Bach remedies are for everyone, so why see a practitioner?

One of the most important teachings of Dr Bach was that everyone can learn to use the Bach remedies, and he was right.

When we study to be practitioners it is impressed upon us that we must not use any esoteric method to choose the right remedy for the client.  We should base our choice solely on an understanding of the situation and that of the remedy.  We are also taught to explain to the client why we have chosen a specific remedy to ensure that they both agree that it is the right remedy and also understand why it was chosen.  This gives the client their power back when they could so easily hand it over to the practitioner.

Personally I agree with this completely.  Although there is a level of inbuilt obsolescence where we would eventually become redundant to a long term client I think it is important that they are in control of their treatment and can, at sometime, work with the remedies on their own.

Alongside this teaching element in sessions there is also a host of books and websites available to the public to help them choose their own remedies and the remedies themselves can be bought quite easily.

So, why would you see a practitioner when you can do it yourself?

I never really understood this until one winter I decided to revisit the remedies I was using to deal with my SAD.  For the previous couple of years I had been taking Gorse and  Mustard and they were not working.  Gorse is for when you are ready to give up, everything you have tried hasn't worked and you are resigned to being unhappy.  Mustard is for the times when a dark cloud has blocked out the light in your life, but when you evaluate the situation you can't actually see what is causing it.

I couldn't understand why this wasn't working, they fitted how I felt completely.

The problem was, I was not being objective.

It is hard to be objective when you are trapped inside the feelings.  You think they are justified and that is all there is.  What I hadn't realised what that I was simply feeling sorry for myself.  I was unhappy because I felt so unhappy.  As soon as I realised this I reached for the Willow and things got a lot better.

Another example.

When we moved to our new home we brought with us our 2 cats; Bryn and Taf (yes, they did come from Wales).  Sadly 3 months after our move Taf crossed the big road and got run over.  As a result of this we re-homed Katie and Scruffy and we decided that the cats were to be kept in at night as I was so worried about them. 

As summer came Katie and Scruffy came home later and later at night and I would spend nights in bed crying or driving round the area worried they had been hurt.  Naturally I reached for the Red Chestnut remedy to help me deal with this.  Red Chestnut is for situations where you are deeply worried about someone else, in this case my cats.

It seems perfect sense, but again it was not working and I couldn't
understand why.  Again I took a moment out of myself to understand what was really happening.  Although I was worried about the cats I realised that if they were killed I wasn't worried about them, I was worried about how I would feel.  I was frightened of the emotions that I would feel if another cat was lost.  Red Chestnut was not going to work on that.  This was a situation where I needed Mimulus for fear and Cherry Plum for fear of losing control.

So, from this you can see where a practitioner comes in.  There are times when we are far too caught up in our own emotions to see what is really going on.  Talking to someone who has a knowledge of the remedies and can also ask the questions you yourself might not see need to be asked can make all the difference in picking the right remedy.

Visit my website to learn about my healing practice  

http://www.crystaloak.moonfruit.co.uk/