You Look Good When You Feel Good

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The slogan in a brochure at a local day spa reads “when we look good we feel good.”   Meaning, when we take care of our body and how we look, then we feel better inside.   Is that really true or is there more lying deep below the skin?  This article challenges this contemporary mindset and promotes the premise that genuine health and healing is from the inside out …

Western culture conditions us to believe that when our physical body looks good, we feel good - which is true to some extent.  A new hair style, makeup, beautiful clothes and exercise certainly makes us feel better.  But have you ever seen an eccentric wealthy old lady who piles on the makeup, has a fit body but is miserable?   Does a face lift, tummy tuck or beautiful clothes change what lingers deep inside?

Success is often fueled by transforming a negative life experience into something productive.    Unfortunately for many, this inner drive is a negative energy not completely transformed as  that same energy rises to the surface in the form of diseases.  How often does a workaholic collapse from stress or a care giver become sick with a life threatening disease?

“You Look Good When You Feel Good” means you feel so good at the depth of your soul that you radiate a pure, wholesome, genuine, healthy look on the outside. 

Our vital force is the ultimate source of health and illness as it gives life to our body.  Remove the vital force and our body dies.  Likewise, this life force when healthy radiates health and happiness, while an unhealthy life force expresses itself as a mental illness, depression or a physical disease.    

As a holistic practice, Homeopathy focuses on the mind, the emotions and the physical body.   The underlying causes of unhealthy thoughts and emotions are typically suppressed deep into our subconscious so that we're not aware of it's affect on our lives.   And though suppression may help many survive in the short term, it creates an obstacle to genuine health.  The body reacts to this stored negative energy by slowly developing a chronic illness that eventually disables normal body functions.  

Conventional medicine offers the world of health the gift of diagnosing and managing disease, but it falls short of healing.  Most holistic practices approach healing by balancing energies within the body – i.e. ying and yang - but it doesn't necessarily remove the underlying causes.   Homeopathy takes a different and unique approach to healing.  Like a reset button, appropriately applied homeopathic remedies neutralize the disease energy which allows the body, mind and emotions to heal in a gentle, natural and deep acting process as Nature intended.

To me a healthy person may be attractive and physically fit, but more importantly a healthy person radiates a special energy from inside – it’s called Grace.   All of us have moments of misery and moments of grace.   To thrive in a challenging world is to radiate an inner grace more often than not and to nurture our inner strength and stamina to withstand the difficulties of life.

Yes, cosmetics and exercise contribute to our sense of well being, but it doesn’t begin nor end there.   Homeopathy is a vital component to maintaining true health and happiness that radiates from within, and I invite you to learn more about this amazing healing practice.  Please visit my website at www.holistichealthwithhomeopathy or join my Facebook group at Holistic Health With Homeopathy.  

Thank you. 

What can I expect from Homeopathic treatment?

Ultimately, you should expect to have a feeling of well being which means that in every aspect of your life you will feel healthy.   Your thoughts and emotions will be balanced, your body will feel healthy and function with optimum strength and your life will flow in harmony with the world around you.  The journey to optimum health is a process that takes time and patience.  This article offers insight into what you can expect during the process so that you can stay on the path throughout the duration.

To begin this discussion, let's understand the difference between acute and chronic illnesses.

Acute illnesses develop suddenly and are usually short in duration.  There is an obvious beginning, a climatic middle and an apparent end to the condition.  Examples of acute illnesses are the common cold, fever and influenza, headaches, chicken pox, measles, strept throat, bee stings and insect bites, boils and abscesses, athlete's foot, burns, cuts and scrapes, bruises, puncture wounds, fractured bones, and injuries to ligaments and tendons.  Unless a person's condition is complicated with a chronic illness, acute illness usually can be fought by the body's natural and healthy defense mechanisms.  Homeopathic treatment quickens this process, thus avoiding unnecessary suffering. When using homeopathic remedies during acute illnesses one can expect relatively rapid healing.

Chronic illnesses, on the other hand, develop slowly, usually with minimum discomfort at the onset and gradually worsen over an extended period of time.  Without proper treatment, the body's defense mechanism becomes weaker and weaker until it's too weak to fight such chronic diseases.   Quite often, these disease symptoms have been passed from generation to generation.  Just as chronic diseases begin slowly and progress gradually, the process to restore health is usually slow and gradual with noticeable improvement shortly after beginning treatment.

Whether treating acute or chronic illnesses, the initial consultation is critical.  Acute illnesses may require up to an hour to evaluate while chronic conditions usually require as much as two hours to properly evaluate.  The homeopath will delve into the intricate details of the person's state of being, focusing on the sensations and changes in the patient's functions during his illness.  The evaluation may also take into consideration personal characteristics like his body temperature, food cravings, tendency to thirst, sleep habits including dreams along with a personal and family history of illnesses. The homeopath is looking for what is unique about how the individual expresses his illness.   For example...  if four people are being treated for headaches, each could benefit from a different remedy based on their different sensations and functions - one may describe a sharp pain at the back of the head, another a pulsating pain on the forehead, another a burning pain all over and yet another may say it's a twisting pain at the temples.

After the consultation, the homeopath may need some time to select the most similar remedy and determine the appropriate dosage, or s/he may be able to suggest a treatment on the spot.  Treatments may be one single dose or repetitive doses and are individualized to the patient’s condition and unique characteristics.

There are times when selecting the appropriate remedy takes a little trial and error which can slow the process down a bit. This usually happens when the information provided at the initial evaluation is insufficient.  To illustrate, consider the following situation.  A mother of 7 had a sever case of cold sores all over her mouth including her tongue and the roof of her mouth.   Her medical doctor had no treatment for her and suggested she let it heal naturally or go to the hospital for further care.  Initially, I considered this an acute situation, so I quickly evaluated her physical symptoms and took note that she was overwhelmed with the task of managing her home and children.  One single remedy was suggested with some improvement but not the expected results. Again, another remedy was suggested and again there was some improvement, but not enough.  After two weeks of suffering, I decided that this was apparently a chronic situation and that a thorough evaluation was in order.  After the second consultation, I recommended a third remedy.  Within hours healing began - by the next day the cold sores were completely gone.

A brief and mild aggravation after the treatment is sometimes experienced. The aggravation is evidence that the remedy was slightly more energetic than the natural disease state, and one should experience improvement shortly thereafter.  In chronic conditions, healing should be slow, consistent and gradual, though sometimes there is a regression.  When this happens, a repetition of the remedy may be appropriate or a re-evaluation of the treatment is required.  At times healing is instant, but that is usually in acute cases and not to be expected in chronic illnesses.

All chronic illnesses require a complete understanding the individual’s overall condition to arrive at the most appropriate remedy. Very often the first remedy selected is appropriate but, as healing progresses, more appropriate remedies become more evident.  In such cases, the homeopath will re-evaluate the treatment and recommend a new treatment.

Many illnesses, whether acute or chronic, can be life threatening.  If homeopathic treatment can not offer rapid healing in such life threatening situations, one should seek conventional medicine immediately. Homeopathic care may continue in conjunction with conventional medicine.  Never should the care and well being of a person be compromised for the sake of homeopathic treatment.
 
Health is a journey. One must be patient, consistent, persistent and aware of the process regardless of the method of healing.

"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, in the shortest, most reliable and most harmless way, on easily comprehensible principles."  Organon, paragraph 2



 
This second principle of Classical Homeopathy gives us the expectation that healing at the deepest level should be rapid, gentle and permanent.