Q: “I’ve been working with a homeopath now for 2 years and I am not healthy yet. How long does it take to heal with homeopathy? I thought by now I would be healed.”
With Classical Homeopathy, the goals is “cure”—meaning there will be no symptoms of a disease, and hence, no disease. As homeopathic healing differs from all other forms of healing modalities, including other natural health services and care, I will discuss here some of the “things” that one needs to keep in mind when working with a Classical Homeopath for healing.
What is CLASSICAL Homeopathy?
The average person is unaware that there are different types of Homeopathic practitioners —so I feel this needs to be clarified so as to avoid confusion. In its basic terms, a Classical Homeopath (a.k.a. Hahnemannian Homeopath) practices according to the original “laws” of homeopathy, those set down by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann several centuries ago (Bhatia, January 2007). The main law of homeopathy, in fact, the first law, is: “The high and only mission of a physician is to restore the sick to health, to cure, as it is termed” (Aphorism One).
Classical Homeopaths usually use one homeopathic medicine at a time, one that is chosen based on individual characteristics of the person.
A Modern Homeopath does not usually work towards healing (“cure”)—they work with managing disease symptoms with homeopathic medicines. They often use combination remedies (5 or more remedies known to help with the symptom). Remedy selection is based on the disease, not the individual. Healing does not often occur when combination remedies are used.
What is TRUE Healing?
I also believe “true healing” needs to be clarified, as most people do no know what healing actually is. When surveyed, nearly all people believe an absence of symptoms is cure or that they have healed. However, people believe that they are healthy even if they have a disease so long as that disease is not causing symptoms. An example is the person with arthritis who takes pain medicines daily; so long as they are not in pain, they do not have arthritis—in their mind. Another example is a person who takes an antibiotic for an infection. Once the infection clears, the person often believes they are cured—until the infection returns. When the infection returns, they believe it is a new infection, not a remnant of the previous one.
True healing, according to Hahnemann’s Organon, is the complete “removal and annihilation of the disease in its whole extent”. A recurring infection or arthritis is not healed if it returns or remains to some extent.
Working towards Cure
Hahnemann’s second aphorism states: “The highest ideal of cure is rapid, gentle and permanent restoration of the health, or removal and annihilation of the disease in its whole extent, most reliable, and most harmless way, on easily comprehensible principles.”
Classical Homeopaths need to find the single best remedy out of all the available remedies that will start the healing process, and continue the process until complete healing occurs. Let’s look at the qualifiers:
Rapid: moving, acting or occurring with great speed. How long does it take to heal in the most-rapid way? Each person usually has an amount of time they will set aside for healing; after that amount of time, if the person hasn’t yet healed, they begin to look elsewhere for healing (or they give up and accept their disease as permanent). But who can put a time-line on healing? Even though a Homeopath (or any practitioner) cannot state exactly how long of a healing path anyone will have, they know their focus is to make the journey as rapid as possible, and as gentle and permanent as possible.
Gentle: not harsh or severe; mild and soft. A Homeopath can suggest a homeopathic remedy that can heal a person rapidly, but the remedy must also be gentle and not damaging in any way.
I like an analogy used by another Homeopath (Dr. Manish Bhatia’s discussion of Hahnemann’s second aphorism):
“Suppose you have to go from point A to point say some 100 km’s apart. There are many ways/modes to reach B from A. You can go by foot and it will probably take more than two days. Your joints are also going to hurt a lot. You can use the cycle and what you will cover the distance in a day or more. There is a lot of physical labor—it’s not easy (comfortable) for most of us to ride a cycle for a 100 km's. You can choose a scooter or a bike and you will cover the distance in two hours. You can choose a car and cover the distance in less than two hours. But the cost of the car in the fuel consumption would be significantly higher as compared to the scooter. You can choose a helicopter or a private jet. You'll be there in minutes but the cost is going to be exorbitant. Then you can even tie yourself to a missile and you will get there in minutes! Although not in one piece!!
“So we see that the quickest way (missile) is also the most damaging. Going by foot and cycle is slow (not rapid enough) and taxing (not gentle). So the choice lies between the bike and the car. Both are good enough but the bike is ideal because it's better fuel efficiency (financially less taxing). It is both fast enough and gentle enough.
“The bike here is the remedy that will give just the needed trust to the vital force to heal itself. If the progress is very slow, it is not ideal because the patient is suffering all the time. And it is our duty to relieve him of his sufferings as quickly as possible. Similarly, in an effort to cure the patient quickly, if the patient suffers in any way even then the condition is not ideal. So for a cure to be ideal it has to be a balance between the rapidity and the gentleness” (Bhatia, 2007).
So, for the right healing remedy or modality to be used, it must be both rapid and gentle. Most non-natural healing modalities may be rapid (in that they act fast) but they are not often gentle as they often leave residual healing to be done.
Permanent: lasting or remaining without essential change; something that is forever. Once health is restored, it will last. Healing has not occurred completely, permanently, if a person has to continue taking a medical drug or herb or what-not to keep symptoms away. Symptoms should be gone completely without the need to be managed.
Does that mean a person will never be sick again? NO. Even the most-healthy person will get sick or have an injury here and there—it is a fact of life. But a healthy person who gets the flu will recover quicker and without residual symptoms as compared to an unhealthy person.
One of the biggest factors that influence the permanence of healing is a person’s choices. For example, if a person gets into a car accident, the car can be repaired and the person can be healed completely. However, if the person continues to drive erratically, he will likely have another car accident, and with it more car damage and personal bodily injury. The doctor and the mechanic may be able to fix the person and car respectively, but if the person doesn’t change his driving habits, another accident is likely to occur.
Homeopathy can help with healing—but the person may also have to change to keep that health—to make it permanent.
The last qualifier is annihilation of disease. Hahnemann considered diseases as a process, not as an entity. The process of disease creation, therefore, must be eliminated for true healing to occur. Most people have tendencies toward a disease process (another discussion will be needed to discuss this concept). For the sake of brevity, let’s just call it a “genetic predisposition” to disease —many people can understand this given news reports. For example, women may be more prone to developing breast cancer if other females in their family have had it.
To be truly healthy, the tendency towards disease must also be removed. If the tendency is not removed, when stressors occur in a person’s life, they may again start along a disease path again.
So, how long will it take to heal? Nobody knows. However, for a Classical Homeopath: “The highest ideal of cure is rapid, gentle and permanent restoration of health, or removal and annihilation of the disease in its whole extent, in the shortest, most reliable, and most harmless way, on easily comprehensible terms.”
If your healing modality doesn’t fit this statement, then you need to work with a Classical Homeopath. You deserve to heal rapidly and permanently, and not have to suffer along the way.
Best wishes,
Dr. Ronda
References:
Bhatia, Manish (January 2007). “Lectures on Organon of Medicine—Homeopath’s Mission—Understanding Aphorism 1” at http://hpathy.com/organon-philosophy/lectures-on-organon-of-medicine-und...
Bhatia, Manish (February 2007). “Lectures on Organon of Medicine—Ideal Homeopathic Care—Understanding Aphorism 2” at http://hpathy.com/organon-philosophy/lectures-on-organon-of-medicine-und...
Disclaimer: The information provided by Dr. Ronda Behnke Theys is for educational purposes only. It is important that you not make health decisions or stop any medication without first consulting your personal physician or health care provider.
Dr. Ronda Behnke Theys is a distinguished practitioner of Classical Homeopathy and other Natural Healing methods. As co-founder of The Homeopathic Centers of America, Dr. Ronda passes on what she has learned through her seminars, articles, books and when working with individuals. You can contact Dr. Ronda via the www.MyHCA.org or by calling 920-558-9806. For a FREE guide to help you along your healing path, visit the HCA website as noted above.