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Homeopathy and homeopathic education

Homeopathic medicine, or homeopathy, was in fact a primary form of medicine in this country up until the 1920's with the advent of modern pharmaceuticals. Its basic tenet of "like cures like" was noted by ancient Greek physicians over two thousand years ago. And interestingly as well, the wholistic approach to treatment was noted by the ancient Greek philosopher, Plato, when he warned that "the cure of the part should not be attempted without treatment to the whole".

Homeopathy works through the administering of minute dosages of herbs, minerals, animal secretions or in some cases even diseased tissue in order to stimulate the body's own vital life-force for healing (similar to but still quite different from the western medical use of vaccinations). So from a tincture of the original substance in its raw form, which in some cases could even be poisonous, a homeopathic dilution is made which will then cure the same type of symptoms or response caused by the original tincture, thus like cures like. For example, we are all familiar with what would happen if we drank a very large amount of coffee: we would experience an increase in heart rate and blood pressure with an accompanied state of agitation and insomnia (in short, we'd be "wired"!).

Well a homeopathic dosage of coffee could in fact cure someone who had the above symptoms, acting to calm and sedate them (whether or not this state actually came from drinking too much coffee). In this example, the homeopathic remedy would be prepared from one drop of the original tincture of concentrated coffee which would be diluted with 99 drops of a neutral base such as water or alcohol. Then one drop of this new mixture would be diluted with another 99 drops of neutral base, and then of this new mixture, one drop would be mixed with another 99 drops of neutral base and so on (sometimes several thousand times) so that there would be only a very minute or "vibrational" amount of the original substance left. This would then be considered a homeopathic "potency" or remedy of coffee, which homeopathic pharmacies manufacture and sell to practitioners and health food stores along with many hundred other homeopathic remedies.

When my children were little and teething I would give them a teething remedy which contained a homeopathic dosage of coffee (among other things) and this would effectively calm them without any side effects. This is an example of how homeopathy has been popularized and used to treat symptoms much like western medicine treats symptoms. The difference however is that homeopathy can do it without the side effects of western medicine and the remedies are much less expensive. This aspect of homeopathy although very helpful, especially as part of one's "home medicine cabinet" or "first-aid kit", is not classical homeopathy which is a more truly wholistic approach.

A classically trained homeopath will look at the whole person in determining which remedy is appropriate, not just focusing on a given symptom. He or she will look at how the patient is doing spiritually, mentally, emotionally as well as physically, since a properly prescribed homeopathic remedy can help to cure a condition affecting all of these aspects of one's being.

Classical homeopathy embraces the wholistic understanding that there is a hierarchy of health which sees the wellbeing of one's spirit as the most important followed by the wellbeing of one's mind followed by one's emotional wellbeing and finally one's physical health as well as acknowledging the interrelationship of each.

Thus a classical homeopath may spend much time trying to get a sense of the whole picture involved with a person on all these levels versus just treating a symptom. It has been my experience in treating with homeopathy that young children and animals are particularly responsive, even with severe symptoms, since they have not had as many years of having their beings "compromised" by the many physical, emotional, mental and spiritual issues with which we must all deal in life.

Somehow, which has not yet been scientifically shown, these little "sugar pills" or liquid drops of homeopathic medicine (its two common forms) are able to affect our own innate healing potential in such a way as to help us shift out of our restricted state whether it's manifesting more physically, emotionally, mentally or even affecting our spirit. However they may be working (perhaps by mathematically adjusting the vibrational frequency of our life-force to a more harmonious state), these drops or little pills at least don't have the negative side effects and high price tag that their modern pharmaceutical counter-parts can have. They can even have some miraculous responses that can baffle our logical minds as I've had homeopathics cure one patient's debilitating chronic fatigue syndrome and another's debilitating seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

So this question of how homeopathy or other wholistic therapies actually work is an exciting one where we are just beginning to see the answers emerging from the realm of what is called the "new physics", which unfortunately so far only physicists seem to understand! It is my hope that as the interest in and popularity of such alternative treatments continues to grow, we will also see an increase in research, understanding and acceptance of such therapies.

For in fact much of the world, such as Europe, India, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, all still have many actively practicing homeopathic physicians that in some of these countries out-number the allopathic physicians (which we call medical doctors) and in others the doctors practice both allopathic and homeopathic medicine. The pharmacies in these countries actually sell both the allopathic medications and the homeopathic remedies as prescribed by their physicians. The subject of why this is not currently the case in our technologically and economically advanced country will be the topic of another article!

David T Malin, DD, PT has a wholistic practice in Niwot, CO where he helps those not responding to traditional treatment. For comments please write to him at: dtmalin@hotmail.com