Ananda More: The Magic Pills
Ananda More is a Homeopath, with training and expertise in many areas including the treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders and birth support. She is well known for directing and producing Magic Pills: Promise or Placebo, a documentary that examines the mainstream media’s narrative of homeopathy and challenges that perspective by examining the science, evidence, and real-world use of homeopathy on a large scale around the world.
An Interview with Ananda More: The Magic Pills
Interview by Liane Buck
Canadian Filmmaker and homeopathic practitioner Ananda More crisscross the world to meet with scientists, practitioners, and patients to learn whether homeopathy is science-based or is an elaborate placebo that cons millions and endangers lives?
Ananda graduated from the Ontario College of Homeopathic Medicine in 2005, went on to study around the world with some of the most highly recognized homeopaths, and became co-owner of Riverdale Homeopathy, a clinic, bookstore, dispensary, and general hub for everything homeopathic in North America. She has served on the council for the homeopathic regulatory body of Ontario and the board of the Ontario Homeopathic Association.
As a practicing homeopath, Ananda became increasingly disillusioned with the portrayal of homeopathy in mainstream media, particularly after being misrepresented by local magazines. She was familiar with the evidence base and was aware that the press was shaping a prejudiced narrative. She knew something had to be done to educate the public fairly and allow people to decide for themselves, and advocate for health choice freedoms. That is where the vision for Magic Pills arose, and a 9-year journey of filmmaking and producing ensued.
Homeopathy did not merely seek to cure a disease but treated disease as a sign of the whole human organism’s disorder. This was also recognized in the Upanishad, which spoke of human organs as a combination of body, mind, and spirit. Homeopathy would play an important part in the Public Health of the country along with other systems. Medical facilities in India are so scanty that Homoeopathy can confidently visualize a vast field of expansion.
~ Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
Magic Pills Trailer from Ananda on Vimeo.
OMTimes: What inspired you to create and produce the movie, Magic Pills?
Ananda More: I was at a conference where Dr. Bracho, from the Finlay Institute in Cuba, presented the incredible results they had with homeoprophylaxis in the face of a dangerous epidemic resulting from hurricanes. I discuss this in-depth in the Film. At the time, I was totally shocked that this had been done, and the knowledge that every mainstream medical journal refused to publish the study without scientific reasoning, just ridiculous excuses like, “this isn’t for our audience.” I felt that this was important. The world needed to know that homeopathy has a real evidence base. There is a real publication bias in medical journals against research that shows positive outcomes for homeopathy. If people don’t know what homeopathy can, no one will defend it as its loss is threatened.
OMTimes: What opened your eyes to Homeopathy? Did you have a personal experience with it?
Ananda More: I was initially very skeptical about homeopathy. It didn’t make logical sense to me. Still, I was taught the concept in a class called “Witchcraft and the Occult,” you can imagine that Homeopath was introduced to us as a nonsensical, unscientific medical art. Still, upon more in-depth inspection, nothing could be further from the truth. Several years later, while backpacking through India, I found myself sick with what travelers have termed Delhi Belly – a bad vomiting and diarrhea case. A friend who was traveling with me brought out her homeopathic kit and offered me some of her little sugar pills. Not wanting to offend her, I agreed to try. I was astounded. 15 min later, I felt perfectly fine. This opened me up, and I decided to see a homeopath for constitutional treatment. What did I have to lose? And for me, it was miraculous. The homeopathic treatment helped me recover from life-long depression.
OMTimes: Could you define to us what is Homeopathy and why it is so different from our current conventional system of healing?
Ananda More: Homeopathy is a complete medical system that relies on minute amounts of a substance to trigger a healing response in the body. What we call the vital force – the energy that animates us. The human body is capable of incredible things and has an innate ability to heal profoundly; homeopathy simply assists the vital force in recognizing what needs to heal and how to do it.
OMTimes: What are the 4 pillars of Homeopathy?
Ananda More: 1. The Law of Similars or the tenet of Like cures like – this means that a substance that creates a set of symptoms in a healthy person will help heal those similar symptoms in a sick person.
2. Minimum Dose – We give the body the least amount of medicine required to stimulate an effect.
3. Totality of Symptoms – this means that we look at all aspects of a person and their illness and wellness expression. If we are treating an acute, we look at all aspects of that condition, including what makes it better or worse, the quality of sensations (such as burning, throbbing, aching), and the location.
4. You probably want to address the idea of a single remedy at a time. I don’t think this is always the appropriate way to treat someone. This is something that you would find under contention in the homeopathic community. There are many different perspectives. However, looking at Hahneman’s case notes, you will see that he often prescribed multiple remedies at a time with patients. I have seen combination remedies be beneficial, so I no longer discount them – even if they’re not a part of my daily practice. But I will often give more than one remedy at a time, a constitutional and something to address an acute for extra support.
OMTimes: Can you explain to us how the Principle of Similarity works in Homeopathy?
Ananda More: This is similar to the idea of immunization or allergy shots. We present the body with a small amount of what could hurt it to teach the immune system how to protect against it. However, homeopathy is also an energetic medicine. Small stimulus from the remedy can elicit a physical, emotional, mental, and energetic response for holistic healing. The healing modality addresses the root cause of diseases, not just the symptoms.
Often conventional drugs only address the symptom. It would be like disconnecting the wire to the check engine light on your car and carrying on driving instead of figuring out why the engine light has come on.
OMTimes: In your understanding as a Holistic Practitioner and Homeopath, what is the long-term harm of giving so many chemical drugs to a patient from an early age?
Ananda More: Pharmaceutical drugs have many side effects associated with them. A major one being dysbiosis – a microbial imbalance of the gut which can lead to many life-altering complications. I know this personally as I faced auto-immune disease and very debilitating issues stemming from dysbiosis. More and more research come out regarding the side effects and adverse reactions to counter medications every year. For example, in 2016, Health Canada announced that cough syrup and cold medications should not be given to children due to the risk of serious harm. Iatrogenic death (caused by medical treatment) from using the medicine as prescribed is considered one of the significant causes of death globally. The conventional, chemically-based medical system carries a lot of risks.
How often do we see people prescribed medications to deal with the side effects of the medications they’re taking? These drug cocktails are all understood to have serious health concerns. Still, the medical industry considers the illness’s risk as worse than the risk of the treatment. In my mind, this isn’t healing. This is managing symptoms and creating new diseases in the body. Hahnemann called this complicating disease.
Continue to Page 2 of the Interview with Ananda More
