Saturday 22 February 2014

Bach Flower Remedies for emotional support


In 1930 Dr Edward Bach left his lucrative Harley Street medical practice and embarked on his search for a set of gentle plant based remedies that would help people people recover from illness.  Just before he died in 1936 his work was complete in the set of 38 remedies that we see for sale now.

The Bach Flower Remedies are a complete system for emotional healing and each of the 38 remedies addresses one of each of our emotional states.  They can be used individually or in combination to deal with any upsetting situation.



How do the remedies work?
The remedies themselves have been made using a method similar to that of homeopathic remedies, although they are not themselves considered homeopathic.  Some of the remedies are made by floating the flowers of the plant on pure water and leaving them in bright sun for 3 hours.  The other remedies are made by taking the woody parts of the plant and boiling them in pure water for 30 minutes.  These are strained and mixed 50/50 with brandy to make the mother tincture.  This is then diluted again, 2 drops to 30ml of brandy to make the stock remedies you can buy in the shops.

This method means there is no active ingredient in the remedy that can interfere with medication or cause side effects.  When we take the remedy we send a message to our innate that we wish it to follow a set of instruction carried by the remedy and that brings about healing.

To explain how they work I would like you to imagine a house with 38 rooms, each with a light on.  Each room represents an emotional state; there is one for fear of known things, one for exhaustion, one for shock and on and on for each of the remedies.   When we are emotionally distressed the lights go off in certain rooms.  Taking the remedies turns on those lights, flooding the whole house with light and joy returns.

What should I use the remedies for?
The Bach Remedies are helpful for any situation that is upsetting or stressful but should only be used for emotional healing.  Although they are not designed to treat physical illness, they can be used to support the healing process.  By treating how the person feels about being ill their positive mental attitude can help them recover.

The remedies can be used ad hoc to deal with day to day issues or used long term to work on deep seated problems.  It is important to understand that the remedies work on how you are feeling now, not how you were feeling at a certain time in the past or how you think you will feel in the future.

How are the remedies chosen?
More often than not, when someone first learns about the remedies they believe they need all of them, however when you come for a consultation we will aim to whittle down the number of remedies needed to 7 or 8.  You could take all 38 but it could cause confusion as you would be working on too many levels at once.  Instead in taking the 7 or 8 remedies many of the other emotions fade away because the core emotion has been dealt with.

Through the process of discussing the issues at hand I try to understand what emotions the client is feeling so that the right remedies can be chosen.  Interestingly I often find that many people are not actually aware of what they are feeling and in talking about it they become more in touch with the situation and their emotions.  This in itself can be quite a healing process.

To a newcomer to the remedies this discussion can be daunting and feel like talk therapy, but the important difference here is we are not attempting to dig down through buried emotions to the root cause of a problem, a process that can be quite traumatic.  Because the remedies only work on what you are feeling now, in this moment, there is no need to dig, no need to wade through the past bringing up old stuff that can be upsetting.  Instead all we are trying to do is understand where you are now.

This focus on "the now" can make the remedies appear very superficial only dealing with current problems and never getting to the root cause, however this is misleading.  By working on and supporting the emotions that are felt now we are peeling a layer away allowing the cause of those feelings to surface.  When this happens another set of remedies are chosen and those emotions are supported, again allowing deeper issues to surface. Long term use of the remedies can eventually heal deep and forgotten wounds that affect our daily lives without us realising.

One of the methods of understanding how the client feels is to use the actual remedies as examples;  when trying to understand a clients fears we can compare the attributes of Mimulus, Aspen, Cherry Plum and Rock Rose.  By discussing the possible remedies the client is involved in the process and helps choose the remedies that are right for them.

What happens if I take the wrong remedies?
The great thing about the Bach Remedies is that if you take the wrong one the worst that can happen is that nothing happens.  Go back to the metaphor of the rooms with lights on; if you take a remedy that corresponds to a room that already has the light on, all that happens is the light stays on.  

What happens next?
Once we have worked through the situation and decided on the remedies a treatment bottle is made up.  This contains mineral water, a small amount of brandy that acts as a preservative and 2 drops of each remedy.  You will take this away along with a leaflet explaining what the remedies are for and how to take them.

4 drops of the treatment remedy are to be taken 4 times a day, once first thing in the morning, once last thing at night and twice during the day.  You can take more but this is the minimum dose.

It is normal for people to believe that if they take more of something it will be more effective.  Once again we can use the model of homeopathy to understand how this is not the case with Bach Remedies; because they are an energy based treatment taking a larger dose does not have a stronger effect.  However, it can be helpful to take the remedy more often.  By adding 4 drops to a glass of water it can be sipped throughout a particularly stressful time bringing constant relief.

If there are concerns about the alcohol content the remedies can be added to a hot drink which evaporates the alcohol away.  One client who is allergic to alcohol has found this very effective.

Due to the fact that the remedies work on how you are feeling now your emotions are supported throughout the process, when the emotions change another remedy can be made up so that the support continues.  In general it is unlikely for any treatment bottle to be appropriate for more than 3 weeks, in which case the client can either stop taking them or come for another consultation.  If the client finds they are forgetting to take the remedy after a period of constant use it can be seen as a sign that it is no longer needed.

Bach remedies are a gentle therapy, so gentle at times that you aren't aware that anything is happening.   It's only when you look back and see how much better you coped with a situation or how a problem is less apparent in your life that you realise how effective they are.

*Please note, not all of this information was taught by the Bach Centre, some is based on how I have come to understand the remedies after working with them.

Visit my website to learn about my healing practice  

Friday 21 February 2014

Are you adding to world fear with a simple click?


We've all seen posts like this on facebook; praying on our fears to make us click that share button otherwise something terrible will happen.  Or maybe you have seen those telling you that someone has committed an awful crime and it is accompanied by a picture of a random person.  There are those that warn you about how your phone might kill you if you use it while it is charging or beware of teddy bears because they wake up and eat you in your sleep (ok, maybe not that one but some of them are that far fetched)

As good citizens we want to make sure that our friends don't fall foul to whatever threat the post is warning us about so we share it on, or maybe we are scared of what will happen if we don't.  What harm can it do?

There are three reasons why you shouldn't share certain posts on facebook.

1. Spreading Fear
Firstly, we are sending a message that there is something to be frightened of.  It's only a small message but it is still there whispering "the world is a terrible place and you need to be fearful".  As it whispers to us we turn away from our own experiences and believe what we are reading.


The number of people suffering from anxiety is increasing every day.  People are scared to walk outside their house at night and they trust no-one, but how many people have actually personally experienced these things we are all frightened of?

Are we really doing people a favour by spreading fear?  If you follow the belief that thought creates reality, in adding to people's fear you are actually increasing their chances of something terrible happening to them.

2. Spreading lies
How many people check that the thing they are sharing is actually true?  Ok, the ones that pray on superstition are hard to prove and in the end you have to run them through your own beliefs, but the ones that warn you of specific people who are dangerous or homicidal teddy bears can often be checked.

Sites such as Snopes or Hoax Slayer on Facebook are great for checking the validity of these posts, and it isn't even hard.  Simply copy a pertinent part of the text, paste it into google and include the word Snopes or Hoax and generally you will find something if it is a hoax. This link (warning, some images may be upsetting) shows how the messages about exploding phones holds some truth but also states that the warnings have been exaggerated.

3. You might be adding to the ruining of someone's life.  
That person in the picture, are they really stealing dogs?  If the post is a hoax that person will be facing repeated unfounded claims about their character.  How would you feel if a photo of you was posted up saying you were a paedophile?  You and your friends would know it was untrue, but what about the millions of people who see and share it that don't know you?

4. You are being duped
As you know, there is a facility in facebook to have pages as well as profiles, just like the CrystalOak one, that allows people to advertise their business.  When you set up a page you are under the impression that every post you make turns up on all you're likers' news feeds; sadly this simply isn't true.

To get your posts to show on as many pages as possible you either have to pay to boost your post, or, post things that will increase your stats by getting people to like, share or comment.  Pictures like the one to the left are a prime example, it serves no purpose than to get you to comment, and when you do it shows up on other people's news feeds, encouraging them to do the same.  This improves the page's stats and the page becomes more valuable.  Once a page's stats are good enough it gets sold on and used for advertising a product.

People are using the public's willingness to play the game to their own ends.  In this case it's harmless if annoying, but those that promise that Bill Gates will pay $1 for every like to save a dying kid are not so innocuous.  For a start, that child in the picture is getting no such help.  Instead they have probably already passed and the picture is being used without his parent's permission.  One day the internet is covered in pictures of their child, dying, being used to increase a page's stats.  That, to me, is vile!

I really do encourage people to think before they share, are you really doing a favour?

I will leave you with the following YouTube link.  Michael Moore's film Bowling for Columbine shows us how the increased level of fear people are feeling is having a real and damaging effect on our society.  I know it is long but it really is worth watching.



Visit my website to learn about my healing practice  

Thursday 20 February 2014

Soul families - a wonderful gift

Hopefully, we are born into a wonderful loving family.
Hopefully we meet someone who we fall in love with and spend the rest of our lives with.

This is something we are brought up to expect, this is the norm we are told.

Hopefully as we grow up, through childhood into adulthood we make friends. We meet people we resonate with and we build a friendship. Some may only stay a short while, some a few years, some we may know all our lives.

Again, this is something we trust will happen as normal.

What we don't expect, what some may never even be aware of is that person that has known us for more than weeks, more than years but lifetimes. That person who no matter how hard you struggle to deny it, no matter how many miles between you... they refuse to let go.

That person who sees right into your soul, past all the darkness you are afraid to show, into that spark of spirit that is the same as is within them.

There isn't space for romantic love with this person. Romantic love pales into insignificance when you are with this person. There is a kind of love that flows straight into your heart and let you know this person will never, never hurt you

When you are with this person all the normal fears of being who you are disappear. This person teaches you things that no-one else could because you know you are truly safe with them.

This person is part of your soul family.

They may be a soul father, someone wise and strong that will guide and teach you.
They may be a soul mother, someone loving and nurturing that will support you through tough times.
Or they may be a soul sibling, a sister or brother, someone to grow and experience life with, to stand beside you through the normal pains and confusion of growing up.

We can only hope to meet these people in our lifetime, we can only hope to recognise them for who they are and when we do it is such an amazing experience.

Visit my website to learn about my healing practice  

Tuesday 18 February 2014

Wild Oat - for when you are looking for a new direction

Often around this time many people find themselves
inspired but with little direction.  Christmas is over and we are settling into the routine of the new year and there isn't much to look forward to over the next couple of months.  People tend to get restless with aspects of their life that don't really inspire or fulfill them; this could be their job or it could be something else completely.  Maybe there is a desire to help others, learn a new skill or take a new direction in life, but when it comes down to it we just don't know what that direction is.

When this happens there is a risk of becoming frustrated and the moment is lost, leaving us feeling that we have wasted an opportunity. Wild Oat is perfect for these times.  In taking this remedy we are reminded what our dreams are and it can act as a sign post to where changes can be made.


Visit my website to learn about my healing practice  

Thursday 13 February 2014

Gorse - A bach remedy for a not so happy valentines day

As I am writing this in early February Valentines cards are already appearing in the shops and people are thinking wistfully about their plans for an evening with the one they love.  Unfortunately  for some February 14th is a day of deep loneliness and despair as they are reminded that they do not have a special someone to share this day with.

It is very easy to give up hope in meeting someone to share your life with.  To start with you may have tried all the things that people do to meet possible partners but as time has gone on you have simply given up.  You begin to believe you are wasting your time and are supposed to be alone and unhappy.

The Bach remedy Gorse is at hand for these moments.  When we feel that everything we have tried has failed and are prepared to give up Gorse brings light to the situation, restoring our faith in finding a way forward.

Visit my website to learn about my healing practice  

Wednesday 12 February 2014

Rain until May - are we staying in the now?

I just read a post on a friend's news feed saying they had seen a forecast saying that this wet weather will stay with us for the next few months.

Here in the midlands we have been lucky and haven't seen the widespread floods that other parts of the country are experiencing but I can start to understand how people are feeling at the moment about the weather.  When we have seen so many days that are dark and wet it is easy to accept that things will never change.  When an forecast like this comes along our hopes of sunshine are dashed and we feel fed up.  This is where it is time to stop and really consider what is happening.

Ponder this; how often have we planned our day because of the weather forecast only to find it has all gone to shreds because the forecast was wrong?  I think most people will answer "oh, all the time!" If the weather men can't get it right for the coming week how on earth do they know what will be happening next month?

Once again we find ourselves stepping out of the now and our mood is affected by a prediction of tomorrow, next week, next month when, in reality, we have no idea what tomorrow will be like.

My suggestion is to ignore those weather men and gauge the weather by what you see outside your window now.  Yeah, I can hear the rain in the roof as I type but you never know, tomorrow might be a sunny day.


If you want to take things one step further; include some gratitude that all this rain isn't snow.

Edit ~ It is now April and we have had some stunning weather for some weeks.... so this proves my point.  There wasn't rain until May ;0)

Visit my website to learn about my healing practice