That a large number of different plants possess medicinal properties is a fact known since antiquity. Cutting down fever, calming anxiety or helping wounds to heal are some of the properties attributed to them. Science has demonstrated many of these properties and has extracted various active components from them.

However, throughout history many ways of treating ailments linked to the consumption or use of certain plant products have emerged, and some have been scientifically proven while others are considered alternative treatments or homeopathy. In this sense, one of the treatments based on plants that have been developed throughout history are those known as Bach flowers .

Bach flowers: what are they?

Bach flowers are a set of preparations of plant origin that were devised as therapy by Dr. Edward Bach .

This treatment proposal is based on the ingestion or application on the skin of such preparations in order to help treat emotional aspects, so that they are offered to help recover emotional balance and even stimulate the immune system and the capacity for regeneration.

Edward Bach’s project

Specifically, Dr. Bach developed by means of different tests a total of 38 remedies or preparations from the combination of different plants , based on what he called "vibrational characteristics".

The treatment with Bach flowers arises from the idea that the illness is born from the existence of psychological conflicts between the personality and the soul, producing a blockage or imbalance of the person’s internal energy on an emotional level. Thus body, mind and spirit would be related and influence each other. The healing effect that Bach offered would be explained by the transmission of the energy of the plants to the person (without considering that they have biochemical aspects).

According to this philosophy, the plants with which the Bach flower preparations are made emit a series of vibrations that could alter the person’s internal energy and help him/her to reach a harmonious state, transmitting the energy of the plants to the preparation.

Its popularity as an alternative treatment

The use of Bach flowers has become popular in some New Age settings as a method of alternative natural therapy.

Many people administer and make the preparations themselves, although there is a flower therapist who is offered to determine the type of preparation and the doses to be applied according to the person and the type of problem.

The preparations and their preparation

As we have seen, Bach flowers consist of a total of 38 preparations, which are made with the use of plants, spring water and sometimes some alcohol as a preservative (other substances can also be used as a preservative if applied to minors).

There are two basic elaboration methods : boiling for thirty minutes in spring water to then filter the extract and then adding brandy, glycerine or vinegar in the same amount and solarization, in which the plants are left in a bowl with water for several hours in the sun to then also filter it and add some of the aforementioned preservatives (brandy or apple vinegar).

38 preparations

These are some of the 38 preparations that Bach developed are his method, along with a brief description of what they are used for.

  • Agrimony: for emotional blockage and distress.
  • Trembling Poplar: Fear and Phobia
  • Beech : Arrogance and intolerance.
  • Centaurea: for those with a certain emotional dependence, with a malleable will and who do not know how to say no.
  • Ceratostigma: histrionics. Search for approval. Indecision
  • Cerasifera: desperation and fear of losing control and going crazy.
  • Chestnut shoot: recidivism and not learning from mistakes.
  • Chicory : handling and overprotection. Possessiveness.
  • Clematis: Deconcentration and distractibility.
  • Wild apple tree: low self-esteem and sense of impurity
  • Field gentian: pessimism, low threshold of frustration Depression.
  • Gorse: despair, apathy and anhedonia.
  • Holly : need for love. Envy, resentment, jealousy and mistrust.

    • The use of Bach flowers has become popular in some New Age settings as a method of alternative natural therapy.

    Many people administer and make the preparations themselves, although there is a flower therapist who is offered to determine the type of preparation and the doses to be applied according to the person and the type of problem.

    The preparations and their preparation

    As we have seen, Bach flowers consist of a total of 38 preparations, which are made with the use of plants, spring water and sometimes some alcohol as a preservative (other substances can also be used as a preservative if applied to minors).

    There are two basic elaboration methods : boiling for thirty minutes in spring water to then filter the extract and then adding brandy, glycerine or vinegar in the same amount and solarization, in which the plants are left in a bowl with water for several hours in the sun to then also filter it and add some of the aforementioned preservatives (brandy or apple vinegar).

    38 preparations

    These are some of the 38 preparations that Bach developed are his method, along with a brief description of what they are used for.

    • Agrimony: for emotional blockage and distress.
    • Trembling Poplar: Fear and Phobia
    • Beech : Arrogance and intolerance.