, anger and jealousy … it is only when we bottle up these volatile negative emotions that they become VERY destructive.

And this is where the remedies come to life. They can take you away from that negative state back to the positive - remember the opposite of hate is love.

We are encouraged from an early age not to not cry in public - men in particular - we must not let anyone see that we are nervous - it's seen as a sign of weakness. But we are complex human beings and emotions play a vital part in our make-up and we deny them at our peril.

Life becomes hard work - the survival of the fittest - there is so much pressure to succeed - long term stress is an emotional state which creates crippling physical reactions.

Throughout life there is cause and effect - what affects us emotionally affects us physically. If we are very nervous, we may get a dry mouth, trembling hands or butterflies in the stomach. The situation changes however if that state persists over a period of months / years. We know that when the body is in a crisis it will concentrate all its efforts on the area in question and in this case, the stomach - there will be an over-production of chemicals/acids which are pumped out by the brain to deal with the crisis and in the long term this could result in long-term physical damage.

Dr Bach was convinced that physical disease was a cry for help - that this was the only way attention could be drawn to the fact that we are shutting out our inner guide and the remedies were developed to help bring us back to the Centre so that we can continue our journey and achieve true happiness.

In his book Heal Thyself he says "Life does not demand of us unthinkable sacrifice, it asks us to travel its' journey with joy in our hearts and to be a blessing to those around so that if we leave the world a trifle better for our visit then we have done our work".

HISTORY

Dr Edward Bach was born in Mousley, Birmingham to Welsh parents in 1886.

He was a very sensitive and spiritual person who had a deep love of nature and the Countryside. From childhood he always had a strong desire to be a Healer / Doctor but thought his parents could not afford to send him to University so he said nothing and joined his Father in the Brassfoundry.

When he was, 19 whilst on holiday in Wales he "confessed" to his Father of his desire to be a Doctor who immediately sent him to University. Whilst he was at University his colleagues had problems pronouncing his name - they called him "BATCH" which he rather liked and from there on, that was how he wished to be known.

He later qualified as a Pathologist / Immunologist and Bacteriologist and went to University College Hospital where he was highly respected for his work and research into Intestinal Toxaemia. He had a successful practice in Harley Street with laboratories at Regents Circus.

He took up a job at the London Homeopathic Hospital where he became familiar with the works of Samuel Hahnemann and added Homeopath to his qualifications. It was at this stage of his career that he isolated 7 intestinal flora and from them prepared antidotes (vaccines) homoeopathically. These became known as the Batch Nosodes and these are still in use today in some hospitals.

As an orthodox doctor he always relied on his intellect but it concerned him that Doctors are taught only to treat disease and not to take into account the personality of the patient. This created a deep dissatisfaction within him as it had always been his philosophy that it was the person who should be treated - not the disease: the cause not the effect.

One evening whilst at a dinner party with friends he sat and observed his guests and in a flash of inspiration came to the conclusion that within humans, there are 7 distinct personality types.

He believed that this was why he could not find the answer before - he had not been listening to his intuition and began to wonder whether the people from the different groups would become ill with the same or similar diseases.

He further thought that whilst the individual from each Group might not suffer from the same diseases, their REACTIONS to the disease may well be the same.

This was the real key and the true beginning. In using the Nosodes of which he had notable success, he discovered that all the patients suffering the same emotional difficulties needed the same Nosode which confirmed his opinion that disease was not of physical origin but the consolidation of mental attitude.

He then became even more convinced that an answer could be found in Nature and in 1930 he gave up his lucrative medical career to follow his instinct and devote all his time to discovering the remedies. And for the next 8 years before he died he lived a fairly nomadic life wandering the countryside of Wales, England and Scotland discovering the 38 remedies before settling down for the last 2 years at Mount Vernon, near Wallingford.

The Remedies are to this day, still made at Mount Vernon true to the methods that Dr Bach devised.

REMEDY TYPES

There are 38 remedies split between the 7 Groups which cover all states of mind and when Dr Bach died in 1938 he was confident that this simple self healing method or "medicine of the future" as he called it, was complete, based on the fact that it does not matter where we are in life - situations change, technology may change the way we live our lives, illnesses come and go but if we feel fear, indecision, guilt, hate, jealousy, obsession … whatever ….. these are emotions and emotions never change. Therefore the remedies are as valid today as they were in the 1930's.

To reach a conclusion about which remedy is necessary you need to decide on the personality TYPE - and to think about whether the problem is long term or is it a passing MOOD ?

What, if any, HELPER remedies can be included ? It is not enough to say that someone is feeling angry - you need to look at the causes - two people may be feeling anxious or angry but for very different reasons, therefore they will need different remedies.

For example, in a family you could have a father, mother and child all displaying symptoms of stress and anxiety but the father's anxiety may be due to feelings of being overwhelmed with responsibility, therefore he would need (ELM). The Mother may be worried that the child is not being looked after at Nursery as well as she could do herself (RED CHESTNUT); the child might be being bullied (CENTAURY). So, whilst the symptoms appear the same, the causes are completely different.

The personality TYPE must always be included in any "prescription". Dr Bach was adamant that if you were not successful with a treatment - the treatment had not failed - it was more likely that you had not "peeled the onion" sufficiently - you did not hit the nail on the head - you must persevere - it could take months. You may need to do the back track to check that you have not missed any vital clues.

PREPARATION OF TREATMENT BOTTLE

In a 30 mls bottle add 2 drops each of the desired remedies and fill with still bottled water (not tap or distilled). 4 drops should be taken 4 times per day - each bottle should last about 2 / 3 weeks or in a crisis, take the remedy on an "as and when basis" even during the night.

OR

Put 2 drops each of the desired remedies into a glass of still bottled water and sip as and when necessary.

OR

2 drops can be taken as required direct from the stock bottle but it must be remembered that you will be taking virtually neat brandy.

The Remedies can be added to hot drinks or food with no adverse affect

If it is not suitable or appropriate for anyone to take the remedies internally because of the alcohol content, they can be applied externally. This works equally well particularly in the case of Rescue Remedy.

You can safely add Dr Bach Flower Remedies to a massage oil, creams, lotions, to your bath water - add a few drops to a vase of flowers or a plant which is in need of rescuing or put it into your animals drinking water.

Tuesday, 12 March 2002

© 2002 Bromley Health Management