About Homeopathy
Homeopathic medicines improve our immunity
Homeopathy believes in 'Individuality'
Homeopathy is a holistic system of therapeutics, which
intends to stimulate the healer within the body to cure itself. It was
founded by a German doctor, Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843) in the late 18th
century.
It is a science that believes in treating the ‘Man in disease’ and
not the ‘Disease in man’. Health is not mere absence of symptoms or disease
but a sense of optimal well being that not only encompasses the body, but also
includes emotions, thoughts and feelings. Homeopathy believes that there is
an innate intelligent force termed as ‘vital force’ or ‘vital energy’
that governs the harmonious functioning in health; and disease is nothing but
a disruption of this harmonious flow of vital energy. Hence what we see as disease
affecting various parts of the body like head, stomach, heart, kidney etc. is
in fact a mere reflection of the disrupted vital force. Homeopathic medicines
are directed towards restoring this disrupted energy flow so that healing takes place.
Healer Within
One is aware that at any given point of time, there are numerous processes taking place within our body without us being conscious of them. We don’t realize that we are breathing, our heart is pumping blood to all the parts, toxins are being filtered from the body, food eaten is being digested etc. It is indisputable that there is something which co-ordinates all these innumerous processes.
Let us take a very simple example of a ‘cut’, which every one of us must have surely experienced at some time or the other in our lives. If we accidentally cut our finger with a knife or any sharp instrument, we will observe that blood oozes for sometime and then on its own the wound stops bleeding; the blood at the site clots and in a day or so there is formation of scab and healing takes place. Although it looks so simple there are innumerable processes taking place in our body to perform this easy act. Accurate amount of enzymes, platelets, clotting factors etc. have to be transported to the site to bring about clotting and all this happens without us being aware of it.
But the question is what brings about this perfect orchestration. This happens due to some innate ‘intelligence’ that we all have within ourselves, a ‘healing power’ that we all possess, which beautifully synchronizes all our normal physiological activities as well as helps us in combating illnesses.
Homeopathy is one such healing science, which believes that, stimulating this ‘healer within’ can bring about a cure and homeopathic medicines have the potential of doing precisely this.
Homeopathic
medicines improve our immunity
We always consider bacteria or viruses as the apparent cause of our illnesses but this is not the truth. In order to understand this, let us primarily comprehend as to what happens when a bacteria or virus enters our body.
Nature has provided all of us with some natural resistance power or immunity as termed in medical language which helps in combating any invasion of disease-causing organism. When our fighter cells detect any harmful organism, they direct their entire force to kill that organism. In the process of this fight, there are several complex processes that take place and 'fever' is the first symptom that we experience during such times. So fever is not the disease but just an indication that our body is trying to fight out an invader. If our fighter cells are victorious in killing the organism or in other words, if our immunity is good we experience some discomfort that lasts for a short time and soon passes away. If our immunity is not good, our fighter cells are incapable of fighting the organism and we need some external aid in the form of medicines in the ongoing battle.
Let us take a common example of few children getting wet in rain. Of all the children who get wet in rain, one of them suffers from mild cold, another from cold, cough and mild fever which passes on its own, but one of them comes down with high fever and cough which lasts for few days and is eventually diagnosed as 'pneumonia'. The question is, if all got wet why did only one of them come down with such a severe illness. It is not that the pneumonia-causing bacteria were hostile only towards that particular child! The fact is that the resistance or immunity of that particular child was so low that he invited this infection. This is precisely what happens when children fall ill and come down with infections frequently.
If we reflect a little we will realize that bacteria and viruses are all pervasive [around all of us always] and if they were the main cause then all of us would fall sick. But this does not happen and only few people fall sick. The reason for this is that it is not the bacteria or virus which is the main cause but our lowered immunity that is responsible for our illnesses.
If this is the conclusion then how good would it be to take medication that are aim at killing bacteria and not considering the lowered immunity? The Homeopathic philosophy in contrast does not believe in directing medicines to kill the organism; rather it stimulates our innate natural defenses to combat any invading organism.
Hence homeopathy improves a person's immunity and cures him of his tendencies to recurrent infection and other illnesses.
Homeopathy believes in 'Individuality'
Individuality in homeopathy means giving more importance to the 'person suffering from an illness' rather than the 'illness a person has'. Homeopathic medicines are not chosen on the basis of 'what disease a person has', but on the basis of 'what the person is'.
For example two people suffering from 'headaches' will not receive same medicines. This is because the experience of the headache at the level of body and mind is very distinct to both individuals. At the physical level, one may have 'throbbing pain' while other may have a 'dull pain'. Mentally, one may be highly excitable and irritable with the pain while the other person becomes very dull and wants to be alone without any disturbance. So you can see how a similar complaint like headache expresses in two persons in a entirely different manner which is very individualistic to each one of them. Homeopathic medicines are not chosen on the name of the disease but on the individual experience of the disease; hence two people suffering from diseases like arthritis, asthma, hypertension etc. do not receive the same medicine.
Homeopathy believes that a state of health is akin to a melody. Just like a melody is created when there is a harmonious pattern amongst the notes, similarly health is achieved when there is a synchronized functioning amongst the mind, spirit and our physical, corporeal being. Our state of mind has a tremendous influence on our health.
Research estimates that 80% of all major diseases including cancer, cardiac illnesses, endocrine disorders, skin diseases etc. are related to mind (behavior), our lifestyle and the day-to-day stress that we undergo. When we are emotionally disturbed, a series of physiological changes take place. There may be increased secretion of adrenalin, acceleration of heartbeat, rise in the blood pressure and blood cholesterol, thickening of blood and clot formation. There is excessive production of stress hormones (cortisone and cortisol) that suppress the immune system making the body an easy prey to infections, ranging from a simple cold to even the dreaded cancer. Hence understanding the mental state of an individual is imperative in Homeopathy.