Homeopathy Tips for 6/10/08 Education

I get many questions about the study of Homeopathy and what is the best approach. I think it could be an individual preference but after training homeopaths over the last 13 years I have found that there are a few things about homeopathic education that really work. I would like to share them with you.

I have found that if a person wants to be a professional homeopath, seeing clients on a daily basis, they must really love people and being around them. This may sound a bit absurd at first. After all isn’t the job of the homeopath to be around people and help them. Yes, but you might be surprised at how many students I have talked with that have spent 3 years at some other homeopathic school and have never taken a case or spent time with clients. When they were finally introduced to a new client case they were surprised at their own reaction. I have heard everything from fear in front of the client because they did not have confidence in being a homeopath ( they have never done it before) to being very sympathetic and crying during the clients case-taking.  Being overly sympathetic to the client is the biggest hurdle for most new homeopaths.

Sympathy is to become one with the client and identify with their suffering. As the homeopath you will not be very useful to your client if you are re-experiencing you own pain or in sympathy with your client. Empathy is fine and is necessary to feel the clients suffering, but to not experience it yourself.

Another aspect of most homeopathic education is to instruct the pupil in a lot of linear information about homeopathy, ie. this remedy for this condition etc. This is fine if the goal is to learn about homeopathy. Virtually every other school I know of besides Resonance School of Homeopathy teaches in this way. In the end there will be a test to pass that will require memorization but not the integration of the material. I find that good test takers can pass these tests without a problem but have the most difficult time in becoming a homeopath and giving correct remedies. The reason for this is that they have never been taught good case-taking skills, have not spent enough time in front of clients and have a bunch of information in their minds about remedies that prejudice their ability to “see” the case. When we learn about remedies before learning about how to be an unprejudiced observer we will always want to give the remedy that comes to mind because our minds will want to justify and see the remedy in the case. This is backwards to being a good homeopath and I find is the very hardest trait to become free of once this information has been planted in the students mind.

Learning good case-taking skills is far more important than learning the remedies. If we have mastered the art of case-taking and being an unprejudiced observer we will then be able to “see” the case and know what is asking to be healed. Only then could we ever find the most correct remedy.

It is unfortunate that this aspect of the “art” in homeopathy is not being emphasized early in a student homeopath’s education. This will be the foundation of becoming a homeopath and can never be evaluated by written tests. This in my opinion is the greatest downfall of modern homeopathy today. There are not enough teachers training students to be homeopaths and too many teachers are teaching only about homeopathy. There is only one way to learn to become a homeopath and it is by doing it. We need more schools based on case-taking and a mentor-ship program that gives the student the support and opportunity to learn while being in the role of homeopath. It is through this type of program that the student can really gain confidence and go out into the world and help a lot of people. This is why I teach in the manner I do.