Homeopathy is the fastest growing form of medicine on the planet with over 500 million users worldwide. What is it that makes it the most popular form of medicine in much of the world?
• It’s extremely affordable,
• has a broad range of uses,
• a holistic outlook,
• and most people who try it are convinced it works miracles.
Homeopathy is unique in its high level of individualization. A practitioner needs to understand the unique expression of a disease in an individual in order to properly and effectively prescribe. For example, 2 people may be sick with the same flu virus – one feels worse at night, is thirsty, cold, and restless; the other is thirstless, craving open air, and whiny. Each of these people would receive a different homeopathic medicine even though they are both suffering from the same bug.
Because the mind and body are so powerfully interconnected a homeopath needs to understand the emotional and mental experiences of a person. Everyone has a different emotional reaction to being ill. Some people are restless and need activity, while some are lethargic and need rest; while some will want to be in the company of people when ill, others will want to be by themselves. The homeopath will ask about all aspects of you: all of your physical complaints, general body functioning, emotional state, and personality.
The main tenet of homeopathy is the idea that like cures like. Meaning that a substance that can induce a set of symptoms is a healthy person will treat a similar set of symptoms in a sick person. These principles were originally described by Hippocrates.
In order to develop a homeopathic remedy for medicinal use, a proving is done, which is like a homeopathic drug trial. A group of healthy participants take a homeopathic remedy and record the symptoms it induces. This group of symptoms represents the symptoms that that remedy will be used to treat in a sick person. This knowledge is then expanded upon in clinical practice and thus our material medica is created. This the body of collected knowledge about the therapeutic properties of any substance used for healing.
Because homeopathic remedies (or medicines) are highly diluted, the mechanism of action remains unconfirmed. However, a variety of theories have been developed by leading scientific minds. Such theories include the memory of water, electromagnetic signals, and most recently the idea of nanoparticles as medicine. Read our blog to learn more about these theories.
There is a growing body of research that supports homeopathy, though there is still a great deal of work to be done for us to understand the capabilities of this exceptional medicine.
The newest theory claims that homeopathy is a form of NanoMedicine. This began in 2010 when a team of scientists from the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay, India made a radical discovery. They found the presence of nanoparticles of source material in homeopathic remedies. Extreme homeopathic dilutions retain starting materials: A nanoparticulate perspective.
(This information has been followed up by Dr. Iris Bell and Gary Schwartz with a paper titled Adaptive Network Nanomedicine: An Integrated Model for Homeopathic Medicine published in January of 2013. There are also theories concerning electromagnetic signals such as Dr. Luc Montagnier, Nobel Laureate, has discovered in his studies. Memory of water, the ability of water to store and carry information from renowned scientist Dr. Rustum Roy.)
Famous supporters of homeopathy:
David Beckham, Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth, Cindy Crawford, Tina Turner, Jennifer Aniston, John Wayne, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Tony Blair, George Washington, William and Charles Mayo (founders of the Mayo Clinic), Charles Darwin, C Everett Koop, Tennyson, Yeats, Dickenson, JD Rockefeller, Ghandi, 4 Popes, Mother Theresa, and many more. (Courtesy: The Homeopathic Revolution: Why Famous People and Cultural Heroes Choose Homeopathy by Dana Ullman).