"And what greater is there amongst all the Noble Arts than that of Healing...to carry ease to those in pain; solace to those in trial or distress; and comfort and hope to all those afflicted."

- Dr. Edward Bach

Dr. Edward Bach

Dr. Edward Bach discovered the 38 Bach Flower Essences.

Dr. Bach based his work on these basic principles:

Man has a Soul which is his real self...of which the body, although the earthly temple of that Soul, is but the minutest reflection...that our Higher Self, being a spark of the Almighty, is thereby invincible and immortal.
We are personalities down here for the purpose of gaining all the knowledge and experience which can be obtained for developing virtues which we lack... thus advancing toward the perfection of our natures. The Soul knows what environment and what circumstances will best enable us to do this and hence 'He' places us in that branch of life most suited for that object.
Our intuition tells us that birth is far from our beginning and death infinitely far from our ending. Our Souls are immortal and the bodies of which we are conscious are temporary...instruments we use to do a piece of work.
So long as Soul and personality are in harmony all is joy and peace, happiness and health. When our personality is led astray from the path laid down by Soul, ...by our own worldly desires or by the persuasion of others, conflict arises. This conflict is the root cause of disease and unhappiness.
The Creator of all things is Love, whether it be a planet or a pebble, a star or a dewdrop, man or the lowliest form of life...we and all of which we are conscious are connected. Separation is impossible...thus any action against ourselves or against another affects the whole and is a violation of the law of Unity...which leads to disease.
Disease is in itself beneficent, and has for its object bringing back the personality to the Divine will of the Soul; and thus we can see that it is both preventable and avoidable, since if we could only realize for ourselves the mistakes we are making and correct these by spiritual and mental means there could be no need for the severe lessons of suffering.

Dr. Edward Bach's Medical Milestones:

Dr. Bach studied medicine at Birmingham University and completed his training at University College Hospital in London where he qualified as a physician in 1912. During 1913, Dr. Bach held medical and surgical positions at various London hospitals. He became interested in immunology and worked as Assistant Bacteriologist at London's University College Hospital, where he discovered that certain intestinal bacteria were closely connected with chronic diseases. He developed a group of seven vaccines from these bacteria with which he achieved outstanding results. His methods were published in medical journals, recorded by the Royal Society of Medicine and adopted generally by the medical profession.

Dr. Bach had a deep compassion for his patient's and devoted time listening intently to them. He discovered a direct correlation between the onset, duration and intensity of a disease in the physical body and a patient's emotional state. He found drugs and surgery were not curing his patients and believed that there must be a safer and more natural way of treating the cause of disease.

He continued his research at laboratories on Harley Street until 1919, when he took the post of pathologist and bacteriologist at the London Homeopathic Hospital. Here he came across the Organon, the book written by Samuel Hahnemann. Using the theory 'treat the patient, not the disease', he began to prepare his vaccines homeopathically. The result was the group of seven oral vaccines or nosodes, which became known as the Seven Bach Nosodes.

His observations of patients led Dr. Bach to the conclusion that certain types of people reacted in the same way to different illnesses and treatments. He developed this insight into a theory of types, dividing people into seven groups, each corresponding to one of the seven nosodes. From then on he sought to prescribe according to his patients' emotional and mental reactions to their illnesses themselves. He found that these diagnoses were more effective than those based on clinical examination. Although the treatment itself was still for the physical complaint, he knew that this work would not be complete until he found a treatment for those negative moods and emotions that were responsible for the breakdown in health in the first place.

It is the total and absolute focus on the mental state of the sufferer alone, which makes Dr. Bach's approach to health so exceptional. It was the search for these new, simpler and more natural medicines that took Dr. Bach out into the countryside of England and Wales. In Wales he first found the healing plants growing wild in the countryside. He returned to London, prepared the Essences® and prescribed them according to the personality of his patients, with immediate and remarkable results. Each of the 38 Essences® addresses a different state of mind or personality type. In 1935, Dr. Bach announced his work was currently complete and turned his attention to spreading the news of his discoveries.