Bach -The Journey to Simple Healing

Alternative medicine includes herbal remedies that are found in plants, plant extracts, and obtained from a wide variety of sources, such as, plant leaves, bark, berries, flowers, and roots. They can be used to heal illnesses and disease, and they can address psychological problems. They have been used for centuries

Bach Flower Power practitioners believe that using certain flowers can correct a person’s emotional state and their ailments can be healed. This form of alternative medicine is based on the idea that negative emotions affect our health, causing illness and disease. There are 38 Bach flower remedies developed by Edward Bach (1886-1936) a British doctor who tried to help heal his patients. He believed that negative emotions cause illness, and that flowers prepared in a specific manner can fight these negative emotions.

Instead of looking at symptoms, we look at the emotional outlook of people,” explains Bach flower practitioner Bettina Rasmussen, who has a private and Internet-based practice in Los Angeles. “The remedies are basically positive energy pushing out the negative. If you get the wrong remedy, there is no risk; it’s just that nothing is going to happen.”

Bach Flower: Treatments

There are seven general categories of emotions that Bach flower remedies target, including:

• Uncertainity
• Lack of interest in daily life
• Loneliness
• Hypersensitivity
• Despair
• Caring too much about others

Within each category, there is further breakdown to describe the attributes of each situation and emotion.

The remedies are prepared in different ways - some flowers are soaked in water, in sunlight, while more dense foliage is boiled. The resulting tinctures are usually preserved in brandy, and then mixed with water. The dosages are by the drop, and are absorbed on the tongue

To determine which Bach flower remedies are most appropriate for a condition, Rasmussen says she asks many questions, not just about the patient’s symptoms but about the patient’s emotions as well. This can be done over the phone or in person.

For example, the category of uncertainty can be divided into:

• Hopelessness
• Difficulty making a decision
• Lack of trust in decision-making
• Feeling overwhelmed by one's burdens

“With a lot of people, the emotions go all the way back to their childhood,” says Rasmussen. “I can help you out much more quickly if [your emotional trigger] happened last year or a couple of months ago; but, if it’s something all the way from childhood, you have to go through a lot more remedies [for] a longer period of time.”

You take the Bach Flower Remedy by diluting two drops of the remedy in a glass of water and sip at intervals or it can be four drops for the rescue remedy. For multiple remedies you can add two drops of each remedy in a 30 ml bottle with mineral water and take four drops as least four times a day. If necessary, the remedy can be dropped onto the tongue or rubbed onto the lips, behind the ears or on the temples or wrists. You can take this medicine as long as necessary. Recognizing how you are feeling is the key to selecting the appropriated remedy,

Traditional medicine has also looked at the impact of negative emotions. Dr. Robert Ader, director of he division of behavioral and psychosocial medicine at New York’s University of Rochester started investigating the link between bidirectional communications among the nervous system, the endocrine (hormone) system and the immune system and the implications of these linkages for physical health in 1975.

Deepak Chopra is another well known health care practitioner who is teaching the “body is a quantum mechanical device, and that it is subject to the laws of quantum physics and not Newtonian physics.” Our brains have chemicals called neuropeptides (like protein molecules) so every thought, feeling, desire, instinct or drive affects our nervous system by these molecules. There are neuropeptide receptors in the brain and in the cells of the immune system. The unconscious mind (also known as the "body mind") is the controlling intelligence in the body; it is also the connection between the mind and the immune system. Therefore, every thought or desire is being watched by your immune system which means negative emotions affect the immune system, thus affecting your health.

So, while there has been little research into Bach’s flower remedies, there is certainly scientific evidence of the impact of negative emotions impact on the body’s immune system. The Bach flower remedies are a system of 38 flower essences which correct emotional imbalance. They replace negative emotions with positive. They are particularly good for low self esteem, stress, loneliness, lack of confidence or shyness, despair, anxiety and worry, guilt, jealousy, procrastination, fear, mental exhaustion, mild depression, decision-making and terror. Bach’s flower remedies can help to significantly improve your mental attitude, increasing confidence, inner balance, zest for life, clarity of thought, motivation, peacefulness and more.

The Bach Flower remedies are 100% safe and natural. There is no danger of addiction, overdose and they are non-toxic. Some of the remedies do contain alcohol but can be diluted down. If you are unable to ingest alcohol the remedies can be applied in different ways The Bach flower remedies do not take the place of any regular medication you are taking and they recommend that clients confer with their medical doctors..

We tend to enjoy better health, get more out of life and give more to friends and family when we feel fulfilled, positive and happy. Many professionals in alternative medicine believe that every thought you have is imprinted on your cells and DNA. Disease can be a result of long lasting negative thoughts. The negative emotions previously listed can cause the body to act in an unnatural way so releasing these emotions, or better yet, finding resolutions to your problems will help reduce disease and certainly you will live a happier quality of life.

The copyright to this article is owned by Pamela Oglesby. Permission to republish this article in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.