The Dr. Edward Bach Centre

An excellent introduction and overview of the origin, development and uses of Dr. Edward Bach's 38 Flower Remedies.

Early-on in his career as a respected medical doctor and Homeopath in England in the early 20th century, Dr. Bach had become increasingly dissatisfied with the limitations of conventional medicine with its focus on curing symptoms. His belief, that effective treatment involved addressing the causes of illness, led him to focus on research in immunology and bacteriology. And, the result of this research was his development of oral vaccines, based on intestinal bacteria, that successfully purified the intestinal tract, which the medical profession adopted in its practice.

However, the fact that the vaccines were based on bacteria disturbed Dr. Bach, and he sought to replace those vaccines with "gentler" methods, possibly plant-based. Concurrently, through epiphanies, intuition, observation and experimentation Dr. Bach hypothesized that the personality of the patient might play a role in the body's reaction to illness. Using the same methodology as he had used to develop the bacteria based vaccines, Dr. Bach, prepared two plant-based "vaccines" from Mimulus and Impatiens and prescribed them according to the personalities of his patients. The results were immediate and successful. He concluded that personality was more important than symptoms and needed to be taken into account in medical treatment.

Bach believed that physical disease is "entirely the result of a conflict between our spiritual and mortal selves". a belief that was the basis on which he developed the 38 flower remedies. He categorized the remedies into seven groups, each representing a fundamental conflict (emotional and/or mental), which prevents individuals from being true to themselves, and, therefore interfering with their health:

1) Fear,
2) Uncertainty,
3) Insufficient Interest in Present Circumstances,
4) Loneliness,
5) Over-sensitivity to influences and ideas,
6) Despondency or despair,
7) Over-care for the welfare of others.

Each remedy within a group focuses on a specific form of the difficulty. For example, Fear may take the form of terror (Rock Rose), or definable everyday fears (Mimulus), and so on.

One-page descriptions of each of the 38 remedies constitute the major portion of this booklet. Each page describes the emotional and mental conditions for which each is needed. Introductory pages provide suggestions and guidelines for selecting and using the remedies.

This is a reliable and informative guide for anyone, and especially for those who have never used the Bach Flower Remedies.… (mehr)