Homeopathy: A Holistic Approach to Healing

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been examining various health and healing modalities other than those practiced by your local MD. This week we’ll examine Homeopathy. 

My husband is a total science geek who loves math and physics. He has actually verified from a scientific standpoint things I’ve studied about energy healing, meditation, and chakras. However, homeopathy is the one alternative therapy that he thinks is hogwash. So when I saw that a homeopathic practitioner was going to be speaking at an event at the Lyceum Wellness Center, I was eager to attend. Denise Straiges made a compelling case. 

Basically, like all other forms of alternative or Eastern medicine, the homeopathic practitioner views all maladies as functions of the greater whole--not as isolated pieces which must be separately treated. 

Think of a cell: it has many parts, each with its own job. If you pull back, you’ll see that a set of cells creates a greater whole of an organ or another body part. If you pull back still further, you see that the organs and body parts create the greater whole of the entire body. It's a fractal.

As we’ve examined in previous articles, the body’s systems are not isolated parts--they all work together as a whole. Various areas of science have mapped organs and systems within the body. Neuroscientists have mapped the brain, cardiologists have mapped the heart, vascular surgeons have a map of how veins travel throughout your body.

The western (or allopathic) medicine that we in the United States are most familiar with has made great contributions to our understanding of the body’s parts and has also spearheaded research and the development of pharmaceutical drugs that treat ailments of all kinds. It's imperfect though.

The pharmacological catalogue of Western medicine is made up of substances that tell the body to stop doing this or that--stop the fever, suppress the pain, etc--however, Eastern medicine aims to empower the body to do what it needs to be healthy. That is, it empowers the body to heal itself. 

At the wellness event, Denise Straiges explained, “Allopathic focuses on anti. They focus on stopping the body from doing whatever symptom is bothersome or painful. Homeopathy works with the body at a core level to enhance what the body should be doing--instead of telling the body to stop doing something it's trying to do to heal itself.”

In Eastern medicine, the superficial areas like skin, eyes, face, hands, feet, and tongue are the first places to look for symptoms because they are the weakest link. Body ailments show up superficially first. If the ailment goes untreated or is suppressed with medication, then the manifestation of that ailment will travel deeper and deeper.

Here is a good example: Western medicine has discovered that eczema has a relation to the lungs. We can put a topical cream on the eczema to suppress it, but this cream will increase the likelihood of asthma. Why? Because, if you suppress the symptom, it shows up somewhere else. Skin is the biggest organ in the body and a toxic eliminator. Toxins are constantly being eliminated through our pores. Therefore, if there’s a problem somewhere in the body, it may very well show up as eczema or pimples or other skin issues. 

When Western medicine gives topical cream for the eczema, it is steroid based and asthma develops. Then, an inhaler for the lungs is prescribed. The problem is that the core issue still hasn’t been dealt with. So, your body will try to eliminate the problem through the next deepest organ level--the GI tract. If medications are taken to suppress the issues in the the GI tract, the problem may finally end up in the brain. 

Homeopathy is a tool to aid the body in healing itself, at a core level instead of chasing symptom after symptom with various pharmaceuticals. A homeopath will take into account all symptoms--some of which you might not even realize you have(eczema, a dower mood, a staggered gait, a bloodshot vein in the center of your eye, etc.)--and address the "whole person" through nutrition, exercise, and remedies. But what is a homeopathic remedy?

The concept of a homeopathic remedy reminds me of an immunization shot. For an immunization shot, the doctor puts a very diluted bit of the disease into your body. With this small amount, the body creates antibodies with which to kill the disease. These antibodies multiply and make you stronger to fight the disease if you’re exposed to it again. 

In a sense, this is like a homeopathic remedy in that remedies are massively diluted herbs or diluted substances. But the substance is something healthy instead of an infection. An herbalist may prescribe certain herbs for certain conditions, but when a homeopath uses a remedy with that same herb, it does an even different job because of the way the herb has been extracted and diluted. Sometimes the remedy is organ tissue to enhance the health of that organ in your body, or a pollen solution to help your body not have allergic reactions.

I’ll be honest, I am not qualified to explain the physics behind a homeopathic remedy. However, when Denise explained that the remedies work on a vibrational or energetic level, that made sense to me. Why? Because our bodies are energetic.

Cells use energy, and emit energy, and vibrate. Yes, vibrate like a string on a violin. All matter does. So if a remedy brings a healthy energy into the body’s system where it needs help, its like a master violinist playing the strings of her instrument rather than a fourth grade novice. The strings can vibrate in an irritating manner, a bearable tune, or a beautiful masterpiece. 

I like the approach of homeopathy. Like other alternative approaches, it looks at the whole person to make a diagnosis, instead of chasing after symptoms. I am also a fan of empowering the body to heal itself.  I basically understand the theory, and there are plenty of people who will offer amazing testimonials, so they must be doing something good.  

About a week after hearing Denise speak, I started to sneeze and get an itchy throat. "Oh, oh," I thought, "a cold is coming". So I ran to Wholefoods and checked out the homeopathic remedies. One was for sneezing, colds, and hay fever. I bought it, and administered it to my self (and then my kids whose symptoms showed up the next day). We all averted immanent colds. It's not a miracle story, but it is interesting to note.