Among Dr. Bach’s famous 38 flower remedies, the negative emotional state of Pine is one that I see in clients a great deal of the time and hear about when I am teaching.  While it is not among Bach’s original ’12 Healers’ but rather one of his  ‘final 19’ remedies  (discovered between 1934-35), nevertheless it is a remedy that is incredibly powerful and runs deep.  I have found over the years that the negative Pine dynamic  gets set up when we are very young and can be entrenched within us for a lifetime.  

As I wrote in Igniting Soul Fire-Spiritual Dimensions of the Bach Flower Remedies, in my experience, the ‘drivers’ underlying this state are a result of one or all of the following:  A hypercritical parenting/family dynamic environment, strict cultural  or strict religious(note I am not saying ‘spiritual’) environment.  And, it is my experience that for  someone experiencing a negative Pine state, they are likely to be on it for some time; why?  Because again,  Pine’s negative, internal dialogue runs so deep within us.  

So what is this dialogue?

The negative Pine state is one that is a reflection of shame-based guilt. In this state,we operate from a core of unworthiness, simply by being in the body. From day one, in  the negative  Pine mood-state (or if it is part of what Bach called, the ‘personality-type’), we feel and believe that we are unworthy. We tend to ruminate over what we have done, did not do, should have done or said. Additionally, we will often take on the responsibility for another’s dysfunction; ‘it’s my fault’ is the chronic internal and external dialogue.  If you have ever known someone who constantly apologizes for things having nothing to do with them, you are witnessing negative Pine.

Unfortunately, when we carry such beliefs within us,  we can also experience repetitive episodes of betrayal…this only reinforces our interpretation. Furthermore, for those in a negative Pine state,  laden with shame and guilt, the internal dialogue is one that says we are always the problem and always the reason behind such experiences.  Most likely this assessment is far from accurate, but in the mind it is and therefore, we can never do enough or say enough. In a phrase, we will ‘never be good enough.’  

How does Bach’s Pine remedy work?  Like all of the remedies, it ‘shifts’ our perception of our internal and external environment; it lifts the fog  created by the negative state that masks the innate wisdom of our Soul so that we may ‘see’ clearly.  The power in Dr. Bach’s Pine remedy is that it leads us back to the road of forgiving….ourselves.  

 Photography courtesy of the Dr. Edward Bach Foundation©