What is Homeopathy?

Homeopathy is a system of natural healing which has been in world-wide use for over 200 years.  It provides individualized and holistic care, working with your body’s own ability to heal and supporting your own efforts towards optimum health.  Homeopathy supports healing on all levels—body, mind, and spirit.  Unlike conventional (allopathic) medicine, which tends to suppress symptoms rather than cure them, homeopathic remedies support healing on a deep level.  Remedies are prescribed for the whole person and not only for a particular condition or disease.

The founder of modern homeopathy, German physician Samuel Hahnemann, began developing his ideas in the late 18th and early 19th century.  Disillusioned with what he considered the barbaric medical practices of his day, Hahnemann experimented with ways to minimize the toxicity and emphasize the healing effects of potential medicinal substances.  He outlined his ideas in his remarkable work, The Organon of the Healing Art, first published in 1810.  He and his followers also applied many aspects of modern science and medical practice, including careful observation and record-keeping, scientific experimentation, principles of modern hygiene, and use of statistical methodology.

Homeopathic remedies are made from a variety of substances, including plants, minerals, animal products, and other materials.  They are prepared in a very special method of serial dilution and agitation called potentization.  A homeopathic remedy is chosen according to the law of similars, or the principle that a substance causing certain symptoms in healthy people can cure those same symptoms in an ill person.  This leads to an individualized remedy designed to optimize health and to stimulate the organism to regain its balance.  For example, insomnia characterized by racing thoughts, rapid heartbeat, sweaty palms, and jitteriness (the feeling one gets from too many cappuccinos late at night!)  might be treated by the remedy coffea cruda, or the homeopathic remedy prepared from coffee.  So we see that the pattern of symptoms caused by a substance can be treated by a remedy prepared from that very substance.

These same principles are applied by homeopaths on a much deeper level and can lead to profound healing of people with many serious conditions.  Observed results can include disappearance of symptoms, as well as improved emotional outlook, release of lifelong negative patterns, and generally optimized wellbeing.

Homeopathy can be helpful in a wide range of conditions, from acute illness like colds, flu and minor injuries, to chronic conditions such as allergies, asthma, anxiety, depression, panic attacks, ADD, arthritis, autoimmune conditions, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia and many others.  It is safe and effective for people of all ages, from infants to the elderly. Children are especially responsive to the effects of homeopathic medicine.  There are many scientific studies investigating the clinical effects of homeopathy.  Homeopathy has been shown to be effective in conditions as diverse as mild traumatic brain injury and diarrhea in children.