The concept of proving in Homeopathy started when Dr. Hahnemann proved cinchona on himself to better understand its curative action on ague fever such as from malaria that is marked by paroxysms of chills, fever, and sweating recurring in regular intervals. A proving is structured as a double-blind and placebo-controlled study. The substance is administered to healthy individuals of different ages and gender. The the diet of the person during the proving must be simple and nutritious, void of any stimulants or medicinal qualities. Symptoms experienced by the prover are documented on all levels; physical, mental, emotional. The symptoms that are not part of the healthy person’s state allow a defining building of materia medica of the curative power of each individual medicine. The purpose of a proving is that it determines the symptom picture of a homeopathic remedy.
How does a proving work?
A group of carefully selected provers start by taking the select remedy until the symptoms appear on a mental, emotional and physical level that are not part of the natural state of the person. The format is a double-blind study which means neither the supervisor nor the prover knows what the remedy is. The supervisor takes a base case of the prover in advance of the proving. The proving is then conducted by giving the remedy chosen until symptoms appear. Provers report to the supervisor daily. The information is collected, edited by taking out any symptoms that the prover expressed before the proving that were part of their natural state already documented in the base case taking. All the information becomes part of the materia medica that homeopaths use to help them solve cases.
In summary, the symptoms produced in a proving in a healthy person reveals the medicinal power to cure. Dr. Hahnemann states “cure of human diseases is only possible through the homeopathic use of medicines.” That is to say, a substance that is capable of provoking certain symptoms in an otherwise healthy body, can also act curatively on similar symptoms in a sick person. This brings us full circle back to the law of similars; “Similia similibus curantur” or “Like cures like”.
Homeopathy treats the person, not the Dis’ease
What I learned in my studies changed the way my brain worked. Or maybe it was that what I learned was a truth that 100% resonated with my very being. Dis’ease is lack of ease. The body sends messages that it’s out of alignment by way of symptoms, hence ‘messages from the body’. Homeopaths use symptoms to guide us to a remedy that helps nudge the body back. Another way to say that would be the homeopathic remedy stimulates the body to self-regulate. I learned that dis’ease is all about our susceptibility as individuals. It’s not about chasing pathogens and killing them. The focus is on the wrong place in the modern world. The reality is that if you don’t respect laws of nature, it will come back with a vengeance. If it’s not about the “bug” then the focus needs to be on our susceptibility. Making ourselves stronger so we are not susceptible to pathogens. If our “terrain” is in a degenerative state, then what thrives on that? Degenerative dis’ease. Treat the person not the diagnosis. The diagnosis can give us clues and can help us monitor the progress of a case. We need to observe that the symptoms which are presenting and changing reflect the proper direction of cure.