Homeopathy is a unique system of healing concerned with matching individual remedies to individual patients in a totally holistic manner that encompasses the spiritual, mental, emotional and physical levels of the patient.

A branch of medical science in the same way that many other systems of healing, such as pediatrics, psychiatry and surgery, are classed as medical sciences, homeopathy treats the whole person, rather than merely the presenting symptom or complaint of a patient.

It achieves this by using very small doses of natural substances to stimulate the body�s ability to cure itself. In this way, homeopathy heals and strengthens the whole person and helps prevent future illness by finding and treating the root cause of disease, rather than suppressing its symptoms.

Increasing numbers of people are looking for a treatment that heals the whole body, not just the physical; that treats the root of the problem, not just the symptoms; and that is natural and chemical-free. Homeopathy is such a therapy, and it is currently estimated that approx 500 million people around the world use homeopathy as their main form of medicinal treatment, with New Zealand currently experiencing a major groundswell of interest in this healing art.

There has seldom been a better time to study homeopathy, with the opportunities that are becoming available in New Zealand and internationally for practitioners.

Brief Overview of Homeopathy

Discovered in the 1800s, physician Samuel Hahnemann noticed that the smaller the dose of a substance he used to cure a symptom, the quicker the body was stimulated into a cure. So Homoeopathy is sometimes called the Law of the Minimum Dose.

In Homoeopathy, a sick person is treated with a very dilute form of a substance, which, if taken in full strength, would have caused the same symptoms which they are suffering.
This is called �like cures like�.

As well as a physical body, Hahnemann realised people have a �vital force�, or energy, the level where homoeopathic medicines work. Homoeopathic medicines are made by serial dilution, followed by "succussion" (shaking) which transfers energy to the dilution. The number of potentiation steps is far more important than the dilution factor.
Homoeopathy is very popular in Europe, with pharmacies supplying both conventional and homoeopathic medicines. It is regaining popularity in England and the United States (see section below), and now is a growth area in New Zealand Pharmacies.