Edward Bach & the Power of Flowers

By
Stefan Ball, USA.
Stefan Ball has been a consultant at the Bach Centre since 1996. He is a director of
the Bach Visitor and Education Centre, and the author of many books on Dr Bach
and his work.
n 2008 many orthodox doctors remain suspicious of complementary medicine; eighty years
ago almost all of them were. This makes the story of Dr. Edward Bach, discoverer of the
oldest and bestknown system of flower remedies, all the more remarkable. In a few short
years Bach developed from orthodox researchminded doctor into a pioneer of complementary
medicine.
Bach was born in 1886 in England. He studied medicine at Birmingham University before
moving to University College Hospital in London. In 1912 he qualified as a doctor of medicine.
He continued studying for another two years, and in that time earned the right to use a whole
string of letters after his name Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, Member of the
Royal College of Surgeons, Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians, Diploma of Public
Health.
Bach worked as a pathologist and house surgeon. He also undertook original research into
vaccines and chronic disease, and published articles in professional medical journals. As a result
he became well known in the profession.
Bach believed that orthodox medicine was too concerned with the control of physical symptoms
and not enough with inner health, the health of the mind and the spirit. When he completed his
medical training he said, it will take me five years to forget all I have been taught. The model
of medicine then in fashion was so rigidly materialist that he saw it as an obstacle to be overcome
rather than a stepping stone to what he wanted to achieve: a form of medicine that would heal
from the inside.
In 1919 Bach took the post of pathologist and bacteriologist at the London Homoeopathic
Hospital and was given as introductory reading matter a copy of Samuel Hahnemanns seminal
text The Organon. At first he was suspicious of Hahnemanns theories, but he soon saw clear
parallels between his research into vaccines and some of the fundamental principles of
homoeopathy.
Bach decided to test Hahnemanns theories by preparing his vaccines homoeopathically, and was
delighted at the results. He drew up full symptom pictures for the new preparations, including
mentals personality and emotional characteristics observed in people suffering from this or
that type of bacterial infestation.
In the 1920s Bach began to look for plants with the intention of replacing the vaccines with
more natural remedies that would not originate in human disease. His search finally bore fruit in
Wales in 1928, when he found Impatiens and Mimulus growing wild in the countryside. He
I
95
returned to London, prepared the remedies and prescribed them according to the personality of
his patients. The results were striking. The new remedies were different from homoeopathy.
They did not treat specific physical conditions, instead they treated emotions. And as the
remedies helped people resolve their negative emotions so their physical health improved
naturally and by itself.
n 1930 Bach left London for good, and spent the next four years travelling all over England
and Wales looking for new remedies. He had found and tested 19 remedies by the time he
settled in Oxfordshire in 1934, and there he found the further 19 remedies he needed to
complete the series. Working in direct contact with nature he found that his sensitivity to the
flowers grew to a remarkable degree. He was able to sense the qualities a flower had by testing
it on his tongue or in his hand, and at the end he suffered himself from the states for which he
needed remedies. He became, literally and metaphorically, his own laboratory.
In 1935, just over a year before his death, Bach announced his research was complete. He had
found 38 remedies, each aimed at a different state of mind or personality type, and with these
remedies all possible states of mind could be treated.
At his first public lecture in Wallingford in 1936 Bach spelt out the basic simplicity of the
system of Bach flower remedies. Simplicity was important because it meant that anybody could
use the remedies to help themselves and their families.
Nowadays simplicity and accessibility are still key to the success of the system. Anyone can
make remedies the process is very straightforward and spelt out in a number of books and the
Centre set up by Dr Bach before runs and approves education programmes all over the world.
Using them is just as simple: to help ourselves, our family and friends we need only to consider
our feelings and match them to the remedy indications. There is no need for special psychic gifts
or medical knowledge.
Simplicity does not mean simpleminded. From the 38 remedies nearly 293 million combinations
can be mixed to treat different states of mind, making the system wonderfully flexible. At the
Bach Centre we like to boast that we have never in 65 years had to turn somebody away because
we havent got a remedy for that.
Dr. Bach based his work on a philosophy that sees life as a learning process and illhealth
whether mental or physical as an opportunity to learn 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. And 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 that makes Dr. Bachs approach to health so
exceptional. Behind all disease lie our fears, our anxieties, our greed, our likes and dislikes, he
wrote. Let us seek these out and heal them, and with the healing of them will go the disease
from which we suffer.
In different times and in different parts of the world there are different reasons to be out of
balance and different ways of describing lack of balance. But the fundamentals of human
I
96
emotion are timeless and have no geographical boundaries. Because they work at this basic level
where we are all human, Dr Bachs system can be understood and used safely by everyone.
The Dr Edward Bach Centre, set up by Dr Bach in 1936, approves training courses around the
world, and registers practitioners in 35 countries. You can find out more about the Bach Centre
and the Bach flower remedies through the Centres web site www.bachcentre.com
Pushpa Ayurveda
Once upon a time, Buddha, in the course of a journey, fell ill
and some Jain priests were able to treat him successfully with
nectar served on a lotus petal. The story throws light on the
antiquity and efficacy of Pushpa Ayurveda (flower therapy),
which is now recapturing attention all over the world. India is
all poised to reap the benefits from it.
Pushpa Ayurveda is a special branch of Ayurveda which was
developed primarily by Jain priests. They were especially
attracted to this branch as the therapy was closer to the Jain
principle of ahimsa. Flower therapy is the modern version of
this age-old treatment developed in ancient India.
The first text dealing with the details of using flowers in the
treatment of particular diseases appears in the 9th century
text called Kalyana Karakam. Written by Ugraditya
Acharyan, the text says, "ayurveda texts usually prescribe the
use of plant-based medicines. But some acharyas like
Charakan have used some meat-based formulae for medicine
preparation. To offset this imbalance, Jain doctors have
perfected Puspa Ayurveda which makes use of 18,000 types
of flowers".
Written in the 3rd century B.C., the treatise is exceptional
because of the wealth of detail and keenness of observation. It
also vividly portrays the fact that the use of flowers in
ayurvedic treatment results in much prosperity - it makes for
prosperity, kalyana karakam as the title claims!
Source:
http://pib.nic.in/feature/feyr2001/fnov2001/f061120011.
html
97