29 Holistic Doctors Poisoned

How Do Bach Flower Remedies Work?

"Homeopathy cures a larger percentage of cases than any other method of treatment" - Mahatma Gandhi

"I can’t manage without homeopathy. In fact, I never go anywhere without homeopathic remedies. I often make use of them" - Paul McCartney

"The introduction of homeopathy forced the old school doctor to stir around and learn something of a rational nature about his business. You may honestly feel grateful that homeopathy survived the attempts of allopaths to destroy it." - Mark Twain

"The fruit will be good food, and the leaves will be used for healing" - Ezekiel 47:12

"Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food" - Hippocrates (Father of Medicine)

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In the early 20th century, a British homeopath and physician named Dr. Edward Bach created Rescue Remedy and other "Bach Flower Essences". Bach believed that plants had strong emotional healing properties, and that those properties could be transferred to water - similar to other homeopathic methods. To obtain his remedies, Dr. Bach would simply collect and bottle dew that was resting on different flowers.

Dr. Oz Recommended

"Does it work? I doubt we could prove it in a clinical trial, but not everything that’s measured is important, and not everything that’s important can be measured. I’m convinced it does. I squirt it on my own tongue — and, when they’re rowdy, my kids’" (Link).

Recent Study

"A just published scientific study conducted by researchers at the University of Miami School of Nursing in conjunction with The Sirkin Creative Living Center (SCLC) has found that Rescue Remedy®, an all-natural remedy created from flower essences, is an effective over-the-counter stress reliever with a comparable effect to traditional pharmaceutical drugs yet without any of the known adverse side effects, including addiction."(Link 1) (Link 2)

Popularity of Flower Remedies

The popularity of Bach Flower Essences continues to rise for people as well as for pets. One only has to go as far as Amazon to read the hundreds of positive reviews that Rescue Remedy is receiving (link). Celebrities such as Jennifer Aniston, Liz Hurley, Victoria Beckham, Cate Blanchett, Daryl Hannah, Salma Hayek and Ruby Wax have also claimed to use Bach Flower Essences (link). On a bigger scale, homeopathic medicine as a whole is becoming more popular. In India, for example, an estimated 100 million people depend on homeopathy as their main form of medicine (link). In England, 42 percent of physicians have referred patients to homeopathic doctors (link).

But can flowers really help heal emotional problems? 

It is no secret that a gift of flowers can help brighten someones day or even make up for some hurtful words. But do flowers contain properties that can truly help heal a person's emotions?

One recent study has found that simply looking at natural scenery can decrease recovery time: "[hospital] patients who could see trees from their hospital beds needed fewer painkillers and had shorter hospital stays than those who looked out on brick walls" (link).

Another study posted some amazing results. "Patients in hospital rooms with plants and flowers had significantly fewer intakes of postoperative analgesics, more positive physiological responses evidenced by lower systolic blood pressure and heart rate, lower ratings of pain, anxiety, and fatigue, and more positive feelings and higher satisfaction about their rooms when compared with patients in the control group." (link).

But can those healing properties be transferred to water? 

Dr. Bach believed that the dew found on flower petals in sunlight, while retaining virtually no particles of the flower, retained some of its properties. In the medicine of homeopathy, this is known as "water memory". While homeopathy is very popular throughout the world, the idea of water memory is often labeled as false science by American practitioners and pharmaceutical companies.  That being said, there has been some science to suggest that water indeed does have some sort of "memory".

In 1988, the highly prestigious scientific journal Nature published what was to become a controversial article stating, in effect, that water has some sort of "memory", or longer-lasting reflective properties. The article was written by a well respected French immunologist named Jacques Benveniste. In the article Benveniste described the action of very high dilutions of anti IgE antibody on the degranulation of human basophilis, findings which seemed to support the concept of homeopathy (link).

Math or Music?

Most of the skepticism about flower essences is related to the fact that it is difficult to explain exactly how they work. Prozac, for example, "works" because it adds extra serotonin (along with other chemicals) into your brain. Bach flower aren't quite as measurable. Rather, Dr. Bach once compared these remedies to music, saying that they can help "bring us peace and relieve our sufferings" (link). It is difficult to explain the relaxing effects of music using mathematical or even scientific terms. For example, when listening to a relaxing song, the music isn't specifically telling you to relax. Rather, it works on a deeply subconscious level that is harder to quantify. Like other relaxing elements found in nature, the relaxing effects of flower remedies are also hard to quantify.

Is there any danger in taking Bach flower essences?

Many people argue that homeopathic medicines are ineffective and can actually cause harm by preventing people from researching other medical answers. They also point out that there have been very few studies to measure the effects of flower remedies.

Those in favor of homeopathy such as flower essences argue that the side effects of pharmaceutical drugs are often not worth the benefits that those drugs offer. They believe that alternative medicines are a complementary option to those searching for a more natural approach for healing.

Edible Flowers

For most of human history, fast foods and processed foods were nonexistent. Rather, hunters and gatherers went into the wild and a wide variety of berries, seeds, nuts, meats, fruits, vegetables and even edible flowers. By eating edible flowers, our ancestors were "taking flower essences" without realizing it. Whereas lab-created prescription medications such as Prozac, Ritalin and Xanax are still very new to humans, we can rest assured that edible flowers (and therefore flower essences) have been a relevant - and perhaps integral - part of human history.

Note: Check out my other post: Is Homeopathy for Christians? (Link).

Should Christians Use Homeopathy?

For an in depth analysis of homeopathy from a Catholic viewpoint, I recommend reading this post here --> LINK

The Bible Encourages Natural Medicine

"The fruit will be good food, and the leaves will be used for healing" - Ezekiel 47:12

“On each side of the river stood the tree of life…and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:2)

"He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him." Luke 10:34

"Now Isaiah had said, 'Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover.'" Isaiah 38:21

Doctors are Welcomed in the Bible

"Our dear friend Luke, the doctor, and Demas send greetings" - Colossians 4:14

"On hearing this, Jesus said, 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.'" - Matthew 9:12

Jesus Encourages Common Sense  Decision Making (Positive Results are Better than Negative Results).

“Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebub" (Luke 11:17-18).

"Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit." (Matthew 12:33)

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." (James 1:17)

Homeopathy in Christian Tradition

1862, Pope Gregory XVI awarded Charles Ozanam the Order of Saint Gregory the Great. Ozanam was a French Orthodox Physician who converted to homeopathy (link)

Pope Paul VI (1897-1978) was the homeopathic patient of Antonio Negro, an Italian Orthodox physician who converted to homeopathy. Pope Paul VI awarded Negro the Order of St. Gregory for his work in homeopathy. (link).

Pope John Paul II was a homeopathic patient of Francesco Eugenio Negro (son of Antonio Negro).

Pope John Paul II beatified Mother Teresa, who had a special interest in homeopathic medicine because of its effectiveness and low cost. Mother Teresa opened her first charitable homeopathic dispensory in Calcutta in 1950. She even prescribed homeopathic medicines herself sometimes.

Pope John Paul also beatified Antoine Frederic Ozanam (the brother of homeopath Charles Ozanam) in 1862 (link).

The Christian Orthodox Church has a history of supporting homeopathy: "The Russian Orthodox church rendered help on all levels of its organization taking an active part in the spreading of homeopathy in the Russian Empire when the rural clergy treated peasants with homeopathic medicines and urban clergy participated in activities of the homeopathic societies. Thousands of Russian rural priests treated people with homeopathic drugs in the villages" (link).

The Catholic Church's Current Stance on Homeopathy

"As a rule of thumb, so long as the therapy does not involve participation in a non-Christian spirituality, it is allowable. As a matter of prudence though, homeopathic treatments should not be used to the exclusion of traditional medical treatments, particularly in emergency or life-threatening circumstances" (link).

More Interesting Verses...

"When they came to the oasis of Marah, the water was too bitter to drink...So Moses cried out to the Lord for help, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. Moses threw it into the water, and this made the water good to drink." (Exodus 15:23-25).

"Then [Elisha] went out to the spring that supplied the town with water and threw the salt into it. And he said, 'This is what the Lord says: I have purified this water. It will no longer cause death or infertility.' And the water has remained pure ever since, just as Elisha said" (Exodus 2:19-22).

"For an angel of the Lord went down and stirred up the water at certain times. Whoever first stepped in after the stirring of the water was healed from whatever disease which he suffered." (John 5:4)

"Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes.  'Go,' he told him, 'wash in the Pool of Siloam' (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing." (John 9:6-7)

Homeopathy in America - a Love Hate Story

Homeopathy is becoming more and more common in America, as over 2.5 million Americans now use it (link). While homeopathy may have grassroots popularity, it is not popular among U.S. physicians. For example, "only about 500 of more than 600,000 physicians use homeopathic remedies" (link).

Some suggest that money may be one of the reasons why homeopathy has not caught on within traditional western practitioners. For example, as homeopathy grows, this may mean less money for drug companies, who now receive continual funding from over half of Americans (link). Americans spend over $200 billion a year on prescriptions, and that figure is growing at 12 percent a year (link).

Still, possibly to the dismay of some wealthy CEO's, homeopathy is on the rise. 

Interesting facts (Link)

• Mother Teresa added homeopathic care to the services at her missions. She opened her first charitable homeopathic dispensary in Calcutta in 1950. She had a special interest in homeopathy because of its effectiveness and low cost.
  
  
• Almost every pharmacy in Germany and France stocks homeopathic remedies.
  
  
• Celebrities such as Jennifer Aniston, Liz Hurley, Victoria Beckham, Cate Blanchett, Daryl Hannah, Salma Hayek and Ruby Wax are all fans of Bach's Rescue Remedy. (link).
  
  
• The most popular cold and flu medicine in France is a homeopathic medicine.
  
  
• India has over 120 homeopathic medical colleges, and 100,000 homeopathic physicians and practitioners.
  
  
• The British Homeopathic Journal has been in continuous existence since 1844.
  
  
• The prestigious “Alternative Nobel Prize” awarded by Uexkull Foundaton was given to George Vithoulkas, one of the world’s leading homeopaths, for his work in the spread of homeopathy world-wide.

Interesting Quotes

• "Homeopathy cures a larger percentage of cases than any other method of treatment" - Mahatma Gandhi
  
  
• "I can’t manage without homeopathy. In fact, I never go anywhere without homeopathic remedies. I often make use of them" - Paul McCartney 
  
  
• "The introduction of homeopathy forced the old school doctor to stir around and learn something of a rational nature about his business. You may honestly feel grateful that homeopathy survived the attempts of allopaths to destroy it." - Mark Twain
  
  In your view, Is homeopathy a viable medicine?