What Healing Looks Like

Finding what is asking to be healed is one of the big challenges for homeopaths. But once the remedy is given, how do we know that it is really working? It helps to have a guide to knowing what healing looks like. It is different for every case.

Constantine Hering gave us Hering’s Law of Cure that describes how healing follows most naturally. I have seen this in action many times. His precepts are:

• We heal from the top downward
• We heal from the inside outward.
• We heal the most vital organs first to the least vital organs.
• We heal from the most recent symptoms to those most distant in time.

These do not necessarily need to follow any particular order and can be happening simultaneously at the same time in a case.

Each case is different and has its own expression of intensity. When we give a remedy, we do not know the response the person will have to it. Therefore, it is very important to observe the reaction. Sometimes it is very difficult to understand what is happening especially if there is an aggravation. There is always an aggravation with cure. With the proper selection of remedies, potency, and their application, aggravations should always be mild. If there is no aggravation and an immediate cessation of symptoms, it is usually a suppression. Suppressions can happen with a remedy, similar to allopathic drugs. We must be very careful and observe keenly.

Every time we give a remedy, we have some expectations. It is important to know what our expectations are so we can proceed correctly after observing the response to the remedy. Chronic cases and acute cases have a very different expectation.

In acute cases, those conditions which are self-limiting and usually will resolve themselves within weeks, we can expect a response anywhere from 12 to 24 hours or sooner. The more life-threatening the condition, the more urgent our need is to see a change in the condition of the person after the remedy. Sometimes it may be necessary to repeat the remedy every minute and after 5 minutes we may want to change to a different remedy if we determine it has not worked. Most colds, cases of flu, and minor injuries will resolve with an increase in general energy along with a decrease in symptoms. I find that homeopathic treatment rarely resolves the condition any differently than it would otherwise naturally resolve. It just speeds up the process.

Occasionally, it is seen that the acute condition is an aggravation during chronic treatment. We must not be tempted to change the chronic remedy during this time. If the condition becomes too severe, then add an acute remedy during this time to help reduce the suffering. It is important to continue the remedy that brought the person to this current aggravation because it will also be the same remedy that will help them resolve it.

During the treatment of chronic conditions, it can be more difficult to determine if the remedy is working, especially at the beginning of treatment. When there is not a strong pathology, the mental symptoms become the guide.

The most common initial responses in chronic treatment are that there is an increase in physical energy, the person becomes more optimistic about their life (it gets easier), and there is an increase in dream activity during sleep. Dreams become more active because the subconscious mind is being inspired by the response to the remedy from the vital force.

Many times, I will have a client who is reporting that their main physical complaints are improved only slightly but they are feeling better about their life. Negative conditions and situations are resolving and they have greater clarity about them. This I find to be one of the best signs that a remedy is working in relatively healthy people. The aches and physical complaints may only be improved slightly after a couple of months but, in time, they too will resolve when there is such an improvement in the mental and emotional states.

There is a hierarchy to our being that corresponds to Hering’s Law of Cure. At the very top of our being is our spiritual connection to source or G-d. The next level is our mind (how we see our world). The next level is our emotions (energy in motion that connects our mind to our body). Then, lastly, our physical and all of the sensations that indicate suffering.

When we heal, we heal from the top down. Our minds should reflect a greater sense of well-being before our physical conditions improve. When we give a remedy that makes the physical condition go away and the mind becomes less clear, then we have made a grave error and the remedy should be antidoted or a better remedy given very soon.

When healing is happening in a pathology free chronic case, the person will report that they are dealing with things that they had never thought were connected to the reason they came for treatment. Encourage them to stay with the remedy even when the physical body has yet to seem like it is responding. Remind them that the vital force is responsible for all of their sufferings at all levels and is choosing to work on the mental and emotional levels prior to the physical level. It is following Hering’s Law of Cure.

In acute and chronic cases, the bottom line for knowing if the remedy is working is movement. Ask yourself, "Has there been movement in the case?" When it is easily seen and reported so during the follow-ups, then you are seeing the healing response. Healing equals movement.

Keep the conversation going! I would love to hear your questions and thoughts below!