Bach Flowers - How much and how long?

Sai Ram. There was a good question about dosage and duration and so I have made this blog.

What you buy in the shop or online is the 'Stock Bottle'. There are 10 ml, 20 ml or slightly bigger bottles from different suppliers at different prices. Look around and decide. If possible, buy from a nearby health food shop so that you can complain and return if needed. I am not sure whether any money back guarantee is given for these flower essences. The stock bottle usually comes with its own dropper. So there is no need to use another dropper and that way cross-contamination is avoided. If you are not sure where to buy, stick to Bach Centre or their US reps.
For acute problems (passing moods like fear, anxiety etc.), the usual method of taking (or giving) the dose is to put 2 drops of the selected remedy into a glass of water, and sip as often as needed.
If more than one remedy is indicated, you can add 2 drops from each indicated remedy to the same glass or bottle of water and take it.

Please make a fresh glass of water each day or keep it in fridge well capped for a few days use.
If you need to take the remedy or mixture of remedies for more than a day or two, it is better to make up a treatment bottle. Here is the procedure:

Take a 30 ml dropper bottle (they are available in health food stores) and drop 2 drops of each of the desired remedy. Top up the bottle with mineral water (or good spring water). Avoid chlorinated tap water or demineralised / distilled water. Take 4 drops from this Treatment Bottle, 4 times a day. You can just drop them on your tongue or take them in a spoon of water or in a glass of juice, tea or coffee etc. As you can see, dilution is not too important in determining the dosage or concentration unlike allopathic medicines.

If you don't feel better (if you feel the need), take as often as needed, since there is no overdose.
If you don't like the smell of alcohol, put the drops in hot drink like tea or coffee and the alcohol (a very small quantity) will quickly evaporate. If you are alergic to alcohol or if your religious beliefs don't permit you to take even a minute amount of alcohol, Bach Flowers are available with only water from www.essences.com

Homeopathic medicines in liquid form also are prepared with alcohol as preservative. So, if your religious beliefs prevent you from taking alcohol even in minute quantities, you need to be really careful. Even in allopathy, alcohol is used to rub the skin before puncturing it with a needle for injection or for taking a blood sample or for giving intravenous drip. So, be educated and decide.

One tip: If you cannot or will not take Bach Flowers because of the alcohol, pl. try the following trick. Pl. read as often as possible, the description of the Bach Flower(s) for your negative emotional states and visualise yourself as taking the medicine! Do this 3 or 4 times a day and see how you feel. Some of us including myself and a few others experienced benefit by this and that is one reason that I stopped buying Bach Flowers in physical form in the last few years.

So, that is about dosage.

As far as duration is considered, it is simply individual. Some people respond very quickly. Some emotions are deep seated and take more time to heal. As some emotions are healed, others may surface and you may need additional remedies. Since treatment bottle contained only 2 drops of the Stock Bottle, throwing it away and making a fresh treatment bottle with a different mixture is not a big issue.

Upto 6 or 7 remedies can be mixed into one treatment bottle. Rescue Remedy is considered as one remedy. So, if needed, Rescue and 6 more remedies can be combined.

Our mind (emotional part) is compared to an onion. As you peel off one layer, another layer comes up and as we peel off that layer, another surfaces. Similarly, Bach Flowers bring up long suppressed issues and as they come up they lose the power of causing damage. Awareness is very important in weakening the emotional issues. Prayer, Reiki, Meditation etc., also achieve this type of mental cleansing. Awareness of breath is another important tool in emotional healing since we automatically tend to hold our breath when reliving some painful or unpleasant memories from the past or are indulging in fanciful day-dreaming. When we are aware of our breath, we are in the present.

Some people have reported that as long as they use the Flowers, they are OK but when they stop using they quickly revert to the old states. This is not healing, since the core issues are not addressed and at best it is a maintenance therapy, patch work. One needs to introspect and go deeper, even though the journey may be painful. I should know since I made that journey and the pain was almost unbearable and only my Master's grace helped me come out in one piece! Faith in the Higher Power (call it by any name that you are comfortable with), is the link that helps the mind, the ego move from a negative state to a positive state. Sai Ram.

If you are not getting deep healing with Bach Flowers, you may need other healing techniques. But the right Flower Remedy will in most of the cases solve the problems. Have faith and patience. Sai Ram.