The Good, The Bad and The Ugly or When is a Mistake not a Mistake?

I'm finding it interesting that I keep trying to write this blog and then deleting it and coming back to it in a few days. Presumably I think I'm making mistakes with it...

However what I'm trying to get across, through my starts and stops and starts again is that magical knowledge (maybe it's taken off us when we're given a pencil and it's natural accompaniment - the eraser - at an early stage) that there are no mistakes.

To explain I'll draw a little from my personal experience - I've had situations that have ended and thought 'What WAS I thinking?', however, with enough distance from the event it's been so clear that that experience led me to that next stage.  Just like childhood illnesses are often followed by a period of accelerated growth or learning, I've seen that my 'mistakes' haven't after all been 'failures' at all but steps to a far, far better place.  I've learnt some of my best lessons and grown so much from life from these events that really I have to thank my best teachers and appreciate the journey.

As my dad would say 'It all makes up life's rich tapestry' and I'm inclined to absolutely agree.

What would the average person coming for Homeopathy be, say or have?

I've been asked this a few times recently so have been pondering and musing more over it, particularly on my walk this morning, but really getting no further than my initial response. 

'Anyone, anything or anything really.'

It really doesn't get any more complicated than that. Or more simple whichever way you wish to look at it really.

I might see people who have a cold, prescribe remedies to help with healing from an operation, or see someone with hayfever, ulcerative collitis, migraines, chronic pain, ezcema, anxiety, depression, IBS symptoms, not feeling quite right but can't put a finger on it, (just thinking of a few examples from the couple of wks) or really absolutely anything you can think of.  Which makes it difficult, or easy to answer the question.

It doesn't matter about the age - my youngest client to date (apart from babies whose mum's have taken remedies to try and kick start their labour) is 4 weeks old and oldest nearly 90.

Distance really isn't an issue - although it's great to work from the Craven Clinic I am looking into working with Skype so am available longer distances than I used to be.

So really all there is is I could be about to see 'Anyone, saying anything and having anything really.'  And that would be something I really love about my job.

If you've been wondering whether Homeopathy might be of benefit to you feel free to get in touch - it'd be great to hear from you.

'What They Said'... or The Greats on Homeopathy

I've always had a 'thing' about quotes.  I used to write them in the front of notebooks (my favourites were those ones from France with the fantastic square paper in - you'll know what I mean if you had one), on paper and frame them in clip frames, and memorise them. And sometimes stencilled them (along with the sunflowers) on the walls as a student.  I had particular favourites - 'No Day But Today' from RENT was one, 'Carpe Diem' - brought to my knowledge by the brilliant Dead Poet's Society.  Well, you get the picture. I liked quotes! 

So I thought it might be worth collecting a few Homeopathy quotes from various sources.  The amazing Hahnemann with ideas way ahead of his time who has brought this incredible medicine into being, into our awareness and created such an amazing guide which is still so relevant now, over 200 years on has to be first...

"The highest ideal of cure is the speedy, gentle, and enduring restoration of health by the most trustworthy and least harmful way." Samuel Hahnemann, founder of Homeopathy

“No individual has done more good to the medical profession than Samuel Hahnemann” (the father of Homeopathy).  Sir William Ostler, “The Father of Modern Medicine”

"Homeopathy is wholly capable of satisfying the therapeutic demands of this age better than any other system or school of medicine." Dr. Charles Menninger M.D., Founder Menninger Clinic

"In the records of three years of Diphtheria in Broome County, NY from 1862 to 1864, there was a report of an 83.6% mortality rate among the allopaths and a 16.4% mortality rate among the Homeopaths.  (Bradford)."---Julian Winston

 "Homeopathy .... cures a larger percentage of cases than any other method of treatment and is beyond doubt safer and more economical and most complete medical science." Mahatama Gandhi

 "Homeopathy is the safest and more reliable approach to ailments and has withstood the assaults of established medical practice for over 100 years." Yehudi Menuhin, World famous violinist

 "The introduction of homeopathy forced the old school doctor to stir around and learn something of a rational nature about his business. You may honestly feel grateful that homeopathy survived the attempts of allopaths (the orthodox physicians to destroy it." Mark Twain

 “There have been two great revelations in my life: The first was bepop, the second was homeopathy.” Dizzy Gillespie, great jazz musician

 "The long-term benefit of homeopathy to the patient is that it not only alleviates the presenting symptoms but it reestablishes internal order at the deepest levels and thereby provides a lasting cure." George Vithoulkas, Director, Athenian School of Homeopathic Medicine

And there are many who use and support Homeopathy today... some celebrities are listed below...


Today's Stars

Other modern-day famous people who have publically declared their interest in and support for homeopathic medicine include: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Whoopi Goldberg, Pamela Anderson, Jane Fonda, Cher, Rosie O'Donnell, Martin Sheen, the Chili Peppers, Jane Seymour, Lesley Anne Warren, Axl Rose, Linda Gray, Susan Blakely, Michael Franks, Cybill Sheppard, Vidal Sassoon, Angelica Houston, Boris Becker, Martina Navratilova, Priscilla and Lisa Marie Presley, Cliff Robertson, Jerry Hall, Diane von Furstenberg, Ashley Judd, Naomi Judd, Olivia Newton-John, Julianna Margulies, JD Salinger, Blythe Danner, Pat Riley (coach of the Miami Heat), and England's Prime Minister Tony Blair.

My own stars are my patients who teach me so much and I want to thank here.  You're all brilliant and I thank you for the privilege of working with you.  I adore my work, know that right now this is where I'm meant to be and I thank you for being there.

With Gratitude,

Em

Love and Homeopathy

Doing some musing today on love and homeopathy and getting home from my seaside trip out I see that Mary Aspinwall has written a great blog Addicted to Love? Homeopathy can help.  Brilliantly written and well worth a read.

My thoughts were more around the similarities and connections between homeopathy and love.  For a start I think most homeopaths have a natural curiosity and love of people, leading them to want to discover more about people and a desire to help in general.  The homeopath in the clinic is ideally an unprejeudiced observer - with absolute acceptance and lack of judgement of someone as they are - or to equate this in a relationship sense I suppose unconditional love would be it.  We are open to finding out as much as we can about a person to be able to prescribe a remedy to ideally help them move forwards from the place they are 'stuck' in.

There's been a wonderful study from Norway about the personality of homeopaths - have a look here for more information but in brief they find:
'People who work as homeopaths can be described as open to new and different ideas, and as caring, understanding, and altruistic persons. Therefore, there is reason to believe that these dispositions are central in choosing homeopathy as an occupation.'

An ongoing love of learning is a must too! I started studying in 2003, graduated in 2007 and since then have been continually engaged in CPD or courses since then.  Currently I'm studying with Jeremy Sherr on his Dynamis course - a 2 1/2 year post graduate couse where I've met some amazing homeopaths and am loving it!  Also working with Jackie McTaggart with the Scholten methods and - yes you've got it - loving that too.  I study at home, learn so much from clients and know that my natural swot like nature has finally found the perfect vocation!!  On both my courses there are new homeopaths to ones who've been practising years and years - all with a genuine love of learning.


Homeopathy can also help with situations around love - from losing love and grieving to struggling to love and open up in the first place.  Issues bonding, letting go and anywhere in between are often seen and treated by homeopaths. More on this in Mary's article - link above.

I'm sure there's loads of connections I've not mentioned - these were just a few of my thoughts as we made sand pictures on the beach... usually a love of the natural world in there too...

With love,

Em

Let the waves pass...

I recently attended a workshop on The Pain Release Technique which is related very much to living mindfully.  To start it off we did a meditation and as a part of that we were to imagine waves passing through our bodies, then moving onto waves of emotions passing through us.  I loved the analogy and have thought of it several times since being at the workshop.  So much can get stuck because we're holding onto things.  Both good and bad.  

We can feel that 'this is the best it's ever been' perhaps, and not want to let that feeling go. But by that act of clinging onto it, the feeling of 'what could it go back to' we're operating from a feeling of lack, of insecurity.  Similarly from hanging onto bad feelings about situations or people we're living in the past, not in that moment.  I don't want to belittle anyone's pain as obviously it's valid and relevant but sometimes it doesn't help us in moving forwards freely into our next moments.  The anger may well have been useful - it probably was, but feeling that feeling 10 years on means that most likely we're trapped by that situation still whereas the other people involved may well be moving freely, happily through life now.  There's a great story that illustrates what I'm trying to say:

Putting down your burdens

A long ago time ago in the hills of Quong Zu province, there once lived a revered old monk who was a master of Zen Buddhism.

One day he decided that he would make a pilgrimage to a neighbouring monastery, and not wishing to make the journey alone, he decided to take along one of his young disciples.

They started their journey early the next morning and in the true spirit of Zen each walked along engrossed in his own thoughts, and so they journeyed for many hours without speaking. By mid-day they had come to a small stream and it was here that they noticed a young girl dressed in fine silk, obviously contemplating how best to cross the stream without getting her precious clothes wet.

Immediately the old monk walked over to the young girl and in one smooth motion, he picked her up in his arms and walked out into the stream, then after carrying her safely to the other side, he gently put her down and walked on without having said a single word.

His disciple having watched this whole incident was in a state of complete shock, for he knew it was strictly forbidden for a monk to come into physical contact with another person. Quickly, he too crossed the stream, and then ran to catch up with his master, and together they once again walked on in silence. Finally at sunset they made camp and settled down for the night.

The next morning after prayers and meditation the old monk and his disciple once again continued their journey, once again in silence.

After many miles, and no longer able to contain his curiosity, the disciple called to his master and said,

"Master may I ask you a question" ?

"Of course you may" his master replied, "knowledge comes to those who seek it".

Respectfully his disciple said, "yesterday I saw you break one of our most sacred vows when you picked up that young girl and carried her across the stream, how could you do such a thing" ?

His master replied, "That is true, and you are right it is something I should not have done, but you are as guilty as I am" .

"How so" asked his disciple, "for it was you who carried her across the stream not I" ?

"I know" replied his master, "but at least on the other side I put her down".

"You, however, are obviously still carrying her".

 

Let the waves pass and enjoy the current moment, the now. 

With peace,

Em x

 

 

On Being Different...

Which isn't always so easy to deal with for everyone.  My biggest aim of being a mum is to be able to bring Isla up to love her differences, love others for their differences and to respect it all.  Interesting I'm thinking about this on the day I found out Whitney Houston had died.  We had a chat about her this morning and watched the BBC news video.  I told Isla that I think the most important thing anyone can do is to love themselves to my which my gorgeous five year old's opinion was that she looked like she did. 

I guess sometimes it's hard to tell without taking time to listen more, look deeper or just be there for someone.  I hope Whitney's at peace and acceptance of herself now and free from the pain.

On this note I'd like to share the fabulous single by The L Project - it's beautiful!  It Does Get Better (takes you to the YouTube link and when you like it buy a copy). The profits of the single are to be given in their entirety to LGBT charities: Diversity Role Models and Stonewall.

"Diversity Role Models hope that with the financial gain from the single, they will be able to employ another spokesperson and spread their school visits throughout the UK, instead of only London. Dickson recognises there are many rural areas in the UK which really need to be educated LGBT wise. When Hodges (the song's inspiration) was asked if he thought Diversity Role Models visiting his school would have made a difference to his story, he replied: "Yes definitely! At my school we didn't have anything like that", indicating that if this service had been available it might have bettered his school life."

"The single will be available to download on ITunes, Amazon, CD Baby and other download sites in three different formats. There is a long version, a shorter version and a Karaoke version, which will hopefully become a craze soon. The singles will be available as a trio, or separately, for a price yet unconfirmed but should range from 79p to £1.50."

For more info visit www.thel-project.com

Isla and I are really excited about being bridesmaids at my sister's wedding to her lovely girlfriend later in the year  - it's not always been an easy road to walk for her but I'm very proud and happy for them both.  That's not to say we've not driven each other mad over the last 31 years - we are so very different after all!

If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them.  Dalai Lama

We are all made of stars

There is nothing new.  There is no situation that has never been faced before.  We can handle this. 

Sometimes, rightly so we need a little help - and I can be one of the best at forgetting to ask for it - or even to help myself (as I type my knee is swollen from a fall which I should have, could have, would have been better to take Arnica 30C for to help the bruising.  I have, in a funny sort of way though kind of enjoyed the more extreme connection with my physical body that you just don't get usually. Not so sure about my abdominal muscles aching from trying to tip myself upside down in my last (February challenge) pole dancing class. I may be off to take Arnica shortly... Anyway I digress. Back to the point...)  Sometimes we are unaware even of exactly what is wrong other than we don't feel like we should.  I see lots of clients who may say that they 'don't feel like me'.  And then coming back after a good remedy reaction they'll often report that they 'feel much more like me'. 

I love homeopathy for so very many reasons - it can be so subtle, so gentle and still so deep acting and whilst I hesitate to say curative as I know I'm not supposed to say that (probably not supposed to believe that if I listened well) I'm just going to leave it that sometimes we've seen things we've suffered from for years that don't come back again. Ever.  Today explaining my intentions to a client it came to me that really all I'm looking for in every case is that remedy that will help that person be more comfortably them in the world around them.  That could be in the case of someone with allergies, someone with autism or someone with anything whatsoever on the physical or mental/emotional levels. 

To be ourselves to the best of our ability and to move with ease.  We are, after all, all made of stars. Let's shine.