In many regards I am no different to the many Homeopaths all over North America that have similar stories as to how they found Homeopathy for themselves and their families. What makes me different is perhaps that I was about to embark on studies to delve further in my field – Social Work and Counselling – when I was also newly parenting my adopted child who was sick with chronic colds with respiratory issues and lots of painful earaches. I have to say that I just eased into the field of alternative medicine, Homeopathy, pretty easily. I live in Toronto and we have practitioners of many modalities of complimentary medicine that are easy to access if you have the means and desire. We have schools and one was literally up the block from me. We have people from all walks of life that make it seem normal to just go to a Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine or a Reiki Master. My mother’s Chinese heritage as well gave me insight into the TCM philosophy, thus, already had me thinking along the lines of using my skills and talents for people’s mental and emotional health so as to get at root causes of issues…and not to just aiming for band-aid solutions for anything and everything in my life and others that I had counselled or would work with. In other words, I believe, I already had a Homeopathic worldview.
“When the student is ready the teacher will appear.” Confucian proverb
My studies officially started pretty much soon after stumbling upon Homeopathy due to seeing firsthand the benefits offered by it. In fact after seeing my young daughter do well with her chronic earaches in 2003 I pretty much immediately enrolled in that school just up the street from me to start my Homeopathic studies. Clinically, I have been mentored by insightful, well seasoned Homeopaths who supported me in my work with patients. Again it was easy peesy for me as I was going to professional seminars of world renowned Homeopaths from day one of my studies and my immediate start of practicing Homeopathy (albeit colds/flus…Acutes only to start with with the odd serious pathology here and there). So, local Homeopaths that were there and that piqued my interest – in the way they engaged as students of these masters – were the individuals that I approached to mentor myself in my practice with patients.
Again it was totally with ease that I had access to the great quality and quantity of Homeopaths being brought to North America. Toronto and neighbouring cities in the North East of the Continent are the hub for visiting teachers….so, getting to learn from them in-person has been less stressful than if I was located somewhere else.
Over a number of years each of the mentors I worked with generously shared their expertise and experiences. I had guidance on a case by case basis, or patient by patient. With each individual I worked with to achieve health and balance in their lives I was expanding my working knowledge of what I had learned in school and at all these professional seminars. This is what I feel really prepared me for my practice as it now stands. The nourishment of many teachers, including all the individuals that I have seen over the years, have and continue to inform my way of practicing.
Another important source for me of my personal and professional growth and development was a three year clinical mastery program, postgraduate course, held in North America. The Homeopathic Master Clinician Course. I applied to get in when I was finishing my undergrad level studies of Homeopathy at my local school and again this was facilitated with ease because the timing was perfect. It was just starting up after being absent for almost 10 years locally, but again the numbers were there from local Homeopaths and Naturopaths to fill a classroom for the outstanding instructor, Louis Klein. His course was formative for myself (and almsot 500 others over the last 20 years here in North America). I was not only exposed to the advances being practiced further a field, but also his methods totally opened me up to the possibilities of modern case analysis and prescribing. For those of us in North America we have been afforded the use of small and new remedies that have been in use all over the world in what is known in our field as the Renaissance of Homeopathy (in the last 25 years of our professions’s 200 year history).
Also, I did work for a number of years until not too long ago with an European publisher of Homeopathic literature. I was asked by them to be a customer rep to North American Homeopaths and schools. The demand on our side of the pond was enough that they needed someone to facilitate the orders for their books and the titles they sold on their website. They are called Narayana Publishers and are actually M.D. Homeopaths that helped upgrade Homeopathy in Germany, the mother country, during modern times. Again due to the renaissance Homeopathy is undergoing and how we in North America were getting informed many of us at present are able to improve ourselves for our patients by catching up to what has already been afoot in Europe for many years. My personal experience of joining the Narayana team came about only because of the internet; they stumbled upon me and I them and we were a good match. I learned immensely from my contact with them and found a trip to Germany to meet the publishers at one of their seminars – a Homeopathic Mental Health Congress – to be one of those life altering experiences you can have in your lifetime if you are open to adventure.
Currently, I continue my education – as I have since my “student days” – by attending professional development seminars and also with webinar learning with world renowned teachers…and this still helps me stay current of the modern developments that are unfolding in our profession. This is such an awesome time for Homeopathy as we are aligning more and more with many other fields within various sciences and in medicine. My undergrad degree was in Philosophy and only now do I truly appreciate that I learned those German philosophers! Homeopathy is a vital and vibrant health practice that’s story in modern times has shifted it many times already and that I believe will continue to change and grow. One day it will be accepted and practiced much more widely here, as it is in other places in the world. I certainly am honored and proud to be a part of this health profession.
“Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.” Buddha
From my leap of faith into Homeopathy as a student and as a parent to also being a patient myself – now for many years – I am very grateful for what Homeopathy has contributed to my life. Having moved from a small growing practice only out of my home and in my own neighbourhood to a thriving busy one with a “real office” (and my home still, of course, as it is cozy) I do truly feel blessed to be living and breathing Homeopathy in all facets of my life. With my journey of healing well underway I am now at a place of acceptance of the ever changing nature of health. Even if I have not arrived to a place of what could be called “cure”, I am now able to keep moving towards further positive changes for myself and for those individuals I work with that are now fortunate enough to be finding Homeopathy just like I did several years ago.
“Disease is the cure in progress. It is the mechanism by which the body wisdom asserts itself and communicates its needs. The homeopath understands that disease is never static. It is a dynamic process, always changing from moment to moment…Healing is also a process, never a singular event.” The Tao of Homeopathy, Ian Watson