Homeopathy is a natural, holistic system of healing discovered by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann in the late 1700`s. Homeopathy is based on the principle of cure, namely, that likes can be treated by likes. This means that small amounts of any substance which causes a disease in a healthy person can be used to treat that very same disease in a patient. Hahnemann also believed that a spirit-like vital force or energy maintained the body`s inner balance or homeostasis. Symptoms are not things to be suppressed but are indications of the body`s attempt to heal itself by changes in the vital force. Diseases are viewed as patterns of symptoms, the language of the vital force in its attempts at self regulation. Homeopathic remedies stimulate the body`s vital energy and thereby encourage healing.
