Homeopathy Tips for 4/26/11 Left Brain/Right Brain

I went to a fabulous lecture by Jill Bolte-Taylor this week. She lectured on the brain and her experience with stroke. Some of you may have seen her lecture on TED. She has also written a book My Stoke of Insight about her experience. She is a brain scientist who had a stoke and recalled her feelings about what was happening to her brain during the stroke. She gave a fascinating and very educational lecture I was fortunate enough to attend.

One of the most important points about her lecture were the two hemispheres of the brain and how they are so different, yet combined create our total experience as a human being. As she explained the different aspects of each hemisphere I couldn’t help relating these to homeopathy.

A big challenge I see most of my students having during case receiving is integrating the left brain and the right brain. We are very used to a systems of understanding in life that are linear and left brained. It seems that the job of the homeopath is to use both sides of the brain almost equally to really understand our client and what is asking to be healed.

Here are a few of the major ideas about the two sides of this most wonderful organ and how it relates to being a homeopath;

                       Left Brain                                                     Right Brain

• Logical / sequential                                                        Random
• Rational                                                                         Intuitive
• Analytical                                                              Holistic synthesizing
• Objective                                                                     Subjective
• Looks at the parts                                                    Looks at the whole
• Content                                                                         Context
• Remedy by Material Medica                               Remedy by Essence energy
• Literal meaning of the story        The story as it relates to the person’s life

Using our minds to the fullest requires that we suspend our judgments. Remember Hahnemann specifically said we need to be unprejudiced observers. When a person gives their story they will share it in their own way as a pure expression of their vital force. Our job is to understand the story literally as well as metaphorically. We need to be able to see the big picture as well as the details of the story. This requires using both halves of our brain. As theclient relates their rational experiences, it is our job to understand why they would be relating the story in this particular way. If we relate to their story through our own experiences we may as well be prescribing for ourselves and not the client.

Their story is usually related in a logical and sequential manner yet we are challenged to understand their story not only sequentially but in a random way as well. What descriptors has the person used to describe the sequential events of their lives? This will appear randomly and it is our job of the homeopath to understand them collectively. We need to take the content and put it into context. We need to separate the parts of the story and see the pattern in their whole story. The person will paint a picture for us if we can be clear enough to see it.

The analytical aspects of being a homeopath requires us to use our left brain. The repertization and collection of rubrics is left brained. But the understanding of what these rubrics mean in terms of the persons life is very right-brained. Because the remedy inspires the vital force into a healing response it must be for the whole person and their singular vital force and not for the disease and individual symptoms.  If we miss what is asking to be healed for the person and only address the individual symptoms we have missed the whole. The individual symptoms are very important, but are NOT the whole picture. When we can see the whole person we can apply the remedy much more accurately.

In selecting a remedy we learn about it through Materia Medica and provings. This is very helpful and needs to be assessed to determine the simillimum. But the simillimum can be difficult to find if using literal Materia Medica alone. Having good essences of remedies is essential to good prescribing. I have found the essences described by Vega Rozenberg and Frans Vermeulen to be the most accurate. They  are simple ways of understanding the remedies. If the case can be understood in its simplest form through a holistic synthesizing, and the remedy prescribed carries a similar essence, the prescription will be most accurate. The problem with this approach is that unless the homeopath can distill this essence in the case, it will be very difficult to prescribe accurately. Then we are forced to use literal Materia Medica and will most often choose a very good remedy but may miss the mark. The prescription should include both parts. 

The other part of being a homeopath that can only be developed through personal, spiritual, right brained, work is intuition. How can we get very clear as a homeopath and have good intuition that can guide us in the case? This part of us can only be developed by right thought, motivation and actions in our own life. It is directly related to our spiritual development. If our desires are not clean, they will be reflected the results. Our motivation needs to be for the highest good of our client and not our own. We can include ourselves in the equation but we are just a channel for a higher source. If our work is beneficial for our client, we will benefit also without having this as our own motivation. This is a law of the universe and as sure as the vital force rules with unbounded sway, this will occur. As our clean motivation, thoughts and actions are increased, the gift of clear intuition follows. It is not a good idea to prescribe on intuition alone though. Sometimes we can easily deceive ourselves.

As you can see both hemispheres of the brain need to be used in being a homeopath. The understanding of the case in all of its meanings is essential. Using the left and right brains is a process that can only be developed by doing cases. This is something that is difficult to put in to words and adopted. It is something that needs to be experienced repeatedly with live cases to develop. Some of the more liner aspects of repertization can be practiced without a real person as the client. But the understanding necessary to do homeopathy is as much a science as it is an art. Both sides of the brain must be used. The quickest and most direct way to developing this is through personal spiritual work that clarifies your intention (that gets reflected into cleaner thoughts and actions) and seeing live cases. This is why Resonance School of Homeopathy teaches with live cases and follow-ups. This gives every student a chance to develop both hemispheres of their brain and become  an experienced homeopath. This process takes years and many cases to develop.