Bach Flower Essences

 The Bach Flower Essences® are 38 homeopathically prepared plant and flower based essences, each one specially devised to treat a different emotion. Helping you to manage the emotional demands of everyday life.

 Each one of the 38 Bach Flower Essences® treats a specific emotion, helping to restore balance and overcome negative feelings which, if allowed to continue, can lead to physical illness. Dr. Edward Bach, who originally created the Bach Essences® believed 'a healthy mind ensures a healthy body'.

 Dr. Bach also created an emergency combination which he called Rescue Remedy®. It contains five Bach Essences®: Impatiens, Star of Bethlehem, Cherry Plum, Rock Rose and Clematis. When faced with a sudden bad news, a family upset, the aftermath of an accident or a stressful event - such as taking an exam, visiting the dentist or giving a presentation - Rescue Remedy will help you face the situation in a better frame of mind and reduce your fear or nervousness.  It is an excellent remedy whenever you feel uptight or duly bothered, and can usually restore balance.

 History

Dr. Edward Bach, along with Hippocrates, Hahnemann, Pasteur and Lister, is one of a handful of figures in the history of medicine who have revolutionized the way we look at health. He was a remarkable physician who was respected around the world for the great contribution he made to both orthodox and homeopathic medicine.

 Training & Early Research

Dr. Bach studied medicine at Birmingham University and completed his training at University College Hospital in London where he qualified as a physician in 1912. During 1913, Dr. Bach held medical and surgical positions at various London hospitals. He became interested in immunology and worked as Assistant Bacteriologist at London's University College Hospital, where he discovered that certain intestinal bacteria were closely connected with chronic disease and its cure. He developed a group of seven vaccines from these bacteria with which he achieved outstanding results. His methods were published in medical journals, recorded by the Royal Society of Medicine and adopted generally by the medical profession.

Dr. Bach had always been interested in the needs of his patients as individual people and believed that there must be a safer and more natural way of treating the cause of disease. He continued his research at laboratories on Harley Street until 1919, when he took the post of pathologist and bacteriologist at the London Homeopathic Hospital. Here he came across the Organon, the book written by Samuel Hahnemann. Using the theory 'treat the patient, not the disease', and began to prepare his vaccines homeopathically. The result was the group of seven oral vaccines or nosodes, which became known as the Seven Bach Nosodes.

His observations of patients led Dr. Bach to the conclusion that certain types of people reacted in the same way to different illnesses and treatments. He developed this insight into a theory of types, dividing people into seven groups, each corresponding to one of the seven nosodes. From then on he sought to prescribe according to his patients' reactions to their illnesses themselves. He found that these diagnoses were more effective than those based on clinical examination.

Although the treatment itself was still for the physical complaint, he knew that this work would not be complete until he found a treatment for those negative moods and emotions that were responsible for the breakdown in health in the first place.

Dr. Bach based his work on a profound philosophy in which life is seen as a learning process and ill health - whether mental or physical - is intended to help us understand more about ourselves and the purpose of our lives. Health comes when we regain harmony between our physical and spiritual selves, leaving the body free to begin its own natural healing process. If emotional equilibrium can be maintained the mind and body will remain in a state of health.

It is the total and absolute focus on the mental state of the sufferer alone, which makes Dr. Bach's approach to health so exceptional.

It was the search for these new, simpler and more natural medicines that took Dr. Bach out into the countryside of England and Wales. In Wales he found Impatiens and Mimulus growing wild in the countryside. He returned to London, prepared the Essences® and prescribed them according to the personality of his patients, with immediate and remarkable results.

Each of the 38 Essences® cover a different state of mind or personality type. In 1935, Dr. Bach announced his work was complete and turned his attention to spreading the news of his discoveries to as many people as possible.

How the Essences are Made

There are two methods of preparing the Mother Tinctures for the Bach Flower Essences®.

The Sun Method: Dr. Bach used this method to make 20 of the Essences®, most of which are delicate blooms in the height of summer.
The Boiling Method: Dr. Bach used this method to prepare the remaining 18 Essences®, from trees and bushes and plants, most of which flower in the early part of the year.

A three step process - preparing the Bach Flower Essences®
Step One - Mother tinctures are prepared from plant material and natural spring water using either the sun or boiling method as defined by Dr. Bach's instructions.
Step Two - The mother tincture is made up of the energized spring water (Step one) mixed with an equal quantity of 40% brandy. The brandy acts purely as a preservative for the water.
Step Three - To make the stock bottle, two drops of mother tincture are added to 30ml of 27% brandy, which is also known as 'grape alcohol'.

Bach Flower Essences® are produced exactly according to the methods set out by Dr. Edward Bach. The Essences® are energized by the sun or boiling method. No further potentization is carried out.