Bach Flower Remedies

In the 1930’s,  Edouard Bach, British doctor, discovered and developed 38 flower essences, which today are called Bach flower remedies. The purpose of these remedies is to gently rebalance our mental and emotional state.

Most of them are from flowers found in the countryside and woods:  Vervain, Water Violet, Gentian, Crab Apple…

Each one corresponds to a different emotional state. These are  grouped in seven categories: fear, loneliness, uncertainty, lack of interest, despondency and despair, oversensitivity, over care for others …

The philosophy of Dr Bach was essentially to deal with the balance of the soul, spirit and body. He wanted to provide a set of remedies easy to be used by anyone.

 Analysing our emotions

Emotions are part of our life. Some of them are consequences of present situations, such as anger caused by a deception, sorrow after a death or the  joy or pride of succeeding an exam, and are justified and directly connected with the situation. Others, such as fears, anguish, lack of confidence or doubt, come from past experiences which have not been well integrated and thus generate feelings that may limit us in our actions and our relationship to the outside world.

The purpose is not to eliminate these emotions but rather  to transform them from being negative to having a positive input.

The aim of the Bach flower remedies is to rediscover a total harmony and a natural and healthy balance in your inner self.

Indeed, a good emotional analysis is the first and fundamental step towards the use of Bach flower remedies: target the emotional cause of a disease instead of fighting the physical symptoms.

The 38 Bach flowers

		Fleur	État émotionnel, attitude		Fleur	État émotionnel, attitude
		Agrimony	Appear carefree and humorous but the cheerful face is a mask for anxieties, worries and even real torment		Mimulus	Fears from known causes such as animals, illness, darkness, public speaking, etc...Shy, nervous
		Aspen	Seized by sudden fears or worries for no specific reason		Mustard	Taken over by a sudden gloom which comes and goes for no apparent reason.
		Beech	Intolerant and critical of others. Convinced to be always in the right. Sense of own superiority		Oak	Brave, strong and reliable. Driven by strong sense of duty and struggle on, although exhausted.
		Centaury	shy, quiet, passive. Weak willed and easily dominated. Anxious to please		Olive	Lack of energy. Feel exhausted in body and mind.
		Cerato	Doubt on his own judgment in decision making. Seek advice and confirmation from others instead of trusting oneself intuition		Pine	Guilty feeling and self reproach. Blame oneself for other people's mistakes and for anything going wrong.
		Cherry Plum	Fear to lose control of oneself behaviour. Afraid of giving way to violent impulses.		Red Chestnut	Selfless over concern and fear or worry for the welfare of others.
		Chestnut Bud	Fail to learn from experience, unable to make progress. Keep repeating the same mistakes. Lack of attention		Rock Rose	Have experienced terror, have been frozen in fear and helpless feeling
		Chicory	overly possessive, demand constant attention. The care for the others is self centred, complains about not receiving enough love.		Rock Water	Inflexible, self denying, setting oneself very high standards. Like to be an example for others. Seek for self perfection.
		Clematis	Day-dream, appear absent minded. Lack of interest in the present. Tend to lack of energy		Scleranthus	Suffer from indecision. Difficulty to make choices, especially when forced between two possibilities.
		Crab Apple	Sense of uncleanliness and ashamed or embarrassed by unpleasant physical symptoms or features.		Star of Bethlehem	To help recover after shock, grief or fright.
		Elm	Competent and capable but over-whelmed by responsibility and workload. Lose confidence and becomme despondent.		Sweet Chestnut	Extreme mental anguish. At the limit of endurance and in deep despair.
		Gentian	Despondency, disapointed		Vervain	Dedicated to causes, argumentative with fixed principles and ideas. Over enthusiasm which can be fanatical
		Gorse	pessimism, defeatism		Vine	Strong willed with a tendency to dominate. Inflexible. Expects absolute obedience.
		Heather	Talkative: obsessed by own troubles and experiences		Walnut	Difficulty to adapt to changes or oversensitive to  some ideas, atmospheres and influences
		Holly	Hatred, envy, jealousy, suspicion		Water Violet	Tendency to withdraw, prefer to be alone. Proud or aloof. Do not rely on others.
		Honeysuckle	Live in the past. Regrets, nostalgia, unable to change present circumstances.		White Chestnut	Obsessive, worrying thoughts go round and round. Difficulty to concentrate.
		Hornbeam	"Monday morning" feeling. Procrastination		Wild Oat	Dissatisfied, tending to be drifter. Uncertainty to find one's way in life
		Impatiens	Impatience, irritability		Wild Rose	Lack of interest, resigned, apathetic. Life without pleasure.
		Larch	Lack of self confidence and will to success. Fear of failure and do not even try. Feeling of inferiority		Willow	Resentful and feeling of self-pity. See oneself as victim. "Life is unfair"

Rescue Remedy

The only combination created by Dr Bach. It contains: star of Bethlehem, cherry plum, impatiens, rock rose, clematis

To use in every case of difficulty: physical, emotional or psychological shock