MindHeal Homeopathy

Emotional Disturbance Is The Root Of Disease

2012-01-29T20:39:00.000+05:30

I have practised and taught homeopathy for 22 years and I listen with a sinking heart to patients who tell me they were under homeopathic treatment for many years before coming to me. What they are actually saying is a practitioner who they have trusted with their health for years as not been able to treat them successfully. If they still need another opinion, why else would they be seated in front of me?

Finding the right remedy for a patient is not easy. I say this, not because homeopathy is a difficult skill to master but because a large number of homeopaths are given to taking shortcuts. When this is the case – and this has implications for both the lay person and the practitioner reading this blog – it means the homeopath is no different from a conventional medical doctor, whose basic medical philosophy limits him to administering symptomatic treatment.

Through the posts on this blog and though my teachings in various countries, I explain that the homeopath can be sure that the patient has completely healed when they undergo a complete transformation, in both mind and body. Anything less is tantamount to symptomatic treatment and suppression, which is the antithesis of this healing art and science. Practitioners who fall prey to these methods are guilty of what I call the Sin of Oversimplification.

We All Need A Remedy!

Most of us are so divorced from our true selves, defending against the stress and strain of life, grappling with its traumas and overcoming the odds that our constitutions are far from optimum levels. So even when we don’t have any obvious ailments, we are far from a state of balance and well-being. Conversely, if the patient arrives with only a ‘physical complaint’, it implies by default that his/her constitution is out of whack and their body and Mind need to be brought back to a state of balance,

Through all this – and again, this has implications for both the lay person and the practitioner – it is the MIND that plays a pivotal role. Most disease starts with the mind (Mind impacting Body). And, conversely, the reversal of disease and return to good health through the right remedy must therefore be reflected in the patient’s demeanour, thoughts and appearance as well (Constitution impacting Mind). Now that is a complete transformation!

The case I have selected for this post is one that shows how an emotional disturbance directly impacts the disease process and causes a chronic disease to flare. It perfectly illustrates how an emotional crisis can throw the constitution completely out of gear and literally make a individual sick. (This is the best visible manifestation of the intertwining of Mind and body at the physical level) By implication, if you don’t exactly fall ill when you’re deeply troubled, don’t for a moment imagine that your body is not taking a beating inside.

When the Burden Lifts...

Click here for details of this case

What must the practitioner do when they are confronted with a patient, who through the course of treatment, seems to take a U-turn in their health? I repeat from previous posts – the homeopath must ask: what is the patient defending against and how exactly has he/she been defending against it? The answer to these two very basic but powerful questions will reveal the right rubrics and therefore the right remedy. In other words, it is the Key To Cracking The Case.

But there’s more… a lot more. Which brings me to a new element I would like to introduce to this blog – Dr Rajan Sankaran’s Kingdom Theory. You could call it Class VIII biology with a twist! So a sarcastic comment about someone “being like a snake” may actually be on the button, from a homeopathic perspective.

What does all this mean? Well, homeopathic remedies are derived from the natural world, and the sources of these remedies can be broadly classified into three Kingdoms – plant, animal and mineral. Each kingdom is defined by a basic set of characteristics that apply to all members of that kingdom. In much the same way, human beings, and the way they react to the world around them, too exhibit the very same basic characteristics and themes. Our basic constitutional nature determines the kingdom to which each of us belongs and, accordingly, the right remedy is determined by our Kingdom. I spent the first decade of my practice learning from the teachings of Dr Sankaran and I have found his Kingdom Theory to be an excellent entry point to a case.

Classifying a patient according to Kingdom is not difficult but it takes some practice and the homeopath must discover the underlying theme of the patient’s basic nature as it pervades their entire being – their perception of the world, their reaction to it or, in other words, their very experience of it. Amazing, isn’t it?

There are many facets of the patient that reveal their kingdom, such as their nature and disposition, the way they phrase their sentences, their thought and speech patterns, their handwriting, their fears, dreams and interests. The homeopath must, therefore, be a keen observer of human nature, and this is invaluable in assessing every case.

Are You A Plant, Animal or Mineral?

So what are Plant, Animal and Mineral people like?

Kingdom Theory

View more presentations from MindHeal Homeopathy

Plant Kingdom: Plants are rooted to the soil and the only way they can grow and flourish are by being sensitive to their environment. And since the environment is constantly changing, they need to keep adapting.

‘Plant people’ are typically soft, sensitive, emotional, easily hurt, moody, mercurial and whimsical. Some are nervous and fragile, and they hyperventilate over minor issues or even non-issues. They get ‘inflamed’ easily and cry at the slightest provocation. Their thoughts seem random and they lack structure. Their core issues centre around support and nurturing. They are hypersensitive in their relationships as they get hurt easily. They are also dependent on people and need to be anchored by someone. (The “I can’t do without you…” syndrome)

On the creative side, people in this kingdom have highly developed aesthetic sensibilities and may be creative and artistic.

Animal Kingdom: Taken from evolutionary biology, the Animal Kingdom in homeopathic practice comprises individuals who view the world through the prism of competition and a struggle for survival. They are always in a predator versus prey or persecutor versus persecuted predicament. ‘Animal people’ are typically concerned with sexuality (mating), competition, territoriality and hierarchy.

They compete in every area of their lives… in love, friendship, family, even a seat on the bus! Life is all about winning, not losing. ‘Animal people’ are either better at everything than everyone else or they suffer from low self-esteem because they feel they are just not good enough. Acceptance is crucial to them and they are also excessively concerned with domination and authority figures. Social status means the world to them and they need to feel powerful.

People belonging to the Animal Kingdom are a colourful lot. They are vibrant, extraverted, magnetic and charismatic personalities. Their nature and disposition ranges from affectionate, caring, warm and possessive to dominating, aggressive and even downright cruel. They tend to be aggressive, pushy and may attack if provoked. Jealousy and envy are central emotions. This polarity of positive and negative aspects of their disposition sometimes causes a ‘split’ in their perception of themselves.

Mineral Kingdom: At the chemical level, every mineral has a definite structure comprising chemical bonds. People caregorised as minerals are therefore crave structure and organisation. In fact, their raison d’etre is maintaining the structure, fafety and security of everything that concerns them – their relationships, families, work, finances and performance. But their need to perform and achieve stems out of a need for safety and security rather than to compete as in the Animal Kingdom.

‘Mineral people’ are also rigid, inflexible and perfectionists who are fastidious about details. They usually opt for careers in accounting, computer science, engineering and quality control.

But this kingdom is a little more complex than the first two, and may be sub-divided into two further groups: salts and metals. ‘Salt people’ are particularly sensitive to relationships of all types. Thus their core disturbances also revolve around relationships and attachments. There is a pining to be nurtured or a feeling that they cannot live without a particular person. They may have troubled relationships or they may be overly dependent on someone significant in their lives. The nuances are many.

People who are Metals are concerned with their identity, social status, performance and power, family, financial status, health and home. It’s all about maintaining the ‘structure’ and integrity of these aspects of their lives.

The above illustration is an oversimplification of Dr Sankaran’s Kingdom Theory but, for the lay reader who wonders how the homeopath assesses their patients, it does provide a valuable insight into this healing science. It is a vital part of my own approach and will always remain one of the cornerstones of classical homeopathy.

Re-awaken the healer in you…

- Dr Anita Salunkhe, MD

MindHeal Homeopathy is an ISO-certified clinic based in Chembur, Mumbai. To find out more about The MindHeal Way, call: 022-25230530 / +91-9930363981. Or write to us at crm@mindheal.com Website: www.mindheal.org. We’ll be happy to answer all your queries.

Is AIDS A Point Of No Return?

2011-12-18T21:21:00.013+05:30

There is nothing quite as life-altering as being told you don't have long to live. It’s impossible to imagine what that must be like.

Over the years, I’ve felt the pain and suffering of thousands of patients but I have to say that looking at someone suffering from AIDS is the most soul-stirring. Kunal Joshi told me what it felt like.

(Watch the full video below)

I will never forget his words… “What is the point living? Why should I trouble others for months and months?”

Kunal’s haunted and hunted look, and his empty eyes said it all. His body was in the process of breaking down. It had been four years already. But even more alarming, his Mind had also given up. And when the Mind gives up, the body will necessarily follow suit.

That is the sad reality of patients suffering from HIV and AIDS. Kunal’s was a case of full-blown AIDS. What can be worse than a body attacking itself? Why would the human body wage a war against itself when self-preservation is the very driving force of life? What makes the human body self-destruct?

The answer lies in the extremely subtle and complex interplay between Mind and body. On the physical level, Kunal’s condition actually has very little to do with the HIV virus, or for that matter, any virus. At the very centre of our health and well-being, both physical and mental, is the immune system.

For most people, the immune system is something that is weak when we are unwell. And when our “immunity builds up”, we begin to recover. Although that is correct, it is wrong to believe that the sole purpose of the immune system is to “keep illness at bay and to fight infection”. In fact, the mechanical view of the human body perpetuated by conventional medicine leads some to erroneously believe that illness weakens our immunity when it is actually the other way around!

Apart from fending off infections and devouring pathogens that invade our body, the immune system plays a vital role in keeping us alive. That is because its primary function is to defend. If we had no defences, we would not be alive and ticking.

At any given moment, every human being is defending at two parallel levels – physical and mental. But what are we constantly defending against? At the physical level, the immune system battles pathogens and chemicals such as toxins that make us sick. It mops up harmful substances in the bloodstream, kills potent microorganisms, transports toxins to the liver to be neutralised before elimination, and generally keeps our organs healthy. It essentially defends against biological breakdown.

Just like the body, at the mental level too – and this relevant in the homeopathic context – the Mind is constantly and reflexively defending. And, believe it or not, our psychological and mental defences too depend on how our immune system behaves and its state of health.

But why is the mind constantly in defensive mode? This may seem like an extreme statement but, indeed, we build our perception of the world and live our lives as a reaction to perceived threats – loss of love, financial insecurity, feeling unwanted, feelings of inadequacy, abuse and trauma, fear of losing respect, etc – that we harbour deep in our subconscious minds. When the mind and body sense a vulnerability, there is an instinctive and innate need to defend. It is the law of survival.

We each one of us builds elaborate mental defences, weaves intricate thought processes and designs personality systems to protect ourselves against our core sensitivities. Since most of our psychological injuries and weaknesses take root in infancy and early childhood, they are largely subconscious but they stay with us for the rest of our lives.

It is these core issues and the unique way in which each individual experiences them that I call Key Sensitivity. The next step for the homeopath to discover how exactly the patient has defended their Key Sensitivities.

To link this to our material state… As is the case with pathogens, our brain interprets emotional complexes too as ‘threats’ and calls upon our immune system to start ‘defending’. Thus, physical as well as emotional defences draw on our immune capabilities. And since our key and core issues persist throughout our lives, imagine the toll they take on the immune system.

It is the immune system, along with its complex interaction with the brain, that mediates between Mind and body. It is, in fact, where Mind and body neurologically and biochemically intersect. Thus, it is not only our physical state but our underlying emotional and mental health that depend on our immune system.

The quest of the homeopath is to find the right remedy for each patient, and this right remedy does nothing but optimise the patient’s immune system – because a healthy and strong immune system keeps the mind healthy. For the layperson reading this blog, make no mistake, it is not possible to optimise and strengthen your immunity via chemical drugs, no matter how cleverly they are marketed. And food supplements and vitamins can go only so far. But imagine your mind and body being in a state of optimal health, and then living and eating healthy. Isn’t that an enviable place to be? Homeopathy not only cures disease; it also restores the balance within mind and body and helps you be the healthiest person you can be.

But what is it like to have no hope of living and wait helplessly for death to come a-calling? Millions of people around the world are routinely led to believe by conventional medicine that the HIV virus is a killer. Am I saying it is not?

AIDS Case: Kunal Joshi

The initial clips are in Marathi but following this, the patient narrates his case in English. Homeopaths can click here for the Case Analysis

Kunal was a 36-year-old who was diagnosed with AIDS four years before he came to my clinic. He was an ambitious man, who had always dreamt of doing something worthwhile with his life. He wanted to “become someone” (his Key Sensitivity) and enjoy a secure social standing.

Kunal was unable to fulfil his deep-seated need to “become someone”. The best he could do was land a modest job in a telecom company. Adding insult to (perceived) injury was his wife’s constant nagging. She said he could have done much better with his career. She also claimed he didn’t look after the family as he should have nor did he care for her and their children enough. His wife made Kunal feel like failure, which only built on his feelings of inadequacy.

All this gnawed away at Kunal, day after agonising day, weakening his immune system over the years. He finally contracted the HIV virus, presumably from sexual encounters outside his marriage.

When Kunal came to my clinic, his nervous system was a wreck. He could barely speak, he couldn’t walk properly, his vision had diminished greatly, and he did not have full bladder and bowel control. Kunal was taking as many as 17 different drugs but he still grew weaker. The side-effects of these drugs were phenomenal. Worse, Kunal had hidden his condition at work and from people at large. But he lost his job anyway as he was too sick to continue.

Despite his attempts to conceal his condition, there was always a possibility that people would get to know the truth. Apart from being a “failure in life” and as a “husband and father”, he now faced possible social stigma and rejection. This was the third and final blow in an area of Key Sensitivity.

I treated Kunal for 8 months, and the improvement in his health was dramatic. All the difficulties mentioned above had reversed themselves. His health improved to the point where he was able to work again. The last time we spoke, Kunal said he had landed a new job and was excited about getting back to leading a “normal life”.

Note: There was a point during treatment, when Kunal suffered extreme skin eruptions. This was an excellent sign as the toxins in his body – imagine the toxic build-up in an AIDS patient in addition to the by-products of the allopathic medication – were expelling themselves from his system. This is called the Healing Crisis, sometimes dubbed as “getting worse before you get better”.

The skin eruptions were so severe that the blisters burst, his skin cracked and Kunal bled. Usually, skin eruptions that occur during a healing crisis do not break the surface but Kunal was in an extremely destructive or Syphilitic stage when he came to me. His Miasm had not yet reversed to Sycosis or Psora when the boils and blisters appeared.

But the key question remains: Why had Kunal come to a point where his body was unable to defend itself any more? Note: This is not only the case with AIDS but happens with people who contract any serious illness (unless, of course, the body is under sustained chemical or toxic assault or you live in a radiation zone, which eventually will overwhelm the immune system).

Kunal’s downslide began some time before he fell sick. The cumulative effect of feeling like a failure finally took its toll till Kunal’s immune system could defend him no more. His Mind had unwittingly chipped away at his immune system, ironically causing both Mind had to cave in.

Here are some fingertip facts:

The Mind is much more powerful than we realise
All illness begins in the Mind
We can use the Mind to reverse illness and restore us to good health
Conventional medicine is not the last word on your state of health

Re-awaken the healer in you…

- Dr Anita Salunkhe, MD

MindHeal Homeopathy is an ISO-certified clinic based in Chembur, Mumbai. To find out more about The MindHeal Way, call: 022-25230530 / +91-9930363981. Or write to us at crm@mindheal.com Website: http://www.mindheal.org/. We’ll be happy to answer all your queries.

Challenging A Life Sentence

2011-11-06T18:57:00.022+05:30

Three severely pathological cases… three gut-wrenching stories of abject despair… and three happy endings! I never fail to feel a sense of joyful elation that I was chosen to be an instrument of this amazing healing system.

People like Siddesh, Shrutika and Rukshana make it all worthwhile...

Watch the videos below

Mental Retardation: Is There A Cure?
One of the most heart-rending moments for any parent is the realisation that your child is mentally challenged. The diagnosis, usually delivered in the clinical confines of a doctor’s or psychologist’s office, is comparable to little else. It hits you like a thunderbolt.

I’ve met countless parents who have suffered this blow and by the time they decide to opt for homeopathic treatment for their children, they have lived with this crushing diagnosis for around three to five years.

Raising a mentally challenged child implies a life sentence for both child and parent. Apart from the fact that the child will probably never be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with other children, and later other adults, it suggests a life of constant supervision.

Mental retardation is a pathological disease that is usually genetically loaded and linked to chromosomal abnormalities. Sometimes, it arises from birth trauma to the skull and brain, and at other times, from medication taken by the mother during pregnancy and if she has a history of substance abuse. And there are other causes.

But its etiology makes little difference to a parent whose child is unable to comprehend the simplest commands and take care of himself/herself. By now, shattered dreams are a distant dot on the horizon. Having a mentally challenged child requires parents to draw on all their strength and inner resources to simply raise their child as best as they can.

But the question is: Does having a mentally challenged child necessarily mean being handed a ‘life sentence’? Is there hope? How much can homeopathy help?

The great thing about homeopathy is that is has a remedy for ALL ills. Indeed, it is a panacea for everything that ails you – on both the mental and physical planes. But how successfully can homeopathy treat pathological cases or cases of genetic abnormality?

The interaction between your genetic template, your basic constitutional nature and homeopathy is as complex as it is unbelievable. If it is your constitutional nature that determines your potential as a human being, it is the twists and turns in this basic constitutional nature that leads to disease.

While genes play a dominant role in determining who you are, the ‘who you are’ is not set in stone. That is because although your genetic endowment is the primary determinant of your constitutional nature, its expression depends on many other factors. And this is where homeopathy steps in – it can correct the effects of many, if not all, of these impediments.

For instance, the mother’s emotional and physical history is sometimes crucial to whether the child is born healthy or not. The mother’s history (for instance, the effects of a Cesarean Section) interacts with the child’s genetic template and can produce disease whereas the same child born via the normal birth process would have probably been born normal and healthy.

Another example. Sickly babies are often assaulted with a barrage of strong drugs soon after birth. (See Shrutika’s case below). If the child is genetically predisposed to, say, mental retardation, the drugs further twist the baby’s constitutional make-up and this leads to all sorts of complications.

Case 1: Mental Retardation: Siddesh

So what exactly am I saying? With homeopathic intervention, can a mentally challenged child hope to live a normal life? Young Siddesh, who was born mentally challenged – and who now dreams of becoming computer engineer – would definitely answer in the affirmative! I have been treating Siddesh for ten years and have watched him evolve from a hopeless and helpless four-year-old to a boy who enrolled in a school for normal children and who, as a teenager, now uses the Internet. (Watch the video)

The word that best describes Siddesh when he first came to my clinic is ‘slow’. He just sat there and stared at me, tongue protruding slightly and saliva drooling ever so slightly. His mother said he took 30 minutes to drink a glass of milk; he would sit almost motionless; and stare blankly into space.

Siddesh and his mother kept their appointments diligently for around seven months before their visits began to wane. Thankfully, the boy showed rapid improvement in the first four to five months: his power of comprehension improved significantly; he was more alert; he began playing with other children; and he even became demanding and threw a few tantrums when he didn’t get what he wanted!

Then something terribly significant happened. A few months into treatment, Siddesh developed convulsions. He would wake up screaming at night and go into a seizure. Oddly, this usually coincided with the full moon.

Siddesh’s mother was naturally upset and worried. But I took a bold decision and thankfully, she went with it. I advised her not to take her son to an allopath, who would inevitably prescribe medication that would undo the good homeopathy had done. Siddesh’s seizures were a sign that his brain was finally ‘waking up’. It was a sign that there was sudden and enhanced neural activity in his brain, and wasn’t this precisely the result we were looking for? If I needed proof that I was on the right track, Siddesh’s mother told me that ever since the convulsions had begun, her son’s mind seemed to get sharper! Remember the Fever Effect?

A couple of weeks later, the case took another sharp turn. As treatment progressed, the boy suddenly started exhibiting certain peculiarities, and the frequency of his convulsions had also increased. He began making odd squeaking sounds to gain attention and would also laugh inappropriately. Children who do not speak, including autistic children, are difficult to assess and treat. All I had was a description of Siddesh’s behaviour from his mother, and isn’t a mother impression of her child always skewed? It was a tough case to crack.

Finally, I used all the mental resources at my disposal and was able to solve this case. By the end of a year since he came to me, Siddesh was back to where he was before his peculiar behaviour manifest itself. His mind had woken up; his power of comprehension showed increasing improvement; his attention span had greatly increased; his social interaction had also improved; and he executed all his daily activities as any other child would. And, yes, his convulsions had also stopped.

A few months down the line, when Siddesh and his mother dropped in to my clinic, I was in for another surprise – Siddesh was now studying in a school for normal children! And, what do you know? He had also stood first in a writing competition!!!

Let’s return to the original question: Can homeopathy help a mentally challenged child live a normal life? If being able to take care of oneself and being content is the yardstick, the answer would have to be a resounding ‘yes’!

Case analysis for homeopaths: Click here.

Case 2: Hydrocephalus: Shrutika

Little Shrutika was cursed by fate. Or so it seemed. There was a time, before her mother brought her to me, that her parents felt their daughter was better of dead. The child was seriously ill and beset with numerous health issues, including hydrocephalus. Worse, three months of hospitalisation had not helped. At the very end of their tether, they brought Shrutika to me.

There was always something about her eyes – sad yet smiling. Yes, there was definitely something special about little Shrutika. Perhaps it is her Life Force shining through, a Life Force that keeps the child on top of every situation, including those that almost did her in. When Shrutika smiles, you can’t help but smile back at her.

Like Siddesh, Shrutika’s case too was very challenging. It is another pathological case, shaped by genetics and exhibiting serious abnormalities.

Shrutika was born of a normal delivery but soon after birth, she developed pneumonia that rattled ominously in her little chest. She also had a severe rash that she couldn’t shake off. Add to this the build-up of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in her skull and underdeveloped fontanels (soft skull plates) and you have a child whose chances of survival are slim.

Due to her health problems, doctors had bombarded Shrutika with serious drugs that made her resistant to medication. Due to her persistent rash, he was plastered with various ointments, keeping the building toxins trapped in her body. Doctors also advised her parents to allow them to embed a shunt in her brain to drain the excess CSF. Due to a turn of fate, the surgery could not be scheduled as Shrutika was still riddled with infection. I would have to say her survival is nothing short of a miracle.

As is often the case with pathological cases, Shrutika was brought to me in desperation. She was only seven and a half months old. Today, the child is a bubbly seven year old. No, nothing but nothing can keep her down. I believe Shrutika’s indomitable spirit is a reflection of a very positive and strong Life Force, something that will see her through think and thin – always with a smile on her cherubic face.

Case 3: Mental Retardation: Rukshana

Sometimes, I honestly feel my clinic is a halfway house for the damned. Harsh words like these come to mind when I look at the utter despair on the faces of parents with seriously challenged children and wonder what could have gone so wrong.

But ours not to question why. It is the homeopath’s duty to only understand, assess and treat with zest and perhaps even a prayer. These were the thoughts that ran through my head when Rukshana, her mother and her sisters walked into my clinic ten years ago. The case is so stark that I can still picture the girl as if I had met her only yesterday.

Rukshana was mentally retarded – and so were her two sisters and four brothers. Yes, every single one of the seven siblings was mentally challenged, to varying degrees. Two of her brothers had died and the three that survived were so unstable that they sometimes had to be put in restraints.

But back to Rukshana. The teenager’s salient symptoms were: childish and regressive behaviour and constant inappropriate giggling. She would keep lifting her hand to her mouth and giggle at nothing in particular. Her sisters behaved in a similar manner and would also get angry.

I treated only Rukshana. A few weeks later, the teenager developed the classic cold and cough associated with the homeopathic Healing Crisis. This is a stage where the immune system starts responding to the homeopathic remedy and begins to fight disease. One of the first developments is the classic ‘homeopathic cold and cough’, where the body begins to eliminate toxins produced by disease. This is a definite indicator that the practitioner has administered the right remedy and that the patient is on a healing path. The Healing Crisis is also associated with the other organs of elimination such as the skin and bowels.

Three months into treatment and Rukshana’s peculiar behaviour vanished. She no longer behaved childishly or laughed inappropriately. In fact, the young lady had progressed to a stage where her parents had even got her married!

Cheers to happy endings!

Re-awaken the healer in you…

- Dr Anita Salunkhe, MD

MindHeal Homeopathy is an ISO-certified clinic based in Chembur, Mumbai. To find out more about The MindHeal Way, call: 022-25230530 / +91-9930363981. Or write to us at crm@mindheal.com Website: http://www.mindheal.org/. We’ll be happy to answer all your queries.

Autism: Louder Than Words

2011-08-21T22:03:00.003+05:30

It starts with the subtlest signs… a suspicion that’s usually pushed into the subconscious for fear of facing a devastating truth. Many, many months on, crossed fingers and even prayers don’t seem to work as vague symptoms turn into a definite pattern that confirms a painful reality. It’s a moment of truth parents of 2 in every 1,000 children face every year, globally, when they are forced to verbalise what they were afraid to admit all along – the A-word.

Autism or Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) is a neuro-developmental disorder that continues to baffle medical science even today, although there is a general consensus that it is broadly the result of ‘faulty signalling’ in the brain. In other words, in autistic children, there appears to be a dysfunction in the chemicals and neural pathways that help different areas of the brain communicate with each other.

This faulty signalling results in the classic symptoms of autism: Withdrawal, bursts of aggression, inability to communicate and socialise, repetitive behaviour, hypersensitivity to stimuli such as touch and light, and a host of physical deficiencies.

It is a heart-rending experience to watch an autistic child, and the only way I can describe what they are experiencing is a feeling of being trapped.

Autistic children are prisoners of their brain – with no way out. What we label as ‘sudden and violent outbursts’ are nothing but an expression of unbearable frustration at being unable to express their thoughts and feelings or convey what they want. Try as they might, the words just won’t come… they just won’t! When frustration boils over, a ‘violent outburst’ follows. What we call ‘obstinacy’ is thus nothing but an expression of utter helplessness. An autistic child cannot understand why adults don’t understand them!

According to medical research, autism has a strong genetic component, which suggests that autistic children are born autistic or with an autistic predisposition. However, it is not quite clear whether this applies to all autistic children, as researchers have linked other, external factors to this disorder: overload of vaccines and / or antibiotics and steroids, and exposure to harmful chemicals. This implies that some children are born with an autistic predisposition and external factors precipitate the onset of the disorder.

Classical homeopathy is not inconsistent with the medical view although the interpretation is vastly different. Here’s where the twain diverge: whereas conventional medicine is unable to treat autism, homeopathy can bring about considerable improvement and, on occasion, bring an autistic child to a state of being where they approximate normalcy.

Caring for an autistic child is emotionally and financially exhausting. Which parent hasn’t done the rounds of speech, neuro-developmental and behaviour therapists? (Many, as at the behest of misguided physicians, even approach psychiatrists.) This course can, to some extent, bring about improvement in the child but progress is, at best, minimal and / temporary. Allopathic drugs cannot reverse the genetic or neurological processes that cause this disorder; they only ‘control’ and ‘manage’ the child’s behaviour 9as they do all disease).

Speechless!

Unfortunately, homeopathy is rarely chosen as the preferred remedy for autism. Yet, it is the best form of treatment for ASD. Am I saying that homeopathy can work miracles? Well, take a look at 4-year-old Sami Khan, who was diagnosed as autistic at the age of one and a half.

Just 2 months after I began to treat Sami, he began to speak a few words; he began to sing; he had established eye contact; and his destructive bouts had ceased.

Oct 11, 2001: Sami is brought to MindHeal. He shows no signs of speech and is given to extremely violent outbursts. He screams when hungry, and cries and rolls on the floor when he doesn’t get his way. Sometimes, he is downright destructive, throwing things, hitting out at people around him, pulling their hair and even biting them. In other words, his behaviour is often uncontrollable. (‘According to classical homeopathy, his behaviour is ‘out of control’, which is typical of the Syphilitic Miasm.)

At times, Sami also ‘goes missing’, wandering aimlessly in the neighbourhood if unsupervised. He writes on the walls at home and refuses to play with other children. But he loves watching television and often hums along with a song playing on TV.

Sami’s parents have taken him to doctors at one of Mumbai’s best hospitals, Bombay Hospital. They are advised to get the child psychiatric treatment and speech therapy. Doctors also prescribe strong medicines to keep Sami’s destructive behaviour under control.

Dec 3, 2001: Sami is calm and composed. He begins talking. And he establishes eye contact.

In the course of 10 months, Sami is admitted to school, a red-letter day for any parent, more so for Sami’s!

Homeopathy & Autism

In the context of homeopathy, autism is a disorder which indicates that the child is born into the last of the Three Miasms. The Third Miasm (Syphilis) is the destructive or most severe stage of disease, any disease. When you fall sick, you usually transition from the First to the Second and / or the Third Miasm, whereas autistic children are born directly into the Third (Syphilitic) Miasm. This is what makes treating autism so challenging. Case Taking is especially difficult as autistic children cannot communicate. So there is little to go by except the child’s behaviour and the parents’ history.

Click here for Sami's Case Analysis

Mom’s The Word

Mother’s History: Thus, diagnosing autism rests largely on the parents’ history, especially the mother’s history. Following are the aspects to focus on:

1. Mother’s emotional, psychological and mental balance

2. History of miscarriage

3. Cesarean delivery: (An unnatural form of delivery where the infant is abruptly ‘ripped’ from the womb.)

4. Hormonal treatment during pregnancy

5. Antibiotics to treat infections during pregnancy

This does not mean that every pregnant mother who fulfils one or more of these criteria will bear an autistic child. But the reverse is usually true. That is, autistic children are most likely to have mothers who would check off one or more of these criteria.

Dad’s The Word

Father’s History: There’s tons of literature on the all-important role of a pregnant mother and her influence – how she feels and what she does – on the growing foetus. So you can’t blame dads for feeling left out! But ‘pregnant dads’ are not off the hook. Read on…

When it comes to all birth-related and genetically loaded disorders (such as autism, hydrocephaly, mental retardation and muscular dystrophy), the parents’ history is crucial in determining whether the child develops the disorder or not, and its expression.

What do I mean by ‘parents’ history’? Unlike conventional medicine, which views ‘history’ as ‘prevalence of a specific disorder in the parents and in the extended family’, homeopathy goes much, much deeper.

When it comes to the mother’s history, points 2 – 5 (above) need no explanation. It is point 1 that provides the key to diagnosing and prescribing. So, does point 1 apply to the mother or father when it comes to figuring out these all-important clues?

In either case, the mental and emotional state of the parent before and / or during conception (in the case of the mother, during pregnancy as well) is critical to the disease picture in the child.

Generally, it is the mother’s history that is important. The father’s mental and emotional state is relevant only when the child’s genetics closely resemble the father’s genetics. Clues to this can be found in a strong physical resemblance between child and father and / or when the nature and temperament of father and child are similar.

In Sami’s case, I found that the child’s mother felt neglected by her husband, who didn’t speak to her for almost her entire pregnancy. As a result, she indulged in attention-seeking behaviour including tantrums, tearing at her clothes and even biting and injuring herself. Note how her emotional state and even her behaviour perfectly mirror Sami’s autistic expression.

Here’s a case where the autistic child’s genetics matched those of his father. Shamik bore an uncanny physical resemblance to his dad. Both were lean, and their facial features and tapering chins indicated their especially sensitive nature. Apart from this, they were both extremely quiet, withdrawn and depressed.

GENETICALLY SIMILAR: Young Shamik and his dad

When I took the father’s history, I found that he was struggling with serious emotional issues before and during his wife’s pregnancy, and his emotional reaction to these issues perfectly mirrored Shamik’s autistic behaviour!

The ‘Fever Effect’

Four years ago, researchers from the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore in the US discovered an intriguing phenomenon – intriguing to the world of medicine and homeopathy.

They discovered that when autistic children developed a fever, they showed significant improvement, sometimes dramatic improvement, in speech, language, attention span, eye contact and the ability to communicate. The findings, published in the journal Pediatrics, were the result of a study on 80 autistic children aged 2 to 18 and whose behaviour was rated by their parents, before, during andafter an episode of fever. In 80 per cent of the children, symptoms of autism subsided and even disappeared during the fever but re-appeared after the fever subsided.

Unable to explain this at the physiological level, the researchers made the following observations: "The results of this study are important because they show us that the autistic brain is plastic or capable of altering current connections and forming new ones in response to different experiences or conditions," said Andrew Zimmerman, a senior researcher on the project.

According to Dr Gary Goldstein, President and CEO of the Kennedy Krieger Institute, "Pilot research studies such as this provide clues about the underlying metabolic changes in the brain that may prove to be targets for novel autism therapies."

I am quoting this research study as it highlights a stunning parallel between the homeopathic approach to autism and these findings in the realm of conventional medicine.

Again, although conventional medicine has found no cure for this disorder, homeopathy has been treating it with considerable success for decades. Indeed homeopaths have long since observed that autistic children show significant behavioural improvement when they develop a fever.

The objective of homeopathy is to return a sick individual from the Syphilitic or Sycotic (Third and Second Miasm) to Psora (First Miasm). The Psoric Miasm is typified by ‘inflammation’ and fever. A return to Psora is thus always typified by ‘inflammatory’ symptoms such as a runny nose, cough, skin eruptions and high temperature.’ This is a sign that the mind and body are expelling toxins from the patient’s system in the process of rooting out disease. It is also a sign that the patient is returning to the Psoric state.

The italisised quotes 9above) made by the researchers are of special interest to homeopaths. One, that “the autistic brain is plastic” or changeable and that autism is a reversible disease. And two, that fever causes fundamental, if temporary, metabolic changes in the brain.

While treating all disease, the fundamental aim of the homeopath is to reconfigure and fine-tune the patient’s very metabolism and immune system. It works just the same with autism. A skilled homeopath cures by rebalancing the constitutional nature of an individual to correct (faulty) genetic expression.

Could conventional medicine have stumbled upon what homeopaths have known for 200 years? Could homeopaths and medical doctors be speaking the same language? I believe this is true. It’s how we use and practise this knowledge that makes the crucial difference between ‘cure’ and ‘managing disease’.

Next: In Part II of this post, we will continue to explore pathological, genetically linked disorders

Re-awaken the healer in you…

- Dr Anita Salunkhe, MD

Your MIND: The Window To Disease

2011-05-08T05:01:00.007+05:30

That patients recover from illness doesn’t really amaze me any more. After more than 20 years of practising homeopathy, what still takes my breath away is the transformation patients go through, completely and wholly, and the speed with which this often occurs.

This transformation is apparent in this short video of young Aneesa Ansari, who could barely sit upright on her own and needed help to walk. She had developed tuberculosis a couple of years earlier. She had grown resistant to the drugs and, over the next two years, developed tubercular meningitis, which had taken the disease process to her brain.

When Aneesa was helped into my clinic, she was disoriented, to say the least. She had been experiencing a high-grade fever that she could not shake off for four months. Despite being admitted to hospital four to five times, conventional physicians were unable to help her. Desperate and frightened, Aneesa entered my clinic, cannula still attached to her arm.

Barely a month after I began to treat her, Aneesa went from being a very sick young woman to a happy healthy and vibrant 24-year-old. And just in case you’re wondering, yes, I believe in miracles and homeopathy is one of them. This wonderful system of self-healing is a lifeline for many, arriving at my clinic as they do with a sense of panic and helplessness.

Is This The Same Patient? (2.11min)

Aneesa is one of many patients who come to MindHeal Homeopathy as emergency cases.

But how does someone so sick recover so quickly and so completely? The lay public is sceptical about using homeopathy in an emergency situation. Isn’t allopathy what you’re looking for in serious and acute cases?

Before we come to that, let’s take a look at Safina, a 26-year-old homemaker who was brought to me earlier this year. She had been experiencing frequent splitting headaches, and her vision was blurred. After the usual rounds of opthalmologists, Safina had been referred to a neurologist, who found her intracranial (inside the skull) and intraocular (inside the eye) pressure abnormally high.

Doctors then recommended CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) tapping to relieve the pressure inside her eye. They began periodically drawing the fluid out via a lumbar puncture. Thus, Safina had doctors draining fluid from her spine on a fortnightly basis. Finally, doctors recommended that a thecoperitoneal shunt be placed inside Safina’s spine, to make the tapping procedure more convenient! All they needed to do was open the valve and let out the excess fluid when her vision grew blurry.

Sometimes, the solutions thrown up by conventional medicine boggle the mind. When will physicians realise that you simply cannot ‘drain away disease’ from the human body?

In Safina’s case, the remedy I prescribed cleared up her symptoms in just 15 days. I had located the disease process at its source. Treatment, of course, continued much longer but relief came swift and easily. As with all patients, the upshot was that Safina began to feel more alive and free of the emotional burden she has been carrying. Take a look…

How is this possible? Without returning to the basic tenets of homeopathy, there is one pivotal point I would like to make, and that is: that the MIND is the window to all disease.

Patients usually provide a wealth of information during the initial consultation. All of it is relevant but the important elements are not flagged in red! Evaluating a case and piecing it together is like playing ‘join the dots’. The experienced homeopath must pick out the dots and then connect them to form a complete picture.

We have to first pick out the dots, or, what I call the patient’s ‘key sensitivity’ – their core fears, and psychological and emotional injuries that dictate their thoughts, actions and emotions in their everyday lives.

Cheers For Fears
Fear, by its very nature, is buried deep in the unconscious, its manifestation masked but still visible to the trained eye. But the homeopath does not psychoanalyse. All he/she needs to do is identify the fear and understand how it is expressed. There is no need to go backwards to understand why it exists.

After identifying the patient’s key sensitivity, the next step is to understand how the patient has coped with these core issues. In other words, the homeopath must identify the patient's main defence mechanisms.

Human nature presents a wide array of personalities. Some people act out their feelings and fears, others bottle them up, while still others compensate or overcompensate. Identifying the patient’s coping mechanisms and watching them at work in the patient’s life is critical to arriving at an accurate diagnosis, or in homeopathic terms, the right rubrics.

In Safina’s case, her lack of education and frustration at being unable to offer her children a good education was her ‘key sensitivity’. The other key issue was the constant verbal abuse from her in-laws and her refusal to bare her feelings. Neither did Safina say anything to her parents as she didn’t want to "burden" them with her problems. Her "stoic silence" and controlled nature were her coping mechanisms.

(To understand just how identifying the ‘key sensitivity’ is actually the key to every case and, I have discussed my rubrics and remedy in Safina’s case here.)

Interestingly, some patients experience a perceptible change in their health within a couple of days after treatment begins; others in less than a day. There are still others in whom reversing the disease process takes longer.

Get Well ‘Soon’
So what determines the speed of recovery? In simple terms, the human constitution has a genetically determined pace at which changes take places in each individual – changes of all kinds. This includes the pace at which disease sets in, their ‘boiling point’ or the point at which it intensifies before it becomes destructive, the progress of disease from one layer to another, the individual’s tolerance and reactivity to stress, and their ability to absorb and adapt to unfavourable changes in life circumstances.

‘Constitutional speed’ varies between individuals, some ‘changing gears’ quickly; others not so fast. This explains why some individuals recover slowly while others, like Aneesa and Safina, recover from serious diseases in a matter of days or weeks.

Also, closely tied to the recovery process this is the human immune system. We classically think of the immune system as that which fights germs and keeps us free of disease. Many are also aware that the immune system plays a crucial role in healing all ailments. But it’s more complex than that. The immune system does much more, even playing a part in determining your state of mind.

A word here about the way conventional medicine views illness vis-à-vis holistic systems of medicines such as homeopathy. Conventional medicine takes a mechanistic view of the human body and attempts to "cure" individual symptoms. Physicians are of the view that fixing the symptom is tantamount to cure.

They could not be farther from the truth. The truth is that disease is a process and this process manifests itself when the body can no longer cope and adjust to the disease process. As a result, something "gives way" in the body, leading to and overt symptom or ailment. Any attempt to suppress, manage or control (a la allopathy) the symptom or ailment only drives the disease process deeper. Eventually, when the patient is led to believe he/she is cured, they are actually getting sicker!

House-Cleaning Anyone?
Homeopathy, on the other hand, identifies the very source of the disease process and then altogether reverses it. When this happens, not only is the presenting ailment cured; the patient is cured of all that ails him/her at a deeper level. He/she is thus permanently cured.

To present an analogy… a can of insect-repellent will take care of nasty bugs but only a round of pest-control can effect a thorough house-cleaning!

Lesson Learnt: Symptomatic treatment cannot cure. Homeopathy is a science that altogether reverses the disease process. This is another reason this wonderful art and science can cure diseases and disorders that are completely untreatable by conventional medicine - pathological and incurable cases that conventional medicine has long since given up on. House-cleaning anyone?

Open Sesame: The Key To Cracking A Case

2011-03-09T16:18:00.012+05:30

It is with a sense of excitement that I write this post (apologies for the delay) as I have been preparing for an upcoming seminar (Mind & Miasms: Throwing The Constitutional Switch, which I will be presenting on April 3, 2011, Hahnemann Day). With preparation uppermost on my mind, I thought I would discuss the subject of my presentation here, which is the all-important role of the Mind in disease – its etiology, expression, experience and reversal – as the key that ‘opens a case’.

Details on my Facebook Page

The mind-body connection has been discussed ad nauseum and has even become something of a cliché to many, both homeopaths and the lay public. While many practitioners acknowledge this truth and even believe in it, they falter in its application as classical homeopathy meant it to be.

In other words, while many practitioners believe they are addressing mind and body, they apply this knowledge only in a general, superficial sort of way. These homeopaths are guilty of the “sin of symptomatic prescribing”, making them no different from conventional physicians whose mechanistic approach separates, rather than blends, mind and body.

Hippocrates

Forgive me if I sound holier than thou. I don’t mean to. This post is a heartfelt attempt to clear a few misconceptions while asserting one simple truth – that there are no shortcuts to practising homeopathy, no formulae to arrive at rubrics and to prescribing the right constitutional remedy.

The human mind is a wonderfully complex phenomenon, and although responsible for the infinite variety in human behaviour, its chicanery becomes the homeopath’s concern when leading the patient down the path of disease. Let us not forget that the myriad personality traits and their unique expression serve one single purpose – to defend. And herein lies the crux of Miasms.

Miasms Is Not A ‘Concept’

I have been teaching homeopathy for more than two decades and it never fails to surprise me when a student asks me to explain “the concept of Miasms”. Far from being a “concept”, Miasm is a state of being – it is THE primary state of existence of the human individual.

Before I get to the crux of this post, there’s something I would like to repeat from previous posts. Before human beings even walked this earth, the evolution of life itself began at the cellular level. And the way in which the cell reacts to injury and harm – its defences – is mirrored by the Mind. Thus, the Mind is nothing but an extension of the cell and its defences. Classical homeopathy, as we all know, calls this defensive pattern of reaction Miasm.

But it is not enough to determine a patient’s Miasm. No, it doesn’t take a genius to assess Maismatic states. Nor is it a challenge to figure out a patient’s key behavioural traits such as passive aggression, an all-pervasive feeling of abandonment or the drive to overachieve. These are external, outward expressions of the patient’s Miasmatic state.

Oh, That Elusive Key!

But the key to opening a case lies not in the ‘what’ but the ‘whys’ and ‘wherefores’. Behaviour is nothing but an outward expression of frustrations, disappointments, psychological traumas and other key issues that are turning points in an individual’s life. These are the ‘whys’ or internal reasons (what I call “key sensitivities”) that lead to the ‘what’ (behaviour). Thus, a behavioural description is insufficient, and arriving at rubrics on the basis of behaviour alone can be very misleading.

Hahnemann

Thus the homeopath must ask: What led to this behaviour”? What provoked the patient to become, say, flamboyant and exhibitionistic? What is this particular patient compensating for? What is he denying? What exactly does he fear most? Find the answer to these questions – determine the patient’s “key sensitivity” – and you’ve found the key that will open the case!

It is these key and core issues that are expressed in the patient’s disposition and behaviour, always of course through the prism of his / her Miasm. But to arrive at this “ah experience”, the practitioner must undertake a detailed Case Taking. Like a detective, the homeopath must probe deeper, listen to what the patient is not saying and read between the lines to find embedded clues, always guided by one question – What is the issue the patient is most sensitive to?

A detailed and carefully guided Case Taking will reveal exactly “what makes the patient tick”. Bingo! We have discovered the patient’s “key sensitivity"!

Divining a patient’s key sensitivity is not easy. It means walking through the rubble of a patient’s life with a divining rod loaded with a keen sense of intuition. It means weeding out irrelevant details while picking up relevant clues from debris of the patient’s life. The skilled homeopath eventually pieces them together to form a thread that sews mind and body, disease and health, patient and remedy.

It is only at this stage that the patient reveals their true drug picture. It is only now that you can arrive at the right rubrics and the right constitutional remedy. The right rubrics are terribly nuanced just as remedies are.

Playing “Matchmaker”

Let me illustrate this with an example from my own experience. Mr Shah was many things but most of all, he was a workaholic. In fact, he was obsessed with work, which over the years had become central to his life to the exclusion of all else. When work wasn’t on track or deadlines were not met, Mr Shah turned angry and he turned his rage at both employees and himself.

Kent

Mr Shah was also not a talker and the one thing he didn’t like talking about was himself! No, Case Taking wasn’t easy and I had to depend on details provided by his wife. I arrived at the following rubrics: workaholic; ambitious, anger answer obliged to and prescribed Nux Vomica.

A couple of months later, Mr Shah returned to my clinic. He wasn’t feeling better and his urticaria, indigestion and painful, ingrown toenails had grown worse. I asked myself where I had erred. This time, I probed further and spoke to Mr Shah alone while his wife waited outside. Patience and persistence paid off and after a short while, Mr Shah told me that before he was married, he had been jilted by a woman he had loved. However, the young lady refused to marry him as he wasn’t “doing well enough” (read “good job”).

There it was – an emotional, love angle that had injured him deeply. This broken relationship revealed Mr Shah’s “key sensitivity”. This key rejection had led him to compensate and project himself as an ambitious and successful businessman, an armour that would guard against future rejection.

This single fact – the key to Mr Shah’s case – completely altered Mr Shah’s rubrics. The new (and accurate) rubrics: workaholic; ambitious, anger answer obliged to, anger work about (Kneer) = Natrum Mur. Natrum Mur, in the sycotic phase, will exhibit affectation, extravagance and too exclusive.

After discovering the key to any case, the rest is easy. We must uncover how and why the patient progressed from one Miasmatic state to the other. Since all disease reflects a Syphilitic state, we are thus looking for the progression from Psora to Syphilis or Sycosis to Syphilis or, in a classic case, from Psora to Sycosis to Syphilis.

If the patient’s history reveals why the constitution has fallen sick, his key sensitivity will reveal exactly how he has coped; and what went out of control or why he has turned indifferent or what he is compensating for. Critically, his key sensitivity will link effect with cause. Thus, we determine his Miasm at both the physical and mental levels.

When this picture is complete, you will realise that every single time the patient switches from one Miasmatic state to another (“throws the constitutional switch”), it is the “key sensitivity” that turns the key. When we discover the “key sensitivity”, we find the absolute, perfect match, with the levers between human being and plant /animal / mineral meshing perfectly. Only then can we reverse the disease process completely, comprehensively and permanently.

Miasmatic Mathematics?

As I mentioned earlier, there are no shortcuts in homeopathy. Yet, many have fallen prey to them. There are homeopaths who make no bones about prescribing symptomatically (even though they are loathe to admitting it!) and there are those who seem to be more diligent.

Ortega

Alas, the latter, while paying lip service to the Miasmatic interpretation of disease, use set mathematical formulae within its scope to determine a patient’s rubrics. But merely taking Miasmatic mental and physical rubrics, adding thermals and thirst to them and then scouring the Materia Medica for a possible match is simply not good enough.

To guard against the “sin of oversimplification”, let us return to Mr Shah’s case. The patient said he “needed” to be in an air-conditioned environment at all times. Many would instantly classify him as hot. But his need for an air-conditioned environment was actually not linked in any way to his thermals. Mr Shah was a wealthy businessman and was simply used to air-conditioning! It was a lifestyle choice.

So, beware of the pitfalls while weeding the chaff from the grain. And always remember, to make all the levers of the case and remedy mesh perfectly, you must divine the patient’s key sensitivity – you have to play the game of dominos backwards!

Back To Basics

Here, I have selected key developments in the origin and evolution of the Doctrine of Miasms to reflect the mosaic of thoughts and shift in focus as the greats explored this wonderful healing science. But is an understanding of Miasms enough? Read on…

Hippocrates (460-370 BC)

In the 4th century BC, Hippocrates pronounced: “Omoia omoiois eisin Iamata”, which when translated from Greek means “similars cure similars”. Hippocrates believed that disease was caused by an imbalance in the four bodily humors as well as the influence of external forces. He firmly believed that medicine should aim to build the patient’s strength (immunity).

Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843)

In spite of the law of “similia similibus curantur”, Samuel Hahnemann, founder of classical homeopathy, found that all medicines known to homeopathy failed to bring a real cure in diseases.

He later realised that there was something deeper that determined disease. Many years later, he propounded his Doctrine of Miasms. He called this deeper determining influence “a groove, a pit or a germ”, which he named “Miasm”. Hahnemann categorised this infection as the three Miasms.

Dr James Tyler Kent (1849-1916)

In Kent’s lectures, he said that thinking, willing and doing represent the three Miasms. “These are the three things in life from which finally proceed the chronic Miasm. The person who loves crime lives in it. It becomes part of his nature and shows itself in the external man. The man who loves truth and humanity, lives in that idea, and it becomes part of his nature and it can be seen in his looks and his life.”

Dr P S Ortega (1919-2005)

Ortega was the first to describe in detail the three basic Miasmatic themes or “big” Miasms. He was also the first to correlate Miasms with cell pathology or fundamental alterations in normal cellular functions. He classified these as Deficiency (Psora), Excess (Sycosis) and Perversion (Syphilis). Ortega said the original Miasmatic diseases that Hahnemann explored represent three fundamental expressions of imbalance and that these were inbuilt or innate predispositions as reflected by the human constitution.

Ortega also applied the doctrine of Miasm to the observation of the human being by describing its expression in an individual’s attitude and appearance.

He was also the first to reveal the Trimiasmatic drug picture.

Dr Prafull Vijaykar

Vijayakar

Building on Orgeta’s observations, Dr Vijaykar further explored the correlation between homeopathy and modern science as expressed in cell pathology, extending it to genetics, embryology and physiology.

He explained that every cell or living thing has a survival instinct. To survive, a cell has to defend itself against any kind of hostile stimulus. The primary reaction of any cell is to defend. Dr Vijayakar defines Miasm as the defence of a human being to any stimulus or action. He said it is how a human being defends and reacts that decides their defence. Dr Vijaykar equated Miasms to pathology at the cellular level.

Dr Vijayakar also elaborated on Ortega’s doctrine that Miasm is reflected in one’s constitution, looks, behaviour, nature and attitude.

His Chart of Suppression, which helps understand Hering’s Law of Cure, is invaluable in understanding the progression of disease from one layer to another.

Dr Rajan Sankaran

Sankaran

Dr Rajan Sankaran is best known for his understanding of disease as a delusion, his use of mind symptoms and dreams, his classification of remedy states into kingdoms and his additions to the existing Miasms. According to Dr Sankaran, Miasms represent the pace and desperation perceived by the Individual in a given situation. He classified pace and desperation into ten types: Acute, Typhoid, Ringworm, Psora, Sycosis, Malaria, Tubercular, Leprosy, Syphilis and Cancer.

His work on the plant kingdom and the elements has helped in the application of homeopathy by pointing the practitioner to the sensitivity of the patient in each case.

Conclusion

Every great homeopath before us and those among us too has made great strides in adding to this amazing system of medicine. Unfortunately, bickering, squabbling and petty one-upmanship occasionally eclipses these contributions.

We must applaud each one and strive to add to this great pool of knowledge and its application if we are to hone our skills and heal with confidence and certainty.

I thus conclude that while Miasm is the lock that guards the entry to a case, the patient’s core sensitivity is the key that opens it. After determining the patient’s key sensitivity, we must observe its expression at all Miasmatic levels.

Remember, just as every patient has a key sensitivity, every remedy too has its own unique sensitivity. It is only by understanding both that we can find the perfect match and arrive at the right constitutional remedy.

So how exactly does the practitioner determine this key sensitivity? Unfortunately, the answer cannot be found in the textbooks. The process is the result of assimilating the wisdom of the greats and blending it with the practitioner’s own intuition.

At my upcoming seminar, ‘Mind & Miasms: Throwing The Constitutional Switch’, I will demonstrate with video cases precisely how homeopaths can recognise the key sensitivity in different remedy pictures. Armed with this understanding, it is easy to treat even the most challenging and baffling cases – pathological, incurable and psychiatric disease cases.

Re-awaken the healer in you…

- Dr Anita Salunkhe, MD

Is Your Personality Making You Sick?

2011-01-30T23:22:00.002+05:30

How many times have we complimented someone on how “well” they’re looking? You know, that “prosperous’, full-in-the-face, filled-out appearance that usually suggests good food, the comforts of life and pots of money.

Now I have nothing against living the good life but what I am trying to say, to use a cliché, is that looks can indeed be deceptive. To the lay reader, this may sound farfetched but acquiring that “prosperous look” may not be reason to bring out the champagne.

King of all he surveys?

It could be indicative of an individual burdened with the stress of “making it big” or an individual whose body has accumulated so much stress over time that it has had to add ballast or “harden” itself lest the scales tip into a dangerous state of cellular chaos and disease.

Our “prosperous” friend’s rounded and filled-out appearance betrays the face of what classical homeopathy calls the Sycotic Miasm. (Click here to read about the 3 Miasms and understand what each one means).

To recap, for first-time readers, Miasm is a state of defence whose purpose is to protect the individual against threat, both perceived and real. It is an energetic and biochemical stance or reaction adopted by mind and body whose sole and ultimate aim is self-preservation, no matter how twisted, self-defeating or debilitating it might be.

All life on earth including ourselves is powered by an innate intelligence that governs all growth and development. It’s what keeps us alive and kicking. It is this innate intelligence – or vital force – that prompts the body to sacrifice a part to save the integrity of the whole. This is the reason why we fall sick.

Psora: Mother of all Disease

Having said that, let’s talk about defences. Now, defences are not a bad thing in and of themselves. Think of defence or Miasm as a default setting of the human race, something we possess by virtue of being alive and human.

The human infant is much too vulnerable at birth. Merely adjusting to life, with or without traumatic experiences, calls upon the infant and adult alike to adopt various types of defensive reactions to the onus of living, as it were. The defences one uses necessarily belong to one’s Miasmatic repertoire and are determined by it.

Again, to recap a little, each of us belongs to one of 3 Miasms and the one that typifies you is determined by your genetic make-up, constitution and temperament. This is your basic nature, which forms the matrix that assimilates all your life experiences. It is the tendency of your body and therefore your mind and your personality to react to everyday living in a specific way as determined by your genes.

Thus, your defence system, and the diseases you develop are also determined by your Miasm.

Miasms & Disease

Sycosis: Fighting Fit

So, what is the connection between Miasms and Disease? Disease manifests itself when your vital force or life force is overwhelmed, burdened beyond its capacity and unable to absorb stress or fend off infectious agents.

All disease – and this may be of special interest to those who suffer from chronic complaints – are defences the body uses to contain, accommodate and localise a life force under continued assault. This assault could arise from a variety of sources, more often than not, mental, psychological and emotional factors like deep-seated feelings of insecurity, inferiority, guilt, fear of rejection, loss and abandonment.

It is important to note that the diseases we get are chosen by our Miasmatic state (not by pathogens and other infectious agents!). And when they surface, it indicates just one thing – that the body’s defences cannot cope and defend against stress or pathogens any more. The body then throws up a symptom or sign to signal that something is amiss.

Syphilis: The Destroyer

Since I wrote my last two posts, I have been receiving a stream of emails with questions about Miasms, how and why we “switch gears” from one Miasm to another and whether one Miasm is “better or worse” than the others.

‘Choosing’ To Self-Destruct

Before I answer these questions, I’d like to introduce the case of Richa Gosar, one of my patients who suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and whose cure was as dramatic as it was quick. This, again, raises another question: Why do some people recover more quickly than others?

Richa’s arthritis was so severe it had deformed her wrists and hands and had affected her knees as well. The pain was so debilitating, it had completely confined her to bed for about a month before I consulted with her.

She said the pain sometimes drove her so crazy that she would throw things about the house and deliberately hurt her husband because she “blamed him for her predicament”. There is another angle to Richa’s situation – she had been treated by another homeopath for a decade before I met her but since she had only grown worse (watch the video), she threatened to “call the cops on him”!

Rather than take that as a warning, I found Richa’s story heart-rending. Not only did her rheumatoid arthritis indicate that she was in the Syphillitic Miasm but her behaviour too clearly reflected this. The Syphillitic Miasm, which is characterised by a tendency towards violence, destruction and being out of control, was mirrored in Richa's violent outbursts and her need to cause pain. It was clearly mirrored in the disease she chose – an autoimmune disease, where the body attacks itself.

Rheumatoid Arthritis: Homeopathy Cures In Months

I thought it would be simpler to negotiate the complex labyrinth of Miasms through a Q&A. So here goes. The general reader will thus be able to understand, not only how homeopathy works, but a Q&A will also provide a framework for individuals to corroborate their own experiences.

Why We Get Sick

What determines your Miasm?

There are essentially 3 Miasms – Psora, Sycotic and Syphillitic as explained briefly in my last post. Briefly, Psora is typified by extreme cellular and emotional sensitivity and diseases characterised by inflammation and pain. This is primarily how the cells, tissues, organs, body and mind react to stress (I use ‘stress’ as a generic term to denote physical, mental and emotional factors that burden or injure the mind and body).

The second Miasm, Sycosis, denotes a tendency towards accumulation and excess. Hence, under stress, the body produces fluids and tissues in excess of what is normal, to harden and protect the body from assault and injury. Sycotic defences and personality traits thus reflect ‘accumulation’ and ‘excess’.

The third Miasm, or the Syphillitic Miasm, is characterised by a destructive tendency – either inward or outward directed. This Miasm may also be characterised by extreme dullness, listlessness and a loss of interest in life. Diseases of the Syphilitic Miasm are clinical depression, uncontrollable anger, autoimmune diseases and the like etc.

The Miasm you belong to depends on your genetic endowment, biochemistry and inherited predispositions. Let us not forget another significant influencer of our personalities – the foetal environment and the forces that impinge on the mother during pregnancy and the birth process.

Yes, the mother’s moods, emotions, stresses, energy and intake of harmful substances all shape the developing foetus much more than we would like to imagine and they all shape the Miasm the infant is born into the world with. After all, what we elevate as ‘higher functions’ (of the pregnant mother) – thoughts, feelings, moods, etc – are nothing but complex chemical reactions within the body and these are easily passed on to the growing foetus.

All these inhertnt and inherited factors are collectively called your ‘constitution’. Thus, a homeopath prescribes a ‘constitutional remedy’.

Can one possess a combination of Miasmatic elements?

Every individual has a dominant Miasm. Although some individuals experience and exhibit a specific Miasm in its classic entirety, many of us are a combination of Miasmatic elements, despite our dominant Miasm.

Do all of us progress from Psora to the other two Miasms?

Not necessarily. One may be born into any one of the 3 Miasms. Let us take the example of a child born with the Syphillitic Miasm. An infant born with a pathological illness or disorder such as hydrocephaly, HIV or autism is typical of the third Miasm. This is evident in the physical destruction that is already present in the infant.

Does one remain in a single Miasm throughout life?

It all depends. One may remain in the same Miasm throughout one’s life or may switch Miasms. Switching gears or Miasms is very common. What is crucial is the direction of change. Psora to Sycosis to Syphilis is not healthy but the reverse is a good sign as the individual reverses from a state of mental and physical destructiveness through the ‘hardening’ stage and then into the Psoric or sensitive stage.

One’s state of health is always reflected in one’s appearance. In the following video, notice how my patients ‘look different’ on the road to recovery.

What's Your Miasm?

Why do we ‘switch’ Miasms?

This brings us to the all-important question of ‘switching’ or changing Miasmatic states. The short answer is: Of course, most of us change Miasms as we go through life, depending on life circumstances.

For instance, a cyst or benign tumour develop in individuals who are in the Sycotic Miasm. The development of the growth itself indicates a heightened disease process. But should the tumour turn destructive and cancerous, it indicates that the individual has ‘switched gears’ from the Sycotic Miasm to the Syphillitic Miasm.

Under sustained stress, a Psoric individual may develop simple arthritis with no structural damage to their joints. But when the immune system and the body are exhausted, the individual could turn Sycotic, exhibiting the development of osteophytes. If they were to switch to the Syphillitic Miasm, they would progress to osteoporosis.

This, of course, is a simplified explanation meant to illustrate a point. Many individuals develop different types of diseases through the course of their lives – but always according to the law of Miasms.

So what exactly makes us switch gears? Life is a complex and colourful thing full of hope, anticipation, pain, disappointments, excitement and happiness and a whole lot more. As we experience this marvellous miracle, most of us encounter experiences whose impact is sudden and powerful. It is these life experiences that often cause us to switch to a more healthy state or one ridden with disease.

Sometimes all it takes is the death of a loved one, a financial crisis or the break-up of a cherished relationship to push us into the Syphilitic Miasm. This doesn’t mean that everyone who experiences these crises switch gears. Like I said, the mind and body are a complex interplay of numerous factors and although there are definite rules, they always interface with the nuances of the individual’s constitutional make-up.

Also, it does not necessarily require a dramatic or sudden event to turn our Miasmatic gears. Often, disease results from the accumulation of stress over time. For instance, being in an abusive relationship, or a state of severe but sustained anxiety can also throw the switch. The process is subtle and is apparent only when signs and symptoms of disease show up.

And why focus only on the negative? On the flipside, positive life experiences that cleanse the self can play a crucial part in healing. Choosing homeopathy is just one such experience. Meditation, which calms the mind and body; an epiphany or a sudden awakening of the kind experienced by Eckhart Tolle as outlined in his book Power of Now; a sudden unburdening of guilt; and a change in life circumstances can all spontaneously reverse destructive processes in our minds and bodies without us making a conscious or deliberate attempt to do so. Have you ever wondered why some people ‘spontaneously recover’ from cancer and others are cured of addictions? Well, now you have the answer. This is self-healing at its best!

How fast do we switch gears?

How often have you heard of someone who has “died of grief” or perished soon after a debilitating health diagnosis? Alternatively, there are others who live long after these events take place.

The answer lies, not in any dark or sorrowful emotion but in one’s constitutional make-up. Sometimes, it takes years, even decades, for disease to develop. These individuals have a ‘slow constitution’, one which is slow to react to change of any kind. On the flipside, their road to good health is longer than those who have a 'fast constitution'.

‘Dying of grief’ or the shock of a grave diagnosis merely reflects a mind and body that has switched to Syphillitic mode very quickly because in homeopathic terms, death is the ultimate ‘destruction of life’.

Bear in mind that your constitutional make-up is decided by your genes and foetal environment and it is the basic matrix of your existence, a filter through which all experience passes and are assimilated.

How does a homeopath determine your Miasm?

There are many tools a homeopath uses to determine Miasms. The first and most obvious one is your appearance. Whenever a patient walks through my clinic door, I almost instinctively observe their facial features and body language.

In fact, Homeopathic Facial Analysis has been used as a very effective medium to assess Miasmatic states, and researchers at the Victorian College of Classical Homeopathy in Australia are conducting fascinating research into this area.

There are other ways to determine your Miasm, and often a combination of tools provides a complete and holistic picture. Arriving at the ‘right constitutional remedy’ is a nuanced process and it requires a considerable amount of information.

The Case Taking provides a wealth of information about your mental make-up, sensitivities, life circumstances, motives, attitudes and sensibilities. So, even if your Miasm is apparent from your appearance and body language, a full consultation compliments it by providing the whys and wherefores.

Thus, it is not without reason that classical homeopaths have been called ‘detectives’, divining clues to an individual’s mental and physical make-up. We have also been accused of ‘asking too many questions’ during consultation. “You have to tell them everything,” is an oft-used phrase used to describe the initial interview.

Personality & Miasms

Allow me to clarify that a homeopath does not engage in counselling and although the list of questions in the initial consultation is indeed long, the reason is precisely to procure clues to your Miasmatic state.

It’s incredible how much we give away without realising it, how much we say through our expressions and how much we slip between the lines. A skilled homeopath assimilates all the information, sews it together and then draws up a picture of your Miasmatic state.

So even if the initial consultation lasts around 60 minutes, that’s just 60 minutes to being handed a ticket to the superhighway of god health!

This is the second and concluding part of our previous discussion on Miasms.

Re-awaken the healer in you...

- Dr Anita Salunkhe, MD

MindHeal Homeopathy is an ISO-certified clinic based in Chembur, Mumbai. To find out more about The MindHeal Way, call: 022-25230530 / +91-9930363981. Or write to crm@mindheal.com. Website: www.mindheal.org. We’ll be happy to answer all your queries.

When We Play The Survival Card

2011-01-04T05:54:00.008+05:30

“Where are my shoes,” Jayesh asked the paramedics as they carried him away from a ravine into which he had tumbled. The 22-year-old lay on a stretcher, bleeding and broken after plunging more than 200 feet from a hill-top But despite multiple facial and bodily fractures, these were the youngster’s first words after he regained consciousness.

There were no tears, there was no pain. Jayesh’s first thoughts were of his shoes, which he had bought only recently. Out of context, Jayesh would seem like a callous young man, ungrateful for the gift of life and concerned only with its trappings.

But let’s not be quick to judge. Jayesh Gaykar's is a typical case of a teenager forced to grow up overnight and shoulder the financial burden of a family of six while still in his teens. His parents were not earning and his elder brother had suddenly lost his job. Thus, by doing odd jobs, 16-year-old Jayesh managed to scrape together just enough to put himself through college while also putting food on the table.

Life deals us some pretty heavy blows. But for Jayesh, destiny had robbed him of life itself, and the only way he could carry his cross was to anesthetise himself – mentally, emotionally and physically. The young man seated across the table from me was 24 now and he showed me pictures of himself when ‘life was still beautiful’. He was a sensitive and vulnerable teenager then and the future beckoned, albeit with a few difficulties strewn his way.

When circumstances changed abruptly, Jayesh was forced to ‘switch gears’. (See discussion below for interpretation of the 3 Miasms in homeopathy – Psora, Sycosis, Syphillis). He braced himself by adopting a defensive posture towards life, the only way he could discharge his responsibilities. Jayesh built a wall that didn’t allow any feelings in. He had insulated himself so completely, which is why he felt no physical pain even after tumbling 200 feet into a ravine. He had hardened himself to life's blows so completely that he began to look old and haggard.

Somewhere down the line, Jayesh’s vital force – the dynamic, positive energy within each one of us that keeps us alive & kicking, growing & actualising, healthy & happy – began to get further twisted and contorted. That’s when this once happy teenager switched gears once again and slid into a physically and mentally destructive phase.

Now well and truly anesthetised and almost completely devoid of all emotion, Jayesh’s robotic existence was fast – and silently – taking a toll on him. He was sick but he didn’t even know it.

Eight years after his descent into destructive mode began, the young man I met had come to help regain sensation on the right side of his face as the multiple fractures he had sustained during the accident had affected his facial nerves two years ago.

Even if I had not known his case history, it was evident from Jayesh’s pictures that he had switched from the Psoric to Sycotic to Syphillic Miasm quite quickly and dramatically. His facial injuries, which he sustained later, had only further impacted his already Syphillitic appearance. Watch this video of Jayesh Gaykar ‘becoming human again’.

The 3 Faces of Miasms

For subtitles, view in full-screen mode or in YouTube

Origin Of Misams

So how is Jayesh Gaykar’s case linked to the 3 Miasms of homeopathy? For my readers who are not homeopaths, we had discussed the Miasms of classical homeopathy in an earlier post. But just to recap… Miasm is essentially a pattern of reaction adopted by the mind and body to defend against, and even accommodate, the disease process. And although each one of us reacts in a highly individualised way, all human beings fall into one of these 3 basic Miasmatic states.

But before I discuss the classic personality types and traits associated with each Miasm, let’s look at the origin of these classic states of being. What if I said that the root of your mind, body, personality, thoughts and feelings lies in the nucleus of every cell in your body and its genetic code? Am I saying that we inherit what we are and that we are controlled by our genes? That the nature vs nurture conundrum is a foregone conclusion?

Let’s start, quite literally, at the very beginning. All life on earth evolved from single-celled organisms, growing in complexity and diversity to make the earth the wonderful planet it is. The living cell is programmed by its DNA and RNA to perform 3 basic functions: to nourish itself and grow; to reproduce and propagate; and to protect itself via the immune system.

At the cellular level, the world is an inherently hostile place and the cell needs to adjust and adapt to hostile agents, defend against them and sometimes even sacrifice its own functions or parts of itself to preserve itself. On an evolutionary level, this is the very purpose of life – self-preservation. And driven by its vital force, the cell will go to any lengths to achieve this goal.

Since the cell performs only 3 basic functions, there are only three ways it can defend against hostile forces or agents. When the first function is under threat, the cell increases its sensitivity and becomes literally hypersensitive so that it can better acquire the oxygen and nourishment it requires (Psora or the ‘Sensitive Miasm’).

When the threat or attack is prolonged or severe, this physiological or biochemical adaptation may fail and the cell is compelled to switch gears to use a stronger defence. It uses its second function to produce excesses or deficiencies to change itself structurally or morphologically. For instance, the cell wall hardens or shrinks in surface area to minimise the impact of the attack or it produces profusions and excesses to buttress itself (Sycosis or ‘Think-Skinned Miasm’). Finally, if its immune system also fails to fend off disease or harmful agents, the cell sacrifices a part of itself (the diseased portion) to save the whole (Syphillis or ‘Destructive Miasm’).

The 3 Miasms

This may sound rather primitive but then, despite our infinite complexity, our biology and genes boil down to a handful of simple rules. Thus, the way the human individual reacts to disease is nothing but an extension of the way the living cell reacts to harm or injury. As the human species evolved, we developed a mental make-up or ‘personality’. Each one’s mental make-up is a cluster of traits that is essentially an extension of the cell’s 3 basic functions – the 3 Miasms viz Psora, Sycocis and Syphillis.

In homeopathic terms, each human being exists primarily in one of the 3 Miasms – together at the physical level and psychological or mental level. Therefore, human behaviour is but a reflection of the mind mirroring biology.

It is important to remember that mind and body are but polar ends of the same axis, and that every human being is a single mind-body entity that functions as a whole. Thus, when we speak of Miasms, we refer to not only a physical defence against disease but also to a mental make-up that mirrors it.

As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, disease is a process that sets in and continues to pervade the body if the immune system is unable to repair or cleanse the body of disease agents. At this point, I would like to add that these ‘disease agents’ could either be purely physical as in invading pathogens, injury, harmful chemicals or a mental state as in prolonged stress or unhealthy thought processes that block or disturb the individual’s vibrational energy.

No matter what conventional medicine would have us believe, the mind CANNOT be separated from the body. They always work in tandem, in beautiful synchrony, in sickness and in health, for better or worse.

Miasmatic Personality

The Psoric Personality: The Psoric personality derives from the cell’s innate tendency to react to threat or injury with inflammation and pain. The cell heightens its sensitivity when any of its needs are under threat of deprivation so that it can maximise its ability to seek out and fulfil its basic requirements. This is the first line of defence adopted by all living cells and is a physiological or biochemical adaptive response.

This is one of my patients exhibiting the transition through the 3 classic Miasms while under treatment - a reversal from the Syphillitic to Sycotic to Psoric Miasm. Naturally, I have used the images in reverse order.

The Psoric individual is thus typically hypersensitive; vulnerable; anxious; gets emotionally injured easily; internalises rather than acts out; is emotional and expressive; temperamental, sentimental and perhaps even artistic. The Psoric personality experiences flash-in-the-pan anger. He / she is quick-tempered but does not harbour anger and resentment.

Psoric Diseases: The Psoric Miasm gives rise to diseases that have inflammation as their root cause. These include all the ‘itises’ such as bronchitis, arthritis, phelebitis, colitis, fever and diarrhoea etc and can affect a range of bodily functions and organs. There are also constant (chronic) or transient aches and pains caused by inflammation but no tissue destruction.

The Sycotic Personality: When the first line of defence is inadequate, the cell uses its second line of defence. It creates excesses or deficiencies in its structure and undergoes morphological changes to defend against disease. It basically hardens itself. Thus the Sycotic personality erects a wall between himself / herself and the world. He builds a façade and hides behind it.

Typically, the Sycotic personality is one who is predisposed towards ‘excesses’ and thus exaggeration, flamboyance, showing off and extravagance. These individuals are attention-seeking, the centre of attention, loquacious and the ‘life of the party’. In stark contrast to the Psoric personality, Sycotic individuals act out their feelings and are outward-oriented.

The Sycotic individual always wants to ‘accumulate’. These individuals are thus achievers; avaricious; and money, success, name and fame mean the world to them.

They are also terribly secretive, evasive and never reveal their true thoughts, feelings or motives. They are masters of deception, crafty and master-manipulators.

The Sycotic personality is retentive. They are not “giving people” and tend to be stingy both materially as well as emotionally. They give to get, are thick-skinned and ‘hard-hearted’ and appear emotionally shallow.

The Sycotic personality is also characterised by ‘lack’ rather than ‘excess’. Such individuals typically harbour deep-seated feelings of inferiority, inadequacy and lack confidence. They are inhibited individuals.

Sycotic Diseases: Sycotic diseases characterised by ‘excesses’ involve discharges, secretions, fluids and tissue eruptions. This gives rise to aliments such as polyps, warts, cysts, tumours; hyperplasies and hypertrophies, gonorrhoea, eczema with profuse effusion of fluids, cysts, fibrosis, gout, gall stones, stenosis and haemorrhoids.

‘Lack’ is characterised by a wide range of deficiencies viz calcium deficiency linked to osteomalacia; potassium deficiency linked to disorders of the acid-base equilibrium; sodium deficiency linked to withholding or loss of water; iodine deficiency linked to goitre; magnesium deficiency linked to neuromuscular disorders; and ferrum deficiency linked to anemia.

The Syphillitic Personality: When the immune system is so weakened that it fails to protect the cell and restore it to equilibrium, the cell adopts it third and final line of defence. It goes into Syphillitic mode, which is characterised by destruction. That’s when its processes and functions are ‘out of its own control’. This results in cell destruction and / or havoc to other cells and tissues.

The Syphillitic personality radiates negative energy. They are pessimistic and ‘dark’, even suicidal. They are either self-destructive or a hazard to people around them. When directed outward, they may experience a murderous rage. Also, serious psychological disorders such as psychoses, characterised by loss of contact with reality, are rooted in a Syphillitic predisposition.

When less extreme, Syphillitic individuals have a tendency to conquer and tilt at windmills. They are iconoclasts; rebellious; they have no respect for rules; and their anger is explosive and violent. Syphillitic individuals are infantile and cave in easily under stress and become chaotic and disorganised. They are also rigid and inflexible and would rather be destructive than try to change.

Another typical Syphillitic trait is mental paralysis, dullness and a complete disinterest in life. These individuals are indifferent to everything around them.

Syphillitic Disease: Diseases typical of this destructive Miasm are ulcers, gangrene, cirrhosis, autism, autoimmune disorders (systemic lupus erythmatosus, rheumatoid arthritis, AIDS) paralysis and cancer.

Misam is not merely a hypothesis or hypothetical construct to help us understand disease. It is real and it is rooted in our genes. It is a basic tenet of classical homeopathy… the beginning and the end of an individual’s battle for survival and the beginning and end of the treatment process.

Next: How and why does an individual switch Miasms? And is the human individual tethered to his / her genes? Is any one Miasm ‘better’ than the others? We’ll explore these issues in detail in my next post. Till then, happy reading!

Re-awaken the healer in you...

- Dr Anita Salunkhe, MD

MindHeal Homeopathy is an ISO-certified clinic based in Chembur, Mumbai. To find out more about The MindHeal Way, call: 022-25230530 / +91-9930363981. Or write to crm@mindheal.com. Website: www.mindheal.org. We’ll be happy to answer all your queries.

Surviving A Death Sentence

2010-11-28T20:52:00.010+05:30

The first thing I noticed about young Bhavesh was his fixed gaze. He stared at me, his eyes seeing, yet not seeing. As his mother poured her heart out, Bhavesh sat hunched in her arms, barely moving. He understood what we were saying but was passing our words through the filter of denial.

Judging by the look on his face, it was easy to tell that the nine-year-old was in shock. His unnatural stillness and glassy eyes spoke of sudden trauma, and around 20 minutes into the conversation, his mother confirmed my suspicions.

I call this case The Seven Faces of Bhavesh More – seven consultations, seven “different children” and finally, one happy kid. Watch the video.

Dur: 5:40 min

(For subtitles, double-click on screen and watch in YouTube)

But first, a brief background. Bhavesh was suffering from renal artery stenosis. The artery supplying blood to his right kidney was blocked, a condition diagnosed about 45 days before mother and child came to see me on April 1, 2009. Bhavesh was reeling under toxic build-up and water retention that had made him puffy and swollen. He also had severe hypertension as his blood pressure was a dangerous 180 / 120.

Bhavesh had also become extremely withdrawn. At home, he barely uttered a few words, preferring to lie in bed all day. He had also stopped eating – definite signs of shock and depression.

This is one of my more heart-rending cases. The boy’s mother fortunately gave me a wealth of detail and it was clear that Bhavesh’s symptoms had developed soon after an emotionally traumatic event. His father had died a few years ago, and in January 2009, his uncle, a “second father” to him, had collapsed and died in his presence.

A particularly sensitive and emotional child, Bhavesh went into shock, and the only way his vulnerable psyche could deal with the sudden and powerful sense of abandonment was to numb his mind and convert the psychological trauma into physical symptoms. Thus, his renal artery went into a spasm, placing the child’s life in jeopardy.

What followed was a tryst with allopathy. Bhavesh was hospitalised for a month and put on strong allopathic medication. It didn’t help. So they finally trotted out a line we so often hear conventional physicians say: “There’s nothing more we can do.” Doctors had given Bhavesh a death sentence.

I feel compelled to mention here that conventional allopathy serves only to suppress symptoms of disease and does not treat, much less cure, the root disease process that’s raging in the body. Coupled with Bhavesh’s serious condition, the drugs had actually made the nine-year-old much worse before he came to me.

What Is Miasm?

This was a classic, clear-cut case, illustrating three vital aspects that determine disease in any individual. One, Bhavesh was a hypersensitive child with strong issues of abandonment. In homeopathic terms, he exhibited the classic Psoriatic Miassm or Psora. To keep this simple and easy to follow, I will sidestep homeopathic jargon to say that classic homeopathy broadly classifies all individuals into three basic Miasms: Psora, Sycotic and Syphillitic. (For further details on Miasms, watch the following slideshow)

MindHeal: What Is Miasm?

View more presentations from MindhealHomoeopathy.

These three Miasms are classic patterns of reaction to disease after it sets in or the body’s defensive response to, say, infection or injury or any type of harm, both physical and mental. Miasm is nothing but the body’s way of trying to adjust to or even accommodate disease just so that you don’t succumb to it and perish. If that sounds odd, remember, the natural tendency of all life on earth is aimed at self-preservation, not self-destruction. In much the same way, a part of the body becomes diseased to preserve and save the whole organism.

Miasm is thus not disease per se but the body’s response to it. All this physiological, biochemical and structural jostling, pushing and nudging that follows, allows you sufficient time to regroup and strengthen your immunity so that you are restored to a state of good health.

If your immune response is not strong enough, the disease process continues to progress in a specific pattern determined by your Miasm. Now follow what I’m saying very carefully. Chronic illnesses are your body’s repeated but futile attempts to self-heal. And since your body will not give up without the best fight it can put up, you get trapped in a self-perpetuating disease cycle. So, successful or not, full marks for trying!

It is critical to note that your Miasm depends on your constitutional make-up – the basic matrix of homeopathic science. Despite what behavioural scientists say or staunch nurture-over-nature proponents believe, it is your constitution that influences aspects of your personality way beyond what conventional medicine and science is willing to admit.

Your constitution determines your basic nature both physical and mental including your temperament (sure nurture tempers but cannot alter it), personality and emotional responses. It also determines whether you take ill or not and the type of diseases you will develop and their progression – or your Miasmatic state.

“Changing Gears”

Having discussed one of the pillars of homeopathy – Miasm – let’s return to Bhavesh More. The child exhibited a second classic quality, one that makes it easy to understand why some people fall ill (even violently ill) fairly easily but also recover quickly, while it takes others years for illness to show up and a long time to recover.

We all fall on a continuum, whereby disease and / or its reversal to good health proceed at a specific pace. It’s akin to the gears in a vehicle. Haven’t we all heard of someone who was diagnosed with a ‘terminal disease’ and who perished within months after its detection? On the other hand, there are individuals who live for years, even as cancerous tumours grow and spread in their bodies.

There are also those who spontaneously recover from diseases such as cancer but why, oh why, does conventional medicine deny or dismiss the power of mind over body and “alternative systems” of medicines such as homeopathy!

The pace at which symptoms progress has nothing to do with how healthy or not your immune system is. Whereas immunity determines whether you fall ill or not, your ‘gear’ or pace determines how quickly you go downhill and / or return to a state of good health.

But what determines your ‘gear’ or pace of disease progression and its reversal? Once again, that would be your all-important constitutional make-up. Bhavesh was predisposed to “changing gears” very quickly, going from the Psora Miasm in almost fast-forward mode (45 days) to the Psoro-Syphillitic Miasm. That is, he shifted gears with alarming speed, from traumatic shock at his uncle’s passing to renal artery stenosis, a physically destructive stage resulting in his kidney malfunctioning (as opposed to experiencing all the nuances that would have taken him from shock to grief and sorrow).

Mind Over Body

There is a third reason I call this a classic case. Bhavesh’s kidney ailment illustrates the power of the mind in causing disease or how emotional trauma can lead to cellular shock.

This brings us to Bhavesh’s second setback, which is evident in his fourth consultation. Midway through treatment, I received a call from his mother saying Bhavesh had been rushed to hospital. He had suddenly started bleeding from his nose and had fallen unconscious. Doctors in hospital also discovered that his blood pressure had climbed to dangerous levels for the nth time.

When the child and his mother returned to my clinic after he was discharged four days later, Bhavesh looked puffy and swollen again. At the risk of sounding repetitive, I must say that the strong prescription of allopathic drugs he was given for the second time in four months had once again suppressed the disease process and caused Bhavesh’s health to regress.

(I must mention here that interventional medicine is definitely recommended in cases of medical emergencies, where homeopathy cannot help. But once the individual stabilises, long-term use of allopathic drugs is invariably suppressive and destructive)

But why did a child whose health was obviously looking up after starting on homeopathic treatment fall so violently ill a second time? Again, the clue came from his mother, who said that just minutes before his nose began to bleed, Bhavesh had had a bust-up with his grandmother who, in all her grandmotherly wisdom, had scolded him very severely. (Watch the video above)

Coming as the incident did just seven months after his uncle’s death, the perceived “shock” and “trauma” from another authority figure had sent Bhavesh’s mind into a paroxysm of pain for the second time and his body had reacted violently.

I decided to take a bold step now. I requested Bhavesh’s mother to halt the drugs prescribed by the hospital’s doctors and asked her if she could place her faith and trust in homeopathy. And she did. This was perhaps one of the best decisions the lady will have ever made, because just 17 months after she walked in carrying a child who had been handed a death sentence, Mrs More had her son back from the brink… healthy and happy.

Note: I cannot end this post without mentioning that the study of Miasms is included in the curricula of homeopathic colleges across India. But it is limited to the realm of theory. It was Dr Prafull Vijaykar and his predictive School of Homeopathy that took Miasms to the realm of the practical. Having spent a decade as both practitioner and faculty with the Predictive School of Homeopathy, it continues to be the most crucial tool I use to understand the nuances of my cases and a beacon while prescribing homeopathic remedies.

(Next: I’ll take the subject of Miasms forward and illustrate with images and videos from my practice, cases of individuals who have shifted Miasms on the rocky road to sickness and health.)

Re-awaken the healer in you...

- Dr Anita Salunkhe, MD

Gunk In The Plumbing

2010-11-15T03:14:00.004+05:30

It’s odd how when you walk into a room of relative strangers and you’re introduced as a homeopath, all conversational roads lead to homeopathy. It happened to me for the nth time recently, at a social gathering where a peppy young lady said, “Tell me, Doctor, why does someone under homeopathic treatment become worse before getting better?”

The young lady obviously didn’t realise that her seemingly benign conversation opener was actually the key to what homeopaths call the “healing crisis”. Since we have discussed in previous posts why homeopathy is a holistic system of medicine, let’s focus here on the healing crisis per se.

If you’ve been treated by a homeopath before, you may have noticed that soon after treatment begins, chest congestion, skin allergies and joint pain ‘mysteriously’ and temporarily show up. As I reassure Harpreet Kaur in the video that follows, this is an EXCELLENT sign! It indicates that the body has begun to fix itself.

Journey of Disease (Dur: 2.31)

Turning The Key
Homeopathic remedies begin by ‘turning the key’ and unlocking the disease process that has either caused your first major illness or, as the case may be, yet another physiological breakdown in a series of illnesses.

When you unlock the disease process, the gunk or toxins in the system begins to clear out. It’s like unclogging blocked plumbing. A body that has been functioning below par or organs that have been malfunctioning or only partially functioning accumulate plenty of cellular debris over the years. They overproduce or underproduce chemicals, they are constantly compensating for other organs, they shrink or swell, and they get stressed and damaged as they bravely keep trying to give of their best despite the odds.

Homeopathic remedies, mild as they are, first shake up your system on the path to good health. They change and correct your faulty metabolism at the molecular level, thus RELEASING toxic chemicals and energy that are locked into disease patterns which set in a long time ago.

Unclogging Debris

After “loosening the gunk”, the body needs to eliminate the cellular debris and it looks to the organs of elimination to achieve this. This toxic debris and unblocked energy must be allowed to leave the system naturally for healing to be permanent and complete.

Inflammation in the form of fever, chest congestion (mucous discharge leading to a cough and cold) and joint pain are typical signs of a healing crisis, a sign that your body is trying to cleanse itself. Acidity is also a common sign of such “chimney sweeping”. After all, aren’t the stomach and small intestine the very seat of our metabolic gravity?

The skin, the largest organ we have, as well as the bowels are the obvious organs of elimination. Hence, toxins that no longer need to be stored find a way out through these organs and give rise to temporary rashes, boils, pustules, allergies and bowel disturbances. After each round of cleansing, rest assured you advance to a higher level of health. Thus, while the road to health and vitality is exhilarating, it is initially marked by short and sharp dips in the road.

But it’s not only about clearing away all that is dead and diseased. When your body is truly healing, it also RETRACES the path it had taken to deterioration. This means old symptoms, long since suppressed, will invariably flare up.

What this simply means is that the body is re-starting a fight it once gave up – a battle against microbes, toxic chemicals, addictive substances and other harmful influences that left it diseased. Emotional trauma, which is stored as cellular trauma, is another powerful cause of disease and has more to do with illness than most people realise.

Dark Secrets

Though your body gave up the struggle a while ago, these pathogens, harmful chemicals and traumatic memories continued to impact your body, progressively weakening your organs, muscles, tissues, glands, and metabolic and immunological processes. This is the root of chronic disease.
Now revitalised through homeopathy, the battle resumes and inflammation will result.

Supporting the body with appropriate nutrition, rest and cleansing will allow the healing process to run its natural course. Not to mention that your immune system is also strengthened, eventually leaving you permanently disease-free. Alternatively, if this process is interrupted by allopathic drugs, the vicious cycle of suppression resumes and inhibits the healing process.

Hence, periodic flare-ups in chronic illnesses are nothing but a sign that the body is feeling strong enough, albeit briefly, to resume its struggle and try and heal itself. Thus, contrary to what most people believe, periodic flare-ups are not a sign of disease but of healing!

Multiplying Disease
At this juncture, it is pertinent to note that the healing crisis is as far as you can get from the approach that drug medicine takes. They are polar opposites.

And there’s a huge price to pay for conventional medicine’s seemingly efficient approach to curing ailments. Allopathic drugs invariably work by suppressing, controlling, managing and regulating the symptoms of disease because conventional medicine is founded on the myth that the removal of symptoms is the same as curing disease. Allopathy assumes that the symptom IS the disease.

Disease Is Multi-Layered

Drug medicine therefore does not remove the DISEASE PROCESS, which continues to rage, gradually chipping away at your body till it can no longer defend itself. Years of suppression though painkillers and antibiotics, not to mention bad nutritional habits and unhealthy lifestyles lead to toxic overload.

Here’s something to think about for anyone who regularly takes multiple types of medication for MULTIPLE ailments. (I cannot emphasise this enough) The fact is that all your ailments arise from the SAME disease process which, in fact, manifests as a range of symptoms. So you don’t really suffer from asthma, arthritis and constipation – you suffer from ONE SINGLE disease process, whose destructive force has damaged your lungs, joints and bowels respectively.

When resorting to conventional drugs, you’re actually suppressing one set of symptoms and driving the disease process deeper. The disease is thus bound to show up elsewhere, even years later, as a more serious ailment. In a double-whammy, the medication you take to relieve, say painful gout (thus inhibiting the formation of uric acid) could encourage the formation of kidney stones at a later stage.

Thus “fixing your body” (like it’s a broken blender!) and “healing” are like chalk and cheese. It is vital to make this distinction to understand how homeopathy works.

How Homeopathy Works (Dur: 1:27)

Homeopathic remedies are aimed at correcting dysfunctional metabolism and by unlocking cellular trauma, releasing blocked energy. They rebalance your biochemistry, realign and fine-tune your physiological processes so that disease is rooted out at its source.

Once your metabolism is rebalanced, ALL your ailments will disappear. Again, unlike allopathy, homeopathy also REVITALISES the individual, leaving you energised, rested, stronger and disease-resistant in general. Where else do you get a bonus like that?

Innate Intelligence

The healing process is far from random and is guided by an inner intelligence. There is NOTHING RANDOM about the way your mind and body functions. (I am deliberately using the singular for we are but one whole entity of mind, body and spirit) It follows a superior logic that for the most part is unconscious in most of us. Yet it’s always there – to use or abuse as we may choose.

Thus, just as every minute physiological and metabolic process follows an innate logic, so does the healing process. This process was first described by Constantine Hering who gave us the Laws of Cure.

Laws Of Cure

These laws are like a rudder, guiding the classical homeopathy while tracing the journey to healing, which follows a very specific direction.

Inside-Out: Healing starts at the very deepest level – the mental and emotional levels and the body’s vital organs. From here, it progresses to the skin and the extremities. It also takes place first in more vital organs and proceeds to less vital organs – from the interior of the body towards the skin. (In our video, young Meghna Masurkar’s chest-to-skin or asthma-to-vitiligo progression)

Rewind: Symptoms disappear in the reverse order of their chronological appearance.

Top-Down: Healing also begins from upper to lower parts of the body. (Vandana Kapoor’s hand-to knee progression)

Many patients, most of them schooled in allopathy and used to its quick-fix effects, often ask me how soon they can “expect results”. Well, if the treatment course extends over a longer period than the wham-bam allopathic approach, tangible “results” usually begin to show within days or a week of starting on homeopathy.

And for my readers who are still iffy about choosing this wonderful healing way, there’s no better endorsement from Vandana Kapoor, who came to me with complaints of depression and recurring nightmares as she tried to battle a controlling husband.

It's been more than six years but I still remember what the young lady had said:

(This is the concluding part of my two-part series on disease and healing, The MindHeal Way)

Re-awaken the healer in you...

- Dr Anita Salunkhe, MD

All That's Gone Is Not Cured

2010-11-02T03:33:00.007+05:30

My Class VIII physics teacher was a grouchy old man who was greeted with a collective sigh of despair every time he walked into class, his arms laden with books or the beginnings of a ‘class project’. Ugh!

He didn’t know it then but through all those excruciating lectures, Mr Ramanathan gifted me something I use every day as a practitioner of a holistic system of medicine and as a human being in communion with the people around me and the universe.

Energy Is Neither Created Nor Destroyed

Mr Ramanathan gifted me the First Law of Thermodynamics, and I quote – “energy is neither created nor destroyed, it is only transformed from one state to another”.

Homeopathy applies this very same principle to the disease process (note the word “process” as it crops up through this post) – “disease is not necessarily cured but is transformed and reappears as other diseases”. Also remember this sentence as I walk you through this post because it is the common thread that will link all the aspects I am sharing with you today.

What Is Cure?

“Cure” is perhaps one of the most emotive and oft-used words used by the human race. As life gets increasingly complex, our anxieties mount, relationships get strained and deadlines get shorter by the day. For most people, living in fast-paced metros at least, life is a daily tightrope walk, often making us weak and prone to disease.

Count the number of people in your doctor’s waiting room and that is sufficient proof that our complex lives and unhealthy lifestyles have taken us to the brink of ill-health. Who isn’t looking for a cure, or a cure-all, to their myriad problems?

Swallowing A Myth

When it comes to sickness and health, conventional medicine defines “cure” as the “absence of disease” or the “disappearance of symptoms”. How many times has your family physician recommended a course of antibiotics and “set you right”?

So when you use bronchodialators, mucolytics and anti-inflammatory drugs to treat a chronically congested chest, you believe “the worst has passed”. When such an attack is caused by the infectious streptococcus pneumoniae bacterium and treatment includes antibiotics, you believe you’ve been cured of pneumonia.

The promise of quick relief – the absence of symptoms – is very seductive, even addicting. After all, who isn’t looking for quick-fix solutions to just about everything? Indeed, allopathic drugs, for all manner of disease, are awfully effective – in suppressing, managing and controlling disease.

But there’s a fundamental flaw here. According to homeopathy, “cure” is not just the absence of symptoms but a “complete reversal of the disease process”. This means the cure is permanent and complete (and contrary to popular misconception, it’s usually very quick).

Watch All That’s Gone Is Not Cured (Dur: 48 sec)

So where is all this leading and what has all this to do with the First Law of Thermodynamics? Well, just as night turns to day and day to night, just as the tides ebb and flow, and just as the seasons change according to the laws of nature, the human body too follows a set of specific laws. These laws are an integral part of the innate intelligence or the innate positive and healing dynamic energy that makes us human and makes us whole.

Among other things, these laws govern the bio-energy and vibrational energy in our cells and tissues; the channels through which this energy flows; our biochemistry and neurological functions including cellular memory; and the expression of our genetic code. These laws are logical and universal.

Just like the computer you’re using to read this post is a solid object but also an energy system (and I don’t mean the power source that keeps it going) at the atomic and molecular level, the human body is a system of vibrational energy.

Contrary to what conventional medicine may lead you to believe – that we are prone to ill-health and that bacteria and viruses are waiting to attack us – the body’s innate intelligence powers us towards good health. Let me put it this way. Life has a natural tendency to maintain the integrity and harmony of the human psyche and body and keep both working together in joyous unison. In other words, we are prone to naturally and automatically heal.

The Life Force Is A Positive And Dynamic Energy

Have you ever wondered why a bud blooms? It’s not just the soil, water and sunlight but the life force within it that compels it to bloom. The life force, by definition and by default, is a positive and dynamic energy that tends towards survival, regeneration, self-preservation and healing.

Sickness is a disturbance in the life force or this vibrational energy. You take ill when your body’s natural channels of energy are blocked. When this happens (the reasons could be purely physical or psychological or both), every other channel in the body – the flow of water, blood and lymph, the functioning of neurotransmitters, your endocrine organs and neural activity – begins to function in a distorted sort of way. This is what makes you sick and weak and the body goes into defensive mode – a reflex-like, natural tendency.

Each individual has a unique way of experiencing sickness at the biochemical and energy levels. And it is this pattern of disturbance and defensiveness that homeopathy calls a “miasm”.

Disease – or your miasm – is therefore your body’s way of adapting to forces that thwart the life force. It is a signal that something is amiss and in serious cases, terribly amiss. Chronic illnesses typify this process as they are a manifestation of a defensive and destructive, self-defeating cycle. Still, burdened beyond being able to fend off destructive influences, it is the only way the body knows how to preserve the integrity and unity of the human entity. It is a cycle of repeated attempt leading to repeated failure leading to repeated attempt and so on…

Disturbed Energy

What this basically means is that your body is trying to self-heal but cannot and your life force gets trapped in a self-defeating loop. Chronic illnesses are a failed attempt at healing.

Law Of Suppression

So what happens when disease – renal failure, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, peptic ulcers, hepatitis, cardiac arrhythmia – is so generously treated by an allopathic specialist? The result is that the thwarted life force and energy raging through your body now dodges steroids, painkillers, diuretics and the like and must find other channels of expression as it is inexorably propelled forward. The energy thus changes direction, goes deeper into your organs and systems and further disguises itself. Ergo! When one ailment disappears, another one shows up! This process could take weeks, months or even years.

The Predictive School of Homeopathy, with whom I have bee associated, reveals just how the disease process can be meticulously traced, step by painful step. This is the Law of Suppression of Disease and is illustrated in the chart below. Since the Law of Suppression is universal, it can be applied to every individual to predict the course of disease in that individual.

Chart of Suppression

Click here to download pdf

To make this simpler to understand, let me give you an example. For instance, when you use an ointment to treat a skin disease, the rash may disappear but you’re likely to develop a cough and cold. When you regularly take antacids to kill your acid reflux and ease diarrhoea, aches and pains in your joints, neck or back (spondylosis) mysteriously show up. When you use painkillers to treat recurring backaches or an ache in your shoulder, you’re likely to develop hypertension or cardiac problems.

According to the Predictive School of Homeopathy, when repeatedly suppressed (by allopathic drugs or otherwise), the disease process progresses through seven layers of suppression. Take a closer look at the organs responsible for the various ailments mentioned in the Chart of Suppression. In ascending order, they include the skin, respiratory tract, gastro-intestinal tract, joints, blood vessels, vital organs like the heart, reproductive system, nervous system and, finally, your very genetic template.

Genetics Is Key

The seventh and final layer or stage of disease is the genetic level. A disturbance at this level is characterised by seriously destructive diseases such as auto-immune syndromes such as HIV, cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Can homeopathy reverse these serious, debilitating and crippling conditions? For sure!

The Chart of Suppression can be used as a compass to gauge the direction the disease process has taken in an individual, and as the homeopathic remedy reverses the disease process, the direction of cure as well. It is like a map that plots the disease and the organs and systems it has travelled through as the disturbed life force raged across the body, going deeper every time.

The most effective suppressants are our own attitudes and feelings, our own denial of disease, our own defense and coping mechanisms – and allopathic drugs.

I’ve worked with countless patients over the last two decades and the Chart of Suppression been a beacon though every single case. Remember Mrs Sushma Karnik, who we met in our third post? Beset by several chronic ailments, she was the school teacher who gave up all that was familiar to her to move from Mumbai to a small town when she got married.

Mrs Karnik had suffered for 30 years and was on strong allopathic drugs which she had taken for many years before she came to my clinic. These drugs had suppressed her symptoms, consistently pushing the disease process further inwards.

Watch Mrs Karnik’s Layers of Suppression (Dur: 2.10)

She had first developed a thick eczema (Layer1), followed by asthma (Layer2), which was followed by arthritis (Layer3). The steroids she had been taking to treat her eczema, did not really cure it and the problem kept flaring from time to time till it formed a virtual second skin over parts of her body.

More allopathic drugs and steroids led to Mrs Karnik developing varicose veins (Layer4), which was followed by hypothyroidism (Layer5). Underproduction of thyroxin made her bloat, her hair turn dry and brittle and it made her very dull and lethargic. Finally, Mrs Karnik grew depressed and lost interest in living (Layer6).

So where does all this leave us? In my next post, we’ll take a look at the path to Healing and the Healing Crisis.

PS: Just a reminder to download and save your Chart of Suppression.

Re-awaken the healer in you...

- Dr Anita Salunkhe, MD

Shedding Your Emotional Baggage

2010-10-24T17:19:00.002+05:30

Harpreet Kaur was as cool as a cucumber when she walked into my clinic. She was calm and collected, she had no worries and her life was on even keel. Her only concern was her facial oedema, a swollen face that refused to subside. In fact, her left eye was so swollen, it hurt just to look at it.

Fear Is The Key

Harpreet was a quiet, middle-aged woman who sat very still, spoke in a measured voice, and kept her sentences very short. She didn’t have much to say, her expression barely changed during our hour-long session and she held it all together very well. Only too well.

And right there, in Harpreet’s calm demeanour, lay the key to her medical condition.

When you watch this video, notice Harpreet’s body language, her discomfiture when asked about her feelings and her inability to even hear some of the questions I asked her.

Harpreet Kaur: Before (Dur 1.57 min)

Harpreet was a woman in extreme denial and she had been for many years. She had learnt to suppress and then repress and deny her feelings rather than deal with them. And over a period of time, numbing herself became a way of riding out the tough times till even the good times ceased to matter.

But don’t we all tend to repress our inner conflicts, anxieties and traumas, which we safely bury deep in our unconscious minds? Sure we do but like Harpreet, some of us use denial as a primary coping mechanism, which makes us especially prone to ill-health.

Repression is a reflex-like defence that keeps unsavoury and unacceptable memories and the feelings associated with them out of conscious reach. Though unconscious now, these memories determine who we are, what we do, who we marry, the friends we have, whether we have friends at all, the movies we like to watch, and the kinds of jobs we seek.

These conflicts and the deep-seated feelings of abandonment, rejection, bereavement, guilt and resentment they produce shape out basic personality and temperament, influence the way we meet and greet the world, our dominant emotions, the way we handle stress, whether we choose the seat at the font or at the back of the bus, our heroes and idols, whether we like our meals just spicy or chilly hot, the way we carry ourselves, and whether our feminine or masculine side is more dominant.

Childhood Trauma

Most of these painful situations take place when we are still children, when the world is a ‘baffling place’ or when we are infants when the world is a ‘dangerous place’. During these sensitive and vulnerable years, our dominant interpretation of life is largely an unconscious a battle between reward and punishment, and gratification and denial.

Take, for instance, a busy single parent who shushes her two-year-old son every time he wants to cry or grab his mother’s attention because that’s what infants naturally do. But by shushing him, simply because she doesn’t have the time or energy to attend to him, Mom is inadvertently discouraging her son from spontaneously expressing himself. Ergo, he turns into a painfully shy, self-effacing 30-year-old, who bends backwards to accommodate and please everyone in his adult life. His naturally pleasing demeanour is actually a vain attempt to win back Mom’s time and attention!

In this way and a myriad other ways, our adult behaviour mirrors and replays our original conflicts and seeks to resolve them in a self-defeating and therefore self-perpetuating loop.

But how are our traumas connected to disease? Well, just as every single experience we have takes place in a context, our body’s cells too exist in a context. They are directly and indirectly impacted by our temperament, moods, emotions and personality. This – and precisely this – is the psycho-physiology of disease.

These psychological traumas are deeply encoded in our biochemistry which, apart from the genetic template we are born with, is set in our early years. They greatly influence our state of health, our susceptibility to disease and the type of ailments we are likely to develop.

Unconscious Mind: Frozen Fears

Thus, while we lock away our conflicts and emotions at the unconscious level, the impact is frozen at the cellular level, in our biochemistry, in our metabolic processes, in the chemical composition of our cells, in the functions they perform and in our organs and systems. In other words, our painful memories leave a cellular imprint – where psychological trauma leads to cellular trauma.

Cellular trauma and the destructive processes it perpetuates are always at work in the human body. They weaken our immunity, hack away at our organs and can go largely unnoticed for years – till one day, the balance tilts. When the body cannot defend itself and compensate any more, it throws up a smoke signal – an SOS, a cry for help.

You begin to experience a fever, skin rashes, persistent fatigue, a racing pulse, and in more extreme cases organ damage and even cancer or HIV. Harpreet Kaur’s facial oedema was an SOS. The condition developed when her cellular trauma ‘spilt over’.

Consider her complaint in the following perspective. Chronic ailments such as diabetes, obesity, migraine, rheumatoid arthritis, Guillain-Barre Syndrome and autism are not diseases – they are symptoms of dysfunctional biochemistry and destructive processes that have been gnawing away at the mind and body for years.

By taking a detailed case history of the individual, the homeopath’s role is not unlike that of a detective, searching for clues to give a life context to diseased cellular processes. Since our symptoms mirror our traumas, a skilled homeopath divines the physical from the psychological and vice versa.

Are We Two Minds Or One?

What emerges is a comprehensive ‘disease picture’, which reflects the mind and body acting in perfect unison, in sickness and in health. This is the essence of classical homeopathy – and this is the essence of MindHeal Homeopathy. When the correlation clicks and there is a perfect match, the remedy prescribed effects a profound change in the patient – working from the cellular level upwards. Directionally, this process is diametrically opposite to that of psychotherapy though there is no denying the beneficial effects of the latter. For most people, the method of healing is purely a matter of choice.

When a homeopath makes the perfect mind-body correlation, healing is deep and permanent and, not infrequently, patients experience what homeopathy calls ‘retracing’. The patient may spontaneously and inexplicably experience strong memories of conflicts and stresses that are connected to the origins of their disease. These memories are sometimes vivid and bring to the fore the thoughts and feelings associated with them, which explains why some patients feel a tad moody while under treatment.

This ‘eureka experience’ is not unlike an epiphany, where the patient gains a sudden insight into or an understanding of an old conflict or trauma. It occurs when the homeopathic remedy brings the conflict into the realm of the conscious mind and this insight spontaneously resolves the trauma. Essentially, as the homeopathic remedy unlocks and releases the cellular trauma, it frees you from your emotional trauma. And again, this is the crux of MindHeal Homeopathy.

This explains why homeopathy, when used at the mind-body, cellular and genetic levels, produces what that can only be described as a sense of ‘liberation’. That’s why my patients often tell me they feel like “a new person” soon after treatment begins.

I vividly remember my utter amazement every time this phenomenon took place when I started my practice. It was incredible, even uncanny. Yes, this is self-healing at work – setting in motion a gentle reversal of the disease process. Thus, not only do your presenting complaints disappear but your very predisposition to disease. While rebalancing your metabolism and biochemistry, homeopathy also strengthens your immunity and rejuvenates you, leaving you imbued with new vigour.

Harpreet Kaur discovered the amazing path to self-healing. Here, watch the lady virtually transformed.

Harpreet Kaur: After (Dur: 1.31min)

And before I end this post, here’s something to think about: Though illness and disease sometimes bring anxiety and fear, they are an opportunity to self-heal, to resolve old traumas and to be whole again.

Re-awaken the healer in you...

- Dr Anita Salunkhe, MD

MindHeal Homeopathy is an ISO-certified clinic based in Chembur, Mumbai. To find out more about The MindHeal Way, call: 022-25230530 / +91-9930363981. Or write to crm@mindheal.com. Website: www.mindheal.org. We’ll be happy to answer all your queries.

Remedy For A Happy Vibe!

2010-10-11T23:05:00.007+05:30

Have you noticed that on some days, your mind is crystal clear and you feel you could take on just about any challenge? There’s a bounce in your step, your thinking is lucid and suddenly everything seems to fall in place seamlessly. It’s almost as if you were at peace with the world and everyone around you.

Oh, that top-of-the-world feeling!

Alas, not many of us experience such clarity of mind and spirit often, at least not most of us who live busy lives with so many worldly cares. But when it does happen, it’s a glorious feeling!

Energy System

Being human, we live on many different levels and have more dimensions than most of us are even aware of. Some people manage to tap into these dimensions, each one in very different ways but all of them drawing from one single essence – the Life Force or the Vital Force within that keeps each one of us alive and kicking. It is this dynamic force that energy healers draw on, each type of healer using different techniques such as reiki, quantum touch, aura reading and spiritual faith to achieve their sometimes stupendous results.

The Life Force has been variously discussed and described, from Plato and Aristotle to Chinese philosophers to Physicists like Isaac Newton, to modern-day scientists who continue to conduct experiments to prove its existence. This dynamic force has been called different names and has many manifestations depending on whether you’re talking to a quantum physicist, pranic healer or a spiritual guru.

It's all in the energy

But why am I discussing it here? It is relevant to us because disease, disturbed emotional states such as chronic anxiety, depression, stress; and even emotional trauma distort the Vital Force and vice versa, a phenomenon at the centre of classical homeopathic practice. Sometimes the disturbance is temporary and sometimes it’s chronic.

At a deeper level, this dynamic force is an energy system that consists of almost imperceptible but quantifiable electromagnetic vibrations that radiate from every atom and molecule in every cell in your body. This is the basis of all matter. Every human being is thus an energy system, and resonates with magnetic energy that holds you together, determines your momentum, rhythm and pace, governs your moods and temperament, and influences your general well-being. It is this energy that makes that seemingly elusive connection between mind and body.

It is also through this electromagnetic energy that people are connected to each other; it connects you to the people around you and to everything in your environment; and links you to the universe as a whole. (It’s what the early philosophers called “ether” and later-day physicists dubbed the ‘quantum sea of energy’.) In sum, it is an undisputed fact that each of us emits energy vibrations – a vibe – that invisibly links us to other people and to even inanimate objects in the universe.

A Chemical Vibe

Thoughts are just chemicals?

But the human being is not only a mass of electromagnetic energy. Every cell in your body is also a biochemical unit, an infinitely complex, living chemical factory. Each cell is made up of chemical compounds; it manufactures them; secretes them; uses them to communicate; and to fire nerve impulses that keep our nervous system ticking. Thus we are a system of electrochemical and electromagnetic energy both meshing in perfect harmony. How magnificent is the human body!

So where is all this leading? The stress of modern life places a staggering load on the mind and body – a singly entity, whose totality is much more than the sum of its parts – YOU. Chronic and deep-seated emotional states – both positive and negative – not only deplete your energy but also change the basic chemical composition or the biochemistry of your cells, tissues and organs. This, in turn, alters your metabolism, immunity, balance of neurotransmitters, hormones, blood sugar levels, thyroid secretions, pH level, and a million other chemical functions.

Not only do these chronic alterations lead to disease; they also impact your moods, temperament, perspective and even outlook to life. Yes, your wonderfully complex thoughts and colourful emotions – your very personality and basic nature – are nothing but chemicals that respond to and in turn influence your own, individual vibe.

Was I Seeing Things?

Click here for more on this case

I began my practice a long time ago and as it evolved, I began to notice an incredible change in my patients as treatment sessions progressed. As their physical ailments disappeared, they also began to change subtly as people. Aggression mellowed, fear dissolved and depression lifted. They seemed to relax and were able to see life through new eyes. Even deep-seated emotional disturbances and personality disorders seemed to abate. This naturally had a cascading effect on their personal and family relationships and they would tell me the world seemed a better place!

It’s a metamorphosis that takes place in my patients to date. I use no counselling, no energy healing or other such techniques. Yet my patients tell me they begin to feel as if a burden has been lifted. Some say they feel lighter and calmer, others say they feel revitalised and energised. The type of change is guided by each one’s inherent, basic nature, only now there is a sense of balance and equanimity. And incredibly, all this with simple homeopathic remedies coupled with my intuitive skills.

Take a look at Latif Ansari, who says he had no idea how he went from being a violent young man whose life's goal was "to be a gangster some day" to becoming a grounded 20-year-old looking to build a modest future for himself.

Latif Ansari Case (Dur 1.16 min)

Personality Change?

So what gives? MindHeal Homeopathy does not treat disease alone. My remedies correct the body’s basic metabolic weaknesses and flaws that exist either due to a genetic predisposition and / or that have developed due to destructive disease processes at work in the body.

What happens during treatment is that your biochemistry undergoes a normalising process and your constitution achieves its optimal level of functioning. In other words, you body returns to a state of balance. Disease and ailments disappear and you are restored to good health.

It doesn’t stop there. At the cellular level, since your moods, temperament and emotional states too are essentially biochemical processes, your temperament also begins to even out and extreme emotional states ‘iron out', as it were. Don’t be alarmed – you don’t turn into a 'different person’. What happens is that the overall realignment in your biochemistry restores your balance at the emotional level as well. Hence, while maintaining your very own individual personality, you become the best you that you can be.

But remember, we’re also a dynamic, living, breathing energy system. Thus any shift in metabolism and biochemistry is bound to impact your vibrational energy as well. And before you know it, you’re giving off a happy vibe!

(And finally, conventional medicine appears to be acknowledging the mind-body connection! Here’s a message from doctors in Mumbai on the occasion of World Mental Health Day, which was observed yesterday.)

Re-awaken the healer in you…

Dr Anita Salunkhe, MD

MindHeal Homeopathy is based in Chembur, Mumbai. To find out more about The MindHeal Way, call: 022-25230530 / +91-9930363981. Or write to crm@mindheal.com. Website: www.mindheal.org. We’ll be happy to answer all your queries.

Sipping From The Fountain of Youth

2010-09-29T21:06:00.025+05:30

I recently read an interesting article written in the esteemed Economic Times, which carried an interview with Dr Aubrey de Grey, a researcher who believes he could live long enough to uncover the secret to the fountain of youth.

Can we turn back the biological clock?

In the interview, the good doctor says the key to reversing ageing will “alleviate suffering” and that “it is only a matter of time before medicine becomes sophisticated enough to control ageing”.

Ageing is an extremely sensitive subject. Poetry, art, sculpture and literature (not to mention scientists and pharmaceutical companies!) have always eulogised youth and beauty and have driven dread into our hearts about our silver years.

Leveraging the fear associated with ageing and capitalising on the huge market for ‘wonder solutions’, Dr Grey and many others like him have got millions of men and women hanging onto their every word, hoping to outlive the discovery of a secret that Nature will one day give up.

Not surprisingly, anti-ageing treatments and bioengineering are on the cutting edge of scientific research – billions of dollars are spent and reaped every year on researching and manufacturing anti-ageing products and treatments.

'Editing' our DNA?

The problem is that scientific jargon impresses us, and the more ‘sophisticated’ and incomprehensible the terms, the more impressed we are. And the more impressed we are, the more we tend to believe these prophets of immortality. Thus, when researchers like Dr Grey talk about “editing our DNA” and “stimulating growth factors to reverse ageing”, every fairytale and fable we ever read about the fountain of youth inches closer to becoming a scientific truth.

Oh, how gullible we are! Tampering with your genetic make-up will most definitely alter your bio-physiological processes. Why, it could even make you look younger! But this is a dangerous move. You see, Nature has engineered and fine-tuned the human body to perfection and has left no margin for error. We were created just the way we were meant to be.

Just because we can play God, it doesn’t mean we should. When we use genetic and medical interventions to modify basic biochemical processes for cosmetic purposes, we are attempting to change the natural order of things. These interventions invariably alter selective processes, thereby adversely impacting on other systems and functions such as hormonal activity, immunity and on organs such as the liver and kidneys. In other words, when you ‘selectively re-engineer’ your internal make-up to make your skin taught and young, something else in your body pays the price.

Sometimes, it could be crippling or fatal, as in the tragic case of pop icon Michael Jackson. Obsessive about his looks and unable to accept himself, Jackson obviously wanted to be someone he was not. He went under the knife repeatedly and eventually, his obsession proved fatal. Numerous cosmetic surgeries had obviously wrecked Jackson’s face, leaving it disfigured and unnatural. I mean, how do you go from being a happy-go-luck kid with so much talent and the world at your feet to looking like this?

So what exactly am I saying? Before I answer that, take a look at these pictures…

This is Kashmira. When this young lady approached MindHeal Homeopathy, she had dark circles under her eyes, a receding hairline and her shoulders carried the burden that her marriage had become. It took a toll on her health and she looked tired and fatigued. Not a pretty picture.

MindHeal: Before

Before: Kashmira

Less than two years later, Karshmira is an altogether different person. She looks vivacious and attractive and she’s happy too. Pardon me. She’s happy and calm, and she looks good too. And therein, in that chicken-and-egg rephrasing, lies the answer to happiness or, if you will, the secret to feeling young and looking good.

MindHeal: After

After: Kashmira

Growing old is the result of wear and tear, depletion of resources, emotional baggage and disease and sickness. The way you look is an outward manifestation of these deep-seated biological changes. Your hair thins and turns white, your skin creases and wrinkles, you lose your vitality and your memory wanes. And yes, quite literally, you hair can turn white almost overnight.

For many people, the silver years are also associated with hypertension, heart ailments, metabolic and auto-immune disorders such as diabetes, abnormal weight gain, allergies and asthma. And why only silvers? Thanks to modern lifestyles, many of these ailments are now manifesting themselves in young people, a phenomenon I am faced with every day in my clinic.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that modern lifestyles, stress, emotional trauma, disease, environmental pollution and the like accelerate the ageing process. Yes, it all adds up. And though this may sound like a cliché, it’s the plain and simple truth.

Let me put it this way. It’s like buying an expensive car, tanking it up with adulterated fuel, repeatedly grinding the gears, driving it into every pothole in sight, parking it in the rain and then blaming it for breaking down every now and then and looking like a wreck.

So you get a top-class mechanic to do some fancy bodywork on your car and lo and behold – it looks as good and new! But in a couple of weeks, the wheels begin to wobble again, the airconditioning gives way and the engine continues to break down. But what the hey, the car still looks good! Hmmm.

Age-old truth

The human body is no different. We punish our minds and bodies and still want this miraculous machine to work like magic. We overwork ourselves, party all night, harbour deep-seated resentments, don’t get enough sleep, eat all the wrong things and we still want to look great. Hmmm.

That’s because most of us tend to believe that “ageing begins when we start growing old”. We also tend to believe that the answer to glowing skin, lustrous hair and a great figure lie in the hands of dermatologists, hair stylists, weight-reduction experts and cosmetic surgeons.

Don’t get me wrong. I never miss my appointment at the salon and I do bask in the occasional pedicure. And sure, pampering and grooming are fun, relaxing and make one feel really good. But if your basic biochemistry malfunctions, even the best body shop and ‘reputed beauty specialists’ cannot help. That’s because they cannot change the basic metabolic processes that are driving your body to age – for some prematurely, others without grace and for many with a host of health problems.

In our race for quick-fix solutions and in moments of self-denial, it is easier to blame our genes and even the weather for our hair falling out and for terrible skin than admit that we are leading toxic lifestyles or that emotional baggage or one’s personality type could be responsible.

So where am I going with all this? It’s actually very simple. MindHeal Homeopathy is a system of medicine that rebalances your biochemistry, corrects deficiencies and diminishes excesses to raise your body to its optimal level of functioning. And all this with purely natural remedies derived from the natural world. Yes, I mean those “good old pills and powders”.

The ‘secret’ to achieving these dramatic – and completely satisfying – results lies in administering the right homeoapthic remedy. And that’s where MindHeal Homeopathy's skill, experience and intuition come into play.

The good doctor Grey suggests that we need to “control” ageing. I say it’s not about forcing back the hands of time; it’s about rebalancing your biochemistry and making life choices that bring out the best in you. When that realisation dawns, you can sip all you want from the fountain of youth.

Here, check out Minti's Moment of Truth...

MINDHEAL: BEFORE

MINDHEAL: AFTER

Aw, she's one happy customer, isn't she?

Re-awaken the healer in you...

- Dr Anita Salunkhe, MD

When The Eyes Cry, The Body Weeps

2010-09-22T00:52:00.046+05:30

In the video below, watch ‘The Amazing Journey Of Mrs Karnik’. But before we discuss this unique case, some thoughts…

I am fortunate to live on a rather leafy, green road, which is a rarity in Mumbai. But the reality of just how beautiful my neighbourhood really is came home to me in a simple, fleeting moment the other day.

I was walking towards my gate when a crisp, brown leaf, its edges curled beautifully, floated down from a tree and rested at my feet – nothing less than a message from the universe.

Life's colours lie in the details

I was startled. Rather, the fine detail of my observation startled me. It was afternoon and I was returning home for a lunch break between morning and evening sessions at my clinic. I was a little fatigued and looking forward to a hearty lunch.

Yet I noticed the wafting leaf and marveled at this natural wonder. It was a wake-up call. Yes, I need to live the moment – every fleeting moment – and not let them slip past unnoticed.

Many of us are like passengers seated at the window of an express train, with the passing landscape nothing more than a blur. Most of us live in fast-forward mode barely conscious of the little things that could bring us so much joy.

Is time just a blur?

Most of us never really live the moment. We trundle on, burdened by the past, preoccupied with future plans, fearful of what’s around the next corner, guilty about lost chances, depressed about betrayals and failures, anxious about finances and bracing ourselves for the sheer enormity of the tasks we assign ourselves every day, day after exhausting day.

But what does all this have to do with homeopathy? Nothing. Yet everything. The mind and body are inextricably linked, inseparable and locked in wonderful harmony. They work in perfect unison, one impacting on the other during every nano-second.

When one begins to flag, the other does too. When we stop living the moment, and when life deals us some pretty heavy blows, the emotional burden grows too heavy. Our psychological and physical resources get exhausted and the body slips into defensive mode.

Stress changes biochemistry

Changes begin to take place at the biochemical level, and as the immune system and metabolic processes grow weaker, the body tries to cope and compensate any way it can. When the stress and strain don’t let up, these coping mechanisms persist and become self-defeating. That is, the body repeatedly tries to achieve a normal state of functioning but it fails with every successive attempt.

Since sustained stress induces biochemical and physiological changes that are unhealthy, these coping mechanisms too are skewed. But under the circumstances, they are the best the body can do.

Since they are skewed, these coping mechanisms are destructive, and because they never achieve their objective, they are self-defeating. Finally, since they are repetitive, they become our body’s default setting, as it were.

These destructive processes are thus a vain attempt to return the body to a state of balance. They play on our inherent predispositions, either genetic or acquired, and it is this which usually determines the specific type of illness an individual develops.

Mrs Karnik

This is usually the path to chronic illnesses such as asthma, allergies, renal failure, diabetes, obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome and AIDS. Hence, these disorders are nothing but failed attempts by the body to correct a serious and chronic imbalance.

This is precisely what happened to one of my patients, Mrs Sushma Karnik, a school teacher who gave up everything that was dear to her when she got married. Next, she suffered a series of other personal setbacks. All this left her with a sense of powerlessness over her predicament, which in turn led to an attitude of silent grief.

Mrs Karnik’s mind and body mourned what she had lost and they never stopped mourning. Repressed anger piled up, and as it did, it set in motion a chain of destructive events in her body.

While watching the video below, notice the visible transformation in Mrs Karnik, as she goes from being trapped in a diseased state when she arrived at my clinic, to ‘venting’ her symptoms after treatment began, to finally becoming the ‘former’ Mrs Karnik.

The first dramatic and visible change took place no more than two weeks after she approached MindHeal Homeopathy. Her most visible symptoms – chronic and severe psoriatic eczema and arthritis – cleared up in 13 months.

Here, take a look. (Video: 5.40 min)

For more details, download pdf on The Amazing Healing Journey of Mrs Karnik.

My message this week: Take time to smell the roses. Living the moment

is refreshing, it’s healing and and it’s liberating.

It's the little things that count

Re-awaken the healer in you...

- Dr Anita Salunkhe, MD

The Best of MindHeal: Exclusive Webcast Preview

2010-09-08T21:23:00.005+05:30

It was like stepping into a pair of old, familiar boots. And I’ve been told there’s no remedy, homeopathy included, for the teaching bug!

First, a big thank you to everyone for attending my Live Webcast on ‘New Horizons in Homeopathy’ on Sunday, September 5, Teacher’s Day. I’ve taught students and doctors at various levels, in both India and abroad, but there’s nothing like reaching out everyone in real time, all at once!

(I will be uploading the recorded version of my live Webcast soon but for readers of my blog, click here for an exclusive sneak preview ahead of the full version!)

The last seminar I hosted was in April this year. It was a delightful experience (A warm hello to student-doctors in Brazil and

Germany

!) and it’s always thrilling to breach geographical borders and reach out to new cultures. It is also a learning experience for me as much as it is for those with whom I interact. And I am very grateful for that opportunity.

Now here’s the big news – I’ve decided to make that leap into the virtual classroom on an ongoing and consistent basis. It’s an idea I’ve been toying with for a while now but after the heart-warming response I received on Sunday, I am finally ready to take the plunge.

So, on the cards very soon are online courses for homeopathy students and practitioners. I plan to design courses for different levels, from basic to advanced, and to host separate courses for students and doctors.
.

But the response to Sunday’s online lecture-demo was encouraging for another important reason. It is a statistical fact that, globally, more and more people are turning to holistic medicine. Disillusioned with allopathic medicine, there is a definite trend towards recognising the merits of respecting the human body and its integrity, and its awesome power to self-heal and rejuvenate.

That’s where MindHeal Homeopathy steps in. Just as with any system of medicine, there are various perspectives of the same system, including every branch of holistic medicine such as ayurveda, naturopathy, yoga and homeopathy.

I have had the benefit of learning the science of homeopathy from two of the biggest stalwarts based in India. Taking the best of what I learnt during my journey with them and from my vast experiences over the last two decades as a practitioner, I have evolved MindHeal Homeopathy.

I believe every human being is a unified, dynamic being and that the mind and body are inseparable entities in both disease and health. Experience has taught me that placing equal emphasis on both aspects brings about the most amazing, the quickest and the most lasting results. My patients’ recovery and their testimonies bear witness to this basic tenet.

My Webcast on Sunday was a step in that direction – a public re-affirmation of my belief in this approach and its efficacy.

So here’s raising a toast to re-affirmations and re-awakenings!

Re-awaken the healer in you...

- Dr Anita Salunkhe, MD

MindHeal Homeopathy is based in Chembur, Mumbai. To find out more about The MindHeal Way, call: 022-25230530 / +91-9930363981. Or write to crm@mindheal.org. Website: www.mindheal.org. We’ll be happy to answer all your queries.

To All My Students... LIVE Webcast

2010-09-02T05:31:00.026+05:30

(I had planned to conclude the two-part series I began in my last post on the disease process and healing. But it’s time for ‘breaking news’ and I simply have to share it with you! But do look forward to a special message in the second part of the series... soon!)

Well, it’s an exciting time for me and I am looking forward to September 5, Teacher’s Day, for more reasons than one.

Having taught the science homeopathy for more than two decades, I decided to do something different this year. So from 9.30 am to 1.30 pm (IST) on Sunday, I will be sitting at my desk, beaming my first-ever live webcast to 36 homeopathic colleges across Maharashtra.

(To log into my Webcast live, email me at crm@mindheal.org. A recorded version will be available early next week. Watch this space!)

The Information Superhighway is a wondrous invention and it allows me to continue - and innovate - my journey as a teacher. Thanks to the Internet, I will reach out live to hundreds of students in a way I could never have dreamed of a few years ago.

So, being a personal and professional milestone, I’ve decided to talk about New Horizons In Homeopathy, distilling what I have learnt from my own teachers and from my practice, over the last 21 years. My lecture-demo will include the application of homeopathy to the New Age and new mindsets in both patients and practitioners.

Here's the invite I've sent out

I am thus dedicating this webcast to my mentors, as an expression of gratitude to those who have passed on the science and skill of this extraordinary system of health and healing to me.

In the initial years of my career, it was the renowned Dr Rajan Sankaran who mentored me. I studied and then practised alongside Dr Sankaran, who is known for his path-breaking understanding of ‘mind symptoms’, his classification of remedy states and his additions to the existing miasms or disease states. It was from him that I learnt the nuances of history taking, which is so very crucial to the practice of this holistic system.

Taking homeopathy to foreign shores

Almost a decade later, I joined the Predictive School of Homeopathy founded by the renowned Dr Prafull Vijaykar. It was Dr Vijaykar’s deep insights into miasms, and his Chart of Suppression that added an invaluable dimension to my learning curve and cemented the foundation on which I stand.

I have also drawn from the teachings of many others who have left their mark on this holistic science. These greats include Dr Jan Scholten and Dr George Vithoulkas. Thanks to all my mentors, I have thus evolved my own scientific approach called MindHeal Homeopathy.

So on September 5, I will share the insights I gained as well as those I developed, in the hope that I can open a window to a science and a philosophy that will make my student-audience wholesome doctors.

Highlights of The Webcast

Pathological and incurable cases presented with videos tracing the disease process and its reversal with follow-ups. Presentations will illustrate how homeopathy can bring about a complete transformation on the mental and physical levels.

Illustrating how various approaches can evolve and coalesce into a single, coherent system of homeopathy.
An in-depth study of the Materia Medica

I cannot sign off without thanking the Indian Institute of Homeopathic Physicians, Mumbai Branch, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, who have made this webcast possible.

So wish me luck and, of course, Happy Teacher’s Day!

- Dr Anita Salunkhe, MD

PS: I’ll keep you posted!

Of superbugs, superdrugs and a superpower

2010-08-26T16:05:00.029+05:30

August was an inconvenient month for the medical fraternity. In the battle of superdrugs versus superbugs, those pesky little fellas had won yet another round!

Even the Indian government was not amused. How dare The Lancet name a superbug that’s turned resistant to antibiotics after our capital city! How dare the esteemed medical journal name blacklisted bacteria ‘NDM-1’ or ‘New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1’! But the politics of medicine is an altogether different story. Read more...

To counter “drug-resistant superbugs”, conventional medicine typically clamps down with an iron fist, using stronger and stronger chemical forces to stamp out disease and its many symptoms. So to fight fire with fire, researchers go into overdrive and come up with even deadlier antibiotics. Gotta get those annoying superbugs any which way, right?

So now, there are two battles raging in your body – the disease process and a battle of egos between researchers and germs!

Take a look at these poor fellas…

... at least they’ve found a way to battle the antibiotics’ onslaught.

Human beings, in the meantime, are waiting for deliverance, for doctors to outwit those nasty germs. You never know what those lowly but hardy ‘pathogens’ might come up with next!

The Life Force

At the core of homeopathy is a belief in the life force – an innate, dynamic energy that instinctively and automatically tends towards self-preservation. It is the life force that keeps us alive and kicking every living moment. It is this very same creative energy that powers our need for survival and intensifies at the very hint of a perceived threat.

The vital force unites mind and body; it maintains the very integrity of the human being; and it connects this integrated and unified human being to the environment and the universe. It is a positive, self-sustaining and self-preserving energy that powers our very instinct for survival. It is ‘life’ itself.

The life force is 'life' itself

The life force also naturally tends towards a state of balance – mentally, emotionally and physically – and is therefore is self-regulating. The body is will thus go to any lengths to fend off threats and heal itself in order to return to a state of balance. That is why we possess a natural tendency to self-heal and regenerate.

Disease Is A Sign Of Healing

Are they really out to get us?

Ever since Louis Pasteur proposed his germ theory of disease more than a century ago, conventional medicine has painted a grim picture of microbes as vicious little devils waiting on the fringes to move in, attack us and make us sick.

The truth is disease is the result of an imbalance in your body’s internal environment. This takes place when your immune system – the body’s best defence – is compromised or overwhelmed due to one or more reasons such as infectious microbes, unhealthy eating and sleeping habits, prolonged exposure to toxic or polluting substances and prolonged stress.

However, given the body’s knee-jerk reflex to self-heal and repair itself, your system still fights back valiantly. Hence, sickness – fever, pain, inflammation, even infection, nausea, headaches – is indeed a positive sign. It means the gloves are off! The outcome of this contest – destructive processes versus immune system – depends on how healthy you are and the reserves at your disposal.

Health is a state of balance

Sometimes, as in the case of chronic disorders such as diabetes, persistent hypertension, immune-deficiency syndromes and tumours, there is a systemic shift, leading to a systemic breakdown. At some point, the body’s defences get perverted and twisted, the process becomes self-perpetuating and you get trapped in a diseased state.

Your body’s defences can no longer heal you but they nevertheless keep up the fight. In the meantime, the destructive processes keep chipping away at your tissues, organs and systems. The result is chronic and serious illnesses such as metastasising tumours, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes and cardiac problems and a stroke.

That’s when you need a system that understands your body and respects it, and homeopathy unlike allopathy does just that. The popular misconception that homeopathy is a ‘mild’ and ’long-term’ form of treatment and that it does not address serious, life-threatening conditions is exactly that – a misconception. In fact, MindHeal specialises in just cases and experiences dramatic and quick results.

I will explain how that’s possible and much, much more in subsequent posts. Suffice to say for the time being that when the human being is viewed as a complete whole – mind and body – an experienced practitioner can unlock a powerful healing force.

In my next post in this two-part series, we will discuss how homeopathy harnesses the life force and helps you tap into the awesome power of self-healing. Yes, all this with those ‘little white pills’.

Re-awaken the healer in you...
- Dr Anita Salunkhe, MD

Welcome to MindHeal!

2010-08-15T04:19:00.092+05:30

MindHeal is a journey into inner healing.

After practising for 21 years under some of the best homeopaths in India, and consulting both in India and abroad, I founded MindHeal Homeopathy.

MindHeal is a genetic and constitutional approach to unlocking the human body’s intuitive power to heal itself. (See About MindHeal). And if that sounds rather complex, no worries. Leave the intricacies to our MindHeal team.

Using pure homeopathic remedies, we adapt classic homeopathy to modern concerns and experience some truly dramatic results.

So, do those sugary, white pills really work? Well, watch these videos. It will take less than 5 minutes.

BEFORE

15 days later… (Also notice the overall change in the patient’s physical appearance, temperament and general demeanour)

AFTER

Myth #1: Homeopathic remedies ‘take an age’ to work and are meant only for those who have the time ’to check them out’.

Most patients arrive at my clinic after running from pillar to post and consulting with numerous specialists. Apart from undergoing a series of diagnostic tests (which by the way are useful even to a homeopath although from a slightly different point of view), they are usually given various drugs and, like our patient in the video, sometimes recommended surgery even when not necessary.

Most people are bred on conventional allopathic medicine and having reached a point of desperation, frantically swallow this course of treatment.

Is there another way?

Discussion: Homeopathy doesn’t ‘treat’ patients. It is a mind-body approach to healing. That’s why the first consultation takes about an hour. Follow-ups typically take around 15 minutes.

Myth #2: Unfortunately, the detailed history-taking of the first consultation has given rise to the myth that homeopaths 'dig deep into your personal history', and that the process is long and tedious. Not true.

As illustrated in the video, the initial consultation is used to determine:

the major sources of stress in the patient’s life
possible triggers for disease
the patient’s temperament and dominant personality traits

The practitioner needs to assess the individual in his / her context, identify potential stressors, triggers for illness, and how the individual reacts to his / her life circumstances – there is no attempt at counselling.

The initial consultation thus provides a holistic picture of the individual – your temperament – which corresponds to your unique genetic, biochemical and organic make-up. Together, this forms your ‘constitutional’ make-up. Hence, homeopathic remedies – yes, those little white pills – are called ‘constitutional remedies’.

Triggers: In our video, the patient’s trigger was a visit to his terminally ill sister-in-law, which brought back memories of his wife who had died a painful death many years ago. When struck by ptosis, he couldn’t function at work but felt an overwhelming sense of helplessness. He continued to go to the office so that he wouldn’t feel 'completely useless’. But that didn’t work. The clincher (at the end of the video) was his utter powerlessness at being unable to help his son with finances.

For a self-made, inflexible and proud man who didn’t accept handouts, this was a deadly psychological blow, which he converted into a physical symptom.

In subsequent posts, we shall discuss how people unconsciously ‘choose’ their symptoms or why two people with similar temperaments develop two completely different types of illnesses.

Re-awaken the healer in you...

– Dr Anita Salunkhe, MD