What we put in our bodies is IMPORTANT!
Welcome to June – it is always an amazing observation to look at a June date and realise we are already halfway through the year! I hope this finds you keeping well and managing to harness some pace of this forever seemingly fast calendar movement!
This month I wanted to focus a bit more about achieving OPTIMAL HEALTH
Key starting point: to know what our bodies need and what they are telling us is vital in getting the best in HOW we work and ultimately therefore how we feel. But sometimes, reading the signs and acting accordingly can be a whole ‘nother ball game and in this fast pace at which we tend to live our lives now, we often just don’t quite manage it.
Fear not, Homeopathy can help keep us on track
If this blog resonates with you so far, please do keep reading… this is not a lecture, it is intended to simply be helpful and applies to myself too!
I think for most of us, I am touching on an area we have to continue working on during most of our lives and I do believe that the older we get, the wiser we get… so it is just about USING this WISDOM to its full!
My motto is KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
Our bodies are essentially very cleverly designed to manage themselves… each intricate organ and system in the body is intertwined and specifically connected so that this should happen whenever needed. This ideal state that the body is kept to is called HOMEOSTASIS (you may remember this word from those biology lessons and I use this word a lot you may have noticed in my posts, talks and previous blogs)
However, just sometimes there is a blip and the body struggles to fully re-balance when it needs to.
Something ‘unfamiliar’, ‘toxic’ or even ‘shocking’ to the body can put a damper on things… and the perfect balance slips, and the body reacts in some way differently to how it should.
With time and awareness, our bodies will certainly attempt to correct themselves but sometimes they need a little nudge… and this is where the art of Homeopathy comes into play in such a magical yet very important and natural way!
HOW?
Homeopathy understands the varying levels of sensitivity our bodies can operate at and always works to bring us back into balance with its wonderful remedies and the careful observation as to how the body resonates with them during treatment. It understands the true ‘individual’ biological and emotional make up of each of us.
While a body is suffering, its aim is to not add more fuel to the fire, but to gently work with the vital force of the patient in such a natural way, so as to prevent further confusion and turbulence in the body’s systems. The remedies each have their own ‘picture’ and set of characteristics and the work of a homeopath is to do the detective work to make the best match possible.
Samuel Hahnemann (Founder of Homeopathy, 10th April 1755-2nd July 1843) referred to this as the Law of Similars.
Because it is an energetic form of natural medicine, the body will only take what it needs from the homeopathic remedies that we have such a vast selection of. With the processes of dilution and succussion in the way the remedies are made, there is also no toxicity nor side effects and neither is there the risk of addiction.
Homeopathy is safe and gentle
DIET AND LIFESTYLE CAN BE KEY
We may all have heard the saying ‘We are what we eat’ and two key people I would refer to here, who have devoted their lives to discussing this and helping us understand why, are Nutritionist Patrick Holford www.holfordnutrition.com and the late Doctor Michael Mosley www.michaelmosley.co.uk
They both really showed us through their books, lectures, tv programmes/videos and training how to see a positive difference when we improved things in the area of nutrition and a healthy, natural lifestyle alongside – or even instead of chemical medication.
I would also urge you to look up Dr Rangan Chatterjee www.drchatterjee.com who also gives such helpful information and ideas on how to get the best from our own bodies when it comes to optimal health and healing.
Homeopathy blends with this beautifully because it really helps us get to the root cause of problems, and while we very much understand that certain foods may well be the cause of difficult health symptoms, we also look at when the symptoms first started and what else was going on around that same time – or perhaps even earlier.
We look at the mental and physical aspects, hence Homeopathy being also referred to as a holistic system of natural medicine
We apply this to things other than just food, that we ‘put in’ or ‘do’ to our bodies and it can, therefore, even be the effects of an atmospherically toxic work environment or a difficult, unresolved relationship, that we work on understanding and addressing to bring about the healing needed to regain our optimal health.
Stress, (environmental and emotional) is another simple way of describing this.
In Homeopathy, we understand susceptibility and how this affects our health… something often not considered during conventional treatment. Shock, trauma and stress come into play here because they can have such an impact when we might not realise.
We are in a very fortunate position today to have knowledge of both conventional and natural approaches to managing our health. However, putting chemical medication into our bodies may often only help on a shallow or short term level and the ingredients themselves can put the body into further stress as it has to then ‘sort out’ the side effects and imbalances elsewhere in the body systems (particularly the vital organs), whilst also trying to ease the patients symptoms that are being treated.
When medication is a more permanent thing, homeopathic treatment can therefore be taken alongside, to support the body in rebalancing wherever possible… this is very helpful.
Some examples here are: Steroids and Asthma medication, Tamoxifen and Post-Breast Cancer medication, Blood Pressure medication, heavy duty Painkillers, Contraceptive medication, Anti-depressants and Anti-anxiety medication.
Homeopathy also has remedies that aid combatting the side effects of diagnostic testing, such as XRay, CT and MRI scans.
With any medication we also have to be careful that we are not prescribed it and then left on it for long periods of time as ‘standard treatment’ without really assessing and being able to understand if and how it is still helping. Patients using Homeopathy may well get to a point where they feel able to consider lessening or even replacing conventional medication with natural remedies. So again, observation and knowledge of how our bodies are responding during any treatment is always advisable to adhere to and take responsibility for as part of optimising our health.
There are other examples too of external pollutants that homeopathic remedies can help in lessening the toxic effects when we are around them in our daily lives such as EMR (electro-magnetic radiation), pesticides, transport fumes and other combustion fumes.
Sadly, the medical profession often discourages patients from the use of any natural complimentary medicine during their prescribed treatment, but working with a homeopath can help gain a strength in the knowledge and confidence in when to consider blending them – and with some further information gathering, an informed choice can be made if desired. In the ideal world of a homeopath, we would always love to be able to work together with the medical teams and we continue to strive towards this every year.
When founding the Principles of Homeopathy, Samuel Hahnemann also introduced the Concept of Suppression, whereby there is understanding that symptoms that the body brings up in a situation where there is imbalance, are there for us to notice and act accordingly in order to rebalance. If we ignore them and in effect ‘push them back down’, the unsatisfactory state will not be able to fully resolve… we may have pushed it out of sight for now, but this may mean it is only likely to be festering elsewhere.
We can see this in an emotional example where perhaps we may not say what we need to say (and quite literally even swallow the words back down!) and later have feelings of anxiety, sadness or general dissatisfaction/upset in some way. Or in a physical example where perhaps steroid cream has been prescribed to manage eczema in the short term, but in the long term, the eczema is highly likely to reappear or, more worryingly, asthma may follow at some point because the organ that steroid medication can harm in particular is the lungs.
The time offered with a Homeopathic appointment can also be so beneficial in itself because of the relationship and understanding that can develop between patient and practitioner. Clients usually comment on the positive effects they notice from simply being understood after a homeopathic consultation.
I always encourage patients to know and understand as much as they can about any medication they may be prescribed, in order that should they suffer further, they can be more aware of any side effects that might also have become part of their health picture. This is a good place to check: British National Formulary
There is plenty of information on Homeopathic research and how Homeopathy works on the Homeopathic Research Institute website and also of the four Professional Governing Bodies:
Society of Homeopaths
Homeopathy International
The Alliance of Registered Homeopaths
Faculty of Homeopathy
I hope that this blog has helped you consider the importance of understanding and knowing what we put in our bodies and prioritising our own optimal health – and that you also feel embraced enough to work with the natural and more gentle influences available… as you can see, there is much help out there to be sought!
Please do get in touch if you have any questions and do feel able to pass this on to anyone you may know who might also find it useful and want to know more about Homeopathy.
Warm Wishes
Ali x
Ali Lomax
LCHE
R.Hom.Int