When I first discovered homeopathy I was excited and overwhelmed. There was so much to learn and my family had so many issues to address that I hadn't been able to solve with any of the typical natural approaches I was used to.

I am a big advocate of food based supplements, I love essential oils and have made my own tonics and tinctures in an attempt to solve some pesky issues supplements and oils hadn't addressed. To say I am into natural stuff is an under statement!

In fact, I even bought and milked goats for nearly three years trying to solve the food allergy issues I was sure was coming from dairy products. I am pretty sure that is a level of commitment someone out there should commend me for!

After many years of searching however, I still was struggling with food allergies and my husband was still dealing with anxiety and depression. After a stroke that left him temporarily paralyzed on his left side, we once again resorted to allopathic meds to bring down his blood pressure (which we didn't know was elevated before the stroke) and help deal with his anxiety.

At 46, nobody should be recovering from a stroke. Because of this I re-doubled my efforts to find a better way.

At this point I am going to deviate a bit from my story because as you may have guessed, though I haven't solved every issue completely yet, the biggest one, my husband's anxiety, has been solved better than it ever was on allopathic medications. That was my biggest concern and the most amazing outcome from my discovery of homeopathy.

In future blog posts I will go into this and our family's other outcomes in more detail. However, for now, know that our experiences have been so life-altering that I decided to become a homeopathic practitioner. That says it all!

At first, I learned the protocols handed down by the Drs. Banerji in India and I didn't really look into why they were working or how they worked. It was enough that they worked!

However, as I dove into my studies to start helping others, the history of this amazing philosophy and approach became a special fascination to me. It turns out, this is not the first time in history that many intelligent people have questioned the status quo when it comes to medical practices.

I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise that there were a lot of smart people back in the 18th century who were questioning the drugs and practices of the day. Practices such as blood letting. (EW!) And lobotomy surgeries. (SCARY!) And the prescribing of drugs that had never been scientifically researched.

This was the environment the founder of homeopathy, Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, was born into. The events surrounding his childhood and coming of age included such things as the French Revolution and the Revolutionary War in America (though Samuel was of German descent) and his contemporaries were people like Mozart and Bethoven.

I bring this up to show that the conversations of the times likely grew in young Samuel a healthy ability to think and question. And that is very good for us because his brilliant mind had to question a lot to discover what he did.

At 12 years old Samuel Hahnemann was so bright that the Prince's School in Meissen, Germany, where he had attended for a short time, not only let him attend for free when his family couldn't afford tuition, they also gave him the job of teaching the younger students the basics of the Greek language, which he was already mastering.

By the time he had reached the age to attend university, he had already mastered 4 languages including his own! His acumen for languages and also Chemistry--and pretty much anything else he was interested in, earned him scholarships whenever he ran out of money.

Long story short, he attends medical school, works as a medical apprentice of sorts, learns 3 more languages and then returns to medical school at the University of Erlangen to defend his dissertation and officially earn his medical degree in 1779. He is 24 years old at this time.

After marrying, having several children and practicing medicine for 8 years, he has a crisis of conscience. He cannot bear the medical practices of the day and decides to close his practice and research a better way to practice medicine.

His incredible abilities in the medical and chemistry fields allow him to make a living translating medical and chemistry papers, articles and research and that is what he does for the next many years. One day, as he is translating a medical paper from French to German about treating Malaria, he notices something that interests him greatly.

The doctor writing the paper expresses great success in treating Malaria with Peruvian Bark and says it is due to its "bitter properties". Dr. Hahnemann laughs to himself, noting that the explanation for why this treatment works is elementary at best. He wonders why it does work and decides to do his own experiment.

Dr. Hahnemann makes a tea out of Peruvian Bark and sips it for several days. At some point during this time, he starts exhibiting the symptoms of Malaria, though he doesn't actually have the disease. Aha! He believes he has stumbled onto something big and it turns out, he actually had.

After many more experiments (and several years) he proves what he calls the "Law of Similars" which says that if a substance causes symptoms in a healthy person, it can cure those same symptoms in a sick person.

After many double blind experiments he proves that this is the case--and with more than just Peruvian Bark. This becomes the basis for Homeopathy.

My friends, this was only the beginning. The good doctor goes on to discover even deeper truths about this subject which I will delve into in future blog posts. Until then, stay healthy! Talk soon!