Index

"As the herbs heal our fears, our anxieties, our worries, our faults and our failings. It is these we must seek and then the disease, no matter what it is, will leave us". Edward Bach (1933)

The remedies which homeopaths use come from many different sources. Most are derived from from plants, but minerals, metals and some poisons which have been used medicinally for generations are also used.

The diluted remedies are described as being "potentized", in recognition of the dynamic healing power they can stimulate.

A homeopathic remedy acts as a signal which energizes or stimulates the body's self healing powers,
mobilizing the defense systems and working on the mental, emotional and physical aspects of the body.

Homeopathic remedies cannot cause side effects and you cannot become addicted to them. This is because only a very minute amount of the active ingredient
is used in a specially prepared form.

Your homeopath will give you a homeopathic medicine or remedy which matches your symptoms as you experience them. This also takes account of you as a person, your individual characteristics emotionally as well as physically.

The holistic approach to medicine takes a wider view of the disease and the ways in which each person expresses their illness individually.

For example: Two patients might have headaches but the way they have their headaches can be different,
their overall state of health can be different, the way they cope with life can be different and so on.

When starting homeopathic treatment you may feel that the questions asked by the homeopath are irrelevant. In order to find the right remedy for you as an individual the homeopath will need to know all about you. A detailed understanding of who you are along with any complaints and details of how you experience them. Finding out about your general energy level, past medical history and your likes and dislikes etc. are all important. Also it is very important to remember that anything you say will be treated in the strictest confidence.

"Flowers are conscious, intelligent forces, they have been given to us for our happiness and healing"

Lila Devi.

Nowadays, efforts are being made to reduce the amount of toxins in the environment because it has finally been acknowledged that these are harmful to life in general. However, it is also true that poisonous substances found in foodstuffs and scientifically proven to be present in non-homeopathic medicines are still allowed. The combination of all these toxins which we ingest in the form of food or pills, overloads the body more and more.

In the human body there are many different systems working together. The effects of these harmful substances, is to obstruct these partially, or even completely. The liver, which is the principle organ concerned with the removal of toxins, becomes more and more overloaded, and finally, can no longer achieve its full potential even in dealing with the toxins produced by the body. This leads to metabolic disorder, allergies etc.

Obviously in an emergency extreme measures have to be taken e.g. cortisone for asthma attacks and other potential life threatening situations, but on the other hand we have to consider whether it is viable to use allopathic medicines as a ‘sledgehammer to crack a nut’, or on a long term basis, with all the side effects they produce: they are actually making the body sick. In other words, we are creating a situation where the patient cannot get better.

All sceptics on the subject of homeopathy would do well to try the following experiment: in the early stages of influenza, at the onset of fever, put 8 – 10 drops of Aconite 6 in a glass of water and drink one mouthful every 10 minutes. After a few minutes you should come out in a hot sweat, the fever will go down, and you will start to feel better. Alternatively, put 1 drop of aconite LM 12 in a glass of water and drink one mouthful two or three times during the day.

Experience makes it impossible for me not to refer to the enormous misunderstandings which arise in the traditional medical treatment of people. You cannot divide the body up and treat individual sections. This only serves to mask the symptoms or remove them temporarily: it does not affect a cure. It is the healing of the body as a single unit, and also as a dynamic entity, together with the removal of the cause, which is most important. Homeopathy attempts to stimulate the body to recover itself.

We must accept that all symptoms, no matter how uncomfortable they are, represent the body’s attempt to restore itself to health. Instead of looking upon the symptoms as something wrong which must be set right, homeopaths see them as signs of the way the body is attempting to help itself.

In conventional medical thought, health is seen simply as the absence of disease. You assume you are healthy if there is nothing wrong with you. To a person versed in homeopathy, health is much more than that. A healthy person is a person who is free on all levels: physical, emotional, and mental. Obviously, a person with a broken leg is not free on the physical level to move around. But on a more subtle level, a person who cannot eat certain foods or is allergic to certain materials is also experiencing a lack of freedom. It is a good emotional release to cry at a ‘tear jerker’ movie, but someone who continues to cry for several weeks is experiencing a lack of freedom on the emotional level. Likewise, a person who cannot absorb what he has read or cannot remember day to day appointments is experiencing a restriction on the mental level. The homeopath recognizes such limitations and attempts, through the use of properly selected remedies, to restore a person to health and freedom.

An important basic difference exists between conventional medical therapy and homeopathy. In conventional therapy, the aim often is to control the illness through regular use of medical substances, if the medication is withdrawn however, the person returns to illness. There has been no cure. A person who takes a pill for high blood pressure every day is not undergoing a cure but is only controlling the symptoms. Homeopathy’s aim is the cure: ‘the complete restoration of perfect health’.