Bach Flower Therapy

Bach flower therapy at Institut Celostní Medicíny uses personalised combinations of flower essences — preparations derived from wild flowers and diluted in spring water — to address the emotional and psychological patterns that underlie or accompany physical illness. Dr Edward Bach identified 38 remedies corresponding to specific emotional states: fear, uncertainty, oversensitivity, loneliness, despondency, and excessive concern for others. MUDr. Strnadelová selects combinations specific to each patient's emotional landscape and integrates Bach prescribing into the clinic's broader holistic treatment plan.

Bach flower therapy operates on the principle — foundational to both Traditional Chinese Medicine and integrative medicine more broadly — that emotional and psychological states are not separate from physical health but profoundly influence it. Chronic fear, grief, resentment, exhaustion, or inability to adapt do not merely accompany physical illness; they create the terrain in which illness develops and persists. Bach flower remedies work at this emotional layer, addressing the mental-emotional root causes that other modalities may not reach. Dr Edward Bach, a British physician and bacteriologist who also trained in homeopathy, developed his system of 38 flower remedies in the 1930s. Each remedy corresponds to a specific emotional or psychological state — Star of Bethlehem for shock and grief, Mimulus for known fears, Olive for exhaustion, Wild Rose for resignation and apathy, Elm for overwhelm, and so on — with Rescue Remedy as a composite for acute stress and crisis. The remedies are prepared by brief solar infusion of fresh flower heads in spring water, then potentised by dilution. At Institut Celostní Medicíny, MUDr. Strnadelová's Bach flower consultations begin with a focused emotional interview. Rather than listing symptoms, the conversation explores the patient's predominant emotional pattern, their relationship to their illness, and the psychological themes present in their current life. From this, a blend of typically 3–7 remedies is selected and prepared in a personal treatment bottle (typically a 30 ml dropper bottle of spring water with brandy preservative). Patients take 4 drops of their personal blend 4 times daily, ideally directly on the tongue before meals and at bedtime. The remedies are safe for all ages, including children and the elderly, and do not interact with conventional medications. The alcohol content per dose is negligible (approximately the level of a ripe banana). Repeat consultations monitor the emotional response to the blend — as presenting emotional states shift, the remedy combination is updated. Bach flower therapy is particularly used at the clinic for: anxiety and phobias, emotional exhaustion and burnout, grief and loss, perfectionism and self-criticism, difficulty adapting to change, and the emotional components of chronic illness.