Autism, Analysis and Awakening: Three Books of One Mind and Heart

Without understanding, your love is not true love. You must look deeply in order to see and understand the needs, aspirations and suffering of the one you love. We all need love. Love brings us joy and well-being.

Thich Nhat Hanh, The Heart of Buddha's Teaching  

Interestingly I have recently stumbled onto two Homeopathy books that relate to one of my favorite Thich Nhat Hahn books in my small but growing Buddhist library, The Heart of Buddha’s Teaching. The two Homeopathy books seem worlds apart, but together are immensely helpful to my practice at present. One is One Heart, One Mind by Pierre Fontaine (2015 - just released this year) and the other is Dreams, Symbols and Homeopathy by Jane Cicchetti (2003 - you know it to see it, if you haven’t already read it). Both are interconnected despite their differences. The first is about Autism Spectrum treatment from a unique perspective/method of inquiry (case taking by “Surrogacy”) and the latter one is about the use of Jungian Dream Analysis in treatment/healing. Both ultimately are about deep and transformative healing of patients from anywhere on the spectrum of being human.

Fontaine’s subtitle of “The Case for Healing Autism and PANDAS” and Cicchetti’s of “Archetypal Dimensions of Healing” bring it home: that healing is the name of the game. So, not just getting better in the conventional way of how we Homeopaths sometimes end up treating when dealing not just with Acutes, but, sometimes, unfortunately, when we work with patient’s that just want to get “fixed”. Naturally, any of us are going for gold - cure that is - but sometimes even we have our doubts if Autism (or for that matter even very serious physical pathology) can be touched and turned around by what we do. Well, there is hope for a cure…and I am not talking about any pink ribbon campaign kind of sugar coated cure. These two books and what I am experiencing with the guidance of these kinds of deep and transformative books attest to what Homeopathy can do.

Love is simply the name for the desire and pursuit of the whole.

                                                                         Plato, The Symposium 

Essentially they both are about moving from a place of not being aware of what is happening subconsciously to where one can integrate the contents of our psyche within our daily lives. So, bringing to the fore what is hidden even to ourselves. What homeopathic remedies do effortlessly. However, here’s the rub: to become healthy one has to be conscious. This is the awareness we see as part and parcel of healing that is transformative for our patients. But, as we see, patients often want us to fix them; they don’t sign up initially to go through a full makeover… self-transformation. Ironically, for this to happen one has to consciously choose to become conscious.

Conscious in the first place that there is suffering and then that they are suffering. This is the first of Four Noble Truth’s as per my Thich Nhat Hanh book with the subtitle of “Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation”. “The Second Noble Truth is the origin, roots, nature, creation, or arising (samudaya) of suffering. After we touch our suffering, we need to look deeply into it to see how it came to be. We need to recognize and identify the spiritual and material foods that we have ingested that are causing us to suffer." Three and Four follow and really are not relevant initially for us Homeopathically (sorry my beloved Buddha), but do, of course, come into play later in the healing process...as they are respectively the cessation of suffering and the way to do this (which is The Noble Eightfold Path or what is known as the Right Practices by the Chinese. So things like Right View, Right Thinking, Right Livelihood...and naturally, being a Homeopath gets you started half way on the Path;-)

Anyways, not to stray any further off the path, I will say that in the case of the first book the conscious choice to go for broke, cure of Autism that is, involves the parent(s) of the child in the work that Pierre Fontaine has been doing. I will be chatting with him one day for a review of the book I am hoping to get out in a print journal in 2017. Somehow, without even asking, I think I can correctly assume that no parent that contacts him is adverse to his Surrogacy Method. These families live their Autistic child's pain and suffering daily - some mothers in fact have sensed something was amiss while their child was still in the womb. His book has 18 cases and you really get a great sense of his method of casetaking because he documents word for word like Massimo Mangialavori...including his questions - definitely the way to do it for us not knowing anything of this method.

Shall I just dive in and explain it? It's basically having the parent give voice to the child who can not speak (children with Autism often act in ways that are about alleviating their pain, as in the very physical pain of their brains and bodies. The arm flapping commonly seen, for instance, serves this purpose - which anyone that puts their mind to it would think, yeah, why do they do that? Think about when you hurt yourself, as in stub your toe...do you not do this to some degree...as you wail or jump around we often flap our hands calling out, "ouch, ouch..."). So, this is about bringing what subconsciously is there for the parent all along - they deep down know what their child is expressing from the core of their being. His breakthrough of having the parent speak as if they are their child really gets the essence of the case out on the table - to be able to prescribe an individual remedy as we would anyone else.

So, Pierre Fontaine gets a parent, usually the mother, to explain what is going on, in the first person...and in his cases they do it seamlessly from initially describing "objectively" what their concerns are (the history and what they've tried to date/on the programs, schools that the child attends, etc.) all the way to saying "I feel sad and wish I could cry when I can see everyone around me talking and I am not able to say anything but just watch...I know it hurts my mom's feelings"....p.s. - I just made that up as an example to give you an idea of the "Surrogacy Method".

Fontaine's definition of recovery from Autism Spectrum is 1) Spontaneous eye contact, 2) Spontaneous interaction with peers and adults, and, 3) Spontaneous conversational speech. It is a wonderful read, his book - the body of which is made up of cases. They take up 2/3 of the book's length (which is 365 pages). The rest being an introduction to the topic by way of an explanation of both conventional diagnosis and treatment of Autism (in just the amount we need to know) as well as, naturally, outlining his method. My issue with the book is that you have to find the M.M. sources on your own to make sense of the remedies he prescribes for his cases. But, you will see that I jump in to the rescue with info for you on a couple of them, but you are on your own with regards to making sense of how exactly he gets a match to the state of the patient (other than a cursory insight... This would make for a really good read for those that are needing to know this, like me). 

We learn that he started taking cases of Autism Spectrum children in 1997. This is when he started to focus on pregnancy for the purpose of finding a matching homeopathic remedy...but, he didn't do this to determine that something went wrong during pregnancy (as in the state of the mother during the pregnancy and vis versa), "...but because of the closeness or resonance [that] it brings." Then one day, with one particular case, he spontaneously allowed for a mother to continue where she was in deep empathy with her child and speaking from the perspective of her child: "I realized she was having a deeply empathetic experience to the behavior she was describing. In my mind I saw this as a doorway that needed the right question to open and behind it would be an experience not of her own but of her child[s]." (p. 32) He continues, "Though she was simply describing the outward symptom of her child "tapping on everything with his thumb," she was on the very edge literally [of] going into the child...At that moment it became clear there was no need to cut the flow and redirect her back to the pregnancy, but instead to listen and wait for these doorways to spontaneously present themselves and ask the right question...this enables us access to the child's experience or sensation that causes or contributes to symptoms and behaviors. This is autism speaking through the surrogate." (pp 32-3). Wow, eh? totally makes it so we as beginners or never having worked with Autism can take the case - it is a method, one that is repeatable, so, therefore, it's scientifically sound. Seriously, though, it's something that can be replicated. Monsieur Pierre writes so lovingly yet practically and if you have a knack for the art of Homeopathy - being able to tune in deeply and then translate that into good case taking skills - you too can do this! In fact I am so ready to take a case right now.

I had a fear about a year ago to take a "real" Autism case and referred out, but, now with the "Surrogacy Method" I am confident that I too can do it. Again from p. 32 (there are only 4 pages in the 4th Chapter called "Surrogacy" and it has the crux of the book in it (it's the lead up to the cases...hence, all my quoting from these pages). So, back to his realization with this one case: "This was the moment I sensed what I previously described as "strongly feeling a universal principle." Here it is! "These behaviours or habits known as stims, short for stimulation, are meaningful; there is substance behind them if we can access them through the surrogate." I hone in on these, stims, as they are sort of a signature of the pathology, just as a CD4 count is to HIV...and like any disease, no one person despite having the same behaviours - as in Autism Spectrum Disorder - has the same experience of their symptom (if indeed this is a sx).

To be more precise, you see in all the cases that as the mother/parent voices what is going on for the child the reason behind the behaviour is uniquely their own. Seems far out or maybe far fetched to some. But think about it my friends: it is the crux of what Homeopathy is about. Individualized treatment. With everyone that comes to us for similarly diagnosed/labelled diseases getting a different remedy from us.

The cases are all unique, but each child is on the Spectrum - of different ages, temperaments and how they are Autistic, etc. I do have more cases to read on my part. Lets just say of the few that I have already read they totally astound me based on how marvelous the work of Fontaine is...which, no doubt, includes his great prescriptions! The first case, M, age 6, is a case of Granite (Lap-gr-m) and the second right after, M, age 6 also, is a great case of Lycopodium. The third case, M, age 13, is a fantastic case of Androctonos amurreuxi hebraeus (that is the Israeli Fat-tailed Scorpion).* In terms of Materia Medica we should all read a case of this remedy state when presented as an ASD case! Truly, the ultimate challenge is finding and using "small remedies" for severe Autism/non-verbal individuals. One thing you really get from reading One Heart, One Mind is that only the simillimum will do. Truly, you will be convinced by the time you are finished reading even the first few cases is that not one case would be turned around with an incorrect remedy.

*The fourth case is a nice one of Thlaspi bursa pastoris, Shepherd's Purse... and so it goes...a beautiful use of small and interesting remedies that at the best of times many miss using. 

The other thing, a subtext, that comes through -  but not directly stated by the author - is that you are doing something to the effect of "Sensation Method". If you can get the sensation, nonetheless, it is like any other case in that you try to find out how the patient experiences their symptoms. You are always really just trying to figure out what is going on for the patient. This is what I have always sensed even Rajan Sankaran does - Sensation or No Sensation.  And with the others we all know and love...Jan Scholten, Lou Klein or Mr. Massimo Mangialavori. They are all really just like you and me plodding away and trying to figure out what is happening from the patient's perspective (okay, they maybe are not plodding but strolling along). We just sometimes need reminders that we are aiming to get behind the symptoms and not just collecting symptoms. Half the battle only, but admittedly, early on I thought the whole battle was trying to get symptoms to repertorize. Reading Fontaine's cases brings home the fact that what is behind the symptoms is where it's at...because he really had to dig deep to get at what was going on for his patients.

The "Surrogate Method" has an element about it that covers the 7 Levels of Rajan Sankaran in that there are Mind symptoms for the children with ASD, it is not just physical. The surrogate gives us the Facts, when stating what they and family/others observe...they give us - when going into the state of child - the Emotions, Delusions and the Sensations. When you read the cases you'll get this. For this alone, you simply must order the book and read it: any Homeopath be you a beginner or an advanced practitioner with an interest (or not) in treating ASD will benefit from the book. You definitely get to witness the work broken down via his cases. He gives you so much detail both at the Intake level and then as the cure unfolds. And all in real time - more than I have felt with some other cases that I have read (and I am reading on average a couple of cases every month now - before I was doing a case a week on average for many years, what, incidentally, I feel has given me the ability to practice almost more than anything else).

I will touch on the 1st of the 3 cases that I mentioned before having a look next at the Cichetti book. The Granite case, for me, is profoundly interesting based on having read the marvelous work of Nuala Eising (Volume 1 of 2 of her books entitled Provings, 2012 & 13 - with Granite, Marble and Limestone as a group of profoundly deep remedies being in the second volume). No doubt I was profoundly struck by the fact that Pierre Fontaine got to a remedy for a case through the "Surrogacy Method" of a remedy that is considered by most Homeopath's to be a "small remedy". Having said that I also was not surprised because (as I said in the above) no other remedy will do for each case other than the one prescribed. And since I do prescribe and ascribe to "small remedies" myself it is natural for this boy of 6 to be what he is since his mother described the state of Granite perfectly: hard, everything sounding metallic, almost as if not alive, not caring, unforgiving, obstacle, spiteful, blockage, angry, harsh, unkind, unreadable, perfection, paralyzing, no power, heavy stone, etc.

This being both what the mother felt and projected onto her own brother over a situation that Fontaine felt imprinted onto her when she was pregnant and, thus, onto the foetus. This was also how she viewed her son as she described him and his "autistic" symptoms. He had the mother describe these words and expand on them. So, with her saying that with the sensation of having "no power" as in her pregnancy she went on further to say that "...you're a vegetable, tied down and can't move. What is going to happen to you is not in your hands. It is as if there is nobody and only the mind is left but it is cut off from the body, it is not attached. You can't feel the legs. They are no longer attached to your body. You cannot move. The body is like a heavy stone; it has no life."

Note - if the case taking stopped here would we not think Alumina or maybe a vegetable of some sort? Hopefully not. Or the patient would not get the correct remedy. The mother was asked to describe her words of "heavy stone". At this point will have to give you a "Spoiler Alert", so read no further if you want to savor this delicious case on your own  So, here's the remedy speaking through the surrogate: " A boulder, it is gray, it can't be rolled. It is gigantic, as if it came out of the side of a mountain. It is hard, rough and rigid. Lifeless. Solid. Shatterproof. Almost protective. There is no feeling and you are unable to move. Disabling. Impenetrable. It is hard. Can't chip away at it. It is solid weight that is frozen in place. Massive, and needs Atlas strength to lift the stone. Monumental." (p.p. 82-3) The mother at the start when "objectively" stating symptoms said these words: "At 15 months, he seemed hard to reach. At 18 months, after a vaccination, he went from babbling to not speaking anymore and opening the refrigerator door over and over again. He seemed to have a foggy head and his understanding was totally gone. His main stumbling block is his speech, which somehow seems to be worse when the weather is cloudy." With these opening words, already the grey and block and cold aspects of the case/patient's state come through...and sure enough with the "Surrogacy Method" it becomes abundantly clear that Granite, and not Marble (which doesn't have Autism in its picture/you will see when you read up and do the differential diagnosis of the two...)...or Limestone for that matter. Suffice it to say that when Granite is forming it turns Limestone to Marble, so of course, they are all distinct and even within this family of remedies only the correct one will do!

Nuala Eising found in her first prescription of Granite that all the children (a group of children, treated in Ireland, that were from from the post Chernobyl disaster) had these symptoms: "the idea that something terrible was going to happen", " the sense of invasion", "fear of people", "fear of touch" and "the beautiful haughty 'Platina' fantasy that is also in Granite". By the way, these are the proving symptoms not verbally articulated by the group of children, they did not speak English, but that she brilliantly prescribed based on presenting symptoms and, perhaps, by herself being a surrogate to these children. Even an untrained person observing the children or imagining what they went through in Chernobyl could do a remedy match...okay, that's silly. But you get my point. I will admit here that I have myself never prescribed from this family of remedies but always am wanting to and have used them as D.D.'s many a time and am always disappointed when I do not have a case of any one of these amazing remedies. One day!

I will just quickly mention sources of info for you on the above mentioned Materia Medica, so that when you read the Fontaine cases in the book you have these resources that I found on the internet that enriched my reading of the initial cases I have read of Autism in children and their treatment/curative responses:

1) Nuala Eising's books (there are 3 volumns now!! with the 3rd being from 2014 and with her Provings of Fire, Wind, Fox and more!!)
Here is the link to the one with her Granite proving:
http://www.narayana-verlag.com/Provings-volume-2-Nuala-Eising

Note - the whole chapter on Granite is available to read as a PDF in the above link. With the repertory of the remedy included. Also the book's whole Introduction. I own and have read most of Volume 1 and just love this quirky, deep and profound woman. She would be grand to sit and have a cup of tea with and to do proving work with! I must say that I would not have had her on my radar had it not been a senior Homeopath that had Louis Klein's notes on Granite, Marble and Limestone...he had a case of Marble. A woman that wore a cat costume...which is so Marble and not Granite. They are "cat obsessed, cat like, smooth and sleek, can also be into wild cats (cougars, etc), obsessed with cat energy (not necessarily collecting cats)." Is this not cool? Cool as in marble and cats;-)

2) Great case.
http://hpathy.com/clinical-cases/marble-is-made-under-pressure/

3) Like the above, this is an article that I keep tucked between the covers of my Eising book...as a reference (for the day I get one of these cases!).
http://www.interhomeopathy.org/the-family-of-calc-carb-limestone-and-marble

4) Fontaine's prescription of Lycopodium (2nd case of boy, age 6) makes a good read when you experience the life his mother explained/expressed for him. As the sensation is like the plant in that it starts "...large and then squeezed/shrunken down in size" as in how the plant evolved into its modern form. You can get double mileage from reading the case as far as learning more about our M.M. on this polycrest. In Scholten's Plant System Lycopodium has the number: #422.13.06 If you can do the math, you'll know that this makes sense for a case of Autism in a child (with the correct sensations/expression or behaviour to match). This is due to the placement of this plant in the evolution of the Plant Kingdom, its classification. Just read over pgs 60-1 of Wonderful Plants and you'll be liking what you read in relation to how it makes sense of the patients that come to you that "have a conflict...between being oneself and able to survive at one hand and finding a place in the community...". As well, do compare to the Orchids that Klein has found useful for Autism -- that are numbered #633.70 in the Plant System and "...feel they cannot belong to others. They think they will be left alone, rejected or betrayed. Due to that they do not want to commit themselves...their contacts are short lasting." (this from p. 204 of Wonderful Plants)

The double 3 in the Orchids shows that the emphasis is on the Silica Series and so relationships are the point of focus in the case and, thus, the patient that is on the Autism Spectrum might be more Asperger-like or less inclined to being rejected outright. In the case of an Autism patient that needs a remedy like a Clubmoss - evolutionary-wise earlier on, and, therefore, developmentally less sophisticated as a person. As well, Lycopodium is a double 2 and, hence, emphasis is on the Carbon Row of the Periodic Table (Series 2) and so, there is less contact and ability to relate to people/others. Note- Their first number is also a 4 (as opposed to a 6, which is an Angiosperm (flowering plant)) and, therefore, totally simple and like a rx that starts with a 5 in the Plant System. It is basically very simplistic and about survival in whatever area of their focus...be it relationships, their body, work, or even their creative endeavors.

See this link on the Klein Orchids book that has cases/proving info that compliments Scholten's System beautifully. N.B. - the link below also has an exerpt of the book, with its Contents and then a good chunk of a chapter (illustrating how Orchids are suited to ADHD in this case).

http://www.narayana-verlag.com/Orchids-in-Homeopathy-Louis-Klein/b15339?keywords=orhcids

5) Scorpian case - info on line to read for free -- Androctonus Amoreuxii Hebraeus: Getting to Know the Androctonus patient, A Study based on Jeremy Sherr Proving by Claudio C. Araujo et al. European Congress of Homeopathy 2016...Note- has two female cases, one age 46 that works in the Police Force and the other age 3 at initial consult then age 7 when prescribed Androctonus. See the Dynamis site of J. Sherr too...you can get the download of the whole Proving for a nominal fee.
  

So, now we go to the book that many of you have read or have been meaning to read (do we not all have a few of these on our "to do reading lists"...). Jane Cichetti's Dreams, Symbols and Homeopathy was on mine almost 10 years. It is better late than never. Because many of you also might have read it or a proper review of the book I will not say too much other than, firstly, get it and read it and even use it as a basis for a Study Group. Or maybe better yet, take to heart her suggestion of keeping a dream journal yourself. This is in the section, "The 'Dreaming' Physician" that is in Chapter 8 of the book - which is the start of the 3rd part of the 4 parts of the book, where all the preliminary stuff in the first 2 parts gets applied to your practice. The 4th part is what Cicchetti's calls a "Symbolic Materia Medica" with Mineral, Plant and Animal Kingdom remedies covered by a chapter on Trees, "The Archtypal Tree", on Vines, "Healing Entanglements" and also Milks, "The First Food" and finally, Metals, "Of Alchemists".

Incidently, the first 2 parts are integral to getting something out of the book clinically and are just plain awesome reading. But, for sure, the 3rd part is where the meat of the matter lies with headings like these: "Dreams and the Mind-body Relationship: The use of Dreams in Homeopathic Practice" or "Case Taking: Perceiving What Needs to be Healed" or "Communicating with the Psyche: The Subtle Technique of Dream Analysis". Doesn't this all sound so good?!? This is what gets us Homeopaths salivating.

The part on the "dreaming physician" is on how we as healers can work with our dreams to become familiar with the symbolic language of our dreams...with the operative word being "our" dreams. As in understanding not what the meaning of the dream is in so far as any objective reason, but for the purposes of how the dream(s) relate to the conscious life of the patient. Also, as far as case management we learn how dreams reflect what is happening in the healing process (N.B. - Cicchetti tells us also that prior to treatment or just before the intake interview, how the repeated or significant dreams told to the Homeopath are part of a message we can use to understand what needs to be healed. With similar content/symbolism that some interpret as in "traditional" dream analysis Homeopaths are advised that "...the interpretation of the dream is different for different people, depending upon their associations to the symbolism in the dream and circumstances of their lives. No dream is therapeutically meaningful alone and outside of the context of the dreamer." (p. 99) As Cicchetti points out, "Jung...at the end of his chapter on the practical use of dream-analysis in The Practice of Psychotherapy [states] 'The way of successive assimilations goes far beyond the curative results that specifically concern the doctor,' he writes. 'It leads in the end to the distant goal which may perhaps have been the first urge to life: the complete actualization of the whole human being, that is, individuation. We physicians may well be the first conscious observers of this dark process of nature. As a rule we see only the pathological phase of development, and we lose sight of the patient as soon as he is cured. Yet it is only after the cure that we would really be in a position to study the normal process, which may extend over years and decades.'" (p. 103)

My take away from this quote-within-a-quote is simply that with dream analysis we can work with patients as healers and not just as physicians - which I take meant for Jung psychiatrists and psychologists. For us - who usually have people come for physical health conditions - we can move from operating from more of a medical model or solely focusing on the chief complaint as per "what is to be cured?" only as a condition to a place of getting to the root cause, what is underneath the shift to a disease state for the patient. We can shift to going into the sub-conscious on a journey alongside our patients and, therefore, being more about deep curative results that actually often happen after we stop either seeing the patient - often when they get a clean bill of health from their doctor. Of course, when they stay on with us - just after the condition they wanted addressed is taken care of or really as good as it can get with our initial rx(s) - then they are going for what is better termed "true healing".

The difference here being that after they are treated with Homeopathy...i.e. - have a remedy help bring about a shift to enable them to have a deep awareness to interpret their own dreams (to look into their subconscious mind)....then they are not just coming to us to get fixed, but they are wanting to complete what was not finished in their development as a human being. Homeopathy in modern times seems just as intent and if not more since Hahnemann's time...to fully realize ourselves as a species so "...that our indwelling, rational spirit can freely avail itself of this living, healthy instrument for the higher purposes of our existence" (Organon, Aphorism 9). Note- I use this to refer to all humans as a species that have the potential to live as fully conscious beings connected to the universal life force! or, at very least, as happy, healthy beings on the planet and in their individual lives.

The book is an important one and it is clearly pointed out as to why especially in modern times we need to be in tune with our patient's psyches; the unconscious lives they live and that can be accessed through dreams (which "...lie outside our conscious ability to manipulate them"). Check this out: "In a way, dreams have never had a more important potential role in homeopathic case taking than they have in the present era. When homeopaths in earlier times asked about food desires, physical modalities, and sensations, they could usually depend on clear, straightforward answers. Today, it is rare to find individuals who have not had most of their mental, general, and physical symptoms suppressed. We now live in a very complex and over medicated society that is reluctant to allow any symptom to go untreated or untrained - or to allow any desire to go uncensored and uninfluenced by advertising and media. Most people live a life that is so removed from nature that symptoms become intellectualized and therefore unreliable, making it very difficult to picture who the individual really is". (p. 90) You had me at "food desires". I am so sold on dream analysis for Homeopathy.

As you know the best way to bring theory home for us is with cases and in the book there is a brilliant case in which Cicchetti breaks it down for us. Over a period of one and half years a patient, Linda, age 46, with a C.C. of hair loss has 8 dreams and they are used to illustrate the multiple ways we can use dreams in our work. See it in the chapter aptly entitled "Wholeness: The Archetype of the Self". Aptly it is a case of Alumina, one of most out of touch with oneself remedies in our M.M. This case alone makes the book well worth a read. Anyways, I will touch on what I am talking here by way of 4 of the 8 dreams of this patient (and without too much detail if that is okay with you). So, the first dream is after 1 month into treatment/dosing the rx. This is a case that unfolds via the 8 dreams over a year and half and goes deep with details from the patient's words (a psycholtherapist who had done extensive work prior to Homeopathy) through to a thorough analysis of what goes on from the perspective of dream analysis and the point of healing. Anyways (again) the point that I want to make...that is driven home effortlessly to us is the healing is "effortless" as it literally unfolds for the patient with time and the remedy doing their Homeopathic magic...and the skilled work of a Homeopath that guides the work with a light touch/rather, with just the amount of effort and of the kind that benefits the patient fully in her healing.

So, back to where I was: the first dream (after 1 month of tx). It is one where the patient sees herself giving bottles to 5 babies to feed them. The Homeopath at this point asked the patient what she thinks it means. She responds that for her it is about how effortless it was in the dream to tend to the needs of all the babies. It was natural, etc. Take away here for the Homeopath was that this was a great rx and there was the potential for the innate healing mechanism within the patient to kick in (or that it was well underway). I will admit that I had not viewed similarly timed dreams in the past with patients in this manner: as a tool to gage if the healing was moving forward in a positive manner - I was too focused at times on the dream content (but do give me a break as I didn't jump in to interpret any dreams, I did look through a macro lens to determine instead if the subconscious of the patient was coming up and you will see next that, at least, I was not totally off track;-)

Cicchetti states that the dream is about "...the ego connecting with a reality bigger than itself." (p. 80) To contextualize this and the case/dream analysis she beautifully gives this to us; to help us keep perspective with our patient's healing journeys: "In the process of personal development, there must be development of the ego, a sense of personal self, but in the later part of life, the reverse process challenges an individual. After a person has lived a life identified with the ego, their ego must form a relationship to the archetype of the Self if further development is to take place. Premature aging, ossification of the body and mind, or illness may occur if this process is stymied. Midlife crises and other diseases that occur between forty and fifty are often associated with, among other things, the need to move toward the greater wholeness being exerted upon the individual by Self." (same page, that is within the body of the 10 pages of the case). This in particular rang true for me in terms of my own age/stage of development and where I am in my healing journey....no more midlife crises! the 2 or 3 that I had are done with, woo hoo.

So, enough about me and back to the case at hand, Linda, 46. The next 2 dreams she has, after another 2 months into treatment, are telling. They bring to the fore of consciousness what had been latent/sitting inside the patient - "her deeper parts". One dream had zombies in trees around her on a road she was walking on in the countryside and the other one was a situation where she was in danger at the hands of her uncle but wherein she knew she was safe despite him welding a knife because she could access and call 911. She basically revisited the horror of her early childhood but in bringing awareness to these dreams she was now able to replay the abuse of her past in a different way. The second of these dreams was a "...wonderful dream of revisiting and healing the trauma". With the session in which the dreams were reported we see how the Homeopath works truly in partnership with the patient in that they are asked what they interpret the dream to mean for themselves. So, the zombies for Linda were in her mind her dead parts, what she had cut off in herself as a way to cope with living within her unsafe childhood. My next Follow-up with a patient will a) hopefully have a dream or 2 to work with, and b) afford me the opportunity to work in this way!

Last dream, her 4th of the 8 dreams: It was one that represented or was, rather, her Shadow (as in what the ego has closed off to/kept hidden) emerging nicely at this point in her tx. This is sometime after only about 3 or 4 months in. Have you ever noticed that if a great rx is at work the time just whips by so quickly....and this is where we have to be in step with our patients, not letting time go by unnecessarily (integral to healing is getting potency and repetition of dose correct just as much as the correct rx). The dream is one that scares the patient - it is a "...group of people sitting around a table and a man was doing a demo on how to use a pistol - to show them how to put it to their heads to kill themselves". Yep, scary stuff and especially as the patient comes to grips with her interpretation. For her, "the group is my family. It is the group thinking that I took in from my family. It's mindless group think". For her, as in the zombie dream, there is a deadness to her/her life prior to tx. But, what comes up is that self-destruction now is about killing off the "...parts of her psyche that were identified with the "groupthink" of her family. At this point she does seem to be depressed/get down but, this is a necessary part of confronting ones Shadow. "She had previously lost her own identity to the beliefs and attitudes of her family members..."...and as Jane Cicchetti points out with the remedy, "This is something that those needing Alumina are particularly prone to do. They easily identify with the group and lose their individual identity to the group identity".

It gets better (the case that is & in so many ways) and so this is where I leave you my friends. You can read the rest on your own. So, just stand up and grab the book off your shelf and dust it off (or quickly get a copy sent to you and start reading it). All told, on my part, I know that next time I am lost in my work with a patient I will re-read this case to give me inspiration and guidance. To reiterate it is worth a read and its a keeper as it's a reference book in many regards. The other book, One Heart, One Mind, by Pierre Fontaine can be a one time read, but, also get it and do pass it around. I am lending my copy to people that work with children on the Autism Spectrum along with some parents so they can see what Homeopathy can do in this regard.

As always it has been a pleasure to read these books and share some of my thoughts on them with you all. To bid you farewell I will leave this with you...a short and a long version on the concept of "theory and practice" that applies equally to Homeopaths as to Samurai:

"Behind the technique, know that there is the spirit: It is dawning now; Open the screen, And lo, the moonlight is shining in!"

This is from a poem to his son by the famous swordmaster/student of Zen Master Takuan Soho, Yagyu Munenori (1571-1646). It was written with swordmanship and not homeopathic prescribing in mind (just in case you were wondering). He later clarifies the point, with an extended version:

 "There is a Zen saying - "the great action is direct and knows no rules." "Direct means that the action of a man of full inner awareness appears directly; and the fact that the action of a man of such awareness is not bound by any of the training principles he has learned, or by any established ways of doing a thing, is expressed by the words, "knows no rules." The "rules" are the training, the ways of doing, the accepted methods. For everything there are instructions, there are ways and means which are usual. But the man who has attained gives them up altogether. He acts freely and spontaneously. He who is free, outside the rules, is called a man of great awareness and great action.

"Awareness means never to lose inner clearness, to see in everything its real point. If this awareness congeals and grows hard by thinking and thinking, it becomes caught up in the things. This means it is not yet mature. But if practice is continued rightly, in time the awareness will become mature and fill the body, and he will work in freedom. This is called great action."

(See The Book of Five Rings by Thomas Cleary, which includes the translation of The Family Traditions on the Art of War by Yagyu Munerori).  

P.S. - if you are intrigued and want to continue reading cause you just don't want this posting to end...then just read this piece. It will get the old grey matter fired up further: https://birthpsychology.com/sites/default/files/file_attach/jaap.pdf


 








  

Radical Healing with Marketa & Me

“The reconnection that is the essence of healing is a process that reaches deeper and deeper, reshaping your consciousness and redirecting your energy so that your body is brought into greater and greater synchrony with the pulsing of the larger wholes of which you are a part. The farthest reaches of healing stretch the mind and stagger the imagination. It is a matter of cosmic proportions.”
Rudolph Ballentine, Radical Healing, 1999

My last year of self-reflection and reaching out about my progress has brought me to understand that balanced health always comes down to Awareness and the timing of it, Synchronicity. My last year has been one of  "Being" and "Action" in this regard. With Homeopathy its' amazed me how much I've managed to accomplish internally and externally.

Part I) On "Being" over the Last Year

"Being in the middle of it"; being at a "Standstill", in "The eye of a storm" or the "Vortex"...defined "...in Cartesian philosophy [as] a rapid rotatory movement of cosmic matter about a center, regarded as accounting for the origin or phenomena of bodies or systems of bodies in space". See the handy dandy online dictionary.com site for Vortex definition(s). Also, see the Kees Dam's Lac maternum piece in Interhomeopathy that has insight on potency* as well as timing for healing (at the end of the case, http://www.interhomeopathy.org/sweet_sweet_mothers_milk).

* - Something that I am contemplating and experimenting with these days is Potencies as "levels of awareness". So, please send me anything you find that links these two things. And for that matter, anything on Repetition of Dose as it relates to "synchronicity" too.

This place of stillness is not passive, but very active with rapid movement and change. In myself, over the last few years I have lived shifts weekly, granted mostly monthly, but at times almost daily. The state appears to be one of contradiction. It is and it is not. As you know, contradiction interests us Homeopaths. It's where we can get a hold of a patient's state. Often when there is discomfort with contradictions our patients come to us for help (even when they are not aware of it). I have concluded with experience, that there is a dis-ease with living with one's contradictions. Something akin to hypocrisy or, more precisely, the feeling of a disconnect in and to one's life. But, contradiction or being able to sit with discomfort can bring us closer to living in harmony in the end. For instance, there can be a co-existence of opposites: with darkness comes light, etc. With balance and, thus, health we can have polarities reside with each other in peace. In my case, I believe now with the help of Homeopathy that I live with healthy contradictions, not the ones that indicate I am hiding something - and, in fact when I was unhealthy I didn't even know that I was full of contradictions of the kind that couldn't really be integrated.

I feel the new Systems of Homeopathy that exist are what I am all about these days. They can seem contradictory as well, but they are in a good way. Systemizing something but having within the system a freedom to be creative is having things that appear to be polar opposites peacefully co-exist. This is what, I believe, appeals to so many of us with the systemic perspective now of our Materia Medica because it contextualizes the parts to make a whole...Starting with myself, I am a being who is a system: complex and, at last, coming to a simplicity, in that I am not a mass of confusion or parts that are disconnected. Rather my parts are now running together towards an end that makes sense of all the independent pieces. This is an example of the "reconnection" in the opening quotation.

Recently I read the words of the plenary speakers for a conference on "Aging and Spirituality" to



A mystical song from Marketa Irglova's Muna, 2014

be held in Los Angeles (the same weekend of Louis Klein's October Vancouver seminar, so no palm trees for me). "There are circum-stances that must shatter you; and if you are not shattered, then you have not understood your circumstances. In such circumstances, it is a failure for your heart not to break, and it is pointless to put up a fight, for a fight will blind you to the opportunity that has been presented by your misfortune." At times like these, indeed all the time as we grow older, author and gerontologist Jane Marie Thibault suggests that we think of our lives not as a journey, but as a pilgrimage. Mature spirituality is not just about smelling the roses on an endless path. The truth is that like it or not, we are all on our way to the same ultimate destination. "Dignify the shock," she writes. "Sink, so as to rise."(Leon Weiselter on Thibault. See Fierce with Age website for info.).  For the Homeopathy seminar that I am off to next month see here: http://www.homeopathycourses.com/louis-klein-master-seminars-2015/. It'll be all about the New Methodologies and how to actually apply them, always useful - clinically relevant as is Klein's trademark.


Part of the reason I am at last getting into my stride as a Homeopath is that I am integrating my own experiences/traumas - all the parts of my life...living an existence that has all my memories - experiences of them even at the cellular level - coming together to make a whole. Ahhhh, a whole manifested being! This is a big deal 'cause all the reading and attempts made in the past are now finally paying off. Thanks to the transformative power of Homeopathic remedies. Being both a patient and also having my own patients has afforded me the opportunity to witness healing that moves us to a reconnection with the cosmos, the "larger wholes", again from the opening quotation/book Radical Healing.

It is very much a time of transition for me. This is the stuff about me being in flux, but yet at a standstill (in the Vortex). I have had several years of practice with my patients, observing them. Moving from watching their hand gestures to their responses when sharing their stories during the Intake interview to seeing their miraculous cures.

I can fully appreciate what a blessing it is that we can learn and grow ourselves as healers from their journeys towards being whole. As a patient myself I have had the benefit of the healing work of some great Homeopaths that have helped me make the shift that has then enabled me to be better at being there for my patients, and, of course, being a better individual for myself, my family and friends. I wonder which came first, the chicken or the egg? Did I already have an ability for being a Homeopath or did my patients impart this ability on me? My feeling is it's about standing still...long enough, in my case, as I am almost ADHD or at least very impatient at times;-)

Detachment (with compassion as in Buddhist teachings on Attachment) has allowed for a true connection with others. I am not talking here about taking on the issues of our patients, but, rather, hearing with self-awareness what is going on - again the state of the person, what they are about, their stories, their life's themes, their issues or the problem of their case (to be precise and according to Scholten). To paraphrase a Canadian author in an interview I just heard the other day: Empathy is not about pity or even compassion but about getting into the shoes of others, their lives. Good Homeopathy is like Art, a good novel or a beautiful painting with perfectly executed brushstrokes...and in so many ways...including being poor and starving, ha ha.

One aspect of my own case has been coming to terms with my Shadow, one that in the past put me into a state of shame (or guilt on a good day). But with Homeopathy, an acceptance of my Shadow is making it possible to move forward. Although I am not exactly aiming to embrace it, I want to come to a place of acknowledging it and integrating my past "shameful" or at least "regrettable" actions/patterns in order to move thru them to a new place (one that has me detached enough from them so as to be able to recognize in the moment when I am basically behaving in certain ways in order that I can shift gears and act differently). To change habits/patterns is hard, but with energetic shifts that Homeopathic remedies offer we have hope to do this...to be transformed and be closer to being Whole.

In just a sec I will touch on the concrete things I am doing with patients, using specific Families of remedies that I find extremely beneficial for this work, especially in times of change or transition. As many of you know, we see many of our patients at these times of what I see as a discomfort with their old ways. Even if they do not know it, this is when they often turn to Homeopathy. And do I not know it myself. I just had my case taken by an outstanding Homeopath because I too am at a time like this again; on all fronts of my life (or facets of my case). I am shifting and moving but in a still enough place - Hello Vortex or "Eye of the Storm" - so, this time not exactly stuck like I was several years ago. I think, therefore, a snapshot of my state is likely very clear...I certainly love it when I get a patient that comes to me in this state. I hope that my dis-ease is clear, but do hope it gets cleared up sooner than later too...Any day now I will take my remedy - just awaiting its arrival by post and then will hopefully get a nudge in the right direction.

Always a sign for me that a patient has moved from the primary reaction of a remedy - that sets the impetus into action but is doing most of the work - to the secondary reaction with their Vital Force or their own "innate healing action" doing its thing. This is about the inner core of the person...what energizes their actions because the self-awareness has kicked in:-) So, which came first? me witnessing this or me taking the lead to spot out the patient's state based on my own self-awareness? As you know, whenever we ask the chicken or egg question we can never know the answer. It would be about being sure of not only the causative agent(s) but also assuming we know what is the desired outcome. And this is not at all possible to know (even once it is supposedly a "closed case") nor desired...except when we forget to be humbled by the results we see in our practices...remembering to be amazed at the possibilities that unfold before our eyes.

Part II) On "Action" this Recent Year of My Life

When we see the secondary reaction we know it cause the patient is not the source or substance speaking any longer but comes from a place of "Doing" or "Action" (and not "Being the Source"). At the start of any curative action with a good remedy, we see an uncanny - almost comical - reaction of the patient that can only be described as a possession. There's a hold on them that is somewhat like a Proving. But because there are beneficial aspects like being energized, eating or sleeping better, having some meaningful dreams (huge!)...as well as their old symptoms coming to the fore (as in Hering's Law), we know it is not a Proving.

I personally need to see this clean reaction to know that the remedy is more than just good, but correct - as in the best possible fit I can get or match them to. For me, I believe it is at this place that self-awareness is finally truly possible and that's what is gonna to make it possible for healing to happen for them (myself included). This possibility allows for what we know to be the secondary reaction to kick in. I have come at last to this place: awareness is key and without it I realize I would not have any hope of moving out of a place of feeling ill at ease. I used to be on a path or journey stopping to smell the flowers along the way, but this was not much different from early on (when I had no inkling of myself as a person in need of help) when I was actually just distracting myself with, well, distractions (diversions or diverging off the path) - engaging often in self-destructive and harmful acts to avoid the core issues of my life. I have now shifted with Homeopathy to being a pilgrim.

Unfortunately, I think I have to still sink a little more on this pilgrimage of mine. Shit. But, shit happens, and, therefore, I will hopefully be able to rise out of this shit and come out the other end with dignity: with some wisdom. Cross your fingers for me for the next several months. It is going to get ugly...again, but deeper and better in the end I hope. I am hoping that with early remedies and with "work on my issues" and all that stuff that it'll not be as low as in the early part of my pilgrimage. For me, turning to Buddhism has been helpful and not necessarily a crutch but a pillar of support that I feel has been loving and kind and brings with the meditation (and a sprinkling of yoga) that I've tried to do has rubbed off on me. And with this round, I will be more conscious about it as a practice in my life. So, again cross your fingers for me, cause I feel precariously perched and could easily fall off the wagon without an impetus such as Homeopathy.



More than Once makes this worth a listen...it's mystical
and magical music.

I have been listening to some lovely songs with very relevant lyrics...truly spiritual works. They are by Marketa Irglova on her second album called Muna. All the songs are simply sublime and I could listen to them a thousand times. I listen to music when I work on cases, not at first but once on a roll having found at least the direction I feel that is going to get a remedy for a patient. I listen to music when I clean house and cook as well. In the morning it helps me get grounded to start the day and then later on as a steady pulse of energy if I need to be driven and keep going when I am focused. I am listening to music right now as I type out thoughts to share with you. I feel connected to the planet with music...but not if I am in nature - either at the seaside or by big freshwater bodies of water or in the woods. I was fortunate to have a summer just now of all of these with the last being a trip north of Toronto to do some camping and canoeing ("I am Canadian" as one of our beer ads proclaims, lol). Nature and the music I am listening to these days helped me revive after all the activity of the last year (The new Blue Rodeo album In our Nature is excellent as well. Canadian stuff, unlike Marketa - who is in Iceland these days but from the Czech Republic originally - all prior to her Once debut at the Oscars and on Broadway).

Here's my list of what I did in terms of "Action":

1) Lots of great cases/patient work with an expansion of how I prescribe. Part of this focus on my practice came 'cause I made a decision to let go of being the book sales representative in North America for Narayana Publisher's - this was hard to do...but, now I see that I had to or I wouldn't come to where I am ready to go the extra mile - i.e.- full time practice...which enabled me to get good cases of Plants, new remedies (and old ones or ones that are very related/close to Polycrests on the Periodic Table (i.e. - Ozone) or close Botanically...as in new Plant remedies).

2014's 20th Anniversary Issue: The Past, Present
and the Future of Homeopathy

2) Plant System articles/cases, one for Simillimum and one for The American Homeopath (reflective of my coming home, as it were, as I often go seeking outside of my roots/self to connect, i.e. - get approval from outside of myself - so, local publications represent a shift for me).

3) Lacs reviews of books/cases for publication (another Simillimum piece- already published and also The American Homeopath again, this one pending - need that remedy to kick my butt into gear to wrap it up, especially an accompanying case of Lac delphinum).

4) Prescribing for Miasms and Chakras with new remedies -- New Nosodes (Klein), Colours (Ambika Wauters) and Gemstones (Peter Tumminello) -- with work on a curriculum for teaching other Homeopaths...

5) And for patients something I am doing: a Memoir Writing group - that will also be for myself to document my personal life journey (a Homeopathic Autobiography of sorts)...oops, pilgrimage. The latter is going to be made into my Thesis for Louis Klein's Master Clinician Course, as that is what is left to do to be a full graduate of it. What came first, the chicken or the egg here? for sure, it was the chicken in that it grew (albeit from the egg) organically (and free run, lol) so as to then become a proposal for being a Thesis. I will for sure share what I learn from running a group for patients that have had success with Homeopathy with me and who memoir write with me to give meaning to their lives - what the group is going to do over the next several months. I hope all the patients I invited are going to sign up in the next few weeks....many of whom are the ones that I have prescribed, intermittently, remedies for their evolution since doing well for a least a couple of years on their Constitutional remedies. These "intermittent" rxs are the Colour, Sound and Gemstones that I have been working with of late. Love 'em and will share with you all in future on this experience.

6) I will mention that I have on the back burner but always running though my mind (again, need the impetus of my remedy!) the idea or the makings of a Book Club for us Homeopaths. To keep us all up to date with the prolific authors/Homeopaths we have in our midst and that without we can not practice in a way that advances us and our work for the benefit of patients. So, slowly but surely it will happen...if you contact me on this or any of my cases or articles I will send you what interests you. Next I will either have condensed versions here in my Blog of cases or a write up on the Vancouver Klein seminar I attend in less than a month...or on credentials and staking my claim in Homeopathy as a practitioner (see below)...or on the above, #4) or #5). Um, so many ideas, so little time.

So, at last I start to finish up. To show you how slow change is for me and many of the people I see I will say, that also in the last year, I have moved from a place of being an outsider to wanting to be an insider: at last, acknowledging that credentials are a good thing and that it doesn't mean that if I join an association or society of Homeopaths or get licensed and such that I am a sell out. I have always been a renegade to a degree in all that I have done (even Social Work, how? who knows?). On one level it helped me to get a perspective that was unique in order to have insights not possible if I was too much on the inside. But now, I am again awaiting the magic of Homeopathy to do its thing so I can start again!! on my applications. This all is another story and another posting. Patience is a virtue and with the awareness of my own (slow) evolution I am able to at last see that I must be patient with my patients as well. At the start I was always like "Hurry up and heal" but now see it is time and time only that we need to give ourselves and others for healing...being pilgrims that are going at a pace that works for them, so as not to get blisters or end up hobbling or even crawling on the path. So, having said that, give me a few months to reach out again and blog a piece on something for you all.

BTW, my remedy has arrived just today - yikes!@#!! Wish me luck! Until next time, I wish you all the best in whatever capacity you are moving forward in your endeavors, or "Actions". If we all keep in mind, that "Being" is valid and that without it there is no movement/change, or "Action". As you know, it is just the other side of the same coin. Be well in all the ways that you all are able. Peace.

                                ____________________________________________

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and righting, there is a field. I will meet you there." Rumi
 

Who Knew a Mental Health Congress Could be so Fun?!

Today I am still sitting with the effects of having attended the Mental Health Congress hosted by Narayana Publishers. It was their second one and was held March 8^th – 10^th, 2013 in Bad Krozingen, Germany, near to their Publishing House in Kandern. I use none of the above words lightly. “Effects” as it is a multifaceted response that I had to a very stimulating experience that all of my being was effected by in many ways. “Hosted” as it was a feat that was not much unlike a huge birthday party, this event, that the Narayana team pulled off without any hitches from what I could see. Simply a beautiful experience.

Originally, I had the inkling I would be writing on the seminar itself and some info on extras that were highlights but now I wanna shout from a mountain top (in the Alps;-) on the merits of attending such an event to all of you, my dear gentle readers: wake up and smell the German Coffee, which is darn good stuff! For the sake of appearing sane, however, I will go about this in an orderly fashion.

So here is an outline of the piece, a Contents of sorts (let’s see if I stick to it!):

i)                    Rating of Location – ie – my Fanatastic Trip to Germany, albeit limited in time and space.

ii)                   Narayana Verlag Backgrd Review – like, why I love my people so much more than expected!

iii)                 My Seminar Thoughts.

Firstly,I should establish I have been with Narayana as their North American customer rep for just over a couple of years and all my dealings with them have been lovely, but still did not prepare me for what proved to be the most wonderful trip, seminar and hospitatility I have experienced as an employee, a homeopath and as a human being. It was admittedly getting weird that I had not met the publishers I talk with via Skype and in email and some phone calls, so to have broken the sound barrier and have a face to face was normalizing – and what better way then to see them in action.

Although they are publishers they shine with their event organizing. They have hosted other Congresses, with sometimes a handful of speakers or a singular homeopath and at other times with one topic just as with this Mental Health Congress with a number of speakers. What these represent for me is the bringing together of Homeopathy as a global community - all manner of Homeopathy gets exposure that focuses on moving us into the 21st century and helping our modern day patients. This Congress reflected this intent very well by way of the presenters invited to participate. Everyone in attendance and the speakers sensed that this is what the Congress was aiming for - interestingly the topic is one that would highlight the urgency we have to address the ills of our society as Mental Health is something that we can all, unfortuately, say we are seeing more of in our practices - mental illness is so very prevalent and pervasive in all parts of the world, yet so stigmatized still. Likely the reason there's an increase to more hidden forms of it....or should I say more acceptable ways of being insane!

For various reasons everyone was flocking there at once – it was like a pilgrimage for me personally, but for many others as well it seemed. Hold onto your hats folks! – 500 Homeopaths in attendance! And if that was not enough, the participants represented 31 countries!! Narayana's first Mental Health Congress was successful but this was remarkable in terms of numbers. 

There was anyone from the lone homeopath from Gabon, who was such a lovely man, to the 50 French Homeopaths that made their presence felt just by sheer numbers. I love hearing French spoken as it is such a lovely language, Romance languages are, well, romantic sounding. I ate lunch the first day with 2 Brazillians and my Canadian travel companion as well as 2 German Homeopaths - there were Homeopaths from Japan I chatted with, the UK, Eastern Europe and India - Down Under? I wonder....as the sheer numbers were so big it was hard to chat with everyone...but I did at some point cover alot of the people as I assisted behind the English Book Table in the foyer during breaks - this gave me a sense of what schools of thought, practice circumstances and more was being drawn to this Congress.

I think the time has come that many of the Homeopaths that order books from Narayana just all at once decided to make the trip to one of their events...and rightly so, as what better way to learn than to attend a seminar that covers such a nice range of practices/approaches and on such a timely issue. I will get into the Congress a little more down the road....

Speaking of roads, I spent the whole time stumbling about not only in awe of the event for the Homeopathy factor but, really in terms of a trip I totally enjoyed myself at every turn: the streets of Bad Krozingen are twisting and turning and one could easily – as I did – be lost in familiar streets;-) Mind you, I was not lost in familiar streets but, always in the end, in the unfamiliar streets I got to where I needed to be.

1) So, officially I am addressing at this point the first item of my piece, the Location.

I have never been anywhere near the Black Forest in my life before this – known as Schwarzwald in German. In all honestly, for the first year in my work with Narayana I could not envision where they were located...for me they were in Germany and not in Berlin or any other German city that I knew of. As time wore on I got to being curious and with looking at the pics of their previous Congresses (seminars as we call them), shots they shared by email with me of their hikes (they go for walks in idyllic settings, that looked to me staged!), and then finally taking the initiative of looking at maps, etc. of where Kandern was. Finally I started to get a sense of how their location was really integral to what they are about.

Germany, Homeopathy, get that? Remote quiet village tucked in mountains and very natural, healthy, got that worked out….and then re- Congresses in neighbouring town as there are amenities to host and pull off the feats they do (officially Bad Krozingen is a village, but for me that word reminds me of pioneer days...so hard to grasp that villages exist in Western countries – sorry to be so out to lunch on this)….but what I had come to realize is that they do what they do - beautiful publishing projects, Spectrum journal and Interhomeopathy and these Congresses, because they are grounded folks...secure in their position, literally, in a wonderful building, their gorgeous publishing house, and in a peaceful and very natural and clean setting...environmentally it is simply lovely.

I think the best way to convey what I am talking about is to just show you my trip pics - a Facebook Album. I was snapping photos all throughout and as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words....and I did add captions, maybe not a thousand but enough hopefully to give you the gist of what I experienced.

Laura's Personal Pics from her FaceBook Album.

Because I was just flying in and out I did not get to travel in the area unlike my colleague, Lynn Comeau a wonderful Homeopath from South Western Ontario Canada that I convinced to do this when we were sitting at Scholten seminar in Toronto last fall...she stayed on for a week and did a driving trip of what is called the Romantic Road. In any German Travel Guide Book and online you can find the info on 3 such driving trips in Schwarzwald (can be done by bike or train/bus as well I believe).

I am interested to try the Fairy Tale Road for a family vacation, based on Grimms Fairy Tales. Mind you at this time of year one can ski - either in Austria, Switzerland or Germany itself. In fact I have learned that the first ski "hill" in Europe was in fact in Germany and from the Narayana folks/Congress locations about an hours drive or so from what I can gather looking at a map. The mountain/resort is called Feldberg and for those of you who are Cdn its elevation is 1,493 metres and for those using the Imperial system of measure it is 4,898 feet high. Nice eh? There is a Ski Shuttlebus that I got a pamphlet for at the train station in Bad Krozingen and saw as well in the Basel Switzerland train station (only 30 or minutes apart)....everything is so close and so one can hop on a train and be out of the country....you can see the airport nearest the Congress was on border of France, Switzerland and Germany. The Black Forest as with Bavaria (where Munich Octoberfest takes place - just to situate you) borders Austria too and so if skiing is your thing you are good to go!

Last couple things on location to mention: I would rate the accomodation situation as being tops re- price, cleanliness and comfort. The "village" seems to be set up for Homeopathy Seminars....hosted by Narayana. They are 30 - 40 minutes away and some of the publishers just stay put in Bad Krozingen throughout the Congress while others just drive to their Publishing House while staff hop over to their neighbouring villages at days end...in fact one of the highlights of going to their seminars is that you get to go there too (not their homes, but the Publishing House...). They host a beautiful Open House Reception with food/wine and books, books, books - so, buy direct out of the warehouse (but not a North American style warehouse at all).

The presenters/authors were there to sign books and it was really just a wonderful time for everyone. Of the approximately 500 Homeopaths in attendance almost half went on the Saturday evening of the Congress. There was a grand coach bus - European style - to take us to Kandern (I did miss the bus but took a cab there chasing after the bus!). For me sitting next to a German homeopath on the trip back to Bad Krozingen was a great way to get a sense of an altogether different way to practice...as a practitioner she was new but getting into the newer ways of prescribing and also keeping her day job of 25 years, which was to work with people that lost their sight as adults...her inspiration to get into Homeopathy as she saw the need to help these people cope not with their blindness but with the limitations due to changes in their lives that came with their loss of sight. I really hope to see some of her cases in the pages of our journals in the future. I learned as well from her that the South West region, where the Black Forest is located, is the most tolerant of Homeopathy in Germany - sort of a shock to learn that acceptance of Homeopathy is not as widespread as I assumed in the founding country of our profession. All this from a 45 minute bus ride...

Oops, went on a winding road trip to the Open House, literally. My pics don't convey it well, so here are the pics from Narayana website they just put up. You can see a full array of shots that cover events that I was busy sipping, eating or chatting at and forgot to take photos (I was always putting something in my mouth it seemed....sort of like when you want to take a Homeopathic remedy!). Bonus too: a great 6 minute video covering it but with delightful candid footage of homeopaths saying why they were enjoying themselves.

http://www.narayana-publishers.com/psycho_seminar_ruckblick_2013_en.php

Back to the topic of the Location of the Seminar -- on Accomodation...the same link on their website for all their Congresses is just the local tourist board info but a good start. You can just use TripAdvisor and Bookings.com, etc. as well to make arrangements -- what we did (last minute so our place was a 30 minute instead of 5 or 10 minute walk to the facility for the seminar, next time will be booking when get my flight booked)....so, really no need to rent a car or anything, you can just shuttle bus from airport (info is shared by Narayana when you register/on their site as well)...or do the train as I did since this is my preferred mode of transpo and I just had my small wheely suitcase. I was set to sit and stare out the window (but typical of me, I ended up chatting with local German woman from the area, Baden Baden, that was returning to her hometown after living abroad in Lebanon for almost 20 years - her life story was fasinating and she is now thinking of trying Homeopathy to make the adjustment back into her new mid-life changes and deal with grief as her husband had passed away in the last year...so in effect I was helping this German woman understand on the benefits of Homeopathy, what can I say!).

Here is Accomodation info: http://www.bad-krozingen.info/eng/Accommodation

Below as well are pics from the previous years Mental Health Congress - there are close ups of the treats at the Open House and author signing pics that really gives you the flavour of the hospitality of going to something that Narayana hosts:

http://www.narayana-publishers.com/spectrum-homeopathy/mental-health-congress-2012

Currently on the website you will see info on all the Congresses they have held since 2009 (around when they embarked on doing these formally). Also, you can see the next 2 upcoming seminars they are hosting. Their 3rd Veterinary Congress for this month with a number of outstanding presenters & also one with just Peter Tumminello of Australia on the Precious Gems in Homeopathy - here they hold the seminar in Kandern and you can see the links on Accomodation and Transpo details and such so you can make arrangements.
What else was I wanting to convey about Location: oh yes, how could I forget - the area is famous for it's thermal waters and although Hahnemann was against them just as he was coffee (which, incidently is great stuff in Germany) I say get thee to the spa. So be sure to check out the Vita Classica of Bad Krozingen or other thermal baths in the Black Forest (not one of the Road Trips, but could be - just hop town to town getting spa treatments.).

I went on my last night...there are 7 pools as well as amenities (my new word) like treatments and such AND the price is right folks: $20 bucks approximately to get in, with towel and nice clean locker....and there is cafe with food and beer as well (maybe Hahnemann would approve of the beer if there are no preservatives?!).

http://eng.vita-classica.de/Vita-Classica

So, there you have it on Location. Oh, the city of Freiburg is not far so you can go there for a dinner one evening too....some people did. There were a couple of American Homeopaths there with their husbands and I recall they did this. It has Germany's oldest University there, was founded as a town in 1120, and is now the world's greenest city - packed with history and gorgeous from what I can see online and from reading my Travel Guidebooks. Alas, next time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freiburg_im_Breisgau

As far as a rating out of 10 with 10 being the best, I would give the locale 9 out of 10...

2) Next Item to be covered in my report to you on my trip - The Narayana People...I realize that I have not shared much on them in this Blog - However, I think I will only say a little here only because I think I will do a posting on them in future as their story is unique...simply lovely - their Publishing House really unfolded organically and they come from a place of good intentions that what they do is truly a labour of love and needs to be explored fully another time.

Suffice it to say this: Narayana originally was Herbert Sigwart and Ulrich Welte - they were med students and in 1973 and 1974 they presented on Homeopathy as they learned about it to a large German medical student organization's Congress (there's that word again - seminar for us)...ironically in Germany usually when the topic was on Homeopathy out of thousands of med students only 4 or 5 people would show up to the talk by whoever was covering Homeopathy. When Herbert Sigwart presented the first year on his work in a hospital...as intern that treated terminal cases he ended up having over a 1000 students want to come into the room, so the talk spilled into another room and then another room....the next year it was Ulrich that presented and by then the interest was there and so he too had a large crowd. They basically had plastered campuses and all over the Congress town with flyers to outreach for their talks - not waiting for the organizers to just do what they normally did, which was to list topics and then students would just attend.

Herbert shared this story and more upon meeting him. I think it is representative of how the whole Narayana story goes - they start with an idea or action and it grows with them never knowing how it will turn out other than they must run with it to see what unfolds - like a flower that needs to open up from the bud to be a whole bloom that can pollinate and make more plants and continue forever growing and speading so as to be a whole field of lovely wildflowers.

So, once finished med school instead of practicing as doctors the founders opened up their clinic in Kandern and have not looked back since - the pics I took has their plaque on the door and it is just next door to the Publishing House entrance...what happened next is cool. Welte's colour book was their first foray into publishing as they wanted to get the colours in this System made up by a publisher but were told it would not be possible to do in quality they felt essential to make sure the true colours were shown - so they set up shop to self publish. As well the boys were importing books from B. Jain in India to read, ironically again, in order to learn Homeopathy - they ended up importing books for all the interested students of Homeopathy (remember the 1000+ that spilled out practically into the streets)....so, bit by bit the basis of what they did expanded.

I will get the data on the first few books they printed/published as Herbert told me all the details but like with my picture taking I was eating apple strudel so did not write notes with info to share with you all. One day will do up all the info for you in a nice and neat package. The other two Publishers are also the siblings of Herbert and they are Katrin Sigwart and Jürgen Sigwart...they are instrumental in the day to day operations of the whole enterprise like Herbert and Ulrich. They truly are a unique bunch of people. However, what I am most impressed with is that they are caring of their staff - that has grown from themselves and a few others to pretty recently 60 on their team.

As well, they are growing Homeopathy and are giving back to the profession constantly and never taking more than their basic share so as to share with the world what they are nurturing....be it, Agrohomeopathy, or Interhomeopathy and Spectrum, books they see as clinically relevant and ones that need to be kept in circulation, etc....all the juicy details on these projects, how they evolved and more coming up another time.

3) So, now onto the Congress!

Firstly, to say I will only go into my cursory impressions at this time (still working on some cases/just took a few before or returning from flying off and have to put my nose to the grindstone on them - Marble or Diamond Immersion for one and a toss up on another between Lac felinum and Taxoplasmosis Nosode - tx Lou Klein for your work on this rx so can be in our repertoire).....so, you will get just my first thoughts as they have been floating in my head over last few days cause a) Deborah Collins, editor of English Interhomeopathy will do a review for Spectrum coming up soon and b) also you will get more details coming out of this great Congress in "pages" of Interhomeopathy. Also, I will share my experience soon of the presentation of Michal Yakir in this blog.

So, let's see: Line Up was great -- see Website re- program, details on what was the focus for each presenter within the broader topic of Mental Health - there is video footage for some as well from previous talks, etc.

http://www.narayana-publishers.com/mental_health_congress_2013.php

You will want to get the DVDs of either individual speakers or the whole package - I will be getting it since my seminar notes got sparse (was I busy eating something, I did have some good real licorice in my bag, but it was more having a laptop on my lap. It was hard balancing act and so might have just sputtered out at the end of some lectures....I will, therefore, only do the first day as well (Plant focus by chance - my new big learning area that I can not get enough of). I will touch ever so slightly on Day 2 and 3.

My first comment is really a question: What seminar have you been to ever that is one issue with so many different perspectives from classical (i.e. - unabashedly, Mr. Master wins here) to modern (i.e. - Scholten but others can be placed there, like Sankaran naturally) and everyone in between (i.e. - Hardy and Gandhi fit here right down the middle for me with all others falling at various points along the continuum with some jostling about, lol)? So, my point is that you probably have not. In fact, for me just observing the presenters mix and mingle was really what was interesting as it is always cool to know they are continuely learning as we are....and what better way for them to have the opportunity to converse with each other and incorporate new perspectives into their own than on a vacation in a nice village after seeing each others cases. With them expanding their knowledge means that they grow their ideas and share with us, their students and readers. A nice side effect of a Narayana Congress.

One thing that I personally got out of it - the general learning from all the combined speakers/cases was that with each patient we will have sitting in front of us in our practices it must be assumed that no matter how far down the road they are of what is considered mental illness they can be helped; the method will be whatever is appropriate to the case at the time. So for instance, I believe that in almost all the presented cases nearly anyone of the Homeopathic speakers would likely have had curative results and even would have done so with their "own" remedies. This is perhaps a far fetched scenerio but stay with me - what I am getting at is not just the concept that the relationship we have with our patients is half the cure. But, also the other point I am making is that different modern methodologies are all overlapping really - with some having the capability to be superimposed on top of each other while some are driving at the same thing, which is to address what is at the deepest level of the state (be it the "Sensation" (you know who I am talking about), be it a resonance with a psychotropic drug (reference to one of Klein's cases), be it the problem in the case (Schotlen) or where the patient is stuck in being birthed, that be a Mahesh Gandhi case exemplifying the Carbon Row of the Periodic Table, etc.

Day 1 in Order of Appearance.

Jan Scholten. His presentation was what he has been presenting to the Homeopathic World now for a few years. In years past he was continually illustrating his thougths on Plants by way of casework and emerging Themes on the Plant Families - what we are now seeing in the "pages" of Interhomeopathy.

Here is one link to info that is available on the Rosaceae for instance: http://www.interhomeopathy.org/search-results?advSearch=allwords&search=rosaceae&sub=Search%21

His new Plant System will be in book form anyday now - May?!! and was what I wrote on a few months back as I had attended a 3 Day seminar with him in Toronto when he was brought to North America by Lou Klein - see my Blog posting. There were audience members not familiar with Scholten's work on Plants and now they are - just as you are all my gentle readers...I am sold on him in every way and can not fathom practicing without Jan;-) Here are the cases/Rxs he showed to us in his time slot (4 hrs per person):
i) Acorus calamus, or the Acorales Order of the Lilianae Family. If you read my piece on Scholten Plant System you'll get what this number is: #63111.01. ii) Typha latifolia, Bullrush/Cattail, also of Lilianae and it can be a DD with Bromium and Lithium. #63341. iii) Eccremocarpus scaber or the Chilian Glory Flower/Vine and this is #66565.09. With these cases Jan gave a running commentary to expand on what his System is about/how works and what he viewed as relevant in the cases, so, the problem in the case (why there was pathology). Themes were seen and such but really always boils down to his Phases (recall there are 7 if you read my previous piece) that are about where a person stands in relation to the grp/family/society, etc - are you in or out? There is an emphasis consciously to look at family of origin and how fit was there. With other's they all got that information in the case but they did not always talk directly about it in their case analysis...some did as well.

Next, on the first day, we had Rajan Sankaran. Ta Da. He was totally great as well. For many it was also a first exposure to him in person but many I think were informed of Sensation Method from his books - I read everythg that comes out as it is glorious reading in one's spare time, soul nourishment for so many of us. Mind you, it seemed his books were selling like hot cakes during the breaks, especially from the German book tables...the English ones too for sure.

For me, having attended him in the last several years and especially at a Seminar almost two years ago in Toronto we saw him beginning to get back to his roots/emphasize the foundation we need to be mindful of while still exploring with Sensation Level, (5 in his 7 Level System). It was good to have reminder so as not to get lost in the Sensation Method as one can in a patient's case;-) He talked on how without the "synergy" of 3 essential facets one is not practicing in the broadest manner possible: the Genius - that be the generals, pace, pathology and modalities - and the Symptom - that is characteristics, rubrics, keynotes and proving information including toxocology - and lastly, the System - here you get to Sensation, but also Source, Miasm, Level (of his 7, like Delusion, Fact, Emotion, etc.)....so, really what saw here was more of a cross over or affinity of Sensation Method and what I tend to use more, Scholten and then MM of Mangialavori and Klein, etc. (with the latter also being a Technique or Method for myself - will one day explain Component Circles and their use in case analysis).

Note- Sankaran's latest book is all about the Synergy of the 3 above things for case taking, analysis and prescribing: http://www.narayana-publishers.com/The-Synergy-in-Homoeopathy/Rajan-Sankaran/b12674

His cases, like Scholtens were beautiful and as far as Mental Health, what was emerging was really the extreme states of Remedy pictures as such. So, for instance, he showed us cases of what one can consider basic remedies but at the same time throughout he pointed out his thinking as we went along with the video footage. In a case of Lilium tigrinum he gave us his thinking on a young woman of 22: Kingdom (Plant), her Miasm (Sycotic), and how the main Delusion of this remedy was instrumental in finding the remedy for her clinical case of her suicidal depression. The main Delusion was framed well and this case was highly illustrative of it in full blown play: Fear of obligatory morality alternating with sexual excitement. Note- here we see that Sensation is not only way into a case for the man himself. Incidently he had a great Lac-asinum case of a male, age 45 that had Schizophrenia.

See here if you want to see his cases/presentations as you would any other of the Presenters (DVD's not released yet, but pre-order price in effect, etc., etc.): http://www.narayana-publishers.com/Complete-Set-Mental-Health-Congress-2013-12-DVDs/Scholten-Sankaran-Yakir-Klein-Hardy-Master-Gandhi/b14390?alsobought=1

Let's see, on the same day (Of Plants more than the other days) we had a teaser by one Michal Yakir who has broken into the scene of late - that is she is now getting known more widely as she has made her work of the last 10 to 20 yrs available with a plasticized chart and booklet/two seminars outside of region...including this one. She too has a Plant System - and it compliments Scholten and Sankaran's work and she credits them for helping her, esp Scholten for helping get her clinical findings and work as a Botanist into a form that could be a Table, not much unlike his Element Theory - she likes an axis and so do we! It certainly is better to have a chart that you can refer to and at the same time read for an expansion of it or have the theory/MM and then glance at a chart to visualize your patient in relation to other developmental Stages or Rows so you can compare them to others you have seen in practice/read in cases and then pin point exactly what they are about. She will herself publically get the word out on her work as Guest Editor for Interhomeopathy in a couple of months....she is lovely and her presentation was very well received as it was utterly fasinating and just plain brilliant. What we like to see in our teachers!

Her cases were given to us verbally and she read the words of patients and filled in details but given she was actually an add on as Narayana had just discovered her as of late she only had an hour so we only got one axis of her Table...the Columns - 6 of 'em...so, there was more or less a case per Column and really just summaries to illustrate the Theme/idea of the Column...and to give you a teaser, her Columns are based on Human Evolution on the level of world culture/history as well as Ego Development in the individual (not to be mixed up with the Developmental Stages of Rows, 9 of 'em, that are based on the Psychological work of Erik Erikson.). Her First Column case was one of 57 yr old woman that was Aristolocia clematitis (this Rx intersects in her system with her 4th Row - Early Childhood - totally makes the case and Rx come alive and have meaning once placed on the Table, just like the Minerals once they are placed in relation to each other on the Periodic Table...so, so cool). What comes out with Homeopathic classification of the Plant Kingdom is that we simply can not prescribe without an ordering of the Plant Rxs - we would never get at the patient's remedies without the work that is going on at present. So lucky it is happening in our lifetimes.

Here to get you started on the Rx is this: http://www.homoeopathie-wichmann.de/provings/aristolochia.htm

On Day 2 and 3 all I can say is AWESOME! I was particularily thrilled to get a sense of the work of Jonathan Hardy of the UK because I last summer I had read the Spectrum issue on Cats and Dogs and loved his work on the Big Cats in there. And so to see one of his Lac-leoninum cases, a young man from a small community in England somewhere that had no longer any contact with his mates - his male buddies...A most excellent portrayal of the remedy. He also had two cases to share using Matridonal Rxs...from one of my fav's: Melissa Assilem. A young girl that had a mom that was really in a state and with Umbilical Cord came out of it - thk the daughter got the Rx, based really on mother's state, an imprint big time! The essence of the Rx is well stated by Hardy : your sacred inner heart is pulled from you.
Umbilicus humanus in a very poignant case was just a beautiful to watch unfold and with the charming commentary of Hardy one felt that one was birthed into the world effortlessly - truely an artistic prescriber. The other Matridonal Rx was a case of Amniotic Fluid with a 4 yr old Autistic girl. Indeed it was beautiful to behold the art and science of Homeopathy in this case as well. Just wished I had thought to ask him if he believes a follow-up Rx would be needed at a later point in time with this young patient of his...very good case to illustrate as well the state of the mother influencing the child in vitro.

Jonathan Hardy is working on a Mammal book - this is on already on my Wish List, now if we could just induce him to birth this one;-) You will notice that he is one of Britian's top Homeopaths - this was my big learning as far as a new Homeopath to be on the look out for in journals.

Here is summary of what he has in 2 different Spectrum issues:
http://www.narayana-publishers.com/spectrum-homeopathy/jonathan-hardy-strong-and-wild

This is in issue that really covers Mental Health as an issue - the signs and sxs that can lead to what is considered a mental and/or physical collapse of the system. Here Hardy explores Carbon Row as Rxs to draw upon:
http://www.narayana-publishers.com/spectrum-homeopathy/jonathan-hardy-step-into-life

I would love to go on as Mahesh Gandhi and Louis Klein were so great for me as well, but I think you will have to just await Deborah Collins with her perspective in a future Spectrum. I hope to experience Gandhi again as he was new to me and was refreshing in so many ways - if I do, promise will do a piece on his seminar/work.

However, just to tease you a tiny tiny bit more before I finish up this piece on the Congress I will mention he did a whole whack of cases on OCD - unlike the previous year's Mental Health Congress with cases of schizophrenia. He used cases to illustrate the Rxs of the Carbon Row and they were clearly and concisely presented so as to make it all seem so simple - that we can do it ourselves!! This is the gift of a good teacher: to make it seem a possibility for us to put what they show us into practice. This is what I have received as a gift from my teacher nearer to home, Louis Klein.

Klein's presentation had very, very complex cases, but by talking through his case analysis again there was a glimmer of hope to be able to dis-entangle very messy situations of Psychiatry patients that are on vast quantities of medications - what, as Lou pointed out, we see more and more of with those labelled Mentally Ill here in North America. So sad and a mess to clean up - again, more in future on Louis Klein's work in this regards and more. One last thing: we got a beautiful Orchid case and also a Plant that was presented by Scholten on our shores, the Black Mangrove (after being cleared of resonance or the imprint of psychotropic drug picture. Was situation of treating side effects of side effects and the "true" picture was practically lost as the narrow responses of the patient, if I recall accurately, were limited and were really just about the pathology - hard to see a picture that reflected the disposition of the person. She totally suffered from insomnia - never slept, period. Tough job of it when we get full blown pictures that have the sxs masked).

Oh, if you are wondering on the Carbon Row - this book is for you:
http://www.narayana-publishers.com/Into-the-Periodic-Table/Jayesh-Shah/b1641

FYI: As far as Spectrum goes, there is an issue that covers the second series beautifully and with the most up to date cases/data you can get your hands on: http://www.narayana-publishers.com/spectrum-homeopathy/spectrum-of-homoeopathy-022011?fromOverview=homeopathy-news

So, now I must really get down to business with a young girl that came in with her twin brother to be treated and also a new case of a man that recenlty developed narcolepsy who is now out of work due to not being able to drive. I am reading the above Shah book on the 2nd Series of the Periodic Table as a means to understanding my little girl case - is she one of these Rxs and if not then I will only be closer to a clearer picture of her essence as the book is beautiful beyond the Rxs as it is about getting the core of the case. Interestingly he is a colleague of Gandhi and they both of Rajan Sankaran, fellows of the Bombay School. One thing that is interesting with this book and Mehesh Gandhi's presentation of Carbon cases is that they actually did not touch on Sensations in the cases and, instead, positioned the patients in relation to the PT and dug into the problem of the case for the patient, more like Scholten style of case taking and analysis, but with the stated emphasis on Mineral Kingdom traits that were evident in the cases more than what Scholten himself does in seminars about his Mineral cases.

Yes, we have our work cut out for us and we must always be at our best to work till we get the best Remedy that we can. As I mentioned earlier on, anyone of the presenters would be able to get to a correct remedy. Well, I now feel upon reflection of what I got from the Congress is that anyone of us can get to a correct remedy for those we see. The caveat being that we must get the case...Mentally Ill or not. It must be what we are always doing - getting into the head of the person and fully grasping their existence on the planet (or not, in the case of those in Stage 1 or Column 1)...It will be no surprise if going to this Congress doesn't help me to get at the remedies for these most recent and all future patients that come my way. No doubt in my mind.

I would highly recommend that you check out one of the future Congresses that Narayana hosts. They simply are not to be missed - make your pilgrimage to the Black Forest of Germany...into the core of the State of Homeopathy!

Do, remember that the Mental Health issue of Spectrum will be a good read in the meantime to get you on track with patients that are anxious, depressed and burnt out....the opening Editorial sets the tone to assist you to view the health of our minds, bodies & souls much more broadly so as to consider sxs in the case as ones that can lead a patient down the road to what is deemed as being Mentally Ill - after all we live in insane times and why wouldn't sensitive Plants, falling apart Minerals or fearful Animals need their remedies. As they say, Keep on Trucking or a little more to the point, Stop the Insanity.  

http://www.narayana-publishers.com/spectrum-homeopathy/spectrum-of-homoeopathy-022012

To close I will share a link to beautiful piece by an American Homeopath who is now showing up in Interhomeopathy. I read this at the start of my foray into Homeopathy and it set my course for the kind of practice that I envisioned for myself and my patients: http://www.homeopathichealing.org/art4.html This is from Homeopathic Links 2003 and is by Doug Brown on Homeopathic Treatment in Mental Illness. Enjoy.