Homeopathy can be extremely complicated if you want to truly master it, if that is even possible. Because of this, the majority of Naturopathic Physicians unfortunately do not utilize constitutional homeopathy in their practices.
The “Visual Homeopathy” method simplifies this amazingly complicated subject so that most participants will gain the ability to spot the common polycrests almost immediately after just one weekend-long Visual Homeopathy seminar. This method is based primarily on an energetic/kinesthetic approach to finding out your patients’ remedies, as opposed to looking for detailed physical/general keynotes. Although such keynotes are taken into consideration, the student is encouraged to not be sidetracked by them, and to focus primarily on the person’s essence. This skill can only be learned by either directly meeting actual patients with various known constitutional types, or by watching numerous patient videos. In this seminar, you will learn specifically what to look for in a homeopathic interview which will lead you to the correct remedy quickly.
The basic Visual Homeopathy seminar covers primarily the top 15 polycrests, which will be about 80% of a typical naturopathic practice. You will learn how to find these remedies within minutes of seeing the patient, without having to repertorize their case. Of course, if a person’s constitution is not one of the top polycrests, you will have to repertorize and study the case further. If you like to repertorize all of your cases, you can still use the skills learned in this seminar to more quickly rule a remedy in or out. If you have a very specialized practice you will need to learn other less common remedies as well. For example, if you see mostly autistic children, you will likely see more cases of Bufo than someone who has a general practice.
The majority of this seminar consists of carefully watching and analyzing numerous short patient videos, or in some cases Hollywood movie clips which show the remedies well. While watching the videos, we categorize the person into one of three categories:
- “Soft and Sweet” category: These remedies almost always smile at you. They are often soft, sweet, gentle, and warm-hearted. This category includes Carcinosin, Phosphorus, and Pulsatilla.
- “Angry/Irritable” category: These remedies tend to be angry and/or highly irritable. This category includes: Causticum, Ignatia, Kali carbonicum, Lachesis, and Nux vomica.
- “The Others” category: This category includes constitutional types that do not nicely fit into the “soft and sweet” category nor the “angry/irritable” category. This category includes Calcarea carbonicum, Lycopodium, Medorrhinum, Natrum muriaticum, Sepia, Silica, Staphysagria, and Sulphur.
Once it is clear which category the person is in, by process of elimination it is easier to come up with the correct remedy. We will also watch some “group” patient videos, that students find particularly helpful. These show 2-3 patients of different constitutions interacting with each other. Watching a Pulsatilla and a Silica talking to one another, for example, can help you to really learn the subtle differences between these remedies.
We currently have close to 400 patient videos. There are children and adults of all ages, males, females, and a variety of races. This number is continuously growing as we gather more patient videos at our clinic. Without the support of our patients, I could not teach such a seminar. Therefore, we should all feel a great sense of gratitude towards all the patients who volunteer to share their videos with the students who want to learn homeopathy.
What are the differences between this seminar and other homeopathic courses where videos are shown?
In this class, we do a comparative analysis of numerous remedies per hour. We go back and forth from one video to another to compare and contrast the various constitutional types. I show the highlights and “punch lines,” not the entire homeopathic interview. In fact, the videos are often not from the interviews, but typically taken in one of the following situations:
- While the person is feeling changes in their body within minutes after having taken the remedy in the office.
- Patient (or their parent) gives a report of changes they have experienced days, weeks, or months after taking their remedy.
- Different constitutional types interacting with one another.
One of the reasons most students find this seminar very helpful for learning the remedies is the comparative analysis that I do. To emphasize various traits, I stop and replay specific sections of videos to compare the different ways people do things. For example, I will show a video clip of an Ignatia or a Nux vomica person saying “hello”, and demonstrate how that differs from the way a Phosphorus person says “hello”, as opposed to a Nat mur, etc.
One of the main sources of difficulty in homeopathy is confusing normal human traits with constitution. Any human being can be angry, sad, jealous, etc. These are human traits, not indications for a remedy. Not every angry person is Nux Vomica. Not every sad person is Nat Mur. So what is meant by these keynotes in the Materia Medica? If anyone can be angry, how come they don’t mention “anger” for Phosphorus, but they do for Nux vomica? They mention the word “rude” under Sepia. “Polite” is found under Nat mur. Why? A Sepia person can be very polite too, and a Nat mur can at times be rude. What is the student of homeopathy to do with all this confusion? I will show how details in the patient’s attitude, their facial expression, the way they vocalize a certain word, the way they sit on their chair, their appearance, etc., actually reveals their constitution. It is in such close analysis of a person that you see their constitution, not by reading books or blind folded repertorization. By this process, the participants will gain a deeper understanding of why the Materia Medica mentions rude for Sepia, or anger for Nux, and be able to differentiate constitution from normal human traits.
Regarding the Hollywood movie clips, I have carefully selected scenes where the actor/actress is playing a role that matches their innate constitutional remedy. For example, a Nux is asked to play the role of an angry person, or a Phosphorus is asked to play the role of a very bubbly extroverted person, etc. We may study Phosphorus by watching Julia Roberts in a movie where she is playing her innate constitution (Phosphorus). Coincidentally, I have come to see that it is not uncommon for movie directors to pick an actor/actress to play a role that matches their innate constitution.
My hope in teaching this seminar is to help practitioners become much more successful in their practices. Homeopathy can have a transformative effect on people, and can be truly healing. You can help patients with a common cold all the way up to cancer with these top 15 or so remedies. I believe that humanity is in dire need of energetic modalities such as homeopathy to help transform our collective consciousness on the planet by providing deep healing on a physical and emotional level. This seminar is an attempt to help contribute to this cause.
Sharum Sharif, ND