By The Green Parent
13th April 2017
Homeopathy is a system of medicine which is often called energy medicine due to its use of diluted and potentised medications. It is only recently, with our growing understanding of energies such as electro-magnetic energy fields, that homeopathy can demonstrate its action outside the clinical practice room. Yet, every homeopathic practitioner regularly sees the benefits of homeopathy within their clinical practice and many adults and children have been helped. With a small amount of study and understanding you can experience the benefits of homeopathy for yourself and your family, and then make up your own mind about its gentle effectiveness.
A deep and complex medical system, in the hands of a good teacher homeopathy becomes accessible and understandable. You can learn the principles and broad applications very easily and become a proficient home prescriber for a range of common conditions, and certain acute situations such as first aid.
Homeopathy is particularly prevalent in India but has a worldwide presence. So what is it exactly?
Homeopathy is based on the principle that ‘like cures like’: meaning, a substance that causes symptoms in large doses is used in very diluted, ‘potentised’ doses to treat those same symptoms. These potentised substances/doses, when applied according to homeopathic principles, stimulate the body’s own natural healing abilities. This process of dilution and potentisation means that there can be no side effects and that homeopathic remedies are extremely safe for everybody.
Homeopathy works by addressing the whole person on all levels of their being, physical, emotional and mental. The medicines are chosen and matched to this ‘totality of symptoms’ and personal characteristics. Therefore medicines are chosen on unique indications for you individually. This is a highly sophisticated way to apply medicine as we are all different and respond differently even to the same stimuli or germs. Not every child or adult gets sick when there is an illness going round. Experiments where sick people have been asked to sneeze on volunteers have seldom resulted in any getting sick as a consequence.
In addition, homeopaths as well as other holistic practitioners hold that illness originally starts on the energetic plane. Therefore, physical symptoms are the end result of an imbalance at a deeper energetic level and it is this that needs addressing. Hence, homeopathy has developed a system of medicine that works on this plane.
In many cases, it is best to consult a qualified homeopath if you wish to experience homeopathy for yourself. However, there are some remedies that are useful for everyday health problems at home or as a part of your homeopathy first aid kit. Many people have heard of Arnica which is a remedy for trauma and injury with bruising. I have seen this remedy quickly restore people to their previous health after they sustained an accident.
As a long-experienced practitioner, I am continually satisfied and impressed by the results I see in my practice. There is joy in continually learning and expanding my understanding within a field that is becoming more and more established in future approaches and developments in medicine.
Lyn Clark lectures on the 2 day Short Course in Homeopathy for Everyday Living, CNM (College of Naturopathic Medicine), starting 6th May. Click for further details of CNM courses.
