What we offer
Our goal is to provide you common sense natural health care solutions and a wealth of insight and information for better health and healthy living. We integrate classical homeopathy with dietary, nutritional, herbal and counselling therapy to support each individual patient according to their health needs. Through this website you will also find our complete three hour video series on the world of plant-based nutrition, botanical and nutritional medicine. Very soon we will introduce modules on healthy aging and meditation. Our booklet, Five Key Principles for Better Health and Healthy Living will introduce you to the fundamental concepts that can have a life long influence on your health. Our shop offers you the option to simply purchase recommended products for various conditions. Through consultation, in-person or via Skype, we can create a program that is tailored to your needs, with the attention and focus you deserve.
What is Homeopathy?
Homeopathy is an advanced natural healing science whose tremendous contribution to natural health care has been proven for over two hundred years. Homeopathy can be of slue in a wide range of physical and emotional conditions of adults, children and animals. Homeopathic medicines are non-toxic and have no side effects. In homeopathy, very small doses of medicines are carefully selected based on a healing principle called The Law of Similars. This law states that any substance that can produce symptoms on a healthy person can cure very similar symptoms in those who are unwell. This law is most effective used when the distinct and peculiar symptoms of the specific patient align with the characteristic symptoms of the remedy.
Today homeopathy is practiced all over the world by medical doctors, professional homeopaths, naturopathic physicians and others. While there are exciting new developments in remedies and method, the basic methods of homeopathy remain very close to the teachings of Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), the German physician who founded the system at the end of the seventeenth century, which is why it is often termed ‘classical’ homeopathy.
Each patient is different
Homeopathy recognizes that each person responds differently to the forces of their heredity and environment. Illness must be seen in the unique form it takes in each individual, never through a diagnostic label alone. Many people have the same diagnosis, but careful inquiry reveals that each patient has many unique symptoms. The distinctive pattern of mental, emotional and physical symptoms provide the the necessary picture for accurate homeopathic prescribing. A single homeopathic remedy is chosen for its similarity to the pattern of the patients symptoms.
What is Naturopathic Medicine?
Naturopathic physicians are skilled health care professionals focussed on health enhancement and disease treatment through non-toxic protocols that are intended to stimulate the body’s natural ability to self-heal. The four year post-graduate naturopathic medical program is an extensive training in the medical arts and sciences.
The practice of naturopathic medicine is licensed in various states and provinces, including prescriptive rights in a number of states and the province of British Columbia. The practice of naturopathic medicine in B.C., requires graduation from a recognized four year institution followed by comprehensive licensing examination. Licensed practitioners in B.C. are regulated by the College of Naturopathic Physicians of British Columbia.
Naturopathic physicians may specialize in particular therapeutic sciences. The Homeopathic Academy of Naturopathic Physicians is a specialty association that offers Diplomate status to naturopathic physicians meeting training, examination and continuing education requirements.
Botanical and nutritional medicine
The use of plant medicines, called herbal or botanical medicine, is a time-honoured tradition spanning every culture and all of human history. Thousands of traditional plant medicines from around the world are now being subject to careful analysis and clinical research, helping us understand their precise value. This scientific work has made it possible to apply plant medicines with far greater precision and effectiveness. We very often use botanical medicines with patients as they have many benefits.
Similarly, nutritional medicine has many tremendous advances that go well beyond the the traditional vitamins and minerals, allowing for the therapeutic use of diverse nutrient factors to optimize function, as well as the prevention and treatment of health conditions.
Botanical and nutritional medicines can aid in the healing of damaged and inflamed tissue, protect, nourish, refresh and invigorate specific organs, restore or enhance mental ability and memory, increase physical resilience to physical and mental stress, enhance cellular function, help men and women’s health issues, as well as lessen the effects of aging, among their many values. They tend to have very few or nil side-effects.
About the homeopathic remedies
The homeopathic medicines, called remedies, are prepared by homeopathic pharmaceutical manufacturers according to strictest standards.. Over 2500 substances provide the source materials.
Knowledge about each remedy is primarily derived from experiments called provings. In provings, a group of people take very small doses of the substance that is being tested in blinded and double blind experiments. This means the subjects are unaware of the substance being tested and the administrators may also be unaware. The subjects record in detail their mental, emotional and physical changes during the days and weeks after taking the substances. When this information is combined with other sources of knowledge, as well as clinical experience, a clear picture emerges of the pattern and range of action of each substance. The detailed image of the systems affected and the unique symptoms of the remedy form a picture of the remedy almost as if it were a person.
Hahnemann also developed a method to eliminate the toxic side effects of crude medicines, while enhancing their homeopathic potency. The medicinal substance is first rendered into a liquid form through various means. The next step involves dilution and succussion. In the dilution phase, the pharmacist adds a portion of the liquid preparation to a measured amount of distilled water, generally one part medicine to a hundred parts fluid. In the second step, succussion, the dilution is struck repeatedly against a solid surface. A portion is then added to a further measured amount of water in the same ratio. These steps will be repeated over and over to the desired dilution.
The clinical experience of tens of thousands of homeopathic physicians for over two centuries has consistently shown the remarkable power of the high dilutions when homoeopathically applied. It is generally observed that high potency (more dilute) remedies have a more rapid, deep and lasting action as compared to the low potencies (less dilute). The fineness of the homeopathic dilutions has been a source of great controversy throughout homeopathic history. Yet, along with the wealth of clinical experience, there is an ever growing body of scientific research supporting the biological action of high dilution substances. There is also a growing body of clinical research showing the value of homeopathy for both treatment and prevention.
Homeopathy may be seen as a form of energy medicine, releasing the essential nature of a substance to resonate, through the principle of similarity, with the energetic principle that unites body and mind. It is this unitary principle that brings out the symptom pattern as the body’s best attempt to balance the many interior and outside forces acting upon it.
What will a visit be like?
A first visit involves an interview of forty-five minutes to one and a half hours for adults and approximately half this for children. Knowing about you as a person is very important in homeopathy and to our holistic approach. Along with a detailed look at your main concerns, we will look at other aspects of your physical health, as well as something of your nature, personality, and history, as well as your moods and attitudes. The purpose is to develop a thorough picture that will help us find the most appropriate approach to your health concerns. It is also necessary for the selection of a homeopathic remedy.
Our extensive counselling experience can be of great benefit in identifying patterns of thinking and behaviour that are relevant to your best health. In some cases, we offer creative solutions to help you grow in self-awareness and find new skills for making more effective choices. Health is freedom and freedom of being is the greatest freedom.
Tests or procedures that we are not able to offer will be referred.
What happens next?
Follow-up visits are usually scheduled for three to six week intervals and last 20 to 40 minutes. When progress is well established visits are less frequent.
Usually, a homeopathic remedy will be given at the conclusion of the interview, though sometimes a case will be studied before prescribing. Often there is phone or email contact between visits. The homeopathic remedy may be prescribed in one dose, in several doses or for daily use.
The homeopathic remedy acts as a catalyst, stimulating the self-healing forces of the body as a whole, whereas botanical and nutritional factors are prescribed for particular conditions.
What kind of results can I expect?
Acute (short term) issues should respond quickly. Chronic (long-term) health problems may improve very quickly in some cases or gradually in others. In some cases only one homeopathic remedy will be all that is needed, and in other cases an integrated approach utilizing homeopathy, dietary, nutritional and botanical medicines will be required over a period of months to achieve the best effect.
In general, children respond quickly as compared with adults.
The role of diet
No one should doubt that the quality of the diet is a critical factor in the overall picture of health. Some cases can be helped with dietary changes alone, while the best of diets has little effect for others. In certain cases, dietary habits may be a definite obstruction to cure and advice can be expected in such instances.
If you have questions on diet, please be sure to ask. We are happy to help you discover a dietary approach suited to your needs and circumstance.
Regenerative nutrition is choosing food in a manner that supports repair in the body and prevents damage. We always recommend a diet that is high in vegetables, whole grains (wheat being an exception), legumes, fruits and berries, nuts and seeds. Plant foods should be at least eighty percent of the diet. Our Regenerative Nutrition program covers the philosophy and practice of a natural food plant-based diet.