What Is the Bach Flower Remedy System?
Founded in 1936 by Dr Edward Bach, a medical doctor, homeopath and bacteriologist who believes that healing negative emotions helps the body to heal itself, the Bach flower remedy system is an alternative treatment that uses the healing properties of flowers for emotional problems and the management of pain.
The Bach flower remedy system, which has been used in more than 80 countries worldwide, consists of 38 remedies that each addresses a specific negative emotion such as worry, anxiety, fear or anger. The emotions are divided into seven psychological causes of sicknesses including fear, uncertainty, loneliness, lack of interest in current situations, oversensitivity to influences and ideas, sadness or despair and cares for others at the expense of self. The Bach flower remedies pine essence is one of the 38 remedies, and also one of the most popular among them.
How Did Dr Bach Originally Make His Remedies? The Process of Mother Tincture
To Dr Edward Bach, an illness is the result of a conflict between the purposes of the soul and the personality’s actions and outlook, which leads to negative emotions and energy blockage and eventually an illness.
The more recent Bach flower remedies are typically made of a 50:50 mix of water and brandy with flower extracts from wild plants and trees such as the Scots Pine. Sometimes, some alcohol is used because it speeds up the absorption of active ingredients in the body and the healing process.
However, originally, Dr Bach made his flower essences based on his perceived psychic connections to the plants and not actual scientific methodology. Once he felt a negative emotion, he would sweep his hand over different plants, trying to find one that would alleviate his emotion and he would attribute that plant to be able to heal that emotion.
The Sun Process
Dr Bach theorised that early-morning sunlight that passes through dew drops on flower petals transferred the flower’s healing power onto the water. His sun method for more delicate flowers involved floating the flower heads in pure water for three hours in direct sunlight.
If there were not enough sunlight, he would suspend the flowers in spring water and allowed the sun’s rays to pass through them.
The Boiling Process
And if the sunlight was weak, or if the plants are woodier, he used the boiling method, which involves boiling the flowering parts of the plant for half an hour in pure water.
In both cases, the heat transfers energy in the flowers to the water, and the energised water is then filtered, with an equal amount of brandy added to it as a preservative. This is the creation of mother tincture, which he would further dilute at a ratio of two drops to every 30ml to make the stock bottles that are sold in the shops. Dr Bach was immensely pleased with the process, combines the four elements of earth, sun (or fire), water and air.
How Do the Bach Flower Remedies Work?
The Bach original flower remedies work by bringing out the corresponding positive quality that has been hidden within us, but at the same time, it does not suppress the negative state. For example, turning worry into positive hope and faith.
Bach Flower Remedies Pine Essence: Where Does It Come From?
The main ingredient of the Bach flower remedies pine essence comes from the Scots Pine (or Scotch Fir, Scotch Pine or Pinus sylvestris), which is an evergreen coniferous tree. With short, blue-green needle leaves and orange-red bark, pine trees are indigenous to the northern European and Asian regions, and they mature quickly and can tolerate extreme temperatures, soil conditions and rainfall.
What Is the Pine Flower Essence Good For?
“Disease is, in essence, the result of conflict between soul and mind, and will never be eradicated except by spiritual and mental effort.” – Dr Edward Bach
Bach flower remedies pine flower essence, often called the ‘flower for guilt’, is said to be a remedy for psychological disorders such as feelings of guilt, self-pity and self-condemnation and hence especially useful for individuals who are suffering from addictions, abuse, trauma, moderate depression, major depression or extreme guilt complex. The guilt disorder in children is especially evident, and the pine flower essence can be a good healer.
The essence can help you when you may feel guilty for things that you have done or not done. Often, this happens even when events not within your control caused the problems and you may assume responsibility for mistakes made by others and become over-apologetic. Even when you are successful, you always think that you could have done better and are never content with what you have achieved. Your constant effort to improve yourself may lead to despair, depression and drain your energy.
Here are some questions you can ask yourself to diagnose whether the pine flower essence will be beneficial to you – are you overly self-critical, or do you have negative judgement or judge yourself too harshly? Are you never contented with your own results and think that you could have done better? Do you feel guilty when things go wrong, even when you didn’t cause the problem?
The pine flower essence brings in your positivity potential and qualities such as self-esteem, self-forgiveness, self-acceptance and self-love, getting you to accept and respect yourself as you would others, and helps to alleviate any feelings of guilt or self-reproach. By filling your energy field with these positive vibrations, you are discarding these negative emotions into this remedy.
You can see the results of the Bach flower remedies pine essence when you start to accept and love yourself and realise that the only one binding you to those unrealistically high standards is yourself. You acknowledge your faults without dwelling on them, and when you did the wrong things, you are able to put them right but most importantly, at the same time, you release negative judgement and self-criticism, knowing that you are not to be blamed as you have done your best. You are also able to forgive someone for having done something wrong or sinful to you. You also become aware of your apologetic pattern, and will begin to think along the path of ‘you are well’, finally becoming contented and be open to live life with more possibility of joy or being able to find the joy in living again. That is the true essence of living.
How Do You Consume the Bach Flower Remedy Pine Essence?
Usually, Dr Edward Bach’s flower essence remedy system such as the pine essence are oral flower essences, and consumed by diluting 2 to 4 drops in a glass of water (maximum seven types of remedies), and then sipping it at intervals, keeping them in your mouth before swallowing. You can also add it to your drinks or sprinkle the drops in water containing minerals or spring water. Otherwise, you can also use a portable dropper bottle to drop it on your tongue or rub it onto your lips, behind the ears or on the temples and wrists. You should not take more than 4 drops at a time, or take this remedy more than 4 times a day.
Are the Bach Flower Remedies Effective?
According to Dr Bach, the dew found on flower petals retains the supposed healing properties of that plant but a few clinical trials and an observational study had found that this flower essence remedy could be just a placebo effect, and there is no evidence that they are beneficial for anxiety or other mental illnesses.
That said, while there is no evidence that the Bach original flower remedies are effective, people have been using this remedy system as alternative or complementary therapies for many years, and it is still popular as of today in many parts of the world, especially with women.
Can the Bach Flower Remedies Cause Side Effects?
Overall, studies have found that Bach flower remedies are safe. Although some do have a small amount of brandy and/or alcohol as we have mentioned above, you should check the ingredients label if you are intolerant of these elements.
Also, take the usual care and caution and do not take Bach flower remedies if you are taking any allopathy medicines or prescribed medicine or if you are pregnant and breastfeeding. Inform your doctor or a health practitioner if you wish to.
How Do You Choose the Right Bach Flower Remedy?
Patients with pain or who are suffering from a nervous tension like to use the Bach flower remedy system for physical pain control or as a method of pain relief and pain control because it is a holistic healing practice, and the remedies are natural, simple to use and not addictive.
You should choose a remedy according to your health condition. You can create a customised, individual essence that can rectify your pains or emotional problems. For your personal essence selection, it can be one remedy, or even a mixture of several homeopathic flower essences, all of which were developed by Dr Bach himself. He would combined as many as seven flower essences to create a bespoke formula for his patients.
You can buy Bach flower remedies at health food stores or from a health practitioner or specialist, naturopath, herbalist, chiropractor, acupuncturist or anyone with a homeopathic practice. You can also purchase them at Amazon, where there are more of such quality products.
Looking for more alternative therapies? You can find some more information here.
