The 38 remedies were discovered between the 1920s and 1930s by Dr. Edward Bach, a great researcher and well-known physician, homeopath, bacteriologist and pathologist, who was convinced that emotional well-being was key to good health. He experimented with various wildflowers native to the Welsh region of Great Britain, where he was from, until he found 38 natural remedies, each with healing properties for different emotional imbalances. These 38 flowers are called “Bach Flowers”. Dr. Bach spent his life exploring the use of these flowers and plants to provide a simple, natural approach to addressing emotional balance. He eventually created the Bach Center in the heart of the Oxfordshire village of Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, near the town of Wallingford in England, where he developed the remedies as we know them today.

Dr. Bach's floral system is very simple and easy to understand and use. It is a safe and non-toxic system. One of its benefits is the fact that it has no contraindications, it does not generate addiction, the essences can be used in conjunction with any other medical treatment, it is suitable for children and babies, although it can also be used with animals and plants. A very important note is that flowers do not treat the physical symptoms of people or diseases but work on the emotions and feelings generated by those physical discomforts that directly affect the body. It is important to keep in mind that while some people respond quickly to treatment, others may take longer and this is part of a process.

Dr. Bach's system also aims for the individual to have a greater personal involvement in achieving and maintaining good health. His ambition is that the person feels confident in the selection of remedies with the guidance of the Practitioner who performs the consultation; the ultimate goal would be that each person would be able to make their own selection of flowers according to the record of their own emotions and self-knowledge.

The theory of the Bach system holds that if emotional conflicts persist for a long time, the body's illness appears. By restoring emotional balance, the illness can be cured in most cases. Once those recurrent ways of thinking, feeling or acting, which are the cause of the absence of psychophysical harmony, are identified; the flower essences that cover those imbalances are sought and the appropriate flower formula is prepared for each particular case taking into account the emotions of the present moment. Flowers help to overcome difficulties by going directly to the root of the problem. The work is done from the outside to the inside, working in the manner of onion layers. We first address the most visible symptoms or what the patient demands and then in this therapeutic framework, other emotions that need help to return to balance appear clearly. Working with the remedies is a continuous process.

By taking the appropriate remedy, the person's emotional balance is restored, which in turn allows the body to use its natural ability to fight disease and restore health. These remedies act on attitudes and emotions and not at the physical level, so patients should seek appropriate help to relieve pain and physical discomfort, for example, to treat infections and control other symptoms of the body. As an example we can say that palliative treatments may be necessary to control the physical effect of a stomach ulcer, while Dr. Bach remedies will help the person to deal with the concerns that originated the ulcer as a root cause. That is, they do not act directly on the physical symptoms, but on the emotions behind them. Dr. Bach believed that healing negative emotions helps the body to heal itself.