Finding Balance With Homeopathy And Yoga

The search for unity seems to exist at so many levels in life – in the experience of romantic love, the desire for family and friends, the pursuit of logic, the poetry of art and the longing we experience when separated from our goals. Our physical bodies are no different, expressing disunity or ‘dis-ease’ through its myriad symptoms in an effort to right itself. Both classical homeopathy and yoga pursue the restoration and maintenance of health by achieving harmony within body, mind and spirit. While the benefits of yoga may need no explanation here, a better understanding of homeopathy might be useful.nHomeopathy is a 200 year-old system of healing, based on the law of similars. This means that if a substance can produce symptoms in a healthy person, it will be able to cure those symptoms in a state of illness. Although Hippocrates wrote about this concept in 400 BC (“Through the like, disease is produced and through the application of the like, it is cured”), it was Samuel Hahnemann who first tested this principle in 1790.nAs a physician and chemist in the days when infections were routinely treated with mercury (Mozart died from its toxicity), Dr. Hahnemann sought a more effective and gentle method of treatment. Through his countless experiments, he learned that when the body’s vital force is imbalanced, it only needs a slight prompt to heal itself and establish equilibrium. That prompt is actually a microdose of a substance in nature which can produce the same array of symptoms mirrored in the body’s imbalance. For example, when Dr. Hahnemann ingested cinchona bark or quinine, he developed fever, vomiting, diarrhea and other symptoms of malaria. When he gave quinine to those actually suffering from malaria, he observed that patients were able to overcome the disease. After this first experiment, he went on to test thousands of substances on healthy subjects, called “provings.” He also found that by diluting and shaking these materials (derived from plant, mineral and animal substances) until little or none of the original matter remains, remedies could be made increasingly potent with little or no side effects.nIn homeopathy, disease is not viewed as an external invader, but as a disruption within. Since this causes an expression of symptoms unique to each individual, remedies are not prescribed according to the name of the condition, but are instead selected by evaluating one’s mental, emotional and physical totality. A well-chosen remedy stimulates the organism to heal itself, while also strengthening the immune system. This individualization of each patient is a time-consuming effort, perhaps not in tune with today’s prevailing methods of rapid diagnoses and instant cures. Yet as one who practices yoga already knows, an atmosphere of quiet, unrushed calm facilitates internal rebalancing. In the same way, the unrushed nature of a deep homeopathic evaluation can uncovers the core mistunement that limits our freedom to be healthy. With the goal of lasting cure and not merely a palliation of symptoms, true patience and clarity are essential tools. nFrom a homeopathic viewpoint, the suppression of symptoms blocks the vital force’s attempt to relieve its inner disturbance and has the effect of driving illness deeper within. Today’s rampant use of prescription drugs, designed to attack and eliminate disease, often produce unwanted side effects. Most importantly, they interfere with our vital force’s innate drive to achieve balance and health. There is a gentler way to heal than by declaring war, the ultimate expression of disunity, against our bodies and minds. How fortunate that both yoga and homeopathy offer us compatible maps to speed our journey to oneness.nnnn