Bach Flower Remedies

Bach Flower Therapy

Bach Flower Therapy uses a selection of 38 flower remedies that can support you both with everyday challenges and deeper issues, and they are especially supportive in times of change. Our Bach Flower Therapy is not just equipping you with the right mix of flower remedies, it also contains coaching aspects; helping you make the best of this new start, create positive transformation in your life, and align your life path with your inner guidance.

The system of Bach remedies was developed in the 1920s and 1930s, by an English medical doctor, Dr Edward Bach. He was an early representative of the 'mind-body' approach (the idea that our emotional and mental states influence our physical wellbeing), which is now rather common both in complementary therapies and modern medicine.

Bach flower remedies work on a deep internal level, where we often find the causes for our physical symptoms or the blockages in our life. Dr Bach explored the common patterns of deep emotional and mental states that bring us out of balance. These are universal across times - even though the challenges that trigger these states may be different today. For example, Dr Bach worked with five remedies for different kinds of fears. What triggers these fears is likely different today than at the beginning of the last century, but the way we 'feel' the fear in our body and mind is still similar: As a disharmony, a paralysis, as something that really gets in our way.

The goal of Bach Flower Therapy is harmonising these dysfunctional states, so that the positive potential can come through. Every negative mental or emotional state has a positive potential. For example: The positive potential of fear is courage. Creating this shift is what the flower remedies help us with.

Important: Bach Flower Therapy supplements modern medicine, it does not replace it. So if you are in pain or have other strong physical or mental symptoms, go see your doctor. The Flower Remedies will support your healing journey, and they work well together with more traditional treatments.

How the Remedies are made - and how to take them

The Bach flowers we use are made in England from wild flowers and tree bloom growing in the countryside. The flowers - in some spring water - are exposed to the sun or boiled. The outcome of this process is the Mother Tincture, which is further diluted to create the 38 Stock Bottles. A selection of these Stock-Bottle flowers will go into your Treatment Bottle.

At the end of the first session, you will receive a Treatment Bottle that contains up to seven remedies, mixed with spring water. To be taken four times a day (four drops on the tongue or in some water).

Are Bach Flowers safe?

They are safe to take for adults, children and pets, as they have no side-effects, aren't addictive and can't be overdosed. If a remedy is added to your mix, but not relevant for you, or if you take too much of a remedy, it won't harm you.
Some people worry about alcohol content - indeed, in the Mother Tincture and the original Stock Bottles, there is a small amount of brandy for preservation purposes. However, as we only take two drops of each bottle and then dilute it with clean spring water, the alcohol is just a trace in your Treatment Bottle and has no taste at all. Non-alcoholic versions are available as well. Just let us know what you need before the session.

What happens in a session

An initial Bach session usually lasts 60-90minutes. Follow-up sessions are a bit shorter. Before the session, we send you a questionnaire which will help you think about your issue in more detail. Based on this pre-work, we will have a conversation to explore which of the flowers may be of help. You will receive a Treatment bottle that will help you shift your challenges. The session contains the following parts:

In the initial session, I will explain how Bach remedies work, and how you will use them. In follow-up sessions, we do a quick check-in on what progress you have made.
You explain your issue and I will ask some questions to fully understand what might be driving it. I suggest an initial selection of flower remedies.
We discuss this initial selection and, based on your feedback, we focus on one to seven remedies that will be of help to you. These will go into your Treatment bottle.
We have a more in-depth conversation about the specific gifts of the flowers in your mix: How do they relate to your True Self, how they strengthen your inner guidance, and how they can help you make a positive difference in your life.
You create or choose an affirmation which summarises the positive change that will happen for you. Examples of such affirmations are "I take my time" (if you struggled with impatience) or "I am courageous now" (if your issue was related to fear).

After a week, we will have a short check-in call, and when the Treatment bottle is empty - after about 3 weeks - we will have a follow up session and explore your progress and whether you need some different/additional Bach flowers, or any other support for your positive transformation.

How many sessions?

For short-term issues that are not typical for you (for example, you feel nervous before your driving test, but you are usually quite relaxed and calm), one treatment course with the follow-up may be enough.

If you work on deeper or chronic issues, specially those that you have carried around with you for a long time, a treatment cycle can go on for 6-12 months; with longer courses of the same remedies, or new mixes depending on how your issue changes.

Bach remedies often work on the outer layers of an issue first (for example they may help you saying no, if this was your issue). Once the outer issue is resolved, the flowers may lead you gently to more underlying issues (for example a lack of self-confidence based on being too hard on yourself).

Bach created his system in a simple way, and wanted everybody to have easy access to it. Hence, an important aspect of our working together is for you to learn more about the flowers, with the aim to be able to help yourself in the future.

Pre-mixed products: not recommended

There are some Bach flower mixes in the market, for example to fight insomnia, or to help children who struggle when starting school. Even though these may seem like a tempting short-cut, it is much more effective to find out the exact mix for each person. The only mix that Dr Bach created was the Crisis Mix (often branded as 'Rescue Remedy'), as his research showed that the emotional drivers in emergencies seemed to be quite universal for most people.
On the other hand - there could be a dozen of drivers of a kid's reluctance to go to school - and they all require a different Bach flower. For example, the kid might...

be fearful of the teacher
feel too exhausted based on lots of family activities
generally have a hard time dealing with change
be bossy with other kids and get stressed if they don't do what she suggests
can't get started in the morning and is always late
be jealous of the baby who is allowed to stay at home
worry about the pet rabbit that will be on his own
and more...

You may want to seek a Bach flower remedy if...

You are undergoing medical treatment or have a surgery coming up, and you would like support on a mental/emotional level
You are going through a significant change in your life - getting married, being promoted, moving house - and are experiencing all the joy and challenges that this change may bring
You have many ideas of how to transform your life, but you can't make up your mind and lack the 'zing' to get started
You can't sleep and feel tired all the time
You easily loose your calm and you have physical symptoms that get worse with stress (such as migraines, IBS)
You are fearful about an aspect of your life, or you worry too much for others
You have challenging relationships and don't understand why they are not working
You have a child or a friend who is going through a difficult phase, and you don't always feel you are being helpful
You are pregnant, or about to become a father for the first time. You noticed with some embarrassment that you don't just feel positive about it, there is some anxiety and gloom.

Bach flowers can also help your pets

Bach flowers work very well on animals, and they can be added to the food, put on a treat or given directly into the animal's mouth. As the diluted remedies have no taste, pets usually take them without any problems. The remedies are safe; they have no negative side effects, even if we choose the wrong remedy, and we cannot overdose them.

However - pet owners need to be patient: As even for pets, we cannot just prescribe certain remedies for certain behavioural problem in a linear way. We would need to talk and find out which deeper laying issues may drive the dysfunctional behaviour in your pet. For example, if your dog is a barker, we would have to find out whether the continuous barking has to do with fear, protection, boredom, longing for attention, dominating behaviour or similar.

I currently donate my work for pets (one or two online sessions or phonecalls) - however, you would need to pay for the Bachflower remedies (ca. £5).

Some typical client issues

If you come to us with a problem such as 'Stress' or 'Insomnia', there is no specific Bach flower that we could just pull out of the remedy box. Depending on what drives this issue for you - on a deep emotional level and in your mind - a different combination may be appropriate. In our work together we create a treatment mix that is just right for YOU.
The following are simplified examples to illustrate how the system works, we would go a bit deeper in our conversation.

I am always stressed

What is the 'stress flower'? There is none - or they all are, as all dissonant states can cause stress. Taking all 38 would not be useful though and would destroy their focus. So what is stress for you? Are you stressed because:

you continuously worry, about a specific issue (Mimulus)
you are anxious for somebody else (Red Chestnut)
you have too high expectations for yourself and don't allow yourself to rest (Rock Water)
Your teenage daughter stresses you out, as she does not take any advice from you and you feel she even ignores your calls (Chicory)
You are completely exhausted after an all-consuming job, have no reserves left and the smallest issues wears you out (Olive).

I can't say no

Many mental/emotional states can drive this issue. This is a good example where we would go even deeper than the descriptions below, as behind these drivers may be other issues that get in your way.

you don't say no because you are not sure whether it is a yes or no for you (Scleranthus)
you can't say no because you are a bit shy, and don't mind others telling you what to do - you like to be helpful to them (Centaury)
You have high ideals, and a vision for the world, so whenever a task comes your way that supports this vision, you would certainly say yes to it (Vervain)
You like to work hard and you feel you have a lot of internal resources. So you don't see the need to say no (Oak).

I hate flying...

... but I like to go visit my nieces in Australia! Once we found the right mix, you can take it a few weeks before the trip, and then take Rescue Remedy for emergencies.

You are scared of a plane crash (Mimulus)
You don't know why you are worried (Aspen). You hate yourself for being silly, you think you should master this situation (Rock Water).
You get air-sick and can't deal with jet lag (Walnut, Olive).
Other passengers annoy you and you can't stand the idea of having to listen to them during a long flight (Water Violet, Beech)
On long flights, you always feel irritable, nervous, and unclean. You can't pass the time. (Impatience, Crab apple)