Hello, All. I just joined this tribe to learn more about homeopathy. I have studied many different forms of healing, but have only a basic understanding of homeopathic medicine. I hope you can increase my understanding. My basic understanding of homeopathy is the whole "like cures like" theory put forth by Dr. Hahnemann.
Yet, this does not seem to be the principle behind the flower remedies, though they still seem to be related to the practice of homeopathy. I have spoken to some Anthroposophical physicians, who seem to relate an alchemical principle to the energetics behind their homeopathic-like remedies, and I have spoken to a shaman, who speaks of the spirits of the flowers being the power withing the flower essences. Neither of these are of the "like cures like" principle.
I would love to hear from any homeopaths who use flower essences and ask what is the current theory behind the flower essences. I appreciate any information that may increase my understanding. Thank you.
Dom
Yet, this does not seem to be the principle behind the flower remedies, though they still seem to be related to the practice of homeopathy. I have spoken to some Anthroposophical physicians, who seem to relate an alchemical principle to the energetics behind their homeopathic-like remedies, and I have spoken to a shaman, who speaks of the spirits of the flowers being the power withing the flower essences. Neither of these are of the "like cures like" principle.
I would love to hear from any homeopaths who use flower essences and ask what is the current theory behind the flower essences. I appreciate any information that may increase my understanding. Thank you.
Dom
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Re: A question regarding flower essences.
Tue, October 10, 2006 - 3:02 AMHey Dom... in Oz we have to train for 4 years to be qualified to practice homeopathy as a registered practitioner. it's not the only way to go but it's always the best approach as it's such an enormous field with many different approaches/teaching. to understand homeopathy you really have to start with hahnemann's organon of medicine. it's the foundation that you build your materia medica knowledge on.
the mechanism of action for homeopathy is not fully understood. many will try to give you various explanations but the ultimate reality is that there are theories but it has not yet been completely rationalised. there has been an enormous body of work created around this topic. some of which i'm sure you'll come across if you are a serious student of the subject.
secondly essences are not homeopathic. they are essences. i don't know why you are of the impression that the two are related. you'll find that many practitioners of medicine apply many forms of treatment to assist people toward good health. schuessler's tissue salts may be also understood to be very similar but again they are not. lay people may struggle with this and frankly it doesn't matter. it's the practitioner's responsibility to know and understand various medicines and apply them in the correct application. perhaps you have confused the two for this reason.
so onto essences....generally they are created by imersion involving different methods which attempt to capture the essence of the original substance. there is no succussion and this is where homeopathy believes it distinguishes itself in the nanomolecular field. but i'll move onto that shorty.
firstly read up on edward bach. he started the whole flower essence movement in a bid to simplify healing. thus his renowned tome "heal thyself". he basically came across the remedies using his own intuition as well as experimenting on himself. his attempts at simplification lead to him destroying his own vast collections of notes so as to not complicate things when he wasn't around. so i guess essentially what you are attempting to do in understanding the principle behinde flower rx goes against the grain of the practice itself. thus my lengthy explanation is probably unnecessary as it's all about simplicity when it comes to the essences. i suggest to any one who works in health who hasn't tried bach flowers to buy "the 12 healers". it is such a simple method that you can teach yourself. no need for exy courses or wankers standing around telling you they're an authority on the topic. it's a method that is way below all of that tomfoolery.
and i always tend to think that anyone who tries to give you a definitive answer to mechanism of action is a wanker anyway... it's simply not explainable under the rational approach so it's all theorising! the essences are far less understood than homeopathy in terms of mechanism of action but don't forget to not confuse them.
just to expand (a little more) there are some wonderful aussie flower essences available, as well as tibetan. then there are the shell essences to start on others... so happy learning but the truth is in the trying rather than the mental masturbation.
oh and for progress on ultra high dilutions/nanopharmacology, this is the group to watch
www.entretiens-internationaux.mc/w...tm -
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Re: A question regarding flower essences.
Tue, October 10, 2006 - 11:09 AMHello, Ms. Sweet,
You have my sincerest gratitude for your thorough and thoughtfull answer to my question. While I am medically trained, and have extensive knowledge regarding cranial treatments and other bodywork modalities, I have only a slim understanding of homeopathy. Working with several other healthcare professionals, I do whatever I can to expand my knowledge of healing modalities. You have helped trremdously in this.
Because of your suggestion, I intend to seek out the "12 Healers" and other of Bach's works to learn more. Much confusion arises regarding the flower essences, because 1) Bach was a British Homeopath and, 2) as you mention in your other post, many people are unclear about the nature of remedies (homeopathic or otherwise) that are discussed.
One of the reasons I seek to understand the mechanisms of healing modalities is because my first love, cranial, is highly intention driven. The greater my understanding of the cranial wave and the anatomy affected by it, the better I can establish my fulcrum to help the body bring itself into balance. My assumption, therefore, is that a homeopathic practitioner much chose a remedy through their intention to effect healing, and that an understanding of the mechanism behind that would dramatically increase the effectiveness of that remedy.
Given my lack of understanding regarding homeopathy, however, this is likely a faulty assumption. Again my thanks to you, and I look forward to more discussions of this nature.
Dom -
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Re: A question regarding flower essences.
Wed, October 11, 2006 - 7:04 AMdom
to address your two points
1. bach was not a homeopath, he was a medically trained general practitioner with rooms in harley st, london - a region synonymous with leaders in their field to this day. bach tried homeopathy and abandoned it as it was too complex and he was after something far more simple that anyone could use. there are many doctors who dabble in homeopathy and of course it is all good. spread the love i say!
in my experience homeopathy is more about the action of the drug (similar to rather than opposing the disease state) and the minimum dose. again i suggest you read the organon as it's a wonderful read from any perspective as there are many resounding truths to it which apply across the board regardless of what you are practicing.
2. you state many people are unclear about the nature of remedies. but i don't understand what you're referring to here. i have a feeling it might be what i mentioned about lay people... but i also feel strongly about practitioners spreading misinformation about many of these modalities. i believe it reflects a poor training in the foundations of the subject and it gets my alarm bells ringing anytime someone wants to provide irrational explanations for a rational topic.
what i think is amazing is that in the era homeopathy started some of the popular medicines of the time were so powerful and so dangerous that doctors like hahnemann were afraid to use them. so homeopathy came about as a sort of backlash. and it has resulted in vast experimentation and fairly thorough reporting since. so evidence based medicine it is indeed. did you know it's the 2nd most widely used form of medicine in the world? ahead of TCM even!
to address the final part of your post re intention. from my very limited understanding of cranial sacral work it is largely based on intuition. whilst i am aware of the effectiveness of a few intuition based modalities, homeopathy is not one of them. the foundation of homeopathy lies in the materia medica. this is a wide collection of texts that documents the action of particular substances. homeopaths know this field as "proving". whilst there would be practitioners out there who purport to be practicing intuitively, it is in addition to their practice of homeopathy.
re reading your post i know that a practitioner should always understand the medicines at hand and agree but that does not "dramatically increase the effectiveness of that remedy". the only way to effect a dramatic increase in results is to choose a more similar medicine. for eg person presents with irritation of eyes, with runny nose and frontal headache. one medicine may address eyes and nose but not frontal headaches whereas a second might address all three. both could be considered similimum but only the 2nd will have a better result. giving the 2nd with strong intention will not eliminate headache!
perhaps also you can understand better by realising that when the person takes a homeopathic medicine they are generally not in the presence of a practitioner and there is almost always a time lag between consults that cannot be facilitated by the practitioner.
good homeopaths know which medicines will suit an individual and also are objective in their observation and interaction with the patient. as a bodyworks practitioner perhaps you are facilitating more actively than an objectively observing homeopathic doctor is absent for a large part of the treatment.
the links below are as extensive as any book you can buy about bach flowers.
that is all from me for now, so all the best in your readings - your study group sounds like an interesting challenge.
www.bachflower.com/index.html
www.bachcentre.com/
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Re: A question regarding flower essences.
Thu, October 12, 2006 - 6:33 AMHi Dom~
I regularly use homeopathy...have studied the Materia Medica and have future plans to become more involved academically. Dana Ullman's books are some that I'd recommend for beginners.
Homeopathy defies all physical, biological, and chemical laws...it would fall more into the realm of quantum physics from what I currently understand. This is precisely why, in discussions/interchanges pertaining to this medical art, you may clash with physicians whose specialties are limited to 'chuncky pharmaceuticals..'...
The more I learn/experience, the more fascinated I become..it can be frustrating at times because it is such a precise science/art.
Good luck!
Nicole
