All Is Calm, take 2
A re-visit to last year's post…
“All is Calm?” Really? At this time of year?
Yes! I am happy to say that this year, so far, all is pretty calm and it’s a nice change.
There was no pre-holiday vacation this year, so I haven’t been rushed. There was a lot of travel for me the last few months and I am over-the-moon happy to just be at home. The house is decorated and the little stress I had was really limited to giving myself an arbitrary timeline to get it done, primarily because I didn’t want the storage boxes sitting around my living room any longer than necessary. Is it perfect? Nope. Is there more to be done? Yup. Yet, I am maintaining my zen. Phew!
We have an enormous tree this year, thanks to our son and his friend trekking into the mountains to find us their version of the perfect tree. However, this is the prickliest tree ever. It is so prickly that we all kind of gave up early hanging more ornaments on the tree cuz it was painful! (I don’t think my New Year’s tree is going to work this year!) And, you know what? I like the lesser dressed tree. Thinking about it, it kind of sums up this pleasant Christmas season… the big, prickly tree wasn’t fun to decorate, so we didn’t keep going. The stressful Christmases past were actually sort of like big, prickly trees and all the hoopla and rigamarole sucked some of the fun out of it for me, too.
My fabric bags are still bringing me joy and making my life easier. 😍
Our first annual gingerbread house decorating competition was fantastically fun even though my team lost because our gingerbread house failed the Richter scale test 🤣.
The board games are stacked up under the table waiting to be cracked open. One roll of my favorite cookie dough (see: Tis the Season for… Burns?! for the recipe) is out of the freezer, ready to be baked. Maybe I’ll make some other cookies … maybe I won’t. (But Santa Hat Brownies* have been on my mind, so, I think I’m leaning that way if I happen to stumble upon some gorgeous strawberries.) Regardless, I am not stressing over it and that makes me very happy.
How does all this relate to homeopathy? I believe fully that there have been a couple of beautiful homeopathic remedies I have taken during this past year that have helped me move to a new level of calm. Could I tell you which remedy made the biggest difference? I know which two remedies I think are directly responsible but I am not going to say what they are. Why? Because these two remedies were chosen specifically for me and the way in which they resonated in my body has resulted in this new state of being.
That’s where homeopathy really shines: it is truly individualized medicine. It is quite an amazing healing modality. There is nothing else like it… the entire person is taken into account to find a matching remedy. How cool is that?!
If you notice, I mentioned taking two particularly impressive remedies this past year that I believe have greatly contributed to my calm. So, not strictly classical homeopathy in this case. Strictly classical homeopathy would be one single remedy. Period. Then wait and see what changes take place.
I didn’t do that in this case. I take my own advice and I do work with a professional homeopath — one who is classically trained — but their methods are not strictly classical. When I work with clients, occasionally, we go strictly classical; sometimes we use a schedule of multiple homeopathic remedies; sometimes we use one basic remedy (some may call this a "constitutional" remedy) and support that with some cell salts or some organ support remedies and sometimes we use various combinations of multiple modalities. My way of practicing homeopathy is completely individualized to the person I am working with.
So, if all goes according to plan, the well-chosen homeopathic remedy(ies) is/(are) taken, and, after a little time, the most amazing subtle shifts begin to take place and then one day a few months later (as in my recent case), you realize the benefits are here to stay.
”Is it only classical homeopathy that does this?”
Absolutely not! Homeopathy has this deep-reaching effect whether the remedy is chosen classically or practically. You see, in my never-to-be-humble-opinion there is not one single correct homeopathic remedy for each person. There are thousands of homeopathic remedies out there (8,661 according to Aurum Project 2020), many of which have overlapping symptoms. For example, the homeopathic remedy we know of as Hepar sulph contains elements of Sulphur and Calc carb (See also: Say Cheese.) Depending on what symptoms are being addressed, theoretically speaking, Hepar sulph, Sulphur or Calc carb may have been well suited to the situation. If you want to address something in particular, for instance conjunctivitis, our trusty Murphy Repertory lists 164 remedies. (Note: using this "clinical" rubric is only one (modern) way to look at the situation. A more in-depth, classical way would be to repertorize each of the symptoms being experienced in the said conjunctivitis and discern the appropriate remedy from there, but I digress.) One of these 164 remedies may be exactly right for a specific individual on a complete-being basis, but many of these remedies may get the job done in terms of addressing the conjunctivitis.
"So, if I were to be treated through classical homeopathy, I just need to have one remedy and my life will be changed?"
Tricky question. It is certainly a distinct possibility. If we could go back in time, I would say the possibility of that outcome would have been even greater. In today's world, where we are treated with (generally speaking, allopathic) medical interventions from birth (heck, even in utero, actually), those chances lessen, in my opinion. There is so much more to us than just us. As Shrek says (and homeopath Dr. Francisco Eizayaga, too!), we're like onions -- we are full of layers. In some cases, even our layers have layers and I believe it is a big ask for one little remedy (which technically has nothing in it) to do all the work of undoing all we have done to ourselves through our everyday living.
Homeopathy, whether classically or practically applied, can help to peel back those layers. What lies under each layer remains to be seen. Sometimes it's a one and done -- a simple matter of cleaning something up, perhaps. Most often, however, peeling back a layer brings us to a fresh (or, actually, an old) layer. Old illnesses have left their mark. Ancient emotional upsets which are still wreaking havoc in their own way. Physical traumas from injuries or surgical intervention which have upset the apple cart. We all have them and with time and patience and some well-chosen homeopathic remedies, these layers can be shifted and lifted.
This new year, do yourself a favor and book an appointment with a professional homeopath and see how it may help you.
Julia Coyte, CHom
Classically Practical homeopath
#wellnessawaits
* Santa Hat Brownies
Make a pan of your favorite brownies. Choose some gorgeous strawberries and trim the greens with a nice, clean cut (to make a nice, solid base for the strawberry). Plop a bit of whipped cream on the brownie, enough so that when you place the strawberry on top that it squishes the cream out to look like the fur lining of Santa’s hat. Finish it up with a tiny dollop of whipped cream on the very top of the hat.
photo from https://ohsweetbasil.com/santa-hat-brownies-recipe/