How Do Homeopathic Medicines Work?
In homeopathy, each of us is a total, complete individual, no aspect of which can be separated from any other. To be effective, any valid therapy must be based on a deep understanding of and respect for the uniqueness of each individual. In homeopathy each patient is evaluated as a whole person - mental, emotional, physical - and the prescribed remedy is based on the unique patterns found on all three levels. This means that each person is given the remedy that will stimulate their particular organism; thus ten people with arthritis might receive ten different "constitutional" homeopathic remedies. We homeopaths speak of the vital force - the dynamic energy, immunity, resilience of the organism which animates everything we call life (including not only the physical, but the emotional and mental/spiritual levels as well). It is this vital force which is being stimulated specifically by homeopathic remedies. Your body's vital force reacts to the remedy by mobilizing its forces to expel it, and simultaneously, expels the natural illness that was occurring. This is the curative effect of homeopathy; your body mobilizes its own vital force to eliminate the disease. To prepare a remedy, the homeopathic substance is carefully diluted to what is called an "infinitesimal" dose and is vigorously shaken. This process of remedy preparation is called "dilution and succussion" and together they create a "potentized" remedy.