Working With Bach Flower Remedies
Working in South London in the 1990s as a Reiki practitioner was a busy time for me. People came to me with really complex problems and many clients simply didn’t have the time or money to have weekly treatments.
Issues with addiction or stress and resulting ill health were common. Most of all, people needed nurturing and some sort of bridge between treatments. Some learned Reiki so that they could self-treat, but not everyone. Knowing that my master often used Bach flower remedies, and having used them for my own family, it seemed appropriate to recommend them between treatments as they are easily found at most health shops. The results were astonishing, and as emotions often came up during or after a Reiki session, it was really clear to me that the remedies complemented the treatments in a unique way.
There are 38 flower remedies discovered by Dr Edward Bach in England in the 1930s and each is directed at a particular characteristic or emotional state. People can choose the remedy that most closely corresponds to how they feel and the remedy helps both emotional and physical problems.
In 1932 Dr Bach, a qualified physician, stated: “All the remedies are made with beautiful flowers, plants and trees, none of them is poisonous nor can do any harm.” He explained that without any knowledge of medicine they could be used safely at home. This statement really resonated with me and my Reiki practice; similarly, we can both self-treat safely at home and offer Reiki treatments to others. Like Reiki, the remedies will not clash with medication or other forms of treatment and yet, as Dr Bach observed, when emotional balance is restored, physical health and vitality will follow.
After having completed Bach flower remedy practitioner training, providing tailor-made combination remedies for my clients was the next step. The training not only deepened my knowledge of the remedies but also fine-tuned my listening and observation skills.
People have used the expression and acted out “touch wood” since medieval times to ward off misfortune; our Reiki expression might be “show gratitude to all livings things”. Dr Bach explained that “those herbs of the field placed for healing by comforting, by soothing, by relieving our cares, our anxieties, bring us nearer to the Divinity within and it is that ... which heals us”.
Over the years many different types of flower essence systems have emerged treating a range of human emotional states. Yet working with the original 38 remedies that Bach identified most situations can be managed according to the client's personality. A simple example might be a case of bereavement: one might choose between olive for exhaustion or wild rose for apathy, adding star of Bethlehem to help with shock, walnut to help cope with the change, to feel less vulnerable, and possibly mimulus to face known fears.
Over the years, in conjunction with Reiki these gentle organic remedies have offered unobtrusive support to both clients and students as well as my friends and family, plants and animals.
This article was first published in the Winter 2015-16 issue of Touch Magazine (http://www.touchmagazine.net/home.php).
Tripuri Dunne is a Reiki master, spiritual companion and flower essence practitioner, www.reikiwithtripuri.com
The Bach Centre, www.bachcentre.com
