Before The Bees

It Doesn’t Just Happen To Us

It Doesn’t Just Happen To Us

By Rowena J Ronson, Holistic Physician

When a cancer diagnosis is given to us, it is most likely to be a tremendous shock. Even if we have been having undiagnosed symptoms for a while, and have visited our doctor several times over a period of months and have been told not to worry; even if we have been referred to a few specialists who have come up with nothing – our first reaction is mostly and unequivocally, shock. The fall from denial to awareness is shocking indeed.

Our second reaction is fear. Fear of the unknown, of the loss of the delusion of certainty that we thought we had, the aloneness of it all. And in our blind panic, our independence and choice are taken from us as we are admitted and filtered, as swiftly as possible, through the system. We can lose our dignity, our identity, our self-belief and our power, and for many this process is never questioned.

A common and also very limiting mindset is that our health is not in our control. It is not something to take responsibility for or to learn about. The doctors have the answers for us, and who are we to be well informed and query their authority? For many, this paternalistic medical model appeals. It is easier to accept answers than ask questions. It is more comfortable to feel protected from knowledge, than attempt to understand why we are ill and what we can do ourselves, to take responsibility to recover our own health.

Many will never be aware of their prognosis (the likely progression of their disease), by choice, and will prefer to live and die that way, even if the prognosis is positive. And for some, the choice is taken out of their hands, and the doctors will hold back the information, for, in their opinion, the good of the patient and their family. And many will not be aware of their choices of treatment, and how effective conventional treatment is or isn’t for their particular cancer.

Those who do question the system, might do so when first visiting their GP with new symptoms, and being listened to for a few minutes and then prescribed the current first-line medication that seems to fit their symptoms generally enough, in the hope that it will do the trick and sort them out. In an exhausted and exhausting profession, where protocol is followed to the letter, a curious, independent patient is more ‘heartsink’ from the GP’s perspective than we realise. Their response can be defensive, aggressive, judgmental and hostile, leaving the patient angry, unacknowledged, unsupported and dismissed. And the dynamic can get in the way of a swift and appropriate diagnosis.

Many cancer patients will talk of frequent unfulfilling visits to their doctors, repeated prescriptions of toxic, immune-suppressing medication, and a period in a frustrating and worrying no man’s land, until their symptoms worsened enough to produce a recognisable disease picture.

In fact, aren’t we taught to suppress symptoms with painkillers, steroids and antibiotics, rather than question why we have these signs in the first place? When we are in discomfort or pain, our body is attempting to tell us something is wrong. Instead of seeing our symptom as a message from our body that we are out of balance and need attention, we ignore these signs at best; at worst we suppress them with the wrong medicine, and push our imbalance deeper into our system.

Once in the medical system, as a cancer patient, it is all the more challenging to challenge. Many patients report feeling bullied by nurses and doctors if they question their treatment. Most are open to operations, but some query the need or effectiveness of radiotherapy, chemotherapy or ongoing hormone therapy. There does not seem to be an environment where it is safe to question without prejudice or ask for alternatives and choice from someone who really does understand that there are alternatives and patients are entitled to choice.

And way before we become ill, we might think we are following a healthy diet and taking care of ourselves as long as we are eating our ‘five a day’. After all, this is the only guidance we have been given. But because of advertising and conditioning, most of us see sugary food as treats that we deserve rather than the poisons they are. Most of us do not have a clue what a healthy diet consists of and we are completely brainwashed by television and manipulated by supermarkets, on behalf of the food industry, to buy and eat food that has no real goodness at all. The medical profession does not seem to recognise a link between good nutrition and disease prevention, in fact, all research connecting sugar and cancer is ignored, resulting in doctors advising patients already diagnosed with cancer to gain weight by eating sugar.

And sugar is not the only cause for malnutrition and malabsorption of the vital minerals and vitamins we do need to be and stay healthy. Unless we are as mindful as detectives, the unhealthy and often hidden culprits in food, which is labelled to mislead, can and will actually stop us absorbing the goodness from the healthy food we do manage to eat.

Not only do we ignore and suppress symptoms on a physical and physiological level, we also do not listen to ourselves mentally, emotionally and psychologically. Our physical symptoms are often caused by stress and its impact on our mind and hormones, and we then manifest our dis-ease physically in our bodies. But we live in an era where enough is never enough. We push ourselves beyond our limits, to forever achieve more and feel less; to overthink and never just be; to be in touch with everyone else to the detriment of being in touch with ourselves; to never be present, but have a buried past and a fantasy future.

And consequently and inevitably, our dis-ease becomes us. We take it on and we take it in. Our outer struggle internalises and seeks refuge in our inner being and creates temporary equilibrium, a coping mechanism, until it can cope no more. And then it sends us little messages, which we are, unfortunately, taught to ignore.

With all of this in mind, here are some useful guidelines for ways to stay healthy and prevent dis-ease:

For how to nourish yourself:

ü  Get to know yourself mentally, emotionally and physically, and understand your needs as an individual and how to take care of yourself so you can stay in balance and healthy (reflective journal writing can help).

ü  Look for natural ways (for example, yoga, homeopathy, massage, nutrition) to take care of yourself and give yourself support you when you are out of balance.

ü  Find a way of relaxing for your mind and body, which you enjoy and value, and practise it regularly in order to de-stress yourself (for example, meditation, Pilates, yoga, walking in nature, being creative). Hormones adrenaline and cortisol, are over stimulated by stress which includes just rushing around and eating on the go.

ü  Find a form of exercise for your chemical balance and your body, which you enjoy and can practise because you want to, (for example, yoga).

ü  Be mindful of the food you eat and drink, and what substances turn on the addictive part of your brain, which makes you use them despite knowing their detrimental effect on your health short-term and long-term (for example, sugar, aspartame, tobacco, alcohol, drugs (recreational, over-the-counter and prescription).

For the support you seek outside of yourself:

ü  Find a GP who is open-minded, understands you and your needs and supports you in your choice to question and have an opinion on your health.

ü  Find a holistic practitioner (a homeopath, nutritionist, acupuncturist, herbalist or other alternative medicine therapist who will view your health holistically) with whom you can build a relationship and trust, and who will help you mentally, emotionally and physically as the whole person you are, with natural, non-suppressive remedies and/or approaches.

ü  Avoid taking medications (over-the-counter and prescription) that you have not fully researched, making an informed choice for your health consciously and continuously throughout your life.

ü  Take responsibility for your health on all levels, from the food you eat to the emotions you express and the thoughts you think. Empower yourself and be the aware, conscious being you are. You are the person who knows you best.

ü  Keep an open mind and encourage your intuition to guide you to find the right answers and support for yourself.

For a healthy relationship with yourself:

ü  Take care of yourself as you would a family member whom you absolutely love.

ü  Create time for yourself, even if it is only a few minutes a day, as you would do for those you love in your life.

ü  Listen to your body, become its friend, and take note when it talks to you, especially when it says you are out of balance.

ü  Practise turning negative thoughts into positive ones, keep an open heart and develop your intuition.

ü  Find a creative outlet, even if you are totally convinced you are not creative! Creativity in its many forms feeds the soul.

For healthy relationships with others:

ü  Choose healthy relationships that will feed you on all levels and keep you met and understood.

ü  Be yourself, be true to yourself and communicate how you are feeling to those you are in close relationship with.

ü  Practise assertiveness – respecting yourself and respecting those you are in relationship with, equally.

ü  Be in the present, with mindfulness of the past, and openness for the future.

ü  Find a level of acceptance for those in your life who are there not by choice, and seek not only to find ways of dissolving resentment, but also not allowing it to build and fester in the first place.

For the bigger picture – you as a spiritual being:

ü  Find your purpose in life or let it find you.

ü  Practise gratitude – daily list all that you are grateful for, especially at times when you might not be able to see the wood for the trees.

ü  Learn from all your experiences in life and put that learning to good use.

ü  Practise hope and faith, whatever that means to you.

ü  Be in nature. Not only does it ground us, it also helps us see the bigger picture that is always there if we step out of ourselves, open our eyes and take the time to see it.

New Year – New Start – Take Care 

The Curious Case of Miley The Trike… and Universal Connectedness

The Curious Case of Miley The Trike …. and Universal Connectedness

I have no idea really why I wanted to buy a trike in the first place. It is not like my previous bike got much of a ride when I was still in my old house, Rivendell. It lived close by in our shed, at the end of our garden, along with an outgrown Diamondback, rode way back in the day when Theo, my youngest, wasn’t the six foot three that he has become. The fantasy of riding our old bikes, for both of us, was so much easier than the reality. When we moved to St Albans earlier this year, both bikes skipped somewhere into recycle oblivion as we took with us the belongings we actually could make use of in the present.

Then recently, the idea of trike riding started to slip into my consciousness. Adult trikes were mentioned on a Multiple Sclerosis Facebook Group that I follow, as a result of my patient, Tonya, requesting me to join. A picture of one would appear here and there and would draw me in. I started imagining a lovely old trike parked up outside my front door, ready and waiting for me jump on her, whenever I fancied, and take me for a ride in the beautiful countryside that surrounds us here in The Shire. She would provide me with the stability my old bike never did. For some reason I had developed a fear of falling years ago, which I had never quite been able to overcome.

So a month ago I took myself up on an inspired urge and I started to search my old friend Ebay and just dip my toe in the waters of trike world. And there she was, bright yellow and very inviting. ‘Bid for me’, she said. And so for the next few days I was tempted more than a few times to up my bid and become yet again, the highlighted green highest bidder. As the week moved on, my confidence started to falter and I was back in my imagination, visualising my new trike growing rusty outside my door, with her empty saddle and wheels unturned. Outbid again, I decided to accept fate and let go of my temporary impulsive madness and fantasy riding free in local summer sunflower-filled fields.

A day passed and an hour before the auction was due to close, the owner of the yellow trike contacted me to say that the highest bidder had pulled out of the competition and if no one else bid, she was mine. And guess what, no one else did bid, and so my computer happily told me that I was now the little yellow trike’s new proud owner. In shock, I went through the all to familiar Ebay/Paypal process and contacted the owner for delivery. I had committed, and so it was.

But not according to my son Theo who gave me the reality check he often does. We live on a hill in central St Albans and try as he could, he could not and would not visualise me bounding up the hill to even just get newly-named Miley to somewhere I could ride her freely. He convinced me within minutes, with my already faltered confidence, that Miley would be dealt a similar fate as our old bikes, and live the life of a plant holder, albeit, a very unique and pretty one, outside our door.

I did actually contact the vendors with my riding reservations and cold feet the following day, and they were terribly kind and understanding. They suggested that they deliver her, free of charge, and that I then put her back on Ebay to pay her forward. They delivered her to my friend Dary’s house, as he had the space to take care of her not far from here and I got busy with my new auction. Miley sold herself again easily, with 941 views and 53 bidders. After all, she is beautiful J

Interestingly though, her destined new owner had not been aware of my auction. Phil had been part of the original auction a week earlier but his computer failed him in the final bidding, as fate would have it. And my buyer just happened to change his mind, for reasons I will never know, but can only put down to destiny, as the bidding could have easily taken a different turn at any point, and one of the other bidders could have won.

Soon after my sale was agreed, Phil contacted me having just spotted the relisting post-closure. And this was just while I was waiting for payment from my buyer, although I was already experiencing a sinking feeling that all was not going to run smoothly with this transaction. Unlike my own instant payment through Paypal, my buyer had seemed to disappear into that very same oblivion my original bike had slipped. The bad feeling I was getting from my buyer was juxtaposed to the good feeling I was getting from Phil through our correspondence. And the space in between left me disinclined to approach my next highest bidder, which I think is what I was meant to do, once my buyer sent me a text at 3am to pull out of our deal without explanation.

Phil came up from Exeter by train two days later and I organised to pick him up from the station, take him to Dary’s house and deliver him and Miley, by way of Dary’s trailer, back to the station for the journey homeward bound and Miley’s destined new home. I arrived to find the most charming of men, awesomely determined despite a debilitating, left-side paralysing stroke two months ago, and I loved him immediately. He had planned his journey and how he was going to ride Miley, (he felt the name suited her well), in his head before he had come, down to all the finer details of where the gears and brakes would sit on the handle bars. Phil’s strength of character and sheer will to follow his dream, were so inspiring, even Dary, my most talkative of friends, was left speechless.

Being with Phil for those two very short hours made me see, once again, how we are all connected and that things happen for a reason. I was meant to be involved in the story of Miley so that I could meet Phil and be with him for that time. He taught both Dary and me many life lessons, for those I will always be grateful. In return Phil told me that his journeying 19 hours in total was completely worth it in order to meet me. He managed to shuffle himself on and off three trains to get here, and three to get back and with Miley in tow.

British Rail were completely amazing in their support of this inspiring and odds-defying, wiry and bearded Gandalf character who refused to give up or give in. He made a plan and he went for it. No one could have talked him out of it. In a world where negativity is so quick to undermine us, he stood firm, as we did, by his side. And now Miley stands in his home waiting in anticipation for Phil to ride her in exchange for all the support she will give him in making his life easier. And my love goes with them, and I know we will always be connected, as we always were. And maybe, one day I will ride a gorgeous freeing trike in the sunflower-filled fields near St Albans. But Miley is and always was Phil’s dream and I was lucky to be part of it.

And just when I naively thought that The Curious Case of Miley The Trike was only about the connection between me, Phil and Dary, I discovered that dearest Tonya was in the universal loop too, and fundamentally so. I went to home visit her for our monthly appointment, ten days after Phil’s Saturday blessed meeting. I had prescribed a remedy a month earlier to encourage her to limit her alcohol intake as it is proven to aggravate MS symptoms. She had been using malt whiskey medicinally for a long while now to numb emotional pain that she experiencing having had MS since her twenties. We have been working together for several years and she is such an inspiring lady, forever positive and open to change and healing. Alcohol has been our last and most difficult hurdle, hence the prescription.

So I visited her last Tuesday, an appointment for which she had actually forgotten, but the door stood open for me nevertheless, as a friend of hers was just leaving. She welcomed me in and said that she had been planning on asking me to come and see her that week anyway, as she had had a relapse of her MS, which surprised me as there were no signs of any decline. For a while she had been expecting her yearly relapse, and she told me that it had happened ten days earlier, on the Saturday that Phil had come up from Exeter. Coincidentally, the station where we met, happened to be five minutes walk from Tonya’s house. Although she would not have been walking that day. She had suddenly lost all control over both of her legs and was paralysed, so much so that she had to drag herself across the floor and pee in the shower.

She called her family and an ambulance, but because she was considered a non-emergency as she had family support, they didn’t come immediately. While she was waiting, she sat at the top of her stairs, making a plan to go and stay with her parents, when suddenly after only a few hours of paralysis, she felt her parachute open, to use her words, and she could feel something shift and an inner healing begin. She knew immediately that she was already on the road of recovery from this relapse. And she told me that over the ten days between then and my visit, she had gained 10% of her strength every day and was now practically back in as much balance as she was before the relapse.

She spoke of triggers for the relapse possibly being the shocking news of a really good friend of hers, who had always been there for her, suddenly dying of alcohol poisoning a few days earlier. And as disturbing as this was, she admitted this had not given her enough motivation to cut back herself. But the relapse had certainly given her the required push. Since that Saturday she had not desired alcohol at all. Experiencing what it would feel like to have her disease progress to that point in time where she could be wheelchair-bound, had given her the wake-up call she needed, and she was now well on the way to being alcohol free. Or at least having control over her drinking as opposed to the alcohol having control over her.

As I sat there listening to her story, I realised that in those few hours of the brave and beautiful Tonya’s relapse, the gorgeous and willful Phil was using all his strength to come and visit us in her neighbouring streets, to travel his great journey, to create a destined exchange and form a very significant connection. He came not only to take Miley home with him but to give us all, including Tonya, a very special message, and Tonya received it spiritually, energetically and literally, while he was unknowingly within only a few meters of her.

Whether the homeopathic remedy I prescribed for her a month earlier for alcohol addiction played a part in this whole scenario, I will never know. I am guessing it was a combination of many energies all rolled into the most beautiful of synchronicities that illustrates to me, yet again, the complete awesomeness of universal connectedness. I told Tonya Phil and Miley’s story while with her and she called me afterwards to say that soon after I left, a gorgeous trike appeared and was parked outside her house all day, just as a little reminder….

(This story is true and real and the identities of all the players have not been hidden, with their permission – August 2013).

Rowena J Ronson

Holistic Physician

www.evolve2solve.co.uk

Ten ways I can assist you improve your health on all levels – mentally, emotionally and physically…

Ten ways I can assist you improve your health on all levels – mentally, emotionally and physically by Rowena J Ronson, Holistic Physician

 

1)     Treating you with classical constitutional natural medicine (homeopathy) to increase your immunity, and help you shift long term issues in your health, for example, hormonal imbalances, digestive disturbances, repeated infections, allergies, a general lack of well-being and/or low energy, or issues that are holding you back emotionally.

2)    Prescribing for you, acute homeopathic remedies to treat your acute illnesses in a more natural and holistic way, without suppressing your immunity.

3)    Working with you to improve your diet to aid weight loss, weight gain or general health issues brought on by mineral and vitamin imbalances from incorrect dietary intake of food.

4)    Motivational coaching and nutritional guidance for you to lose weight and find and more importantly, maintain, your perfect shape and size – the you inside you, that you really want to see in the mirror and show to the world but never knew how.

5)    Life coaching to help you resolve the issues that have been holding you back in your life so far. From difficulties in any of your relationships, to finding love for yourself and others, to living your real purpose in life – we can explore it all.

6)    Relationship counselling to resolve the issues that are keeping you stuck in what feels like unresolvable differences…. in your romantic relationships, with your family, your friends and at work.

7)    Helping you to learn to relax and provide yourself with good quality sleep.

8)    Working with you to increase your awareness about your health in order to assist prevention of chronic illness in the future.

9)    On-going counselling and coaching for whatever you need to work on in your daily world, so you feel supported, confident, and able to get the most out of your life in all ways.

10)   Confidence building, assertiveness training and general personal and/or spiritual development work tailor-made for your particular needs. 

Double Take on John Diamond’s Take on Alternative Medicine

Double Take article published in the Society of Homeopaths Journal in 2004

 

by Rowena Ronson and Nigel Summerley

Strapline:

One Issue, Two Perceptions and A Step Outside The Box

Standfirst:

The idea for this column was born out of a conversation in which we discovered we had two different perspectives on something that had touched us both – but that our dialogue led to a new consensus. We shall continue to explore other controversies that benefit from a ‘double take’ . . .

RR: I wasn’t one of those avid readers of John Diamond’s column in The Times; through three years’ full-time study of homeopathy and raising two young boys single-handed, I had little time for newspapers. I was one of those touched by his untimely death and felt he was reaching from the grave to tell me something – but at the time I wasn’t sure what.

My first contact with him was bizarre. I was writing my final-year dissertation and putting in yet another late night on my computer when I was beckoned by my rarely used remote to switch on the television. A programme on Diamond was just beginning and I sat for an hour transfixed as he told his story, his journey with cancer. It was March 2001; the documentary, I believe, had been made a year earlier, and he had died on March 1. He touched me.

Two years later I was chatting with my journalist cousin, Jon Ronson, and he told me Diamond had been a close friend and they had shared a scepticism about alternative medicine. I hadn’t taken this on board before, and possibly hadn’t wanted to. But now I was intrigued to know more. When I saw his books in Waterstones I sycotically bought both ‘Snake Oil’ and ‘C – Because Cowards Get Cancer Too’.  I don’t think this is just because of my morbid fascination with cancer. Other writers have penned their stories and I have not been drawn to buy those. I wanted to know why this man was anti complementary medicine, what had been his experience, why had it not worked for him.

I had seen from the documentary that he had been under the surgeon’s knife and blasted with ‘chemo’ and ‘radio’ therapies, but his books told me the whole story. His words moved me, he befriended me with his humour, my ‘unprejudiced observer’ training allowed me to hear his point of view and I was able to gain his perception.  From what he wrote, he seemed to have done his research on homeopathy.

In ‘Snake Oil’ he puts up an excellent argument against our healing art and the other disciplines that make up the growing CAM industry. And his experience of complementary medicine was not a good one. As I read it, I felt he was entitled to his opinion … and to voice it.

NS: In 1997 I was associate editor of The Sunday Telegraph’s health magazine, ‘Rx’. As well as being in charge of production, I had special responsibility for alternative health coverage. I was initially given a free hand to write and commission articles on unorthodox therapies, but 10 months into the project I found I was required to include a regular column by The Sunday Telegraph editor’s brother-in-law, John Diamond. Its purpose? To rubbish alternative health.

My fears that this would be a misleading, ill-informed and biased contribution were more or less fulfilled; and my complaints about references to Hahnemann’s ignorance and the ‘unscientific’ basis of everything from acupuncture to osteopathy got nowhere. The message from on high was that this was precisely what the editor wanted.

Diamond on homeopathy: ‘To stick to those quaint principles when we know rather more than Hahnemann ever could about the way the world and its inhabitants work is the equivalent of running our rail system at 29mph because Victorians believed moving any faster was more than the human frame could endure.’

Disillusioned, I started looking for work elsewhere; two months later I was working at The Times, producing an alternative health magazine called ‘Healing’, written and edited by people who had a knowledgeable and positive approach to holistic therapies.

Diamond died but his influence outlived him, not only in his books but also in a handful of journalistic imitators who today carry on the anti-alternative work in the health and science pages of national papers.

Why did I find Diamond’s writing loathsome at that time? Because through my work as an alternative health writer (busy training as a homeopath) I felt I had served on the front line of exposing the shortcomings of allopathy and educating readers to see that there were serious alternatives that they could choose to use.

Diamond – almost bullet-proof to criticism because he held the ace card of his imminent death – seemed to be a bitter and negative man, sadly destined to die prematurely but determined to take as many alternative practitioners with him as he could.

There was a time when I would have linked the mental symptoms from the proving of diamond the substance (‘impatient, intolerant, critical . . . needs to assert himself by picking on someone he neither knows nor respects’) to Diamond the man.  But now I have come to respect the fact that he had every right to take his stand for what he believed in, just as homeopaths do.

RR and NS:  We can either be as negative about John Diamond as he was about homeopathy and other complementary and alternative therapies, or we can try to understand why he was like he was.  If we simply ignore Diamond and the anti-alternative school of health writing and the fact that they strike a chord with their readers, we fail to acknowledge that to a large proportion of the populace we look like charlatans making money out of sick people’s hopes and gullibility.  Understanding what we are up against may help us to present ourselves in a new way.  As alterative health practitioners, it is easy to buy into the paradigm of cancer being a matter of choice and that with a positive attitude, a revamped diet and a natural choice of medicine, good health can be restored.  With someone suffering from cancer, who has tried some alternatives, who has not responded, and is working against the clock: who are we to say that they have taken the wrong decision for their health?  Who are we to say that we would not feel that alternative medicine had failed us, and that it doesn’t work?  Who are we to say that we would do any different?

The Future of Homeopathy

Article published by http://www.hpathy.com in February 2013

Homeopaths Rowena Ronson and Nigel Summerly discuss what it means to be a practicing homeopath in the current climate.

Rowena J Ronson runs busy holistic practices in Mill Hill, London, and St. Albans, Hertfordshire. Rowena lectures, writes regularly for journals and has interviewed 34 of the UK’s leading homeopaths to create the book Looking Back Moving Forward, ( 2007.) Her latest research is into our World of Trees – photographically, botanically, medicinally and homeopathically.

Nigel Summerley was one of the first UK journalists to write about all aspects of alternative health. His articles have appeared in The Times, The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, The Independent, the Daily Express, The Guardian and the London Evening Standard. He is also a fully qualified homeopath and a member of the Society of Homeopaths, and he serves on the Society’s Professional Conduct Committee. His other interests include travel, and writing and performing music. His first novel, Like A Flower, has just been published; more details on www.nigelsummerley.com.

We asked Rowena J. Ronson and Nigel Summerley, originators of Double Take, a regular two-people, two-opinions feature in The Homeopath, journal of the UK’s Society of Homeopaths, to dialogue about what it means to be a practising homeopath in the current climate. Do we give up or go on?

Nigel Summerley

NS: When we started our dialogues many years ago, I was at my busiest and most successful peak as a homeopath, but now I have more or less retired from practice. In contrast, you have just gone on getting busier and busier — and remained just as committed.

RJR: My practice does grow from strength to strength as a result of patients being happy with the service I provide and telling their friends. There is no marketing quite like a satisfied patient. What factors led to your early retirement from practice?

NS: There are several strands to the answer. I think I’ve been a good homeopath, treating many hundreds of patients, but not a good businessman. I feel to a degree ground down by the ignorant yet brutally effective campaign by the establishment, the drug companies and the so-called sceptics against alternative medicine. And I need to earn money to live and to support my kids. Other skills that I have pay far better than homeopathy.

Rowena Ronson

RJR: Working as a homeopath in order to provide an income definitely requires specific skills and ones that we need to take on board in order to be financially viable. One has to have an eye on developing our practice as a business. This does not mean seeing patients unnecessarily, but it does mean providing the best service we possibly can, no short cuts, but good, consistent, supportive treatment and care. Explaining from the start that homeopathy is a process and that we can work together over a period of time to create change with their health issues on all levels, is a good way to set a level of expectation for both homeopath and patient and their relationship. Why don’t you feel you have been a good businessman?

NS: primarily, I am not good with money and, if I am honest, I don’t like it! I don’t like asking people for money and I particularly don’t like asking them for money that they can’t afford to pay. I am well aware that there are some people working in alternative and complementary health who charge a lot of money for very little, and that is not how I would want to be. I was happiest as a homeopath when I was working in funded projects where my role was to turn up, see a full day’s worth of patients who got the service free, and get my money direct from the sponsor. It’s like being the homeopathic equivalent of a GP: you do what you were trained to do and what you have an aptitude for, ie, be a homeopath. Also, all one’s energy goes into the case-taking, prescribing and case management (and not the money side of things). At the opposite end of the scale, I invested a lot of money in a Harley Street project (with me as a homeopath, working in an integrated set-up with an allopathic doctor and a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner). We spent a fortune on promotion, saw only a small number of patients, lost all our money and were forced to give up.

RJR: When you say that there are some practitioners who charge a lot of money for very little, what do you mean? I can understand what you mean about it being much easier to work in a funded clinic and not have to deal with money. But I am sure that feeling that way about being self-employed can create a barrier to earning as well. I feel we have to take on board the pros and cons of running a private practice and celebrate those in order to be successful at it. People pay for help in its many forms all day long. I have patients with varying sized pockets come to see me. The important thing for me is, I know I give them value for money and therefore I feel comfortable in charging for my services. After all, it is their choice to come. And for those who can’t afford it, I offer concessions. Do you think those who are are used to being employed find the concept of self-employment harder?

NS: I think some people who are used to being employed find the concept of self-employment quite scary. I definitely don’t fit into that category, as I have been self-employed for the past 15 years. In regard to my slightly bitchy comment about some practitioners charging a lot for very little, I am reluctant to name names, but I am not referring mainly to homeopaths. However, I am aware that some homeopaths prescribe in a knee-jerk style rather than after careful repertorisation and consideration; some just make guesses and stabs in the dark and dress them up as inspiration; some have no idea about case management; and some trade on charisma (and sometimes not much else). I think I’m hamstrung in that I can’t see a way of “celebrating” having to devote time to self-promotion etc, when my aptitude is not for that, but for treating patients. I agree that we shouldn’t have a problem in charging people proper remuneration for our services, but my preference would still be to have no involvement in the money side.

RJR: Yes, I certainly wasn’t wanting you to name names, and of course this is your perception anyway. Homeopaths working in the way you described I am sure would argue a case for how they prescribe and why. My comment on ‘celebrating’ was more to do with the positive aspects of the freedom of running one’s own practice. I feel I reap the rewards of my hard efforts, I receive appreciation from my patients and I have the freedom to work when I want. Is there a way you can practise with having no involvement with the money side of things? I know a homeopath who has all her sessions booked through a call centre or equivalent and they take the money for the sessions via credit card. I know it is not exactly what you mean. But I am guessing you don’t have an issue for charging for the other work you do under the self employed banner?

NS: Yes, this is interesting. I don’t have any problem charging for other self-employed work, which in my case is mainly writing and music. In both these fields, I still do my best to avoid the nitty-gritty of money changing hands (so I obviously have a problem with money transactions generally!), but in both these fields there is an established and comfortable system of work/payment. Plus, and I think this is crucial, the services I am providing have an established value. They are not constantly under attack from sceptics, the media and the Establishment, and do not have to be continually defended and justified. This is the other aspect of homeopathic practice that wore me down, that feeling of having to justify and defend and respond to attacks.

RJR: I agree it is interesting! I am fascinated by your belief system that negates the established value of homeopathic treatment. Regardless of the attacks by the sceptics, I know without any doubt that the service I am providing is of value to my patients, and they know it too. What the sceptics say is irrelevant to me. I don’t let their negativity eat away at my confidence or belief in how I can help others. I don’t defend my work. I just give everything to it and the results speak for themselves.

NS: I don’t have a “belief system”! I’m certainly not negating the value of homeopathy. In fact, surely no one (and no one’s “beliefs”) can have any impact on whether homeopathy works or not. Homeopathy works for the majority of patients; and it is more effective than allopathic medicine in many chronic conditions. These are facts — not “beliefs”. I admire tremendously your positivity and confidence and the work you are doing. But my experience is that many people I know have been, sadly, influenced by the scepticism and negativity about homeopathy, and that, in turn, impacted on me, I think. So yes, I have often felt an imperative to be defensive, and part of the truth is that I grew tired of defending what I was doing. Have you not had similar experiences at times?

RJR: I did a talk recently at the cancer centre where I work. One of the patients came along to the meeting and was certainly more than sceptical, he was actually extremely rude. He clearly came with an agenda to antagonise, and I guess he felt he was justified, after all, he was only repeating what the newspapers say every day, and they must be right! I actually work at the centre voluntarily and gave my time that evening to raise awareness of how I work. His questions really drained my energy and disrupted the evening for all those who attended. I was tired by the end of it and perhaps a little angry, but I didn’t hold on to it, just the same as I don’t hold on to all the emotions that are triggered for me when I work with often terminally ill patients at the centre. I don’t allow negativity to stay in my energy field as I know that if I do, it will be the start of the end of my practice.

NS: That’s a good point, and probably highlights where I’ve taken a “wrong” turning. The antagonistic person who came along to your meeting is towards the extreme end of what I’m talking about, but it’s a good illustration of what I see us being up against. Perhaps because I have encountered a lot of negativity from the likes of doctors, journalists, scientists, academics, politicians, that negativity has seeped into me. On top of that, I suppose on some level I am just appalled by the widespread ignorance about homeopathy (and many other forms of alternative health) and feel: okay, if that’s the road people want to go down, let them get on with it. I continue to use homeopathy myself and will happily advise those close to me about remedies IF they ask me. But that’s it. I gave it my best shot for the best part of 14 years, and I feel I’ve done my bit! How do you stay optimistic about homeopathy in the face of such ignorance and animosity?

RJR: I am optimistic naturally as a person, and I am optimistic as a practitioner because of my relationship with my patients and the results that we achieve together in clinic. I came across a lady this weekend, a paramedic who did not have a positive experience with a homeopath and therefore had a tainted opinion about homeopathy. For her, it simply did not work. I greeted her experience with a curious mind and said that I was happy to answer any questions she might have in order for her to understand homeopathy better. It turned out that the homeopath whom she consulted was a work colleague and I explained how it is important for the relationship to be free from other dynamics as they often get in the way. Interestingly, I could tell before we spoke that there was something going on for her in relation to me, so I wasn’t surprised at all to find that it was homeopathy. However, her attitude changed towards me after our conversation. She was much warmer and more open-minded and I put this down to my openness and lack of defensiveness. She felt my passion and commitment and this turned her around and gave her a new level of respect. Staying positive is easy for me. I am following my purpose and I feel incredibly privileged to be a practitioner of our healing art.

NS: I used to have that optimism too. I looked forward to the latter part of my life being spent as a practising homeopath. Looking back now, I feel that those who trained me never gave an indication of how hard it might be to make a living as a homeopath (without resorting to teaching homeopathy as well as practising it, something not far-removed from pyramid selling). In four years of their lecturing us on homeopathy, medical sciences and materia medica, only an hour or two at most was devoted to setting up a practice. Without a mixture of abundant optimism and full-on business skills, a homeopathic practice seems unlikely to be a way of making a living. Of the people I trained with, I know of perhaps one who is still in practice. Of the other homeopaths I know in practice, most are having a really hard time surviving. How many of the people you trained with are in practice today? And how many homeopaths do you know who make a living solely from their homeopathic practice (and without support from family or partner or private income)?

RJR: I agree that there is not a lot of training in how to stay in practice, be self employed and make a living which is why I now run courses to support practitioners to develop themselves and build skills to build their practices. I am also aware that most of my comrades are no longer practising. And I think that part of the issue for many is that they do not see their practice as their business and therefore they do not give 100% to it. I don’t believe teaching is like pyramid selling. Believe me, I have taught for several colleges and it is hard work for not great financial reward. And I have always been a teacher who raises awareness of the difficulties of running a business, and that to be successful financially we need to be paid respectfully for the service we provide. It goes back to what I said before. I value myself and how I work with my patients. I never encourage patients to see me if I feel they don’t need to. The decision is always theirs. But I am mindful of how much I am earning and how important it is to forward plan. I continuously build my skills and give myself enthusiastically, energetically and wholeheartedly to my practice of homeopathy.

NS: On the pyramid selling point, I simply meant that there is a danger of falling back on teaching people who will then go on to have to teach other people. I have also done some teaching in the past — it’s not brilliantly paid, but it can be a more dependable source of income than practice. Why else are so many of our leading practitioners spending so much time teaching and running colleges and courses? — this is a crucial question, isn’t it? I think you are exceptional in your positivity, optimism and energy, and it does seem that what you give out does affect what comes back to you. Having lost those qualities, even though I used to do a good job, I think I lost the ability to see a future in homeopathy. Yes, it’s a brilliant and natural and benign form of medicine, and it has tremendous benefits to offer. But most people — certainly in the UK — remain ignorant about it and have no interest in being otherwise. Is homeopathy now the medicine of the future or the medicine of the past?

RJR: I know what you meant about teaching, but having interviewed 35 of our best teachers of homeopathy I would like to think they teach because of their passion for the subject. It is just a natural extension of sharing their knowledge and experience. And we can only learn from our collective experience. In fact I feel it is our duty as homeopaths to pass on our experiences in clinic with other homeopaths and the rest of the world. I think the more homeopaths we have graduating through our colleges the better. Each day we all have the potential of raising awareness and creating change. My belief is that much like the electron microscope of the future, which will be able to detect changes in cells as a result of homeopathic remedies, homeopathy will indeed be the medicine of the future.

NS This is what a UK homeopath (now no longer in practice) said to me two days ago (completely unsolicited): “The homeopathy schools have churned out so many homeopaths that it’s practically impossible for anyone to earn a living at it, these days.” I agree that without the great homeopaths of our time, such as Sheilagh Creasy and George Vithoulkas, passing on their knowledge, homeopathy would definitely stagnate and die. But do we need quite so many teachers and quite so many students? Of course there are altruistic motives for teaching homeopathy, but I suspect that many homeopaths have to teach to survive because they cannot make enough money from their practices. And another spectre raises its head here: that there may be some homeopaths who teach because they are happier and more comfortable with the theory and philosophy of homeopathy than they are with seeing patients.

RJR:I don’t believe it is because we have too many homeopaths, that it is hard to make a living. It is easy to blame the colleges, the sceptics, and anyone else for that matter, as it keeps us taking responsibility for our own issues that stop us making a living as a self-employed homeopath. Some of those issues we have covered already, like not wanting to charge our patients etc. I don’t think that there are that many teachers teaching, certainly not like it was, say, ten years ago. And the students have a choice in whether to learn homeopathy or not. No one is making them. I would not be convinced by a homeopath who was teaching while not being in practice themselves. That has never been my experience. Has it been yours? As you said before, teaching doesn’t pay. I used to earn £200 a day from teaching, I could earn that much more easily seeing patients. I am wondering what has made you form the strong, yet negative opinions you have Nigel. I am sorry you feel the way you do. If I felt similarly, I too would feel disillusioned and I know that that would then have an impact on my practice.

NS: It would be interesting to know how many patients some of the “celebrity” homeopaths actually see in a week. But I don’t have any statistics on this. I think what you see as my negativity derives from my desire to be a healer but my inability to be a businessman. If it were possible to be the former without being the latter, I wouldn’t have retired from practice. I wonder if there will ever be a time when homeopaths are employed for, and on the strength of, their healing abilities and experience? Homeopathy has so much to offer, but in a pill-popping, Big Pharma-dominated world can it survive? And if it is to survive, will it have to go underground?

RJR: There are lots of wonderful healers using all kinds of tools including homeopathy who are working for free and are not needing or choosing to make a living from it. I am wondering if that is how you feel about your business skills, if you can find work that pays your bills and see homeopathy as something you want to give back in your free time. It does take an all out dedication to the practice of homeopathy as a way of life combined with a clear focus and desire to make a living from it that sustains us in practice. So yes, it is possible to be the former without being the latter as long as you have another sustainable source of income. I don’t think a time where homeopaths are employed and free from the pressure of earning a living independently is on the horizon. It is quite possible that we might well go underground for a period of time in the not too distant future. The pressure is on and only time will tell. Homeopathy will always survive though. It is born from nature, and nature always adapts, conquers and endures.

NS: I think you’re right about its surviving. I like the idea of going underground and maybe resigning oneself to doing it for free. In part, it feels like a defeat. But in other ways, maybe it is a defiance. However, questions may then come up about codes of ethics and practice, overseeing of standards, and insurance. I suppose, “to live outside the law you must be honest”?

RJR: I never imagined resigning myself to working for free as a homeopath even if we go underground. I guess it would be an act of defiance, much like a flame that just can’t be blown out, however hard you try. Many people visit maverick healers who do not have recognised qualifications or insurance. They work with their own universal code of ethics, their own morals and their own passion. They work knowing that what they are offering their patients is their integrity, their insights and their healing skills from all that they have learned on their journey. I would feel like one of those working at a time that the resistance by the ‘norm’, by the establishment has forced me to follow my truth and my purpose in a more unconventional way, than when we had our current freedom to practice. But that freedom has only been a relatively recent achievement. Homeopathy’s renaissance only occurred in the 1960s. Our Code of Ethics did not come into play until the Society of Homeopaths was established in 1978. Homeopathy at that stage was underground and they were very exciting times for our profession. Thomas Maughan and John Damonte were our forefathers and they charged for their services and I will continue to charge for mine, ethically and wholesomely.

NS: `This makes sense to me. My only concern is that there are some healers who may be guided by their own insights and ethics but who are actually delusional, ignorant and potentially dangerous. That said, perhaps it is possible for responsible practitioners to practise “underground”, making individual contracts, based on informed consent, with individual patients, who pay for the homeopath’s services. This would be in a way a return to the “granny homeopaths”, the traditional home practitioners, many of whom resisted all attempts to regularise and register homeopaths. I would still like to see homeopathy accepted and “respectable”, but perhaps one has to be resigned to the achievement of that still being a long way from here.

RJR: We are much closer to going underground than being accepted, we both know that. Our licences to practice homeopathy don’t really mean much anyway. For now, we are allowed to practise in this country, unlike many others, because it is not illegal to practice without a government licence. All the signs are there for this to change in the future. We need to shift paradigms and move forward. I am actually confident and excited about the future, which is lucky really, because we all know that if we don’t believe in ourselves, our future and our homeopathy, the demons will get the better of us.

NS: This seems an excellent summing up of where we are now with homeopathy. I think you’re right in that we can keep assorted destructive demons at bay through confidence in what we do and in the fact that we offer a viable alternative way of helping people be healthy and happy. A couple of days ago, I prescribed for an old patient of mine; although he knew I was not officially in practice at the moment, he wanted my advice because, after my homeopathic prescriptions seven years ago, he’d seen a chronic condition come to an end and had stayed healthy ever since. This seems to illustrate the great potential and power of homeopathy, and the fact that our patients know it works for them. In the end, it doesn’t matter how many patients we treat, but it does matter that we use our homeopathic skills for the good of others, whenever and however we can.

Did you know… the Sunflower doesn’t just have a pretty face…. it has herbal and homeopathic healing properties too….