How does homeopathy work?A holistic approach
Homeopathy is a natural alternative to conventional medicine, using carefully selected remedies to stimulate the body’s own natural forces of recovery.
It recognises that ill health is the body’s response to mental, emotional or physical disharmony, and seeks to treat the underlying cause of any imbalance by considering the whole person rather than just the symptoms of the illness.
Establishing good health involves treating both the mind and the body. When you see a homeopath, they will take time to listen to how you feel physically and emotionally, prescribing homeopathic remedies which most closely match your individual symptom picture as you experience it- taking into account you as a person, and your individual characteristics.
A long tradition of healthcare
The basic principles of homeopathy can be traced back to Hipprocates in ancient Greece over 2,500 years ago. Homeopathy as it is practiced today was developed 200 years ago by Samuel Hahnemann, a doctor who devised the scientific and philosophical foundations of this gentler way of healing and developed homeopathy as a comprehensive system of medicine.
‘Like cures like’
You may have heard homeopathy described as the principle of ‘like cures like’. Indeed, there are two ways of treating illness: the way of opposites, and the way of similars.
Take for example a case of insomnia. Conventional medicine or drug therapy uses the way of opposites by prescribing a drug to bring on artificial sleep. This often involves the use of large or regular doses of drugs which can sometimes cause side effects or addiction.
Homeopathy - the way of similars - has the central philosophy that a substance that produces symptoms in a healthy person can cure those same symptoms in a sick person. So in the example of insomnia, by giving the patient a specially prepared minute dose of a substance, such as coffee, they will be able to sleep naturally.
Gentle, yet powerful
Homeopathic remedies come in easy-to-take tablet or liquid form, and are drawn from the plant, mineral and animal worlds.
As a unique, potentised medicine, they avoid unwanted side effects, making them safe to use even in situations where conventional drugs would be dangerous or inadvisable (for example during pregnancy).
Healing begins from within your own body, strengthening your general health and immune system, and giving you an increased sense of energy and wellbeing.