National Homeopathy Conference in Washington DC

Last month I had the pleasure of representing Hahnemann Labs, a homeopathic pharmacy and laboratory based in San Rafael, at the Joint Annual National Homeopathy Conference in Alexandria, Virginia. The conference was fabulous - with the direct support of the online homeopathy resource organization, Whole Health Now, we had great international speakers representing a wide range of practice styles and experience. There was something for everyone interested in the practice of homeopathy, whether they were just starting their education or were a seasoned practitioner. I especially enjoyed Jeremy Sherr speaking by webcast from Tanzania about his successes with homeopathy for AIDS, Anne Vervarcke, a Belgian homeopath, informing us about her approach to case taking, and Annette Sneevliet, a Dutch homeopath, who showed us a beautiful video of a client becoming her remedy (an Australian Scorpion!).  

Many of us were inspired by a new film called "Homeopathy Around the World," which showed us the many places around the globe that homeopathy is making a huge difference. It showed local people using homeopathy in their towns and villages for acute care; most dramatically in Haiti for shock and trauma after the earthquake, and in the Solomon Islands for coughs, colds, and injuries. Many countries in Africa are using homeopathy for malaria and AIDS with excellent results. Cuba just did a study on a disease that sickens a large percentage of the population every year - leptospirosis - and found that homeopathic remedies could be used as a cheap, easily available prophylactic for this deadly disease. It was so great for the homeopathic community to see the many ways our profession is part of the culture of numerous countries and how deeply it helps! I saw many teary-eyed homeopaths walking out of the conference room after the movie!

I stayed on in the Washington DC area for a few days after the conference. I had a wonderful time with some of my colleagues seeing Samuel Hahnemann's kit of remedies and many other remedy kits and books from the 1800's in the back rooms of the Smithsonian History Museum.  What a blast for us homeopathy geeks!