Homeopathways

Karen Cohen, D.C.,CCH

How Homeopaths Learn to Perceive

Š1998 Karen Cohen

What do we need to treat?

As Samuel Hahnemann, the originator of homeopathy, wrote in the essential treatise on homeopathy,The Organon, the physician must strive to "clearly perceive what has to be cured in disease, i.e. in each individual case of disease." (Third Aphorism)

The work of the homeopath is to observe, consider, reflect, and then finally determine what the underlying disturbance, the energetic "underlying wrinkle in the cloth" might be. The goal is not to remove the symptoms but to remove the deeper disturbance that results in symptoms. As a homeopath I have had the experience of taking the case of a patient and feeling that the patient might not be consciously aware of the underlying problem from which the physical or emotional symptoms spring.

The patient not the disease

The idea that we are treating a unique individual and not a disease or diagnosis is key to understanding classical homeopathy. This is one way that homeopathy differs significantly from allopathic medicine, in which the physician looks for a pattern of symptoms in order to make a diagnosis and then gives a medicine for that diagnosis.

For example, a person comes into my office with the complaint of allergies. Although I am interested in the nature of the allergies I cannot find the correct remedy based on information about the color and quality of the mucous or the itching or sneezing. Perhaps the person speaks with hesitation and has a sense of fearfulness, while another person with allergies could have a feeling of loneliness and isolation and a third sufferer of allergies also complains of mental fogginess and lack of concentration. Sometimes the patient is a young child and the allergic symptoms are accompanied by sleep disturbances, restlessness, or behavioral problems. Each will need a different remedy to address the source of irritation in their economy. One might need a remedy associated with fright while another might require a remedy that addresses a deep grief.

Observation and Determining a Remedy

The job of the homeopath is to try and understand where the flow of energy is impeded. Every nuance of the individual becomes a clue to the correct remedy: breathing patterns, eye contact, body posture, the sound and quality of the voice is significant. The interesting and unique way each person copes with stress or expresses creativity is also a piece of the puzzle.

Next the homeopath reconstructs the data: the information about the physical, emotional and mental symptoms; and matches this with what she knows about the remedies in our materia medica-which is our homeopathic medicine chest.

As part of the education of a homeopath each remedy is studied carefully. A remedy is like a crystal with many facets to its character. The remedy will be associated with physical symptoms and will target certain areas of the body such as the digestive system or the nervous system, and each will have an emotional and mental component. Many homeopathic writers describe the symptoms of a remedy as if it were a person, and a sketch or portrait begins to emerge. It is this whole portrait that the homeopath is attempting to uncover. When the correct homeopathic medicine is administered-the remedy that fits both the physical symptoms and the emotional and mental symptoms, there will be a response that will reverberate on all levels and the net result is a triggering of the immune response and the natural tendency for the body to return to a state of balance.

The Energetic Component of Homeopathy

The remedies used in homeopathy have qualities that are energetic and dynamic. A homeopathic remedy might be made from the same plant that is also used to make an herbal tonic. One example is the remedy Ipecac. Syrup of Ipecac can be found in the drug store and is an herbal distillation from the plant ipecauana. If you eat the plant or take the syrup you will experience severe nausea and vomiting. The syrup is used to induce vomiting and emptying of the stomach when someone has swallowed a potentially toxic substance for instance if a child eats a bottle of aspirin.

When Ipecac is made into a homeopathic remedy through an exacting and specific process it is transformed into a very different substance that acts in a different way. The homeopathic remedy is like an energetic hologram of the original herb. It can be likened to a silicon chip containing information rather than being a nutritive extract like an herb. When the remedy is given the body take in the information and uses it to make a change. The information in the remedy ipecac helps the body cope with nausea and vomiting and so is often used as an acute or short acting remedy for the treatment of morning sickness.

The Energetic Nature of Our Beings

Throughout history there have been writings about the energetic qualities associated with living things. This can be found in spiritual writing from many cultures but also is a topic of scientific exploration in many fields including physics, medicine, and psychology. This description of the energetic nature of our beings comes from the book Body, Self, and Soul by Jack Lee Rosenberg and Marjorie Rand, both clinical psychologists who explore the mind, emotion, body interface:

"Now, if you think of a person as being, in essence, a constellation of energy, how would you envision a healthy person? We picture him or her as a free-flowing energy. The unhealthy person has blocks in the system and the flow of energy is impeded.

"The essential Self of each of us is both energy itself and the awareness and appreciation of energy. If something happens early in life, the sense of Self develops poorly, and is buried under defensive blocks......For example; the baby whose needs aren't taken care of and who seals off her feelings is forming blocks to her energy flow. The blocks are represented by growing muscular tension. In blocking off feelings, she stifles the flow of energy and the core of her being--her sense of Self--lies hidden within."

The remedy constellation is the precise patterning of blocks that both protect and obscure the inner self. Each remedy has a different pattern of energy blockage. The symptoms that describe the patterns of blockage are those that are integral to a set of symptoms that are blocking or limiting the freedom and expression of the organism. In ulcerative colitis the diarrhea and cramping limit the function of the person and are one of the things taken into consideration when finding a homeopathic remedy. But in every individual who has been given that diagnosis there are other components or blocks that for a constellation leading to a correct remedy match.

Healing

By seeking to deeply understand the etiology and underlying source of disease, the homeopath becomes an energetic conduit between the patient's conscious understanding of themselves and their unconscious knowledge of what is really wrong. An energetic opening is created and the healing process is initiated. The remedy further fuels this healing process by adding information to the system-the precise information needed to catalyze a reordering and slow but steady dismantling of the energetic blocks. When this occurs the actual symptoms will diminish and better function and creativity of expression will return.

Š1998 Karen Cohen

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