Bach Foundation International Register
The Bach Centre
Mount Vernon
Bakers Lane
Sotwell
Oxon OX10 0PZ
England
www.bachcentre.com
Telephone +44 (0)1491 834678
Fax +44 (0)1491 825022
Growth
by Maggie Evans BFRP, England
I co-ordinated a group of fellow practitioners at a conference a few years ago. We looked at the concept of ‘Growth’ in relation to the Bach system, and as the group put in a lot of effort I thought it might be a good idea to put it in print rather than lose it forever. See what you think!
Growth is a simple word that underpins all life, but it is also a complex and vast subject that raises a number of issues, from the practical aspects (such as the growth of the Register and physical growth) to the emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of growth, both global and personal. After many attempts at encapsulating what growth is, we finally agreed on this definition:
“Growth is an acceptance to allow the natural expression of progress, on all levels, on the journey of life with increasing awareness.”
Key points from the discussion were:
- Growth is ongoing, cyclical, natural and expansive, and takes place on all levels, including the spiritual, mental, emotional and physical. It relates to the seasons and to plant life and to life in general, of which we are a part, and in this way we can identify growth with the holistic concept of life.
- The requirements and preparation for growth can be linked to the analogy of a plant growing. They include nurturing (oneself and others), commitment, respect for life, experience, acceptance, knowledge, flexibility, change (very important, to allow growth to occur), creative intention (the spark of life that sets the process going), awareness (gained through learning and experience, which leads to ‘knowing’ or inner wisdom). As for fear, that can be a catalyst or a block to the changes required in order to grow.
- The Bach remedies are related to growth in that they ease the process during difficult times, clarify issues raised by growth and change, highlight awareness (which leads to knowing oneself), release blockages to enable the process of growth. The remedies are a tool that aids the process of growth. Which leads to our final thought, that growth is a consequence of taking the remedies.
For me, the discussion reinforced much of Dr Bach’s philosophy regarding simplicity, but also the profound effect of natural, subtle treatments to initiate change and development. Dr Bach could be viewed as the seed for the growth of understanding of how the mind and body co-exist, and how we can utilise the remedies to promote our own and others’ growth.
I hope that as you reflect on the thoughts surrounding growth, it may help in some small way to an awareness of your own growth and the simplicity of life that embraces us all.
At the Bach Centre
We’re happy to say that Kathy is much better. (We reported in the last Bulletin that she broke her wrist in a fall.) She has been off work for a good few weeks and is still having physiotherapy, but she is back at her desk now and answering emails and the telephone. She is also making up treatment bottles – even if she sometimes needs help unscrewing the tops!
Many of you have written to send your best wishes to Kathy, and through the Bulletin she would like to say ‘thank you’ for your kind thoughts.
Your letters
We want you to use this Bulletin to keep in touch with each other. If anything wonderful, funny, interesting or just plain typical has happened to you in your work with the remedies, or if there are any questions that have been nagging away at you, or if you simply want to say hello, please write to us at the Bach Centre, marking your letter clearly as being ‘FOR PUBLICATION’.
We can’t promise to print every letter in the Bulletin, but even if we don’t use your contribution we always love to hear from you.
Thanks for the latest Bulletin. I was interested in the attempt to match music with certain remedies, and wondered if you would care to glance at my poetry match.
Recently I wrote twelve poems about different trees, some ‘Bach’ trees, some not, six of which I have set to music for singer and piano accompaniment.
The musical Bach trees are Beech, Oak, Scots Pine and Willow. Some seem related to the remedy trees, some are more closely descriptive of appearance and environment.
A friend and I are planning a local recital in early June with lots of specific slides and with additional poems and songs alongside mine. I enjoyed doing them anyway and look forward to the performance.
Mavis de Mierre BFRP, England
We have printed two of Mavis’s ‘Bach-tree’ poems at the end of this issue. If you live near Derbyshire and want information on the planned recital, drop us a line and we’ll pass your interest along. – Ed.
Yet another company that sells its own flower essences has decided to incorporate versions of Dr Bach’s remedies with its own. If I say the person concerned is eminent in the field of herbal medicines and has a Dutch sounding name I am sure you will guess who I mean…
It saddens me. Although I don¹t agree, I can see that some people who do not understand or agree with Dr Bach’s philosophy may decide to produce their own flower essences. That was talked about by Dr Bach himself when he said that others would come after him who would copy and that it was up to each to distinguish between the gold and the dross. But why are people adding Dr Bach’s remedies to their own? Why are we getting these bottles with names like ‘Female’, ‘Night’, ‘Mood’, ‘Vitality’, ‘Bowel’, ‘Child’?
‘Vitality’, for example, contains flower essences made from ramsons, tansy and mullein alongside versions of Dr Bach’s Olive, Clematis, Oak, Elm, Wild Rose, Hornbeam and Gentian. Why are they including Dr Bach’s remedies? Maybe the other essences are not successful on their own? And why as many as seven of them? Of course there may be times when all these remedies are necessary for an individual case, but they can’t be right for everyone. To make it worse the dosage instructions are to take five drops three times a day.
It is very sad, but more sad is what it might do to the good name of Dr Bach’s work. How will people know the difference when some of the new mixes have his remedies included? Can we do nothing about their inclusion with other remedies, or about the pre-mixed bottles of remedies labelled with some fancy name?
Francois Garcia BFRP, England
All we can do is continue to teach the original simple method – and make sure that we don’t fall ourselves into the trap of ‘one-size-fits-all’ marketing. – Ed.
Welcome to…
Since the last (March 2004) issue was prepared, 39 new practitioners have joined the register:
- in Argentina, Nilda Corujo de Gurierrez and Lia Laura Arce;
- in Australia, Prue Ferguson;
- in Brazil, Marilyn Bueno de Camargo, Luciano dos Santos Vizeu, Valquiria Rita Geraldini and Vânia Moreira;
- in Canada, Judith Andrade;
- in Denmark, Janne Godtfredsen and Birgitte Sloth;
- in England, Sarah Richardson, Laura McGowan, Julie Shelley, Cathryn Priestley and Beverley Wright;
- in Finland, Hanna Kärävä and Ritva Honkanen;
- in France, Martine Dossetto and Agnès Delard;
- in Italy, Tamara Macelloni;
- in Japan, Makio Ishikawa and Yuki Kamimura;
- in New Zealand, Marlene Trapani-Lyall;
- in Norway, Camilla Bjørnson and Janne Lundgrenn;
- in Spain, Maria Àngels Pallàs i Teyra, Irati Guruciaga Sanz, Elisabet Coma-Cros Raventos, Ma. Angels Bassols Compte, Mercedes Escusa Yustes and Josefina Rubio Aznar;
- in the U.S.A., Carlos Aguilar, Lesley Lein-Needelman, Carolyn Clapp, Arvinder Kaur Bhutani, Sandra Stolz, Dany Carol and Linda Diane Campbell;
- and in Uruguay, Sylvia Villalobos Trigueros.
There are now 1,478 practitioners on the register.
PINs
We had a letter from a practitioner asking what the Personal Identification Number (PIN) on her Certificate of Registration means. We’re happy to explain…
The PIN is based on the country where the practitioner did Level 3 and on the date of registration. For example a practitioner with the PIN “ESP-2003-0525N” would have trained in Spain (“ES” at the beginning of the PIN is our code for Spain). She would have followed the standard three-stage assessment process (‘P’ – a code ‘A’ would indicate a special assessment arrangement conducted direct by the Bach Centre). And she would have joined the register in the year 2003, in May (‘05’) on the 25th day of that month (‘25’).
What about the last letter – ‘N’ in our example? This is a random letter used to ensure that new practitioners who register on the same day will always have different PINs.
There: mystery solved!
Poems
by Mavis de Mierre BFRP, England
Oak
Time is slow, and growth is long;
oak is hearty, oak is strong;
sometimes seasoned, sometimes green.
Oak for chair
and oak for table,
oak is sturdy
oak is stable;
oak will stand fast,
oak will last.
Aspen
Doctor,
just look at me –
I’m all of a tremble,
all of a doo-dah;
really quite shaky;
dithery-shivery,
always seeming to suffer with ‘me nerves’.
From the wrong side of the track,
but adopted by poplars.
Is there any prescription
to stiffen my obvious lack of backbone?
I’m certainly sick.
How about Aspirin?
Would that do the trick?
This archive material has been edited to remove some out-of-date advice and information.