Thoughts on the world, homeopathy, mindfulness and food...
A collection of blog posts - feel free to respond with your thoughts and comments - I love to have feedback - thank you!
2023 has had its challenges for so many, and reflecting on my year feels like it's been the year of dental challenges, slight and insignificant compared to much out there, though personally with some quite intense pain. Fortunately I've found an amazing dentist I trust, who at times will sugggest I take a remedy that'll help for certain things eg recovery from procedures etc, and the year is ending in a much more pain free place. I hope relief is to be found for many out there - unfortunately many challenges aren't quite as fixable as mine were and it makes me feel humble that mine were solvable, and gratitude for where I am at with it. However, as ever, I digress from what I meant to write of... I've written a book this year and am currently working with someone who is helping me to publish it - it's on the intense editing phase at the moment, but with the end of the year galloping towards us, or us towards it, it got me thinking about books in general. I feel like 2023 has been a particularly rich year on that front for me, so I thought I'd mention some of my much loved reads of the year, including two on the go. I've recently found a friend has every Jack Reacher book (author Lee Child) ever written, and have been working through the ones I haven't read yet, very grateful to her, and it's always great to find another Reacher fan. I've the latest one waiting for me to finish A Year of Marvellous Ways, which I am really enjoying, kindly gifted by another friend as we met to drive to Manchester Airport together. She was off on holiday, I returning from a weekend of teaching in Wales. So in no particular order, though no Jack Reacher in my top 2023 reading list, but I do love him for a romp through some modern day Robin Hood-ing: Jack Zipes' Buried Treasures: The Power of Political Fairy Tales stood out to me at a storytelling event we were at recently. The cover appealed, and as we'd walked into town we were running later than I wanted, I had a quick stroke of the cover and told it I'd be back soon. We were reunited after the event and on getting it home and reading the interaction between the author and Einstein, I was hooked. Really enjoying it, though is still on the go, but learning lots and am still totally intrigued by it. I give myself a 150 page 'rule' - if I can't get on with it by then, then I'm happy to say I've tried, and to let it go. This one I'm only 30 odd pages into and don't try to pry it off me... Edith Eger's The Choice and The Gift. These two I listened to first, then bought as a hard copy to be able to reference in teaching and for my partner to read. Two of the most brilliant books I've read. Let alone this year. I read The Gift, which is the second book first, then decided I wanted to also listen to The Choice, which is a longer book and tells more of Edith's story. Really really recommend for students of homeopathy and students of life. On Sacred Ground (pictured) and Andrew Terrill's first book The Earth Beneath My Feet were incredibly enjoyable. The author, as I was doing my A Levels and heading off to University in 1997, decided he'd walk the length of Europe and begins his epic 18 month journey starting in Italy and finishing in Norway. He (and you as the reader) encounter Europe's wild places and finds hospitality throughout his journey. His vulnerability and gentle way of writing both appealed and I found myself wanting to go to bed to continue the journey*. Many aspects of these books have stuck with me, at the forefront of my mind, his love of wild camping and desire to leave a camping ground better than he found it. To be fair, this intention nearly got me stranded on the patio of a cottage recently as I tried to leave a holiday let better than I found it - it was tough as it was pretty damn perfect. However there was some bird mess on the sliding door so I decided I'd clean it off and joked to myself that I mustn't totally shut the door in case it had some clever auto-locking... it didn't but the door wasn't the newest or easiest to slide and it got stuck (with a 6 inch gap leading inside...) anyway, a bit of realigning, some sweating and swearing and praying and I was back in... *I have a 2 pages reading rule and unless I'm incredibly tired I aim to read at least two pages a night in bed. Often in the day I'm busy with something so this is my sacred reading ground. I encountered this suggestion on a TEDx talk about microhabits, and the idea that if you decide you have to read, say a chapter, it can be overwhelming, but a small accessible intention means it's more likely to happen. Of course often I read more, but the goal is to read a little every night. As with crochet, which I frequently do if waiting somewhere for someone (usually my teenager) I find it's amazing how you progress with just a little and often approach. Suzanne Simard's Finding the Mother Tree and Merlin Sheldrake's Fantastic Fungi both changed how I look at nature too. I've been convinced we're looking at climate change and our care of this wonderful planet the wrong way around, and these books were both a delightful adventure in a way that made sense to me. It was years ago my daughter told me that she wouldn't watch David Attenborough as it was too depressing. I've grown up with him and missed the new insights she took from it. I listened to her, listened to him, and recognised so many of our messages are about doom. This, in my opinion, is only going to motivate some people. Love, I think motivates far more. These books, along with Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass, were like a meditation of love for our beautiful planet. Dive in, fall in love and see how you protect something. There's nothing quite as fierce as a mother fighting for her children... of course sometimes that's from fear, but I'd argue mostly from a place of purest love. Speaking of love over fear, I see a lot of people worried about the state of the world, and perhaps rightly so... I'm not going to argue with that. Teaching in Manchester in November this year I was happy to be sharing more about the Radioactive remedies in homeopathy. I love teaching this lecture, and was reminded again, and more so this year than other years, that in the darkness there is so much light. I don't believe it's possible to have one without the other, and as Edith Eger in her two books discusses, there is always a choice. Perhaps if you can't see the light, you are the light in the darkness? That's not Edith's quote, or mine, and I don't recall where I first saw it, but it's perhaps something to ponder. There are so many, doing amazing things, being love out there that it's easy to forget as headlines generate more fear in a fearful world. Love may not control, but it does protect, regenerate, allow, expand and evolve. If we have to choose, at least we can know we have a choice. I've surprised myself sharing my rules... I am not a huge rule lover, and never wanted a bedtime routine for my daughter, feeling myself constricted by the word. We had the same thing and I called it a pattern which felt freer. Reading is sacred to me, whether it be listening or reading, reading on a kindle, which is rarer these days, or a book, it's a happy place for me, so I suppose the rules can stay. Last two - The Summer Book by Tove Jansson. Gorgeous. Gentle, slow and an insight into Island living over the summer from a child's perspective. A perfect book for a Greek trip. Grain Brain by David Perlmutte is the last one, which is on Audible for me at the moment. Having recognised years ago that gluten and I weren't friends albeit I experienced no digestive challenges with it, it was joint pain for me, and it went away if I didn't eat it, I got quite intrigued. It was Maria Jevtic's Cave to Computer that made me recognise the issues were inflammation anywhere - and her references to anxiety and depression with gluten sensitivity made me stop and think. This much loved substance may not be as bland as it may look... This is a research led, fascinating read/listen and I highly recommend it. That's 10, I thnk it'll do for now. It's been a great year - oh and lastly my friend Claire's book 18 Months was a joyful, thought provoking adventure of and musings on everyday life. Available on Amazon where she self published it. The others are easily findable but I'll link to this one here as I struggled to discover it when I first searched on there. Several of these books we've read with our Kindness Book Club, which is somehting that Bev Nickolls and I set up around 2 years ago. We meet 6-8 weekly usually and anyone is welcome. Get in touch if that is of interest and I'll happily add you to our mailing list. We next meet January 22nd at 7pm (UK) and are chatting about North Woods and The Book Thief (we had an extra long session due to unplanned life happening hence 2 books). I'm likely to be starting 2024 with a couple of books on the go but would love your recommendations of your favourite reads of this year (or at all) to add to my to-read list. Nick Cave and Sean O'Hagan's Faith, Hope and Carnage is near the top of the list and I think I'm shortly to fall deeply in love with that. With best wishes for a peaceful, and book happy Christmas and New Year! Em x
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It's been over a year and I thought I'd ponder on what a year of doing social media in a different way has brought me. Autumn 2022 I decided to take a giant leap - backwards was how I considered it at the time. I'd had accounts with LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and one or two smaller platforms. At one point I was managing accounts for several organisations, and was getting whispers it was time to step back. By the time I was hearing the shouting, it was definitely time - another lesson in listening to the whispers*!! *In case helpful for reassurance they were not actual whispers, more that intuitive knowing sense. I did it gradually, and mentioned it a few times in order that should people wish to remain in touch the newsletter was there. And I did it differently to how I thought I would, but with reflection it's a far healthier place now than it was before. I left Twitter entirely, although I do think there may be an account lurking on there 'belonging' to my cats, Joey and Monica (Joey is the handsome chap below) that I was using in a twitter training course to walk people through getting set up. It's not something I've lost sleep over. I chatted with my daughter about shutting down my Instagram account, and she mentioned that she sometimes looks through there at memories of fun stuff we've done if she's feeling sad. So that got made personal, the app deleted off my phone and sits there, and she can use it to cheer herself up if she needs anytime. I ignore requests, and barely do anything with it. It does have a post that mentions I've stepped back from social times and get in touch directly if you want. LinkedIn was a joy to leave. I'm aware other homeopaths have used LinkedIn well but I have always felt it was clunky, unintuitive and I wasn't its biggest fan. No more LinkedIn account. Facebook I went away from, with an awareness that it was something that would be useful when promoting the Ceilidh that I've been organising at Christmas time for a few years now. There is a peace and spaciousness with walking away but also a joy in connecting for me. Groups were hard to not be around, especially for hobbies or work, and I found a space of deleting the app from my phone and being more disciplined with it worked for me. Telegram I had already had to step away from as found myself delving down rabbit holes, ending up terrified about the state of the world and the crazy going on out there. That got deleted, as did Signal. In short I'd say I've more simplicity, less access to the vortex and more happiness about the balance and where it is currently at. More space to ponder and be delighted in the more immediate world around me. Less sharing and more quiet. I think that'll do for now. Has it affected my business? Mostly I would share homeopathy related info, particularly on more work focussed pages, so perhaps affected client numbers. I'd say not, I'm as busy as I want to be now. What I would say is that it has brought me more space and enabled more creativity. I've produced several postcards, a compassion series of cards, my new 'taking LM potency' cards and the 'Play out' cards here if you want to take a look. I started writing a case up for the blog and wrote a book, in the process of editing and refining that currently. I'm not sure much of that would have happened without the space from stepping back. In terms of client numbers, January is looking fairly full for the first part of the month with appointments available from the 22nd onwards. I've space for 5 new clients in January. More info on my home page here. It's funny, from recommending everyone use social media to help promote homeopathy, I've retreated and am very happy here. It can be brilliant to be out there, and it's great to be quieter too. ![]() I was reflecting this morning just how grateful I am for homeopathy in my life, and despite having hundreds of remedies around my house and clinic room, how these kits come into their own time and again. I've several. I've the yellow Childbirth kit which I'll do sessions on how to use for pregnant mamas and their birthing partners, and 3 of these that I can rent out, if people wish to borrow it instead of purchasing their own. That was something that was going on when I started working at Craven Clinic and something that I still offer. I've the Ainsworth's 42 remedy kit, I've a small kit in the car made from a wallet someone kindly gave me. Then I've several blue kits just like the one pictured. My daughter was at boarding school for a few terms and she had the kit with her at school, I've had conversations with the pastoral care lead on what remedies to give to support her in different times. My partner has a kit that he takes if he's travelling without us. I've got Jeremy Sherr's ultimate 200c remedy kit which is a bit more of a whopper of a kit, and is what I take if I'm travelling for a while away from my remedies, though sometimes will just opt for the 36 Helios kit too. I've given a remedy to a hairdresser struggling with cold sores who was heading out to photograph a wedding in Rome. Probably the highest ever remedy gifting I've done, however many thousand feet up in the air on our plane. I've helped out a waitress in Skiathos who was struggling with nausea and dizziness. I've heard feedback from so many clients who get the kit and are incredibly grateful for it, the latest being: Oh and the first aid homeopath kit has become my most used and treasured possession. Wondering how I managed for so long without one! I took my first kit travelling to Thailand, Australia and lots in between and used it to help people with splinters, hangovers and lots more. I hope you're seeing how much I love them! The latest, and this morning's reflections come about through having a boyfriend with flu sleeplessly get through several nights. I tend to be more reticent to come forwards in terms of rushing in with remedies now, but it was 3am and no fun so I mumbled something along the lines of 'can I help? Shall I get the kit?'. My partner, who is so much more organised than me, has his kit in the wardrobe and it was only a short wander across to get it. He went through his symptoms and I put a remedy into his mouth, and was grateful at that point he got to sleep for several hours. It reminded me of the time my daughter had croup many years ago, and moments after the remedy was taken she was sleeping easily; he did the same. From snottily snuffling his way through the first half of the night to sleeping with ease... hooray! A repeat at 6am had similar effects and he's steadily improving away. Improvements for me, better sleep for him, happy all round. They really are the gifts that keep on giving. Thanks to Helios and all involved in making these and similar treasures! Em :) Working in a teaching clinic recently has been fascinating for me for several reasons, one of them being kind of observing what I do myself (as well as being observed), rather than just doing it which perhaps I've just done for a long time without examining it. It's made me clarify things for myself, reflect more and been a very positive exercise. It's made me look at who my main influences are in my case work, appreciate them even more (thanks to Jeremy Sherr, Jan Scholten, Annette Sneevliet and the wonderful trio who taught the Joshi's work to me, alongside the Joshis themselves). One thing it's made me reflect on is that there's really only ever two things I want to know. What is bringing someone to sit with me in clinic and who are they. These areas are of course expanded upon and much more details are shared to get to understand them fully, but at the basic level this is really all there is. Understanding someone's pattern in the world, their program (Annette Sneevliet's term), their non human song (Rajan Sankaran's term) or the lens they view the world through (my take) allows us to match that to one of our approximate 6,500 remedies in our homeopathic pharmacopeia and likewise understanding their symptoms, the dis-ease expression helps us the same. Some of my cases I reach through one, some through the other, and I particularly love it where both combine. Of course, when I ask someone to describe themselves, they don't come straight out with telling me what the lens is like that they see the world through, we build up a picture through conversation, finding out about how they deal with challenges, what hobbies they have, what interests them, what work they're drawn to, films they like, dreams, fears and lots more. Likewise, with symptoms, we often see clients who are used to a very medicalised view of the world, sharing perhaps just a disease label, headache, IBS, ulcerative collitis. We want so much more to make it useful in the world of homeopathy, to know how they experience it, their symptoms, what is unique to them, what it's better for, worse for, when it started. There's a brilliant short video here of Dr Julie Geraghty, a homeopathic GP, who talks about how when she was a GP people would tell her things that weren't any use, now it's all relevant. It's all relevant. Words are our way of communicating that across, and there can be a lot of them shared, so perhaps my title simplifies it too much, but really, that is all there is. What are you experiencing, how are you experiencing it and who are you, are at the core of what I want to know. Once I can get a sense of that, then starts the matching process with which I'm grateful for a few different tools in my kit, different approaches to work with. Some cases I understand through one approach, some another, and I never know how it's going to be until I sit with someone, and sometimes until I go away to work on the case. I'll share more on that in another blog, let's keep it simple for today :) Writing has been a wonderful process to really celebrate some of the joyful cases I've seen in clinic and learning I've done over the past 16 years in practice. It's been a beautiful time of reflecting on changes I've been grateful to witness, people I've been privileged to work with and families I've been lucky enough to walk alongside for times in their, and my life. I share cases of migraines, years of headaches, anxiety, depression, various skin issues, eye disease, cysts, post covid challenges and lots more. As ever I want to remain realistic and pondered today as with many times before, 'Can I help everyone?' No. But I’ll do my best to help wherever I can. In the book I share a variety of cases, some longer, some shorter. Some are comments from the indivduals, others cases written from my point of view. Here's a wee snippet from a longer case I share more of in the book: “The change was unbelievable. Up until taking the remedy that Em prescribed I'd been very wary about what I wore on my feet and especially when going to the swimming pool, I'd wear swim socks to protect my skin. My dermatitis would flare up at times and was never completely clear. Looking forward to sharing this wee book with the world.
I’ve written this book for those who may be curious, those who may be intrigued to learn more about the potential of homeopathy, for people starting out working with it. For students, unsure of the depth and breath of potential involved. For those who’ve heard the ‘H word’ but can’t pronounce it and don’t have a clue what it could possibly represent. For those who've never encountered it before. If you’re reading this, I’ve written it for you. Thank you. We’d chatted on the phone before making the appointment and Louise* had told me that she’d been a well, happy, busy mum prior to having her Covid vaccine booster which she’d had a bad reaction to. We first met in August 2023. *Name changed for privacy. I think this is a difficult topic. Many are ignoring that it is happening. Others feel defensive about talking about it. I’m not interested in entering into a debate on the topic and 3 years in from it all beginning I recognise that the virus isn’t a joyful one, and at times the effects from the preventative measures can be challenging too. The MHRA states: ‘All vaccines and medicines have some side effects although not everybody gets them. These side effects need to be continuously balanced against the expected benefits in preventing illness.’ This is the case of one individual and her experience of using homeopathy to help with the side effects she experienced. Case shared with full permission. Louise’s intake form read: ‘In November 2021 I had the covid vaccine booster, within three hours I started to have stroke symptoms. Then my gait changed, I was unable to pick up my left leg (dragged) and my right leg was turned in. I used walking backwards and grounding eventually which helped. My legs can often stop working, I have absence episodes, brain fog, tics and what appear to be functional seizures. I have pain and sensations in my arms and legs, struggle hugely to travel and can feel really funny headed, not dizzy but not well.’ In terms of what she’d already tried she said: ‘The things listed are what I have tried and seem to have helped, EFT, yoga, meditations, deep heat cream, hot showers, heated bags, lip trills, cold water on my face daily, regulating breathing, had hypnotherapy, resetting myself, pacing, being kind to myself, reducing pressure and expectations I have. Managing sensory sensitivities that were identified including ear plugs etc Had few sessions of physio and have been asked to be referred back.’ And in terms of what effects it has on her lifestyle: ‘I can no longer drive, travelling is really hard, walking is difficult or the aftermath from it so getting out is hard in fact pretty much everything is impacted, quality of life affected, can’t be the Mum I was, feel I have lost myself through it and also lost my joy. Every aspect of my life has changed I generally just feel pretty unwell a lot of the time.’ We met by Zoom, being easier for her as travel was an issue. I worked online (mostly Skype back in the day) pre 2020, but took everything online when Covid hit. Still now people locally may choose to consult online, saving them travel time or costs. Others are more than happy for a return to in person living and travel to see me. We discussed Louise’s current symptoms and she was kind enough to send me a video to show what it could be like for her. It made difficult viewing and she asked for it to be deleted after I’d seen it, which of course I did. Often seeing symptoms gives another insight into them as well as hearing about them so it can be helpful to do. We talked about who she was before this had happened and lots more. I went away and worked on her case to confirm what I’d thought in our consultation. Where I can I like to feedback about my thoughts on why I’m giving a remedy. It enables the client to tell me I’ve not understood them at all, or confirm/clarify my thinking. I’d been wanting to give her a commonly used remedy in homeopathy and when I went away I checked that I was really happy with my selection. I gave a 30c potency of the remedy to take twice then to repeat in 2 weeks. We amended the repetition of dose over the month via email conversations. We met a month later. We had communicated by email over the month, describing improvements and at times setbacks. She reported to me that her symptoms had changed. After taking the first two remedies, travelling felt better than it had for the last 2 years. Then the symptoms had worsened again, and she realised that she had covid for the first time which made things worse again – she felt wiped out. However, I was encouraged to hear her say ‘I feel like when I have the remedy my head feels clearer. I’m seeing glimmers of myself.’ Before we’d met it could take 50 minutes to get downstairs because her legs wouldn’t work, she might end up with tics or even seizures in the process; now? ‘I just walk down the stairs’. She was still having tics, but apart from a couple during the covid period, she wasn’t having seizures anymore. She definitely felt as if it was helping, and described feeling as if her nervous system was calming down. 2 weekends ago she went swimming 2 days in a row, which meant taking 2 buses each way. She told me that before starting the remedies, she couldn’t have imagined doing that. The tics before, rating them out of 10 she said would have been an 8 or 9/10. Now? Probably at least half reduced, if not more. Travelling on a bus could be challenging, and whilst recently on getting off she felt as if the episodes were coming on, they didn’t. She described feeling more present. When we first met she would be waking with a seizure most days and preceding that there would be a strange taste in her mouth. Now she was getting the taste but no seizures. Hooray! It was also wonderful to hear that she had felt joy over the last month. She’d noted being more playful and that her head was feeling better in general. Others had noted changes too, and someone close to her told her that after the initial two doses it was like having her back in that moment. She said she felt finally in the here and now. I have a wonderful teacher who talks about how a well matched remedy can bring us from the ‘there and then’ into the ‘here and now’. It was delightful to hear this was the case here. And now. She had had some flashbacks, but was aware of a lot of old stress held in her body and was dealing with this using yoga, TRE® (Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises) or and other somatic work. Louise told me: ‘On reflection I do feel a lot better. I have hope – things are different sat here. I want to continue with this. It’s been a hard two years, but working with homeopathy has been transformative.’ Side effects are being reported via the Yellow Card scheme that MHRA operates. The client here was told several times by medical doctors that her condition was caused by the Covid shots, but was never advised to report them. Official estimates are that only around 10% of serious side effects are reported. From the Medicines Healthcare Regulatory Authority website: ‘It is estimated that only 10% of serious reactions and between 2 and 4% of non-serious reactions are reported. Under-reporting coupled with a decline in reporting makes it especially important to report all suspicions of adverse drug reactions to the Yellow Card Scheme.’ And elsewhere on their site: As of 22 February 2023, for the UK, 4,096 Yellow Cards have been reported for the bivalent COVID-19 Vaccine Pfizer/BioNTech, 5,108 for the bivalent COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna, 57 for the COVID-19 Vaccine Novavax and 2,319 have been reported where the brand of the vaccine was not specified (please note this may also include vaccines which were used in the primary and initial booster campaign where the brand was not reported). For all COVID-19 vaccines, the overwhelming majority of reports relate to injection-site reactions (sore arm for example) and generalised symptoms such as ‘flu-like’ illness, headache, chills, fatigue (tiredness), nausea (feeling sick), fever, dizziness, weakness, aching muscles, and rapid heartbeat. Generally, these happen shortly after the vaccination and are not associated with more serious or lasting illness. Most people clearly do not have a response like Louise did. However statistics aside, more importantly to me is that some people are suffering, like the case I share here. And sometimes, something may help. I’m hopeful of a good recovery for Louise on the horizon. I’ll let the last words be hers: ‘'Em listened intently, asked questions with curiosity, really heard what I was saying and from this suggested the remedy that I've come to see as magic - a magic that I don't question, I go with it, I accept, appreciate, value and I am grateful for it for it because of what it is - it is life changing.'’ https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-vaccine-adverse-reactions/coronavirus-vaccine-summary-of-yellow-card-reporting https://www.gov.uk/drug-safety-update/yellow-card-please-help-to-reverse-the-decline-in-reporting-of-suspected-adverse-drug-reactions People are fighting for those who have experienced challenges like this in Parliament and in Courts in the UK. There are some MPs speaking out for people who are struggling. There are Drs talking about the challenges, and others exploring issues but I'm not hearing about much that's changing. People like Louise did what they were told, what they were told was the right thing for themselves and those around them, but now? https://www.bmj.com/content/383/bmj.p2582 https://parallelparliament.co.uk/mp/andrew-bridgen/debate/2022-10-24/commons/westminster-hall/covid-19-vaccines-safety https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/11/08/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-astrazeneca-vaccine/ https://www.parallelparliament.co.uk/mp/esther-mcvey/debate/2023-10-20/commons/commons-chamber/covid-19-vaccine-damage-payments-bill https://www.bmj.com/content/377/bmj.o1565 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-61898694 Homeopathy. Health. Healing.
What is the meaning Of this medicine outside the box Without the pressure of ticking clocks? Time. Space. Growth. Remember the Hippocratic Oath? First do no harm Let our medicines come from the farm From our food, from our skies Maybe more apple pies?! Remedies shared from nature Gentle Mother Nature Gentle, rapid, permanent Goes the wishes of our father Hahnemann Taking time to slow Even the consultation goes On for longer Explore, discover, ponder How is it to be you? To do life like you do? That’s what I want to know And then hopefully I go… Aha I know. Let’s take this It may do the trick To help move with more ease Step away from dis-ease Homeopathy. Health. Healing. What is the meaning Of this medicine outside the box Without the pressure of ticking clocks? ![]() Let's get one thing clear at the start of this blog. This is not a homeopathy cured cancer post. This is a blog around one of my favourite topics, integrating conventional medicine and homeopathy. Integrating fascinates me. It's at the forefront of my mind currently. The space in between. The void. The creative potential. What if two separate sides worked together. Had conversations. Grew something from the space in between. I believe there is something truly worth exploring here. Last night I was out at dinner to celebrate my dad finishing his month of radiotherapy for prostate cancer, and we were chatting about how he was feeling. "Good, except when I wee it's like passing hot needles" he told me. I suggested a remedy, taking into account the fact he'd just finished a month of radiotherapy and his symptoms. He took it once when he got home, once later and his symptoms disappeared. Went. No more peeing needles. It was starting to creep back a bit this morning, just slightly, so I suggested a repeat, and to repeat the remedy again if symptoms return. I'd like to add that my dad was a supportive sceptic for many years. He'd never tell me to my face, or probably unlikely behind my back, he's a bit of a gentleman really; but I'm not convinced what I was doing had him convinced it was any good. He's totally on board now, and has been for some time, and we discussed this morning that I totally get why people don't get homeopathy - in so many ways it makes no sense, our science isn't ready for it except for at the cutting edges (the gap between perhaps?). But when you take it and it works, it works and that's all there is to it. He's (as so many of us have) had remedies that haven't worked at times and knows when there's a good match. When you get it right "it's like magic" he said this morning. I was so happy he told me he was doing well this morning and it reminded me that I'd been meaning to write this blog for a wee while. Ha the pun can stay. I also want to say that this blog is also not a suggestion of take this for that. There are loads of great remedies for burning urination, he took one that was individually matched to him and his symptoms. There are some brilliant places where these two perhaps unlikely bedfellows sit alongside each other just beautifully, and also, partly thanks to that, some great research going on in this area. In our prospective study, we observed an improvement of quality of life as well as a tendency of fatigue symptoms to decrease in cancer patients under complementary homeopathic treatment. It would take considerably larger samples to find matched pairs suitable for comparison in order to establish a definite causal relation between these effects and homeopathic treatment. More research needed, but encouraging. The study is here in full. Patients from Clinica Santa Croce, Orselina, Switzerland, and Homeopathic Centre Oberland-Klinik, Weilheim, Germany amongst others were included in the trial. Another study published in The Oncologist - link here states: QoL [Quality of Life] improved significantly in the homeopathy group compared with placebo. In addition, survival was significantly longer in the homeopathy group versus placebo and control. A higher QoL might have contributed to the prolonged survival. The study suggests that homeopathy positively influences not only QoL but also survival. Further studies including other tumor entities are warranted. Chemotherapy induced neuropathy is one side effect that I've seen more than several times improved massively. In one instance someone asked for help as they wanted to continue chemotherapy for their treatment but their consultant said they'd have to stop if the neuropathy didn't improve. We worked together, neuropathy went away and they were able to continue treatement. Another short case - of post chemo neuropathy. 'It's in my toes and gets worse the more I walk on it. A hot water bottle helps after, I can't wait to get my boots off.' At the follow up 6 weeks later: 'The Hypericum was AMAZING, I've no pain in my toes and I can walk 2-3 miles now, I'm absolutely fine.' Side effects can linger on after treatment and homeopathy can often help - as shown in the mention above. I've a lady recovering from (non cancer related) surgery currently, with some numbness from the site of the operation. She's taking a remedy to help with that and the numb patch is shrinking as the sensation returns. In terms of help alongside surgery, one client who had a mastectomy said: Btw I also wanted to say the post surgery remedies have been amazing. I've had no bruising, no leaking wounds, no discharge. No-one can believe how quickly my pain is going either. Sometimes I have taken a remedy instead of a painkiller and it would almost instantly reduce pain. So thank you. That has been amazing for me xxxxx In my small clinic, alongside the cases mentioned above, I've seen nausea disappear, constipation post surgery resolve rapidly, fatigue be helped, skin sensitivity due to radiation improve and lots more - all with homeopathy, all significantly improving quality of life for the individual. Working together, using the best of each approach strikes me that it could be good for the most important person in the room here - the patient. What would you do if you really loved yourself? It was a question that came to me out of an interesting space, but catalysed much reflection. My interesting neighbour, the one who isn't my biggest fan, was walking past a year or so ago and amongst other things, shouted 'There it is that f***ing narcissist'. Being there was no one else around, and based on our history there was only really one direction this was aimed in. I was being pretty narcissistic that day, sat in our garden, on our bench, working on a case and reading several books relating to it. By this stage not much surprised me and had she have done that at the beginning of our quest I may have responded very differently. However we were several years in by this stage and mostly I was able to ignore and continue. Bless and block was a notion I devised early in my twitter days when skeptics popped up with some (usually not so) intelligent comments about homeopathy being nonsense. Bless and block. Move on by. The blessing part I attribute to Pierre Pradervand's amazing book The Gentle Art of Blessing, which over the years I've recommended to many people. Her statement made me ponder. How would I behave if I was as accused? Or, I toned it back a bit, I really loved myself. I went upstairs and pranced around in the mirror trying on the idea (I'm not so sure how that was my first step to what being a narcissist was like but anyway, bear with!). Like so many of us, I can be much easier on the compassion for others than myself and working with Kristin Neff's Fierce Self Compassion work was eye opening, and beautiful. And why it's not taught in schools I don't know... well I have my theories but let's not get on a soap box today. Maybe a small one... if we felt great about ourselves, perhaps we wouldn't need that new this or that, shiny whatever (at least to the degree that we're encouraged by massive advertising and marketing campaigns). Perhaps we'd have a world filled with less economic growth as we grew in our loving ourselves capacity? If someone has to spend a lot of money to encourage us we need it, do we really need it or does it benefit someone else (sometimes massively) for us to need it? Anyway, if we felt loved by ourselves would we be kinder, more compassionate when we made 'mistakes'? Would we feel kinder to our planet, more able to show love all round? I'm convinced our wee world needs love, not saving. To fall in love deeply with our world may change how we respect it. Would we carve out great valleys to mine minerals and not repair them, leave them as giant scars on our landscape if we were deeply in love with it or would we take every effort, even if we mined, to repair an area to be better than before we turned up? I'm reading the epic journey covered in The Earth Beneath my Feet and On Sacred Ground by Andrew Terrell currently. His 7000 mile journey through Europe (Italy to Norway) is inspiring of itself, but his philosophy to always leave a camp ground better than he found it is a gentle and powerful message. I imagine that if we were to fall in love deeply with ourselves it may change how kindly we talk to ourselves. It strikes me we often have a 2 part process, we have a thought then harshly judge ourselves for having that thought as we disagree with it, dislike the fact we thought it or don't think we should have thought it. What if we let go of the second part, and accepted it was just a thought. Besides, there'll likely be another one along in a nanosecond or two. I've another postcard that says 'What's the kindest thing I can do for myself right now?' It's a great message, and I've started playing with changing it to 'What's the kindest thing I can say to myself right now?' What would you say if you were really in love with yourself? It probably wouldn't be a harsh judgement delivered with venom. You might get dressed in gorgeous clothes, not because you felt you needed to cover some flaw or feel more confident, just because you loved the print of the fabric, loved the feel of the skirt against you, or the shorts, or whatever else. You might dance in the kitchen, the bathroom, the bedroom, the street. You might walk straighter, smile more (because of course those in love smile...) at yourself and others, be more compassionate if you did something you hadn't planned to (formerly known as a mistake, now perhaps we could gently call it it a mis-step? or even an unplanned experience?). It might be different. Things might feel different. I think out of all the comments over the last 5 years of my dealings in this situation, this is the one I'm most grateful for. Plenty of times I rallied, moaned, allowed myself to feel a victim, and yet freedom lay in none of that. I was in my own mental prison. This one catalysed such a helpful thought process. Yes I might have had some vile things verbally thrown at me, but none worse than things I'd said to myself over the years. It's only this morning on writing this that I realise the question 'What would it be like if you really loved yourself?' puts me in mind of a quote my beautiful friend Amelia sent me years ago. The wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson... What Is Success Would we care for opinions we don't care for? Would we take them on board ourselves or be happy someone else could think differently to us and that was OK? Would we be able to listen with respect and counter with our thoughts? Would we feel more resilient, more reassured that whilst we could lose love, we wouldn't stop loving ourselves? Would we be more easily able to sit in that difficult space and as Rangan Chatterjee says 'invite social friction everyday'? I think that's all from me for today. But what would it be like? Anything we can imagine we can create... Thank you for reading and being. With love, for you, for myself, for this beautiful world we live with, Em x It strikes me, on watching this video by Dr John Campbell: that perhaps his tangents here are as important as the main content of the video. I like his measured delivery, well reasoned arguments and calm logic, but there is a certain chill that runs through this one. Images of mass conforming, and may happen when you don't conform.. along with this image (screen grab from his video above). I failed to get the shot as a clear shot, but think the red line perhaps accentuates the words. When we're told to look away, or look a certain direction, it's interesting to ask why or what we're not being shown perhaps. Especially significant as I watched it after a recent Russell Brand video highlighting links between government and Big Tech, it felt an important message to remember.
I've heard several times of Drs who were told, 1st week in training, that all the other 'alternative' stuff out there is nonsense and don't pay any attention to it. Which feels relevant given that my week started with someone who'd struggled for 6 years with chronic catarrh. Going through packs of tissue every week, describing her snot as 'all day everyday'. She had ear problems, would be in pain with flying. Hearing wasn't as good as it used to be. She couldn't smell anything. She had 2 surgical interventions. And was still struggling. 10 months of us working together, she'd been improving impressive amounts at each follow up and yesterday she stated that she was 99% better. What was the phrase she was told? Along the lines of 'there's nothing can be done'. Whilst it might be someone's truth, it's certainly been disproved of being THE truth. She was told her smell wouldn't come back. The nerves had been damaged. Three days ago, she reported to me, she'd smelt 5 different smells - mint, onions, a man's aftershave, cauliflower and washing powder. She was told her smell wouldn't come back. Also now, no hearing issues. No pain on flying. No crackling in her ears. Hearing fine. One tissue to blow her nose on a morning. No waking in the night feeling that she was drowning in snot. No cough/having to clear throat. No constant snot all day everyday. On a theme relevant to John's video, I've seen another case today where there wasn't hope given. She's passionate about sharing her tale and I'll share more later, as she's going to write something for me. But enough to say things have gone from a few seizures a day at times to a couple of seizures in a month. Tics massively reduced. To having hope and at times even feeling a sense of joy. Her words? 'It's been transformative'. I'm grateful to have been able to witness the changes for her. So often even if someone else doesn't know of it, there may be something that can be done. Don't give up. Do not let anyone tell you there are things you should not learn or know. |
AuthorI'm a Homeopath working in the Skipton (North Yorkshire) area. I am also able to offer food intolerance testing using Kinesiology and advice around diet and lifestyle. |
07734 861297
[email protected] Em Colley Homeopath Practitioner of Classical Homeopathy BSc(Hons) Psychology and Neuroscience Laughter Yoga Leader Focussed Mindfulness Practitioner |