Bach Flower remedies are said to work on emotions rather than treating physical symptoms
FLOWER POWER is having a revival – and not just because of the 40th anniversary of Woodstock which offered the floral face of the “peace and love” hippy movement – the flower has long been symbolic of emotional harmony and wellbeing.
The power of flowers to make us feel better is well established – and any hospital flower vendor will attest to that. But now flower remedies and bottled essences are increasingly being sought over “busy lizzie” plants in times of emotional crisis.
Bach Flower remedies are well known, mainly due to the popularity of Rescue Remedy – the little brown bottle yanked out of school bags, handbags and back packs alike, when it all just gets too much.
They were developed by Dr Edward Bach, an English physician, bacteriologist and homeopath in the 1930s. The 38 flower remedies he took from the Welsh and English countryside are said to work as an emotional first aid kit.
Patricia O’Flaherty, a Bach Foundation Registered Practitioner (BFRP) and trainer based in Dundrum, Dublin, says Bach’s basic principle was to treat the emotions, rather than the body.
A Trinity University academic for 30 years, O’Flaherty was raised in Brazil and experienced the benefits of herbal remedies and homeopathy from an early age. For her, the holistic approach to health makes sense and so her “new life” as a Bach practitioner was really quite a natural step, she says.
“Nowadays we seek relief from something that is hurting us on the physical level, but we tend to forget that before anything manifests on the physical side, the emotions are in distress,” she explains.
“Bach said, ‘don’t look at the symptom itself, look at the emotions that are making a person behave in a particular way’ – and with road rage, for example, it is clear that impatience is causing the symptom of anger for the person,” she says. “This can be treated with the flower essence ‘impatiens’ which comes from the busy lizzies.”
So, how is it that the flower essence rather than the visual pleasure of the flowering pot plant works to heal our emotions?
According to O’Flaherty, it is subtle vibrational healing that works on the energetic level of the emotions, bypassing the physical to go deeper. “The flower has the healing power at a particular frequency and that’s why it is so effective,” she says.
Each one of Bach’s remedies was tried and tested by him personally, as he suffered various emotional upsets.
Unproven scientifically, the remedies are specific and there are, for instance, five different essences to treat five different types of fear – from anxiety about the unknown, through to terror due to a real experience.
In a therapy session, O’Flaherty treats the emotions the person presents with on the day and which come to the surface through conversation. But over time, the treatment works on the emotional body in the same way an onion is peeled – one layer at a time.
Artist Astrid Walsh says she sought out Bach Flower remedies when she got Lyme disease after an insect bite on holiday in Germany in 2003.
She found her energy levels were low after two consecutive doses of antibiotics and she felt exhausted and depressed from the illness.
“I was struggling to keep up with the work I had to do,” says Walsh, who was a student at the time. “I remember feeling like I was moving through treacle all the time. Eventually I just ran out of energy,” she says.
Having used Rescue Remedy before exams many times, she decided to try Bach Flower remedies again and sourced her own after reading books on the subject. “The remedies worked for me at a very subtle level with profound effects. I think the remedies helped me to realise what I really needed at the time – to stop just trying to go on as normal, that Lyme disease could actually be quite serious and that I needed to allow myself to rest and recover. They were my first step toward proper self care,” she says.
Angelina Kelly, another Dublin-based BFRP, works with students at Tallaght Institute of Technology, during its pre-exams “Stress Buster Day”.
“The remedies help students to relax and go to their exams with a positive mind-set. They help them with feelings of terror and panic, but also to trust their own abilities to write down the correct answers,” she says.
With remedies for the worrier, day dreamer, self-doubter, over-worker and over-confident student, it is not always best to reach for Rescue Remedy, O’Flaherty warns. “It’s more important to find out why you are reaching for this emergency remedy – and then treat that.
“If people learn more about the remedies, they will find they are safe to use, simple to prepare and a very inexpensive and safe way to treat your health.”
How to become a practitioner
Patricia O’Flaherty, Angelina Kelly and Carmel Clarke are the three official Bach Flower Remedy trainers in Ireland and give courses in Dublin at various levels.
There are three Practitioner Levels: Practitioner Level I focuses on building familiarity with the 38 remedies – 37 plants and one water remedy.
Practitioner Level II looks at giving a Bach Flower consultation. Practitioner Level III is studied in England over five days and encourages students to work deeply with the subtle aspects of the remedies. Students then do case studies which take up to six months to complete.
The Level I course runs in Dublin for 14 hours over a Saturday and Sunday. It is also available as an evening course over six weeks.