The practice of homeopathic medicine has a rich tradition. Over its 200-year history, this system of medicine has blended traditional early principles with recent advances in both homeopathic and conventional medicine. The homeopathic perspective regards health as a vital, creative process that starts at conception and ends in death. Likewise, the process of disease is one of vital progression so that the concept of disease occurring in stages is central to homeopathic treatment. Often, the symptoms we observe are the body’s manifestation of a disease process that started long before the symptom appeared. To understand the process of these stages, homeopaths look for certain signs to detect a progression or direction of improvement after treatment.

When dealing with chronic medical conditions, the homeopathic practitioner follows the clues of the body’s symptom picture, and responds with an appropriate remedy and dosage regimen. Following homeopathic treatment, the body’s symptom picture will change, and the progression that occurs as the body heals itself with the help of homeopathic remedies becomes a creative, transformative process. In this talk, Beth and David will explore some of the basics of homeopathic medicine, discuss theories such as the direction of cure, present some illustrative cases from clinical practice and suggest fertile areas for future research in homeopathic medicine.