What is Homeopathy?
by Tina Quirk, MS, PCH
Homeopathy is a “whole medical system” that respects the laws of nature and the wisdom of the body.1 The underlying premises are that the body and mind are parts of a deep rooted system that regulates and renews health, that the body knows the best way to heal itself and that physical and mental symptoms are the organism’s best way to deal with influences that threaten health.
Holistic
Homeopathy is a holistic approach to healing that understands that we experience symptoms on all levels, physical, mental and emotional. When you feel your stomach clenching as you fearfully check out a strange noise in the night, you know that your body and mind are not separate entities. When you are flattened by a flu virus and find your usually good natured self replying irritably to your spouse, you know that body and mind are inextricably linked. One part of the body does not rule the other. All parts respond to the deeply rooted and multifaceted regulating system of the body known as the vital force. The vital force is like the root of a tree with the mental, emotional and physical symptoms its many branches. Homeopathy aims to cure the whole person who is ill rather than the condition or the individual part. All symptoms are important when treating the source of the problem.
Individualistic
While there are some symptoms common to each type of illness, such as fever and pain, everyone has a unique and individualized way of experiencing these symptoms. For instance, you may have a chill during a fever, while another person will perspire. Your toothache may be a throbbing pain, but another sufferer will feel sharp shooting pains in the tooth. You may desire many glasses of cold water during a bout of bronchitis, while, for another person, lack of thirst will be characteristic. Homeopaths use this distinctiveness to select a personalized remedy. Unlike conventional medicine, there are no broad spectrum medicines in homeopathy.
Like Cures Like
Homeopaths look at the whole range of symptoms of the person who is ill and assists him to heal by giving a substance from nature that would cause the same symptoms in a healthy person. This is called the “simillia principle” or “like curing like.” Because we are more familiar with conventional medicines that exert an “anti” reaction--anti-biotics, anti-histamines, this principle may seem odd. However, we only have to remember our grandmother’s injunction to “bundle up and sweat out a fever” or grandfather’s application of cayenne pepper to hot, painful joints to see like curing like. Matching the symptoms created by a natural substance to the person’s symptoms stimulates the organism’s natural healing ability.
Less is More
Homeopathic medicines are prepared in a special way that recognizes the subtlety of the organism and its responses. The medicines are very gentle, yet powerful. They are diluted in water until there is no original substance left in the solution. This can cause some confusion, since we are used to the idea that “More is Better.” You may wonder how such an infinitesimal amount can have any effect? But we only need to look at the miniscule amounts of hormones that trigger the onset of labor in a pregnant woman or initiate the flowering of sexual maturation in a young teenager. Our bodies are used to sensing and reacting to minute amounts of stimulation.
The vital force responds to even tinier amounts, known as “ultramolecular dilutions.” Just as a vibrational or energetic wave emitted from a “wifi” center can convey information to power a printer or connect a computer to the internet, a microdilution of a homeopathic remedy can communicate needed information to the vital force to promote health and alleviate symptoms. If it is difficult to imagine the power of a highly diluted medicine, just think about the havoc that a microscopic organism such as the influenza virus can cause in the human body or the intense explosion that results when an invisible atom is split in two.
Cure
Homeopaths believe that you are the “authority” of your body and work in partnership with you to attain your best health on all levels, physical, mental and emotional. Healing comes from within and the goal of homeopathy is cure, which is more than just the disappearance of symptoms. Cure is the wellbeing of the entire person, body, mind and emotions. It is reached by helping the vital force to correct the source of the disturbance so health can prevail. It is when we are in health that each of us is free to attain the “higher purpose of our existence.”2 Healthy people make healthy choices and contribute to a healthy and peaceful world.
1 http://nccam.nih.gov/health/whatiscam/#4
2 Hahnemann S The Organon of Medicine 6th ed B Jain 1992
About the Author
Tina Quirk, MS, PCH is a Classical Homeopath with a background in advanced practice nursing and psychology. She practices and teaches in NYC, and writes for homeopathy journals and books. Currently she is involved in setting up a Homeopathy/AIDS treatment clinic and research study in Tanzania.