Jo Blogs

All change..

2013-01-10T21:49:00.000+00:00

After many years on blogger I have recently moved this blog and website to wordpress with help from the guys at Dinosaur Design.

This blog will no longer be updated but you can still see all blog posts here. All these posts have also been copied over to the new, shiny website. So .. have a look and let me know what you think.

http://www.jorhodeshomeopathy.co.uk/

or say hello to me on twitter @homeojo

Jo's AStore

2013-01-06T18:39:00.000+00:00

Natural Remedies for the Festive Season

2012-12-04T17:37:00.001+00:00

I did a talk recently about some natural remedies to help you get through the Christmas period and thought I'd post the information on here. The clever carousel is linked to Amazon and is there so you can buy those items of just see images of what I'm talking about. All of these products can be bought in your local health food shop and most will be available in any chemists.

I generally offer advice to my patients on healthy living, but I know it’s also important to have fun and let your hair down occasionally – so here is some holistic help for some of the ailments that come up over the festive season. For long standing health problems, it's important to see a practitioner, but there are many homeopathic and other natural remedies which might help with minor symptoms, worry and over-indulgence over the festive period.

A particular favourite with my patients is the homeopathic remedy Nux vomica, which many people use to help with the symptoms of a hangover. We all know it's not healthy to drink too much alcohol, but from time to time, we do it anyway. Nux vomica works in most cases, no need to take time off work!

Nux vomica is not just for hangovers but it also be used for the general symptoms of over-indulgence. Symptoms include heartburn, indigestion, and nausea, a headache, sensitivity to noise and light, and irritability. Particularly suits people who tend to burn the candle at both ends, who keep going with coffee and feel the cold.

This is also very helpful for colds or hayfever with a very runny nose and lots of sneezing, especially when accompanied by a lot of grumpiness!

Remember that homeopathic remedies are always prescribed according to a specific set of symptoms, and in most cases, different people will need different remedies for the same ailment, because their symptoms and how they experience them, will differ. But, in the case of Nux vomica, it perfectly fits the symptoms of a hangover in most people.

Arnica is the most well known of all homeopathic remedies and is the first one you should consider for most accidents, bruising, shock, injuries or aches and pain from physical exertion.

Given early it will reduce swelling and bruising. There may be a fear of being touched because of the pain, and the person may want to be left alone. They may claim to be alright when they clearly are not. Useful for the classic response of someone in shock.

Arnica is also very helpful for the effects of physical strain like too much dancing, sport or gardening or even the scrum of the January sales! A dose or two will help relieve stiffness and help the body to recover.

The rest are not homeopathic remedies but are all natural remedies I often recommend, especially over Christmas which can be a stressful and exhausting time.

Rescue Remedy This is available in a variety of forms and comes in distinctive bright yellow packaging – liquid, lozenges, chewing gum, spray and a cream and can be used for any sort of shock, stress or panic. Other brands such as Ainsworths and Healing Herbs also make remedies to the same recipe and specification as the Bach ones.

Rescue Remedy can help you cope with the varied demands in your life whether they are everyday stressful moments or the bigger life-changing events. Sometimes it's the little things, like sitting in traffic when you know you're already late, feeding loads of visitors, dealing with difficult relatives, continual interruptions when you're trying to meet a deadline, or perhaps the kids throwing a tantrum when you're trying to get around a busy supermarket.

There is also a Rescue Night Time, this also contains White Chestnut which is particularly good for helping switch off mental chatter and allow a restful sleep.

Echinacea There is a growing amount of evidence that Echinacea can help boost the immune system, but be warned. There are many varieties of Echinacea and not all of them have medicinal properties. Many of the cheap Echinacea pills and tinctures are of questionable medical value.

Echinaforce products by Vogel are excellent quality and contain Echinacea Purpurea which is the one that has most research to back up its effectiveness. Echinacea Pallida is also proven to be effective. The roots of some varieties like Augustifolia actually contain more of the active ingredient but it is not always clear which variety or which parts of the plant have been used. The Vogel website has lots of research information about many of their products, including Echinacea, if you want to find out more. http://www.avogel.co.uk/

Avena Sativa (Wild Oats) is available in herbal or homeopathic doses. We usually eat the grains of oats but both of these remedies are prepared using the leaves.

The main use is to help calm the mind and it is great for insomnia or anxiety where you cannot switch off your brain. With such a change of routine over Christmas and an influx of visitors and demands on you, this can be a really simple way of helping you get a good sleep and make you more able to face the following day.

If you have the tincture take 5-10 drops in a small glass of water before bed, if using the homeopathic version, take one 6c or 30c pill before bed.

Lavender is a great essential oil to have around the house at any time of year but particularly at Christmas. It is the only oil that is OK to use neat on your skin and is particularly good for burns and insect bites.

If you feel a cold coming on rub a couple of drops of lavender oil into your jaw line. Doing this can get the lavender into your system quickly through lymph nodes and will often prevent colds developing. Lavender is a great one to help mind and body switch off and a few drops in a bath or a drop on your pillowcase can help you to unwind and get a good sleep. Lavender can be used for many, many things - for some more suggestions see this page from Yorkshire Lavender

If you would like to know more about essential oils I highly recommend the book Aromatherapy for Women by Maggie Tisserand

This has many simple and practical tips on how to use essential oils for a range of family ailments, hair and skin treatments and even in cleaning products around the house. It is quite an old book and you will be able to find it cheaply second hand.

Amazon.co.uk Widgets

Olbas Oil is a wonderful multi-purpose oil. Most people think of it to use as an inhalation for stuffy noses and colds but it is much more versatile that that. It is also good for sinus pain and can be added to some cream or oil to massage aches and pains.

Olbas contains a large amount of eucalyptus and mint which are both great for helping disturbed digestion. If your tummy is feeling a bit bloated, crampy or bunged up then add a couple of drops to a blob of handcream and rub on your tummy. This will ease the discomfort very quickly.

Always wash your hands after handling Olbas Oil as it will sting if you rub your eyes!

Black Strap Molasses is one of the few sweet things that is actually good for you. Unlike refined white sugar, blackstrap molasses contain significant amounts of a variety of minerals that promote your health. High in calcium, iron, manganese, copper, potassium and magnesium.

This is particularly useful after a bout of vomiting or diarrhoea as it gets good sugars and minerals into your system quickly. Can also be helpful for women who feel a bit limp during heavy periods as it will help replace the minerals lost with menstruation.

Very useful in cooking too and gives a rich flavour to flapjacks or even baked beans!

Vitamin C and D Both of these are important for your immune system and much more. A lot of the food we eat containing vitamin C (eg. citrus fruit) has travelled a long way and lost much of its nutritional value before it reaches us. Eating organic local seasonal fruit and veg will help but there is a growing amount of evidence suggesting everyone should take some Vitamin C daily.

As with Echinacea, the quality of vitamin C products varies enormously. High dose cheap pills from supermarkets are not always in a form your body can metabolise. I would recommend food based Vitamin C products and especially cherry based ones. Acerola cherries contain all sorts of other bioflavinoids such as quercetin which is proving to be important for general health and the immune system.

Vitamin D is now considered one of the most vital vitamins for health and protection and one of the most depleted, particularly in pregnant women, the elderly and those that rarely get outdoors. In the frozen North, how much daylight do you see in winter? Probably not a lot. Vitamin D3 is the most bioavailable form of this nutrient and emerging evidence is that we need around 50ug/day for health and this is the newly established RDA in Canada.

I get my vitamins and supplements from Cytoplan who make excellent quality food state supplements which are much easier for your body to metabolise. Many very cheap vitamins and supplements are really a waste of money as the ingredients are not in a form your body can use.

For more information see this article about food state and whole food supplements on the Cytoplan website. They have a vast amount of technical information, articles, research information and free booklets on a range of health conditions. They also offer a free Health Questionnaire which will give you an appraisal health, together with advice on lifestyle, diet and supplements.

Jo Rhodes is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk.

Mo Morrish - my hero!

2012-10-23T09:00:00.000+01:00

Over the past year the School of Homeopathy and the Homeopathy Action Trust has funded the professional media training of selected homeopaths.

Mani Norland who has been involved with this project says "It was clear to us that the profession needed people who were passionate about homeopathy, good at talking clearly and presenting the facts well. We needed to be compelling, coherent and consistent! In the past homeopathy has not fared well in the media and we need to try and prevent this from happening. Finding great spokespeople is an important aspect of this. We trained eight people, but really we only need one or two who can really represent the voice of the profession."

One of the videos features Mo Morrish who has been an inspiration to me and many other students over the years at the British School of Homoeopathy.

Before getting interesting in homeopathy Mo worked in proper science as a microbiologist and so has a very solid understanding of the science of homeopathy and dilutions as well as the philosophy which he teaches in a brilliant and engaging way.

More of these videos can be viewed on the School of Homeopathy channel on youtube

As well as being a great teacher Mo has also written two books.

Medicine Flows is aimed at homeopathy students and discusses the writings of Samuel Hahnemann and the philosophy of homeopathy. It really gives a simple interpretation of

The other book Homoeopathy: A Rational Choice in Medicine
is a very small but information-packed book which answers many of the frequently asked questions about what we do. I have several copies of this one and they are great for anyone who is curious about homeopathy and would like more information, whether they are patients, health professionals or sceptics! Let me know if you would like to borrow a copy.

Amazon.co.uk Widgets

Jo Rhodes is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk.

Settle Showcase on 29th September

2012-09-13T15:44:00.000+01:00

Apologies for the strange green text colour.. blogger doesn't seem to want to let me use black text!

As some of you know, I started an informal lunchtime networking group last autumn. This was aimed at small businesses and home based workers who don't get much opportunity to meet other business folk. The group has grown enormously and we now have over 100 local businesses on our list. At the end of the month we are holding a free Settle Showcase to highlight what a diverse mix of skills and talents can be found in the area.

As well as having a stall in the main hall I will be doing a talk about food foraging in the afternoon. The first 20 people to come and find me on the day get a 2013 fridge magnet calender!

Hopefully see some of you there.

Come and meet your local businesses and community organisations at this free local event!

Saturday 29^th September 2012

Victoria Hall and Quaker Meeting House, Settle

This event is going to be jam-packed with information and entertainment. There will be a wide range of exhibitors with information and displays, demonstrating the scope of the small businesses and organisations across Settle and the surrounding villages.

They represent a variety of sectors: the outdoor world and natural environment, IT training and advice, business and financial support, architectural services and garden design, photography, alternative therapies, health and healing, books and publishing, craft, education and community projects, fitness and exercise, and First Aid and life support techniques.

There will also be a range of absolutely FREE talks and workshops, so you can try out the skills of our town’s talented entrepreneurs on the spot! These include Basic First Aid, Food Foraging, Advice for Parents on Internet Safety, Tai Chi, Creative Writing, Computer Tips, Crafts, Guided Meditation, Nutritional Advice, and World Wide Scouting and more. Get there early to book them on the day at Victoria Hall. See here for a full list of talks, tours and workshops.

Added to all this there will be lively lunchtime entertainment, free tours of the Town Hall, reduced entry to the Folly for all Showcase attendees (£1 for adults and kids go free), and a talk from Settle Stories about their work to develop the WR Mitchell Archive, including readings from some of his recordings which uniquely document life in the Dales through the stories of local Dales folk.

And don’t forget there’s also the chance to take part in a free prize draw, a Treasure Trail around Settle with a chance to win prize vouchers, and charity tombola in aid of the Cave Rescue Organisation.

More information at http://www.settle.org.uk/settle-district-chamber-of-trade/showcase2012/

Holiday health tips

2012-07-20T17:16:00.002+01:00

Summer holidays have finally arrived and, although they should be fun, sometimes health issues get in the way. Things like travel sickness, hayfever, fear of flying and tummy bugs can all put a damper on your summer break.

My latest newsletter contains some information on natural remedies that can help deal with these sort of problems and make your holidays less hassle. Click here to view this edition and you can also sign up or view past newsletters in your browser

For those of you with clever phones.. here is a QR code for the newsletter.

Hayfever special

2012-07-08T18:04:00.000+01:00

Even though our English summer hasn't been very summery I've been treating a lot of people with hayfever recently and my latest newsletter offers a few suggestions to help cope with symptoms.

You can view it online here

You can also sign up to receive the newsletter or view past issues from your web browser.

I wrote a longer blog post last year for the Settle Website about natural ways of preventing hayfever or reducing symptoms. Most chemists and health food shops will sell the products I have mentioned.

Birch pollen under the microscope

A Swiss scientists named Martin Oeggerli, who uses the name Micronaut for his art, uses a Scanning Electron Microscope to capture amazing images of pollen grains. There are many more striking images of pollen on his website and he also has pictures of bacteria, fabrics, plants and insects as you have never seen them before. See his online Gallery here

Failure.. or a different sort of success?

2012-06-21T10:00:00.000+01:00

I love gardening and usually have a very productive organic vegetable plot. However, earlier this year I didn't get on top of the weeding and only managed to deal with about a third of the garden where I planted some potatoes, beans, onions, garlic and salad. The veg I did plant is growing happily, the borage and himalayan purple poppies have self seeded and are appearing in strange places. Some potatoes are appearing unexpectedly so I must have missed a few when I dug them up last year. The currants, gooseberries and raspberries are laden with ripening fruit but I haven't done anything to them!

Bistort and Buttercups

Like most parts of the country the weather has alternated between hot and sunny and torrential rain and so the bits of the garden I didn't weed have gone absolutely beserk. The wild grasses are about 5 feet high, the nettles and wildflowers are prolific and it is far too late to try and get on top of this unruly garden now. I was a bit frustrated that there won't be as much produce as I would have liked but now I've just decided to let nature take over. I have weeded around the veg and cut down a few nettles so I don't get stung on my way to the washing line but there is something quite amazing about how quickly the garden has gone so wild.

Cornflower

My apparent failure in trying to control the weeds has actually turned out to be extremely beneficial in other ways. There are many more buttercups, bistort, cornflowers, daisies, lemon balm, wild thyme and cornflowers than I would have liked.. but the garden is teeming with insects, bees and butterflies so it's actually been a huge success in attracting the wildlife. As there are more insects and wildflowers I have also seen many more birds in the garden than usual, especially green and gold finches.

The whole business with the garden reminded me of a poem about the joy and triumph in failure by Pete Armstrong. I know Pete through a local mindfulness meditation group, he has a website with the wonderful title Holy Bloke Many of his poems are on the website and some collections are also available to download.

Don’t keep your failures to yourself

Don’t keep your failures to yourself:
you and they will get lonely.
Share them with those who will listen,
then you and they can transform into joy.

Enjoy your failures as they appear:
like waves approaching the shore,
emerging perfectly formed from the sea;
like the moon emerging from behind a cloud,
illuminating a golden road across the sea.

Celebrate the perfection of your failures
as heartily as your more mundane triumphs,
and then you will double and redouble
the joy you bring into the world.

If you like that then you might be interested in Pete's book The Commitment of the Lark: Poems for Looking Deeply

Laughter Yoga with Bosom Friends

2012-06-17T22:07:00.001+01:00

I went to an event in Barnoldswick on Saturday which was organised by the charity Bosom Friends They do great work supporting people in a variety of ways in the Craven, Pendle and Ribble Valley areas. The day was an opportunity for local people affected by cancer to come and have a chat with some artists and therapists who might be able to help support them and their families.

There were several talks and workshops and we started off with a Laughter Yoga session led by Gill Lowe. I know laughing is good for you and releases endorphins and happy chemicals but had never experienced it myself. Gill was brilliant at getting everyone involved with some simple movements, clapping and of course laughing!

Gill and her husband run a laughter club in Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales and they meet fortnightly on a Saturday morning. For more info on Gill and her work http://laughter-health.com

Experience Exxopolis: The Awe-inspiring New Luminarium

She also does workshops and if you are in the area for Grassington Festival then you can join them in the incredibly odd surroundings of The Luminarium on Saturday 23rd June. This is an enormous inflatable, colourful, maze-like structure which makes me laugh just looking at it! There are a wide range of events taking place inside this unusual venue including story telling, poetry, life drawing and laughter.

This is a short video in which John Cleese meets Dr Madan Kataria founder of Laughter Yoga, discovers Laughter Yoga and visits a Laughter Yoga session in an Indian jail.

It's festival time!

2012-06-08T14:32:00.004+01:00

It's June, it is pouring with rain, gale force winds are forecast so it can only mean one thing .. the summer festival season has started!

Summer for me, and many fellow homeopaths, means helping out at festivals with the Travelling Homeopaths Collective (@THChomeopaths on twitter) who have been providing low cost clinics at festivals and events since 1990. I usually work at Glastonbury and a couple of local ones but with no Glasto this year I'm staying closer to home and will be off to the wonderfully quirky Beat-Herder Festival at the end of the month.

The Travelling Homeopaths Collective is a charity set up by Marcus Christo and we see thousands of people every year at festivals throughout the country. We offer treatment for acute conditions such as hay fever, sunburn, hangovers, cystitis, digestive upsets, coughs and colds, anxiety and panic attacks.

One of the best things about festivals is that many people come back to tell us they are feeling better. Most people we treat have no idea what homeopathy is or they are a bit sceptical and so they are often very surprised about how effective the treatment has been.

It is not appropriate to treat long term problems at festivals but if it is something that we feel might be helped by homeopathy we can put people in touch with a registered practitioner in their area.

Many people just pop in for a chat and want to know what homeopathy is - that is fine too. We have plenty of books and leaflets for people to read and we all like a chat over a cuppa!

This year we will be at over twenty festivals throughout the summer from Wychwood this weekend at Cheltenham Racecourse to Bestival in September on the Isle of Wight so have a look here and see where we'll be.

Glastonbury in 2005

Since 2008 the Travelling Homeopaths have held an annual camp which is like their own mini-festival. This year it will be held between 9th and 12th August on an organic farm close to the Uffington White Horse in the Oxfordshire countryside. There will be an array of well-known homeopaths doing talks and workshops but there is plenty for partners and kids too and there will be a children's area, circus skills, story-telling, Indian Music workshop, Night time entertainment, showers, sauna, camp fire and a fabulous Vegetarian Cafe.

For more info and to book your place at the camp

Follow @THChomeopaths on twitter

Spring newsletter

2012-04-27T09:17:00.000+01:00

My spring newsletter has articles about pregnancy, sinusitis and flower remedies for stress.

Spring newsletter

Click on the picture to see the email version of the newsletter.

If you aren't on the mailing list and would like to be, sign up below, if you'd like the paper and snail mail version, just give me a call.

Subscribe to my mailing list

Emotional Freedom Technique

2012-02-29T11:16:00.003+00:00

I have several friends who are EFT practitioners and I have been using it myself quite a bit lately. It is a bit weird and hard to get your head around, but if you can suspend your disbelief and give it a go you might be surprised.

In very simple terms it is a sort of emotional version of acupuncture, you tap certain acupuncture points as you say phrases and the idea is to make you feel more positive about what is going on and to help release negative emotions or limiting beliefs.

Those have you that have seen the film 'The Secret' might be interested to know that several people featured including Bob Doyle, Joe Vitale, Bob Proctor and Jack Canfield are all big fans of EFT.

When I first looked into it I must confess I was put off by the evangelical enthusiasm of the orange, over tanned Americans in the videos. It just seemed too goo to be true and just too easy. I was never quite sure what phrases to use and so tried EFT a few times and then stopped. Now there is a huge amount of good quality information and videos on youtube so it's much easier to find out more.

One of the things I really like about the EFT community is that the founder Gary Craig encourages free distribution of the information so more people can find out about how it works. You can pay to see an EFT practitioner to work on specific issues and there are courses available if you want to learn more but there is a lot of great free stuff out there.

http://www.emofree.com/ The Official EFT website from the founder of the technique Gary Craig.

Brad Yates has a very extensive website and many short youtube EFT videos and audio files to tap along to which cover a variety of themes.

Tapping.com An excellent site from Magnus with some longer EFT videos of around 20 minutes on a variety of themes including an introduction to EFT, self acceptance, procrastination, stress relief and dealing with anger. Also some EFT articles and 'cheat sheet' of tapping points when you sign up for his free newsletter.

While EFT has produced remarkable results, it must still be considered to be in the experimental stage and thus practitioners and the public must take complete responsibility for their use of it and their own physical and emotional well-being. EFT should not be seen as a substitute for regular care from your GP or other health provider.

There are a growing number of EFT practitioners in the UK. Locally I can highly recommend Penny Lowe who works in Settle and Ilkley, Elham Kashefi in Bentham and Lancaster and Heather Smiles in Barnoldswick who also works does EFT with people and animals, especially horses.

If you want to give it a try and start your day with a bit of tapping, I highly recommend this video from Brad Yates, Tap O The Mornin! Guaranteed to make you smile :)

Homeopaths are lovely!

2012-02-01T19:46:00.021+00:00

It's official - Norwegian research shows homeopaths are nice people!

I was amused, but not entirely surprised, to come across this research paper from Norway. The researchers did some psychometric tests on a group of homeopaths and found they differed considerably from the average Norwegian.

'People who work as homeopaths can be described as open to new and different ideas, and as caring, understanding, and altruistic persons. Therefore, there is reason to believe that these dispositions are central in choosing homeopathy as an occupation.'

I wonder how our critics would fare if a similar study turned their attention to the skeptic community?! See my previous blog about the intolerance and bigotry of some of our critics.

This idea of openness reminded me of something else I'd read recently.

I’ve started going to a Mindfulness Meditation Group in Bentham which has been very enjoyable and thought provoking. They follow the teachings of Thich Nhat Hahn and we often read passages from his books. One recent passage from The Heart Of Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy and Liberation really struck a chord with me. (For those of you not familar with the language, in this context Dharma = teacher and sutra = teachings)

When we hear a Dharma talk or study a sutra, our only job is to remain open. Usually when we hear or read something new, we just compare it with our own ideas. If it is the same, we accept it and say it is correct. If it is not, we say it is incorrect. In either case, we learn nothing. If we read or listen with an open mind and an open heart, the rain of the Dharma will penetrate the soil of our consciousness.

The gentle spring rain permeates the soil of my soul,

A seed that has lain deeply in the earth for many years just smiles.

While reading or listening, don’t work too hard. Be like the earth. When the rain comes, the earth only has to open herself up to the rain. Allow the rain of Dharma to come in and penetrate the seeds that are buried deep in your consciousness. A teacher cannot give you the truth. The truth is already in you. You need only to open yourself – body, mind and heart – so that his or her teachings will penetrate your own seeds of understanding and enlightenment. If you let the words enter you, the soil and seeds will do the rest of the work.

Jo Rhodes is a participant in the Amazon Europe S.à r.l. Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk.

Positive Care Programme in Bentham

2012-01-29T16:41:00.015+00:00

We are starting a project in February at Sole to Soul in Bentham based on a holistic Positive Care Programme which has been successfully running in Leeds for about 8 years. For more about the existing project see the Touchstone website.

Sole to Soul Holistic Therapy Centre

The project in Leeds is for carers or people with long term health issues - participants come in one afternoon a week and get a chance to try all sorts of different therapies as well as workshops, talks on subjects like relaxation, healthy eating, sleep and more. They use a variety of therapies including EFT, shiatsu, acupuncture, reflexology, spiritual healing, Alexander Technique, yoga, pilates, meditation, art and crafts and much more! Their project is over 20 weeks and the effects are quite remarkable.

Many participants have found the Positive Care Programme life changing. Evaluations (2006-2009) demonstrated:

38% of participants visited their GP less often
32% were able to reduce their medication
94% found the Programme helped them to understand how their lifestyle affected their health
91% made positive changes to their lifestyle to improve their health
92% said their mental wellbeing had improved
90% said they now take more responsibility for their health

Click here to read about the real life experiences of some PCP participants

We are doing a 6 week pilot at Sole to Soul in Bentham which will happen on Saturday mornings in Feb and March. Saturday 18^th Feb will be a free introductory session where people can come and find out more about the project - we will only be looking for 10 people for this pilot. The course will take place on the following 6 Saturday mornings and will be a mix of individual sessions with therapists and workshops and activities in small groups. Most of the therapists at Sole to Soul will be involved so therapies will include flower remedies, meditation techniques, homeopathy, consciousness medicine, Bowen Technique, Journey Therapy, EFT, Tai Chi, Sound Healing, reflexology, massage as well as workshops and group exercises.

If you wanted to get involved we are doing this at a rate of £10 for each Saturday session but ideally we do want people to commit to all 6 sessions – it gives participants a chance to try some things they probably wouldn’t otherwise know about – and hopefully find some information, techniques or therapies that make a real difference.

Let me know or call Sole to Soul on 015242 63067 if you’d like to be involved in this.

Pain Release Technique - training days

2012-01-08T12:51:00.012+00:00

I'm delighted to announce that I have joined the team at Absolute Specialists. Will write more about who we are and what we offer in another blog.

Clare Walters is the Director of Absolute Specialists and she has worked for many years with people coping with emotional issues, chronic pain and helping people come to terms with divorce and breakdown of relationships. Her background is in homeopathy but she is also a Journey Practitioner and uses The Work techniques of Byron Katie.

Clare has developed a short meditation, the Pain Release Technique, which is based on mindfulness principles. In a preliminary study, people suffering from fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, back pain, rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory conditions have found it helpful in reducing pain, relaxing them and helping them sleep. Many have found that using this technique allows them to reduce the number of pain killers that they need to take.

There is a growing amount of evidence that mindfulness techniques can help reduce stress, anxiety and chronic pain - see this video on BBC news or have a read of this research paper which has reviewed the academic research on the subject Mindfulness-based stress reduction and health benefits.

Have a look at Clare's blog for more information on these techniques as well as feedback from satisfied clients.

We are delighted to announce that Clare is running two Pain Management Workshops in the Pain Release Technique this month. These are designed for homeopaths, counsellors, holistic practitioners and life coaches who want another tool they can use with their clients.

The first workshop will be held at the Absolute Clinic in Skelmanthorpe near Huddersfield on Tuesday 17th January 12.45-4pm and the other at the Soroptomists Rooms on Otley Street in Skipton Thursday 26th January 10am-1pm.

Information and booking for these and other Absolute workshops

Or pay by debit card by calling 01484 866747

The Journey by Brandon Bays is the story behind the Journey Process and campfire meditations which several Absolute Specialists use. For more information go to The Journey website

Loving What Is: How Four Questions Can Change Your Life by Byron Katie is the basis for The Work. A huge amount of information is available on The Work of Byron Katie website

Some festive Remedies!

2011-12-21T13:05:00.001+00:00

A particular favourite with my patients is the homeopathic remedy Nux vomica, which many people use to help with the symptoms of a hangover. We all know it's not healthy to drink too much alcohol, but from time to time, we do it anyway. Nux vomica works in most cases, no need to take time off work!

Nux Vomica picture from the Natural History Museum site

Plants and Fungi in Homeopathy

For long standing or chronic ailments, it's important to see a practitioner, but there are other homeopathic remedies which might help with minor symptoms of over indulgence over the festive period:

Nux vomica: this is known as “the hangover” remedy but can also be used for the general symptoms of over-indulgence. Symptoms include heartburn, indigestion, and nausea, a headache, sensitivity to noise and light, and irritability. Particularly suits people who tend to burn the candle at both ends, who keep going with coffee and feel the cold.

Arsenicum: this remedy comes into play when the symptoms are like that of food poisoning, with vomiting and diarrhoea, loss of colour in the face and anxiety. Could also be used when the diarrhoea is anxiety-induced, worse at night with burning in the stomach and a desire to sip water. It suits restless people who are fearful worriers, need to plan and feel the cold.

Sulphur: symptoms include smelly diarrhoea which drives the patient from bed in the morning, excessive sweating, and burning feet. Suits stubborn people who need praise, worry about their health, can be peevish with lots of big ideas they find difficult to actualise. They crave sugar and spicy food.

Lycopodium: symptoms include bloating with wind, a huge appetite, and waking as if from a fright. There is heartburn with sour burping. Suits fearful people lacking in confidence who don't like undertaking new things. But can be bragging and assertive at home.

Arnica: this is a great remedy to help with bruising and that “battered” feeling you get after last-minute Christmas shopping or bargain hunting in the January sales!

Now for some science... Montagnier video

2011-11-12T16:02:00.002+00:00

Don't be scared.. here's some science!

I recently went to London for a workshop run by Dr Alex Tournier of the Homeopathy Research Institute. He was talking about the science and evidence for homeopathy and it was a facinating and enlightening day.

One of the research papers our critics always throw at us is the Shang paper in the Lancet which was a major meta-analysis of 110 randomized, placebo-controlled trials (RCTs) of homeopathy compared with similar trials of conventional medicines. When it was published in 2005 The Lancet heralded it as marking the end of homeopathy. I suspect very few of the people who talk about it have actually read it. The whole article talks about the fact that results of homeopathic and conventional trials were comparable, then the final paragraph on the results section and the discussion say exactly the opposite. It was denounced by many, many people for the lack of transparency (it took a year for the authors to say which studies that had used) and the headline conclusion was based on only 14 papers (8 homeopathy and 6 conventional medicine) and illustrated data dredging and statistical manipulation of the worst kind.

These two graphs come from that paper. The top graph is homeopathy trials, bottom one is conventional medicine ones. All you really need to know is that if the spots are to the left of the vertical line the effects were better than would be expected from a placebo.The further left the spots, the better the outcome. I think anyone would agree, both graphs look pretty similar and the majority of points in both are to the left of the line which shows the treatments were effective. The nearer the top of the graph the spots are, the more precise the outcomes were.

See here for Studying the Studies: Meta Analysis an HRI newsletter which discusses the Shang paper and the other 5 meta analysis papers which showed homeopathy was effective.

Many articles were published as a response to the Shang paper, I think this one is very clear and to the point. Domenico Mastrangelo, The Growth of a Lie and the End of 'Conventional' Medicine He is not a homeopath, but an Italian ophthalmologist from Siena who is curious about water structure and the possible mechanisms which might explain the actions of homeopathic remedies.

If you would like to know more about the academic research in homeopathy a large number of full papers are available on this homeopathy knol website

Alex also talked about some of the work of Luc Montagnier which has been very controversial. He won the Nobel Prize in 2008 for his research on HIV and retro-viruses and then in 2009 published a paper entitled 'Electromagnetic signals are produced by aqueous nanostructures derived from bacterial DNA sequences' - this paper generated a barrage of abuse and criticism from the scientific community and he has now left Europe to continue his research in China.

This video is a discussion of his research and the implication for life and science in general. It is pretty academic in places but I urge you to watch the first 10 minutes where Montagnier's experiments, and the reason for the controversy surrounding them, are very clearly explained in cartoon form. They are extremely similar in many respects to the work of the late Jacques Benveniste. I'll write more about him in a later blog.

Bill Gray's book Homeopathy: Science or Myth is an excellent and clear guide to the experiments of Benveniste and other ultra-low dilution research if you would like to find out more about the subject. It was published in 2000 so doesn't contain Montagnier's work. It does have a lot of science in there but is explained very clearly. Some of the pages are available to view on Amazon.

Silent Sunday #6

2011-10-30T06:44:00.006+00:00

Homeopathy Day in Bentham

2011-10-25T09:36:00.063+01:00

Sole to Soul, Grasmere Drive, Bentham

Saturday 26th November 10am-4pm

I will talk briefly about the history and evidence for homeopathy and also show you how remedies are made. This will not be a lecture where I talk at you for hours, I would like people to share their experiences of homeopathic treatment and learn from each other as well as from me.

The main aim of the day is to introduce you to some commonly used homeopathic remedies and give examples of when they might be used. At the end of the day you should feel comfortable with first aid prescribing for injuries, bites, fevers and common illnesses like chicken pox, colds and flu.

Feedback from a previous course from Sophie in Settle..

I attended Jo’s Homeopathic First Aid course last year and following it feel much more confident about using homeopathy on myself and my family. Jo has an astounding ability to retain information in great detail and can explain these facts in a way that is clear and easy to understand.

Cost is £20 for the day. Colour handouts and refreshments will be provided but please bring some food to share for lunch.

Secure online booking via Eventbrite

If you are coming to the course and would like one of these homeopathic first aid kit from Ainsworths then contact me, the kits contain 42 remedies in glass vials and an excellent self help booklet.

Please note this offer is only available to course participants.

These usually cost £42 each but if I buy in bulk I can get them at a greatly reduced rate. Phone me on 07932 159099 or email me on jo@jorhodeshomeopathy.co.uk if you would like one.

Payment for the kits (£28 per kit) must be received at least a week before the course and please specify which kit you want.

The general first aid kit contains a selection of remedies to cover injuries, headaches, common illnesses, hayfever and much more.

http://www.ainsworths.com/index.php?node=_eShopItem&_item=kit-ess

A Mother and Baby Kit is also available - this is specifically designed to help parents through the emotional and physical challenges of pregnancy, childbirth and baby/infant stages, right through to age seven.

http://www.ainsworths.com/index.php?node=_eShopItem&_item=kit-mc

Quarterly newsletter - sign up here

2011-10-22T16:57:00.050+01:00

I've finally got round to doing an electronic newsletter.I have been doing a paper one for a while but many people said they would prefer an email version that they could easily send on to friends. So.. I have been tinkering about with MailChimp and this is the result. Click here or on the picture for the current version

If you aren't on the mailing list and would like to be, sign up below, if you'd like the paper and snail mail version, just give me a call.

Subscribe to my mailing list

Research papers and where to find them - Part 1

2011-10-16T12:06:00.007+01:00

If you are interested in finding more out about the research into homeopathy and looking at the original research papers you may not know where to start so here are some tips. These are things I have found helpful but there are others. Will write more on other resources soon.

Pile of Papers from jepoirrier flickr site

If you work in a university or hospital then you will almost certainly have access to a whole host of journals through your employer – if so, that’s fine – off you go. If not, have a look at these.

http://scholar.google.co.uk/ Google scholar is a good place to start – also helpful tips on search terms - if there is a full text version available it will come up as an option.

Pub Med Central is a growing collection of free research papers in a wide variety of topics. Includes many complementary medicine journals. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/

There are some homeopathy sites with full papers on. Some of the papers are pretty technical and it may feel like it’s another language and so have a look at these first and see how you get on.

The International Journal of High Dilution research is the first full free open-access electronic journal specialising in the multidisciplinary field of High Dilution (HD) research. http://www.feg.unesp.br/~ojs/index.php/ijhdr/index lots of articles on analytical research, plant, veterinary, pharmacological studies as well as literature reviews and much more.

Nancy Malik has a Wordpress blog where she has put .pdf files containing about 200 full research papers on a variety of homeopathic related topics. It is broken down into sections on basic fundamental research, high dilution research and clinical research.

Aude Sapere is another useful source of information. http://www.audesapere.in This is an Indian site run by Dr Saurav Arora - several full papers but also sections on research methodology - haven't read through the whole site but seems to have lots of info on research methods in general and a useful table with research papers. Lots of plant and cell based stuff on here too.

Dana Ullman has written an epic tome – have a look at his website. https://www.homeopathic.com/cms-global/shoppingcart/ViewProduct.do?productId=227

Homeopathic Family Medicine - Connecting Research to Quality Homeopathic Care. This is an e book of over 330 pages - you can download about 100 pages as a free sample to see if you want to buy the whole thing. You can buy the e version as a one time purchase or can buy it with updates for a little bit more. Part 2 of the book contains a comprehensive A-Z of conditions and summarises the research available, and, if appropriate, suggests some remedies that may be helpful for these conditions. This is very clear and easy to read and very well referenced so if you feel intimidated by the technical stuff in the academic papers this is an excellent resource. As new research is coming out all the time he updates this 3 or 4 times a year to include the latest research findings.

A walk in the Dale

2011-10-07T08:51:00.014+01:00

This is really just some pictures taken on a walk I did with my husband a couple of weeks ago. We really are very fortunate to live in the Yorkshire Dales and have all this spectacular scenery on our doorstep.

We headed from home to Feizor to the wonderful Elaine's Tea Rooms which serves fantastic homemade cakes and enormous pots of tea, ideal for thirsty walkers. Due to a bit of bad planning on our part, we got their just too late for lunch and so just had to have lots of cake instead! From there, the plan was to go and have a bit of a wander in Oxenber Woods. In May the woods are a riot of colour with bluebells, wild orchids, primroses, cowslips, violets and much more. Here is a picture of Oxenber on an earlier visit with the bluebells in all their glory.

There aren't so many flowers in September but the old trees and ferns are wonderful any time of year, so we thought we'd go for a wander, however, when we got to the stile leading to the woods - this was what greeted us!

There were several very hairy cows all munching away quite happily on the long grass, one was having a very energetic scratch on the information board so we decided to leave them in peace and head for Helwith Bridge. It was a glorious day and this was the view as we looked down the track with Penyghent in the distance.

From Helwith Bridge we walked up and over the hills to Stainforth and back home through the old limekilns at Langcliffe. Have a look at this blog post from Out of Oblivion for some history of the well preserved Hoffman kiln.

Silent Sunday #5

2011-10-02T16:36:00.002+01:00

Homeopathy Around The World

2011-09-17T15:32:00.007+01:00

'Making A Difference: Homeopathy Around The World' is a film project from Carol Boyce who has been travelling the world talking to patients and people working on projects in Cuba, Mexico, Haiti, Nepal, UK, and various African countries: Ghana, Benin, Kenya, Swaziland and Tanzania. Here is a short film of some of the people she has met so far.

For more info about what Carol is up to and some more short videos and interviews with homeopaths and other health related stories have a look at the Something to Say Productions website.

On a similar vein - check out this great video from Tanzanian rapper Rayms B, extolling the virtues of Jeremy Sherr and the Homeopathy for Health in Africa Project and guaranteed to get you dancing around!

Tear gas, onions, homeopathy and Mark Thomas

2011-09-02T16:03:00.005+01:00

When all the uprisings in the Middle East started earlier in the year I saw a news clip of a protester in Manama in Bahrain being interviewed by the Pearl roundabout. He said something like 'We are peaceful protesters, we have no weapons, all we have to protect us from the tear gas are these onions.'

Strange as it may seem, that sounded quite homeopathic to me. I asked a few friends to see if they had heard that sort of story before. One who used to live in South Africa said it was well known when she lived there that protesters would carry onions because if they sniffed them the tear gas had no effect on them.

Red Onion Slice from photobunny on flickr

Just having a quick look on wikipedia about tear gas

Tear gas, formally known as a lachrymatory agent or lachrymator (from lacrima meaning "a tear" in Latin), is a non-lethal chemical compound that stimulates the corneal nerves in the eyes to cause tearing, pain, and even blindness. Common lachrymators include OC, CS,CR, CN, nonivamide, bromoacetone, phenacyl bromide, xylyl bromide and syn-propanethial-S-oxide (from onions).

syn-Propanethial S-oxide (C₃H₆OS) is a gas that acts as a lachrymatory agent (triggers tearing and stinging on contact with the eyes). The chemical is released from onions, Allium cepa, as they are sliced.

From a homeopathic perspective this isn't as strange as it sounds. If you chop up a strong onion it is likely to make your eyes and nose run and may make you sneeze. A remedy made from red onion, allium cepa, is one we commonly use for people with some types of hayfever with lots of sneezing and watery eyes. What seems to happen is that a remedy made from a small amount of onion triggers your body to deal with the symptoms. So a large amount of exposure to onion (or tear gas) will produce symptoms but a very small amount of onion, either from a remedy or just from sniffing an onion, can trigger your body to deal with those symptoms.

The comedian Mark Thomas has been around for a while and I'm a big fan of his. He has always been outspoken about controversial issues in his live shows and TV programmes. For a flavour of what he does have a look at this old episode of the Mark Thomas Comedy Product where he goes on a trip to the Defendory International arms fair to meet a few dictators and arms dealers. He has a stall there pretending to be from a PR company offering media training to help regimes create a more positive message about human rights, wife beating, torture etc.

You may well ask - what has Mark got to do with homeopathy, onions and tear gas?

More recently Mark decided he would go for a bit of a walk. Not the usual sort of walk up a hill or along a coastal path that most people might do. Mark decided he'd like to go for a walk along the entire length of the Israeli Separation Barrier along the disputed territory between Israel and Palestine. He is touring the UK until the end of September talking about his experiences on his 'Extreme Rambling - Walking the Wall' tour. A friend caught his show at Glastonbury where he mentioned he was given an onion to sniff by some Palestinians who were in disputed territory and regularly had tear gas used on them.. and it worked.. an example of homeopathy in action!