Ananda More: The Magic Pills
OMTimes: Some people associate Homeopathy with the placebo effect. Why is that?
Ananda More: The main criticism of homeopathy is that our remedies are so dilute that there is no way they contain any source material. Therefore, they cannot be anything but a placebo. However, there is a lot of new evidence that says otherwise. And scientific tools are now being developed that can give us a glimpse into understanding homeopathy’s mechanism. In my Film, I discuss the discovery of source material nanoparticles in very high homeopathic dilutions. This work has been replicated all over the world. The realm of physics has become a key area of study for understanding homeopathy’s mechanism – from electromagnetic fields to quantum coherence domains.
The consultative affect – the value of seeing a practitioner, being heard by a non-judgmental and compassionate ear, and taking the time to track your history and understand your personal experiences, in and of itself is said to account for the success of homeopaths. But we have many clinical studies that account for the consultative effect, like Heiner Frei’s crossover study on ADHD and, of course, basic science research performed on cells in vitro. There’s a bibliography of such studies available here https://magicpillsmovie.com/basic-research-homeopathy/
OMTimes: How important is it to understand the physical and emotional dynamic for a patient’s homeopathic healing?
Ananda More: The way I practice homeopathy, this is vital. That is why a first consultation can take 2 hours. Every remedy has a physical, mental, and emotional picture, and each layer reflects on the other’s expression. 10 people can be present for the same event. All leave with entirely different memory and interpretation of the experience. We all have the filters through which we engage with the world. Our values, fears, ambitions, and loves set us apart from all other people on this planet. This is where an excellent homeopathic prescription lies – when you can address the whole person and the patterns they present on all levels of their being.
OMTimes: We can say that homeopathic treatment is effective, promoting the organism’s rebalancing, and does not offer side effects like chemical drugs. Also, homeopathy treatment has a much lower cost. Even with these in its favor, its natural expansion and general acceptance have not occurred. Why is that?
Ananda More: The effectiveness of homeopathy is a significant threat to the medical, industrial complex. This is an industry that spends more money on lobbying governments than any other. Healing people in affordable ways is not financially viable. That is why in countries like Cuba, where the pharmaceutical system was not-for-profit, they could integrate homeopathy on a national level. It’s a fact that our current societal structure prioritizes profits over people and the planet.
There is a publication bias in place that prevents scientists from pursuing careers in homeopathy. They will never get the funding nor make a name for themselves in such pursuits, nor will they easily publish their research. Some medical journals are funded by pharmaceutical advertising dollars. The journals lose money if they publish this kind of research.
OMTimes: In your opinion, what are the barriers that need to be overcome by Homeopathy as a healing system today?
Ananda More: One of the barriers is being able to treat a large number of people quickly. This is done in acute situations, but for patients with chronic illness, this is less common. The Banerji’s, featured in Magic Pills, have changed this with their unconventional protocols. There is still so much we can learn about what is possible with homeopathy!
Other significant barriers to entry for homeopathy to the mainstream include publication bias. The fact that our medicines can’t (and shouldn’t be) patented, which keeps profits low, lack of funding for research, and a profit-driven healthcare model.
OMTimes: A Homeopathy treatment is used by people of different ages? But can a baby use homeopathic medicine?
Ananda More: Homeopathy is safe for all. It is entirely non-toxic. Pregnant women can use it, babies can use it, and people with compromised immune systems can use it. I don’t know how I would have managed my daughter’s infancy without homeopathy.
OMTimes: Are homeopathic products sold in pharmacies and health food stores reliable?
Ananda More: Depends on where you live in the world. Generally, the answer is yes. Make sure you stick with reputable brands. (Boiron, Helios, Ainsworths, OMpharma, Remedia, Washington Homeopathics, Schmidt Nagel, Leonardo), There are excellent smaller companies that make high-quality homeopathic, but it’s good to know the source. In the US, there have been mislabeling problems with companies labeling non-homeopathic products as homeopathic. In countries like India, there can be serious quality issues with local brands. B Jain is an excellent source of remedies in India, I have toured their facilities (you see them in the Film), and they are indeed state of the art.
OMTimes: What is the difference between Homeopathy and Phytotherapy?
Ananda More: Homeopathy follows the law of similars and adopts a greater individualization than phytotherapy. We also often use considerably diluted and potentized substances. However, the phytotherapeutic aspect of a plant is relevant to us as part of its remedy’s picture. A remedy picture is the complete collection of the symptoms it can create and the kind of person it suits.
OMTimes: What are the role nanoparticles play in the new understanding of Homeopathy? Are they useful or just contaminants?
Ananda More: This new research area for homeopathy has created a cognitive dissonance in scientific circles regarding Avogadro’s number (a scientific constant used in chemistry to know how many particles are in a sample). This mathematical formula tells us that homeopathic dilutions beyond a 12C cannot contain even a single source material particle. However, scientists with electron microscopes have observed nanoparticles of source material over and over again in very high dilutions. Whether this leads us to understand the mechanism of homeopathy or not, we still don’t know. However, many theories do include nanoparticles, which operate according to quantum mechanics. One fact remains – the major criticism of homeopathy that it contains no source material no longer applies.
OMTimes: Can you explain to us how “homeoprophylaxis” work? What is its effectiveness?
Ananda More: Homeoprophylaxis refers to using homeopathy in the prevention of illness. Hahnemann first encountered this phenomenon during a scarlet fever outbreak. He found the remedy belladonna appeared to have protective effects against scarlet fever, reproducible and observable. There is a long history in homeopathy of disease prevention that has been very well documented. Even though legally, I am not allowed to claim that homeopathy can prevent any disease, I don’t have to. I think the science and evidence base can speak for themselves. In Magic Pills, I show the story of how Cuba used homeopathy to stop an epidemic in its tracks and reduced the rates of illness due to leptospirosis to below historical rates. The story is quite remarkable. The homeopathic intervention reached 2.3 million people in Eastern Cuba. It saved many lives, reducing leptospirosis incidence (a bacterial disease with a possible 10% mortality rate) by 84% when the rest of Cuba showed elevated rates of the disease thanks to hurricanes that struck the entire country in 2008.
OMTimes: How does Homeopathy work as a treatment for animals? Is there any difference in treating pets, farm animals, or wildlife, or are they under the same homeopathic protocol?
Ananda More: I’m not a vet, and I don’t really treat animals in my practice. However, homeopathy is universal. We treat according to the symptom picture regardless of whether we’re treating humans, animals, or plants.
OMTimes: Why do you think that homeopathy does not have the same “weight” as conventional allopathic treatment, despite having a more and integrated proposal for holistic healing (of body/mind)?
Ananda More: See response to number 10 – a truly holistic health model is only now starting to be addressed in allopathic medicine. It is still in a superficial stage of development. Science these days is propelled by profits and money. If the financial gains are minimal or threaten corporate interests, the backlash will be enormous. They have focused their energies on the age-old game of discrediting the opponent, regardless of how sound their science is.
Continue to Page 3 of the Interview with Ananda More
