Bach Flower Remedies are 38 plant and flower based remedies that can help you to manage the emotional demands of everyday life. Each remedy resolves a specific emotion. You can select them individually or mix them together to relieve the existing negative mental state.

Dr Edward Bach, pronounced as 'Batch', was a British doctor, bacteriologist and nature-lover. Though he had a lucrative practice at the famous Harley street, he was not happy with the treatment modalities available. He always felt, the temperament or the mental state of the human beings is responsible for the various ill-health conditions. Being a bacteriologist, he first invented a therapy where the patient was treated according to the intestinal flora, which he proposed was in-congruence with the ill-temperament. He called them 'bowel nosodes'.
Being a lover of nature and pet-animals, he felt that the way animals treat themselves by eating a certain grass themselves, why it should not be possible for man, who is more intelligent, to treat himself. He thus left his Harley street practice and devoted his remaining life to find a medicinal system that would be thoroughly natural, easier to practice even for a common man and more importantly, a therapy that would bring us nearer to our souls, bringing us peace and relief from our sufferings of any kind.
He felt these qualities are aptly available in nature's most beautiful offerings, the flowers. Dr Bach used 'doctorines of signature' to understand the healing qualities of flowers and after an in-depth observational study for six years, he presented 'Bach Flower Therapy' consisting of 38 remedies each representing a particular emotional archetype, to the world in 1936.

As mentioned above, each Bach Flower Remedy serves as an emotional archetype and does not necessarily mean a specific emotion. For example, Mimulus helps for 'known fears' - thus it will help someone who has a dread of dogs as well as to other for someone who fears about getting cancer.
Our mental state at a particular time is a mixture of variuos emotions, which demands a combination of corresponding flower remedies that represent those emotive patterns.
Dr Bach has stated in his literature that these 38 remedies cover every possible negative mental state since they are given in combination. If we start preparing combinations of up to 7 remedies at a time [a maximum number adviced by Dr Bach], there would be more than 30 million combinations - naturally, your mental state would definitely fall under either of them!

Our mental state is a resultant of the stimulus from our immediate environment acting on our temperament, which reacts to it in an individualized pattern. But this is not all!
Our characteristic reaction depends on how we 'receive' and 'treat' the stimulus. To give an example, if teacher scolds three students for mis-behaviour in the class, the stimulus [scolding] would be the same for all three; but one student can receive it as an admonition, while the other as an insult and the third one as a threat. Consequently, the first one will react to it by making it sure to behave better henceforth, while the second one will try to trouble the teacher or will act in defience, while the third one will get frightened at mere sight of that teacher for the next few months.
Bach Flower Remedies create positive vibrations within, that act against specific negative reaction patterns and resolve them. Thus if one stops receiving the scolding as an insult, naturally will not react to it in hostility.

No, aromatherapy involves using the fragrance of the flowers as medicines. Bach Flower Remedies are primarily flower essences made by either boiling flowering parts of the plant in water or by keeping it in direct full sunlight for few hours. Final remedy preperation does not retain the original fragrance of the flower but the healing properties are transferred within the water.
"The earth to nurture the plant, the air from which it feeds, the sun or fire to enable it to impart its power, and water to collect and be enriched with its beneficient magnetic healing..." Bach Flower Remedies are indeed the only medicines that are ingrained with all basic ELEMENTS of the universe.

Though there is no licence necessary for practicing Bach Flower Therapy, one should always select a practitioner who has got a formal training from a reputed institute or a certified Bach Flower Practitioner. Bach Center [Oxon] and British Institute of Homoeopathy [London] are two such institutes.
You can find a Bach Flower Practitioner for the immediate need, but it is highly recommended to become a practitioner. In fact, it was the dream of Dr Bach that this simple yet effective therapy should go in each and every household. Since the philosophy is based on laws of nature, it is easy to understand anybody who has interest in observing various shades of life.
Dr Amit Karkare also conducts a course that covers all aspects of principles and practice of Bach Flower Therapy. Visit our 'courses' page to know more about the course structure.

Recognising exactly how one feels is the key to choose the most appropriate Bach Flower Remedy. Once the feeling state is pinpointed, one needs to match it with the appropriate remedy. The remedy indications are straightforward, like Holly is for anger and hostility, while Scleranthus is for indecisive - duel mind, and Chicory for possessiveness. If we follow the above example of three students, the first one will not require any remedy since he has reacted positively to the situation, the second one will require Holly [for Anger and Hostility] while the third one will be helped by Mimulus [for fear of teacher].

Download my Bach Flower Remedies - Desk Guide, for a handy-reference while selecting suitable Bach Flower Remedies yourself.

Flower remedies are easy to administer. They can be added to food, juice or drinking water, without compromising their efficacy. Up to seven remedies may be given together at a time. The usual dosage is two-four drops of each remedy, four times a day, or eight drops twice a day if that fits more conveniently with mealtimes.
If you take a wrong remedy, it simply will not have any effect - since you are not in that negative emotional state. Thus neither it will lead to any adverse effect nor it will affect the effect of the other remedies of the combination.

Since these remedies can be added to food, juice or drinking water, there are absolutely no restrictions on food items for the efficacy of these remedies. Yes, but if you are allergic to any particular food item and are taking treatment for the same, avoid eating that food item till your physician instructs you so.
The duration for the treatment depends on the mental state; a person presenting with a mental shock after witnessing an road accident can be relieved within few hours by giving 'Rescue Remedy' mixed in water to be sipped frequently, on the other hand, a person seeking help of Bach Flower Therapy for his indecisive nature or de-addiction, would need to take the medicines for longer duration [approximately 4-6 months] to get desired effect.
One needs to continue the remedies till one gets resolved over the negative emotive state, the remedies can be discontinued later. The remedies not only resolve the negative state but also provide a kind of 'emotinal immunity' against it for future.

Though it is true that the preserving medium is brandy, the amount of alcohol in a single dose is almost negligible. Thus it is theoretically safe to prescribe during pregnancy. Yet, one should consult the primary physician if in doubt.
As regards recovering alcoholics, I have prescribed these remedies to many, for the purpose of de-addiction. If mixed in food or juice, they neither spoil the food or drink nor change its taste.

Bach Flower Remedies are effective for the emotional and psychological ailments of all ages. Every age represents its own emotional needs - a child needs security, warmth and support for growing up; while an adolescent needs support during the blooming period which also constitutes a major hormonal upsurge; a middle-aged needs emotional support to sustain and improve professional performance to achieve better position; while a retired will need support for adapting to the decelarated life and to find various avenues to make most of it.
Children, are definitely the biggest beneficiary of this therapy. I have seen wonderful effects of Bach Flower Therapy [BFT] in numerous cases of ADHD [Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder] and infantile Autism, making the life of the parents and child more fruitful. Children also can be helped during their examinations by reducing their silly mistakes and improving the concentration curve. BFT has relieved Nocturnal Enuresis, Thumb sucking, Temper tantrums and Attention seeking pranks seen in children.

Where ever there are emotions and need for their sensible resolution, Bach Flower Remedies will come to your aid. Each one of us feels a need for a friend to relieve our emotional load, BFT can act like that true friend. Does that mean we need these remedies only during our emotional problems? No! Psychology defines stress not as an emotional problem but any event that can arouse positive or negative emotions in a significant manner. Haven't you seen movie-icons getting overwhelmed and losing their balance during Oscar ceremony? Haven't you heard of people dying in a fit of ecstacy after winning a bumber lottery?
Apart from these winning moments, we also feel emotionally charged day-in and day-out. Anticipatory anxiety before an interview, confusion out of indecision in supermarket, failure to decide about right career path, lack of initiative in an adolescent, vaccuum after the loss of a spouse, mid-life crisis of a housewife... it is rightly said, every person goes through all emotional patterns at least once in his entire life... and at every juncture, we can get aid of BFT if we need to restore our emotional balance.

          Click Here to know the application of BFT in various diseases.

No, Bach Flower Remedies have been successfully applied in case of animals especially pets, as well as plants. I have used a combination of Mimulus [specific fears] along with few other remedies to treat 'fear of crackers' found in dogs. A combination of 'crab apple + olive + walnut' is a good 'tonic for flowering plants'. Among these, adding few drops of Walnut [for adaptation and change] before watering the plant works best in case the pot has been replaced recently. The roots and the plant settles significantly faster in the new and bigger pot. You can know more about the use of BFT in our study course.