In the 1920s and 30s, a noted physician and research bacteriologist named Edward Bach discovered and elaborated a system of flower remedies that have helped hundreds of thousands of individuals to rediscover the positive side of themselves and to restore and maintain a state of optimal health. Dr. Bach believed, as many practitioners do today, that mental attitude and psychological disposition play a vital role in health and illness.

When he died in 1936, Dr. Bach had developed a complete system of 38 flower remedies, each prepared from the flowers of wild plants, trees and bushes. In his theory, these remedies work by treating the individual rather than the diseases afflicting the individual or its symptoms.

Each of the remedies is associated with a basic human emotion. Mimulus, for example, is the remedy for one who is anxious or fearful about something specific. Taking the remedy assists one to overcome one's fear and face one's situation with courage.

Other remedies are similarly prescribed not on the basis of the disease afflicting the client, but on the basis of the client's emotional contect. For example, a fear of things unknown is treated with Aspen, fear of "losing control of onesself, with Cherry Plum, fear for one's loved ones, with Red Chestnut, and so on.

The expertly trained Bach Flower Remedies Practitioner can efficiently assess a client's emotional context and employ one or several of the remedies, or diverse remedies used in series, either as a solitary therapy or as a complement to other therapeutic modalities (such as ayurveda) to promote healing and wholeness.