As a young university student in the 1980s I was fascinated by how the human mind worked but after 4 years studying pyschology I was left pondering one essential question. How can a health practitioner possibly understand the human mind without understanding the physical body which is the chemical soup on which the mind is dependent?
The arrival of our eldest daughter, her
adverse reaction to a DTP vaccination in 1988 and subsequent ear infections
started me on a journey to find a way to help her. A chance recommendation to a
homeopath resulted in an effective treatment for my daughter’s ear infections
and I started on a 20 year journey of learning about homeopathy.
Visiting a homeopath is much like visiting
the doctors of old who knew the value of giving time to listen. Through careful
attention to the person as they talk about the story of their symptoms and how
that relates to their life, the homeopath is able to match the person's
symptoms with the homeopathic medicine that is known to treat these symptoms.
Dana Ullman, American homeopath and
teacher, says “Symptoms are not just something wrong with the organism but
are adaptive responses of the body/mind to deal with stress or infection.”
Homeopathic medicines are generally made
from plants, animal substances and minerals which are transformed into energetic medicines, through the process of dilution and shaking
(succusing), under strict manufacturing processes. These medicines resonate
with the body’s energy field to effectively stimulates the immune system to
action.
So how can something so dilute and essentially non-chemical have such a profound healing effect in the body? Most people intuitively understand the concept of life force. It is the energy that permeates the body when we are alive and has left the body when we die, despite the chemistry of the body being intact.
Science now understands through experiments
in the field of quantum physics that the body is comprised of energy fields
that permeate atoms demonstrating an interconnectedness between all living and
even non-living systems. These spaces (known as ‘Zero Point Fields’) between
atoms hold a kind of cellular memory through wave patterning. Lynne McTaggart’s
book “The Field”
describes the many scientitic breakthroughs over the past 50 years by scientists
such as Karl Pribram, Jacques Benveniste, Fritz-Albert Popp and others who,
against a background of ridicule and disbelief, have worked to demonstrate the
concepts of Zero Point Fields; light fields in the body; the cellular memory of
water.
Long before these scientists did their
work Dr Samuel Hahnemann, (b. 1755) physician, scientist and extraordinary
linguistic, understood how the life force of the person keeps all parts of the
organism in harmony. Dr Hahnemann
like many other medically-trained homeopaths since the 1700s found homeopathic
medicines helped the body’s attempts to bring about wellness.
Today homeopaths are as likely to be
seeing patients with ADHD, anxiety states or depression as they are acute
illnesses like influenza. A variety of published peer-reviewed research also
demonstrates the effectiveness of homeopathic treatment over placebo for people
with conditions such as fibromyaglia, asthma, diarrhea, ear complaints,
musculo-skeletal problems, hayfever, and women’s hormonal problems. A summary
of RCTs research can be found on the New Zealand Council of Homeopaths website www.homeopathy.co.nz
We are at an exciting time in our understanding of how the human body heals itself. Over the past 20 years more than 3000 homeopathic medicines have been developed and can now be researched through powerful search engines that allow a homeopath to find a homeopathic medicine that matches a patient’s symptom picture. Some homeopaths also engage directly with the person’s energy field through kinesiology for instance. The homeopathic consultation helps us to understand how our internal world of rational and irrational thoughts and feelings are initimately connected to our physical symptoms and the story of our lives.
Angela Hair has worked as a homeopath in
Havelock North for 14 years. In her busy practice she has worked with many
families coping with the day to day challenges of sick children and emotional
stresses.