An Introduction to Bach Flowers
Bach Flower Remedies are the gift of the Spirit to mankind through Dr. Edward Bach, an English physician who lived from 1886 to 1936. They are considered as 'Alternative Therapy', 'Herbal Supplementation' and 'Energy Essences'. Together with Herbal Supplements, Schussler Tissue Remedies and where necessary allopathic medication, they form an effective and safe healing system.
Bach Flower Remedies are Flower Essences (with one exception of Rock Water, which is a specific natural spring water, but is clubbed with the others) derived from the flowers and some other parts of wild plants and trees of English countryside. Introduced between 1931 and 1935 by Dr. Edward Bach of England, the remedies or essences are 38 in number and have proved themselves over the years all over the world. They are called Bach Flower Remedies in England and Bach Flower Essences in USA.
Dr.Edward Bach (originally pronounced as Back, but later pronounced as Batch by his colleagues and that stuck) was born in 1886. He was of delicate health and destiny chose him to discover a system which heals others! His father wanted him to continue in the family business of foundry, but Edward chose to become a doctor. As was the usual practice, he studied in the regular orthodox medical system and worked in various hospitals. Like other path-breakers, he too was not satisfied with the system of treatment prevailing in his days. Thus he was always looking for better ways. In the course of his work, he became a bacteriologist and became acquainted with the work of Samuel Hahnemann, the brilliant German doctor who discovered the homeopathic principle of 'like cures like' about 150 years earlier.
Dr.Bach was happy to realise that his ideas of mind influencing the matter were not new and that Homeopathy recognised this long ago. However, he also felt that it should be possible to classify the basic human nature and the mental/emotional aberrations into a fairly limited number of classes or groups and thus simplify the method of treatment. He felt that once the mind is OK, body will become OK. Treat the person, not the physical symptom was his motto.
Dr.Bach prepared 7 nosodes from the intestinal flora of his patients and found excellent results in terms of restoration of health. But he was averse to administer to his patients, disease products, however minute be the quantity, orally or by injection. He was convinced that the same God/Nature, which produced a problem also provided a solution and thus was inspired to abandon his practice in London and move to the countryside. There in the course of a few years, he discovered some wild flowers whose essences (not aromatic, by essence it is meant its healing properties) could help the person recover from negative emotions. He found that these essences work as efficiently or even more efficiently as the nosodes.
Bach discovered 38 of them and also found that a compound or mixture of 5 of them as being of invaluable service in emergencies and which he called appropriately as Rescue Remedy. Rescue Remedy is a combination of Impatiens, Star of Bethlehem, Cherry Plum, Rock Rose and Clematis. Rescue Cream with added Crab Apple is available and useful for multi-purpose skin salve.
Bach Flower Remedies are prepared from the flowers by 'Sun Method' and 'Boiling Method', each of which is briefly explained below. Note that each Flower Remedy is prepared using one of the two methods, depending on its nature. The same flower will not be prepared using both the methods. Which Remedy is prepared which way is detailed in Bach Literature. In the Sun Method, flowers are placed in a bowl of water and are exposed to the sunlight for about an hour. The essence of the flowers is absorbed by the water and the energised water is preserved as a standardised mother tincture by dilution with 40% pure brandy. The stock remedies are prepared by further dilution with 27% grape alcohol. In the Boiling Method, flowers, twigs etc. of the plant are put in a kettle and are boiled. The distillate is collected and processed further as above.
The treatment bottle is prepared by taking two drops of the stock remedy and adding mineral water to a 30 ml bottle. More than one Bach Flower Remedy can be added to the same bottle and thus a mixture individualised can be prepared. For Rescue Remedy, the dosage is double strength, i.e. 4 drops to each bottle.
Bach Flower Remedies are unlike homeopathic medicines in that they are not potentised. They could be called dilutions at the most. And the dilution is fixed, as described above. They are prescribed purely based on mental / emotional symptoms, without reference to the physical symptoms, modalities etc., which form a crucial part in homeopathy. Bach Flower Remedies are selected many times with the active participation of the patient in the treatment process. Since there are only 38 remedies, it may be necessary and it is permitted to mix two or more remedies at a time in the treatment bottle. To that extent, they are similar to Schussler's Twelve Tissue Remedies. Rescue Remedy, if selected is counted as one remedy. Up to 6 or 7 remedies can be mixed at a time, though Dr. Bach used up to even 9 remedies at some time. Bach Flower Remedies are safe and are used for treatment of Children, Pets and Plants too. No adverse reactions are reported from use of a wrongly selected Remedy or from over dosage.
Bach Flower Remedies can be taken directly from the treatment bottle or mixed with food, tea, coffee, cool drinks, juices etc.
In India, Bach Flower Remedies are also available in the form of sugar pills wetted with the liquid. In India, they are available from homeopathic shops. In UK and USA, Nelson Bach is the main supplier, but there are others too and a search on the internet will be helpful in locating a shop nearby. It is also possible to order the Remedies through Mail order.
Distance learning programs and other courses are available from Bach Centre, UK, Nelson Bach etc. It is of course, not really needed to get certified to use Bach Flower Remedies. Dr.Bach meant that his system should be simple enough so that a layman could select his flower remedy. A number of books are available. I will give a list of recommended books in the next installment of this article. Apart from books, Yahoo has a good group where you ca learn and discuss the modalities of various Bach Flower Remedies. Pl. join
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/talkbach/
for information and advice about the Remedies.
www.gemmamonter.com is another site maintained by my friend Gemma Monter, BFRP. She has started compiling an International Directory of Bach Flower Therapists. Especially for Spanish speaking readers of this article, I recommend Gemma.
Note: A slightly different form of this article was originally published at: http://www.hpathy.com/bachflower/swamy-bach-flower.asp where you will also find a table listing the 38 Flower Remedies and their principal indications. I propose to cover those aspects in a little more detail here in the coming weeks or if that is not possible, share with you the URLs of some good resources for learning more about their indications and selection criteria.
Additional Material: In the last few months, I have come across Essences from Australia, USA and Canada and yes, India too. While the Australian essences are flower essences, the essences from USA are not of any material but are called Wild Animal Essences (they are definitely not animal in origin) and the Canadian Essences are from Trees. There is a good ezine on Flower Essences called Vibration. There is a company offering flower essences of India. I will cover about these aspects in the next issue. Keep checking this column.
Bach Flower Remedies are Flower Essences (with one exception of Rock Water, which is a specific natural spring water, but is clubbed with the others) derived from the flowers and some other parts of wild plants and trees of English countryside. Introduced between 1931 and 1935 by Dr. Edward Bach of England, the remedies or essences are 38 in number and have proved themselves over the years all over the world. They are called Bach Flower Remedies in England and Bach Flower Essences in USA.
Dr.Edward Bach (originally pronounced as Back, but later pronounced as Batch by his colleagues and that stuck) was born in 1886. He was of delicate health and destiny chose him to discover a system which heals others! His father wanted him to continue in the family business of foundry, but Edward chose to become a doctor. As was the usual practice, he studied in the regular orthodox medical system and worked in various hospitals. Like other path-breakers, he too was not satisfied with the system of treatment prevailing in his days. Thus he was always looking for better ways. In the course of his work, he became a bacteriologist and became acquainted with the work of Samuel Hahnemann, the brilliant German doctor who discovered the homeopathic principle of 'like cures like' about 150 years earlier.
Dr.Bach was happy to realise that his ideas of mind influencing the matter were not new and that Homeopathy recognised this long ago. However, he also felt that it should be possible to classify the basic human nature and the mental/emotional aberrations into a fairly limited number of classes or groups and thus simplify the method of treatment. He felt that once the mind is OK, body will become OK. Treat the person, not the physical symptom was his motto.
Dr.Bach prepared 7 nosodes from the intestinal flora of his patients and found excellent results in terms of restoration of health. But he was averse to administer to his patients, disease products, however minute be the quantity, orally or by injection. He was convinced that the same God/Nature, which produced a problem also provided a solution and thus was inspired to abandon his practice in London and move to the countryside. There in the course of a few years, he discovered some wild flowers whose essences (not aromatic, by essence it is meant its healing properties) could help the person recover from negative emotions. He found that these essences work as efficiently or even more efficiently as the nosodes.
Bach discovered 38 of them and also found that a compound or mixture of 5 of them as being of invaluable service in emergencies and which he called appropriately as Rescue Remedy. Rescue Remedy is a combination of Impatiens, Star of Bethlehem, Cherry Plum, Rock Rose and Clematis. Rescue Cream with added Crab Apple is available and useful for multi-purpose skin salve.
Bach Flower Remedies are prepared from the flowers by 'Sun Method' and 'Boiling Method', each of which is briefly explained below. Note that each Flower Remedy is prepared using one of the two methods, depending on its nature. The same flower will not be prepared using both the methods. Which Remedy is prepared which way is detailed in Bach Literature. In the Sun Method, flowers are placed in a bowl of water and are exposed to the sunlight for about an hour. The essence of the flowers is absorbed by the water and the energised water is preserved as a standardised mother tincture by dilution with 40% pure brandy. The stock remedies are prepared by further dilution with 27% grape alcohol. In the Boiling Method, flowers, twigs etc. of the plant are put in a kettle and are boiled. The distillate is collected and processed further as above.
The treatment bottle is prepared by taking two drops of the stock remedy and adding mineral water to a 30 ml bottle. More than one Bach Flower Remedy can be added to the same bottle and thus a mixture individualised can be prepared. For Rescue Remedy, the dosage is double strength, i.e. 4 drops to each bottle.
Bach Flower Remedies are unlike homeopathic medicines in that they are not potentised. They could be called dilutions at the most. And the dilution is fixed, as described above. They are prescribed purely based on mental / emotional symptoms, without reference to the physical symptoms, modalities etc., which form a crucial part in homeopathy. Bach Flower Remedies are selected many times with the active participation of the patient in the treatment process. Since there are only 38 remedies, it may be necessary and it is permitted to mix two or more remedies at a time in the treatment bottle. To that extent, they are similar to Schussler's Twelve Tissue Remedies. Rescue Remedy, if selected is counted as one remedy. Up to 6 or 7 remedies can be mixed at a time, though Dr. Bach used up to even 9 remedies at some time. Bach Flower Remedies are safe and are used for treatment of Children, Pets and Plants too. No adverse reactions are reported from use of a wrongly selected Remedy or from over dosage.
Bach Flower Remedies can be taken directly from the treatment bottle or mixed with food, tea, coffee, cool drinks, juices etc.
In India, Bach Flower Remedies are also available in the form of sugar pills wetted with the liquid. In India, they are available from homeopathic shops. In UK and USA, Nelson Bach is the main supplier, but there are others too and a search on the internet will be helpful in locating a shop nearby. It is also possible to order the Remedies through Mail order.
Distance learning programs and other courses are available from Bach Centre, UK, Nelson Bach etc. It is of course, not really needed to get certified to use Bach Flower Remedies. Dr.Bach meant that his system should be simple enough so that a layman could select his flower remedy. A number of books are available. I will give a list of recommended books in the next installment of this article. Apart from books, Yahoo has a good group where you ca learn and discuss the modalities of various Bach Flower Remedies. Pl. join
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/talkbach/
for information and advice about the Remedies.
www.gemmamonter.com is another site maintained by my friend Gemma Monter, BFRP. She has started compiling an International Directory of Bach Flower Therapists. Especially for Spanish speaking readers of this article, I recommend Gemma.
Note: A slightly different form of this article was originally published at: http://www.hpathy.com/bachflower/swamy-bach-flower.asp where you will also find a table listing the 38 Flower Remedies and their principal indications. I propose to cover those aspects in a little more detail here in the coming weeks or if that is not possible, share with you the URLs of some good resources for learning more about their indications and selection criteria.
Additional Material: In the last few months, I have come across Essences from Australia, USA and Canada and yes, India too. While the Australian essences are flower essences, the essences from USA are not of any material but are called Wild Animal Essences (they are definitely not animal in origin) and the Canadian Essences are from Trees. There is a good ezine on Flower Essences called Vibration. There is a company offering flower essences of India. I will cover about these aspects in the next issue. Keep checking this column.
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