February 14, 2014

Mysteries of the Homeopathic Healing Process

The healing that occurs through homeopathy can really be quite an extraordinary process, and it is one that is incredibly hard to explain in linear terms.  Homeopathy is a deeply energetic system of healing, and the process of healing itself flies in the face of how conventional medicine works.  It has a trajectory like a transformational journey, as one spirals through various layers of life history and physical symptoms on the path to health.

In my work as a homeopath  I find that one of the greatest challenges is to explain what a person might expect from treatment.  Most of us have internalized the dominant medical model, which is linear and rationalist.  It is easy to expect that medical intervention will result in symptoms going away very quickly— for many of us, that has been our experience when taking antibiotics or other medications.  One day you have the symptoms of bronchitis, and then after that amoxicillin, you don’t.  It’s amazing, and we think we are healed.

Many of us have also internalized the idea that if we have a symptom, we eradicate it, usually by taking a pill.  If we have acid reflux, we reach for the Nexium.  If we have a runny nose or allergies we take Claritin.  And for those of us averse to taking pharmaceuticals, we may relate to vitamins and supplements and even homeopathic remedies in the same way.

Homeopathy works on a much different level.  It is energetic medicine, not chemical.  It treats the whole being, and when a homeopathic remedy is correctly prescribed, it reminds our systems how to come into balance.   Gradually our symptoms go away.

Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy, wrote that our goal is to annihilate disease and restore health.  That is a lofty and beautiful goal, and indeed, is why I became a homeopath.  I believe that disease can be annihilated – not just suppressed or masked or palliated.   I have seen it occur through homeopathy, and it is breathtaking when it happens. Ideally the remedy is a perfect bull’s –eye and the person is able to move towards health gently and directly.

But the movement towards health does not always happen in a straight line.  We are complicated beings and many of us have been subjected to lots of suppressive forces in our lifetimes —  vaccinations, x-rays, antibiotics, anti -depressants and other psychotropic meds,  artificial hormones, environmental toxins, ambient radiation, etc.   And by the time we get to be adults we have psychological patterns that may have become calcified over time as well as theories about who we are and why we are…

Let’s say you are struggling with a set of physical and emotional symptoms or even a chronic disease state.  You decide you want to get better and to pursue treatment.  For whatever set of reasons, you choose homeopathy and end up here.

When I take your homeopathic case, I am trying to perceive who you are, where the imbalance is in your life, where the problem is.  Your physical symptoms are a manifestation of the imbalance.  Assuming I can clearly perceive your situation I think try to match up your state and your symptoms with one of over 5500 homeopathic medicines.  And if I choose a remedy that is a close fit but not a perfect fit, you may begin to get better and then fall back into your state, or, one of your symptoms may become exaggerated, which then draws attention to it and directs us to the right remedy. There can be a process of honing in until the picture becomes clear – and that can take some time.  It can feel like moving upward in a spiral as the real issue becomes clarified.

Constantine Hering, a  German homeopath who emigrated to the US in 1833, was a major figure in the development of homeopathy in the US and worldwide.  He founded the first homeopathic school in the world, in Philadelphia.  He developed and expanded the field in profound ways. One of his contributions – which every student of homeopathy knows by heart – was to delineate the direction of healing in homeopathy. He stated that symptoms should be healed:

from above downwards

from within outwards

from the more important organs to lesser

from head to hands and feet

in the reverse order of their coming

 This is a very important set of guidelines.   And as your symptoms begin to shift in these clear directions,  it indicates that you are changing.  When you change, the structures that you have created in your life – perhaps from a place that isn’t as healthy —  begin to get shaken up.  This means that as you get healthier, parts of your own self might resist the change towards health.  Certain personality traits may get more pronounced as they head towards a tipping point of change.  People in your family or relationship networks might push back and resist the new you.  The process can feel clunky.   It may be that physical symptoms begin to get resolved and then a deep emotional state is revealed, requiring an additional remedy.

Transformation is not always smooth, and it definitely requires time to unfold.

 More to follow……