Homeopathy, a health practice that is holistic, has been around for over 200 years. It treats the whole person, not just the part that is injured or in pain. It is based on a system of treating like with like.

Conventional medicine sees health as the absence of disease. If someone is not sick, then there is nothing wrong with the person. To someone who practices homeopathy (a homeopath), health is significantly more encompassing than that.

In homeopathy, a healthy person is someone who is free on all levels, physical, emotional, and mental. If you suffer a broken bone, you are not free physically. If you suffer from depression, you are not free emotionally. If you suffer from memory loss, you are not free mentally. A homeopath will attempt to restore freedom on all of these levels.

Homeopathy is a system that attempts to stimulate the body to heal itself. Whatever your ailment may be, a homeopath will use a remedy that stimulates the body to move in the direction it is already going. In that process, the ailment will be eliminated.

All symptoms of an ailment, no matter how uncomfortable or miserable, actually represent the body's attempt to restore itself to health. Instead of looking upon those symptoms as something wrong with the body, which is what conventional medicine does, the practice of homeopathy sees those symptoms as signs of the way the body is trying to heal itself.

Instead of trying to stop or suppress whatever the ailment is, a homeopath will try a remedy that causes the ailment in the person, thus encouraging the body to heal itself. Conventional medicine will try to suppress the ailment.

Homeopathy is a system that looks at the individual, not at the disease. We all suffer from an ailment in a unique way. However, conventional medicine assumes that the ailment is the same for all of us and prescribes the same drug for all.

Homeopathy, however, searches for the one substance that will cure each individual case. Since each person expresses the ailment differently, each person needs a different remedy. Homeopathy is safe, gentle and extremely effective.

HOW TO DETERMINE THE CORRECT REMEDY

Since homeopathy relies on prescribing one remedy, all of your symptoms should be included in the determining process. Aside from the obvious nature of your ailment, there are many things that should be noticed and many questions that should be asked:

*When did the symptoms first appear?

*Where exactly is the problem located?

*What makes the symptom feel worse?

*What makes the symptom feel better?

*What is the person's state of mind? Are there factors that could be causing the symptoms such as anxiety, depression, or fear?

*What is the person sensitive to? (This can be physical, mental or emotional.)

*What is the person's sleep pattern?

HOMEOPATHIC MEDICINES

Homeopathic medicines are substances made from plants, minerals, and animals. They are diluted carefully until little of the original substance remains.

For example, one drop of the substance is mixed with one hundred drops of alcohol (a ratio of 1:100). The mixture is then shaken and labeled as 1C. One drop of this mixture is then mixed with another 100 drops of alcohol and the process is repeated to make a 2C and so on.

Very small globules made from sugar are then soaked with the liquid dilution. These globules make up the homeopathic remedy. These infinitesimal doses not only work, they are extremely effective, working on humans and animals.

Choosing a homeopathic remedy is based on the totality of symptoms present. Any remedy can be used for any condition if the symptoms that are generated by the remedy match the symptoms that are being experienced by the person.

ADVANTAGES OF USING HOMEOPATHY

*Homeopathy is natural, gentle, and safe and based on natural ingredients.

*When the correct remedy is taken, results are complete and permanent.

*There are no dangers to homeopathy. Remedies can be taken in conjunction with any other medicines without any side effects.

*Unlike conventional medicines that can suppress the immune system, homeopathy works in harmony with the body's immune system.

*Homeopathy is holistic in nature. All symptoms are treated as one.

Homeopathy requires more time and patience in determining what the correct remedy is. However, once you discover what the correct remedy is, the result will be a cure of the cause, not just a treatment of the symptoms. The right remedy can permanently cure what is ailing you.