At the moment we have an outbreak in New Zealand… of fear. There is a lot of effort going into scaring the population about measles and its complications, and pushing MMR vaccination. My personal opinion is that vaccination is a personal choice- and if you consider all of the risks for the disease and the vaccine, and you choose to
There are two remedies from cannabis in our homeopathic literature: Cannabis Indica and Cannabis Sativa. Cannabis Indica is what we call marijuana, while Cannabis Sativa is hemp. John Henry Clarke notes in his Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica that they are botanically identical, and that Cannabis Indica is East Indian Cannabis Sativa, what is different is the soil and climate
Every year as a Pharmacist I need to identify two goals to focus on for my Continuing Professional Development. This year, I chose to look at Medicinal Cannabis, as we are dispensing more CBD and THC, and I recognised I didn’t know much about it. For me, writing helps me learn and assimilate the information I have found out, so
My children have been obsessed with this movie and the songs for weeks. Despite hearing the music on repeat every hour of the day, it took a wet day for me to sit down and watch the move for them. I’ve always been a fan of musicals, so animated K-pop movies are not that big a stretch and I really
Everyone is talking paracetamol, after USA President Trump made a statement that paracetamol in pregnancy increases autism risk. It has freaked a lot of people out, and I want to discuss more about this. First of all, paracetamol is metabolised in the liver, and requires glutathione to detox it. Glutathione is one of our important antioxidants and is needed to
Last year I looked at three remedies through the lens of Te Whare Tapa Whā. If you would like to read about Phosphorus, Nux Vomica and Sulphur you can find them here: https://www.homeopathbarbara.nz/homeopathic-remedies-through-a-te-ao-maori-lens/ This year I have chosen three other remedies that I use often, and have taken a new look at them. This is a snapshot of each remedy and
I have recently finished a 9 week course on Astrology for Homeopaths, and I have been amazed at the depth of information from an astrology chart. I’ve never really resonated with the daily or monthly horoscopes you used to get in a newspaper or magazine, it never made sense that everyone within that 30 day period would have the same
Oxytocin was first discovered in 1906, when Sir Henry Dale extracted the neuropeptide from the posterior pituitary gland. This substance was later called oxytocin – oxy- meaning acid or sharp, and -tocin meaning birth; (however it has been suggested that it should have been ocytocin, as ocy- means fast, and as originally used oxytocin refers to the process of a
It has been a difficult winter, with some severe illnesses going around. One of the difficult things to manage particularly at this time of the year is coughing. One of my children used to have a propensity for coughs (fortunately we have worked on that over the years, and her immunity is a lot better, colds no longer go to
There is currently a high risk of Dengue Fever in the Pacific, affecting the islands of Samoa, American Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Tuvalu, Tonga, Kiribati and Nauru. Samoa has had over 2000 cases, and in the last year there have been 208 cases of dengue fever in New Zealand, all acquired overseas. There is no risk of contracting
My Certificate of Professional Coaching arrived! While this will sit in a clear file in my cupboard, I like that tangible proof that I have finished it. I was reflecting on what I learnt through the process. Despite one of my final assignments being about setting up a business, (which I really could have talked myself into doing if I
When I studied homeopathy I learnt to be careful of Staphisagria. That it was indicated for “honeymoon cystitis” but in cases of abuse it could bring back flashbacks, and Morrison’s desktop guide even cautions using it when there is a situation the client cannot get out of as it can make them more reactive and potentially cause more ‘turmoil’.
One of the tricky things in homeopathy is trying to predict how healing will happen, what is the exact effect that a remedy will have for someone with a chronic or long term condition. Because the remedy is stimulating the body to make changes, and the body itself has it’s own level of importance, we cannot predict the effect of
This week I’m sharing more of my learnings from the HRI Conference, and this one is a subject which comes up all the time in homeopathy – but how does it work? Dr Alexander Tournier, who is the Chairman of HRI, gave a presentation on a recent publication of a scoping review of what published articles suggest as the mode of
Over the next couple of weeks I’m going to share some information from a couple of presentations at the HRI conference. I’ve also written a report for the Homeopathic Society, so if you are a member you can read a summary of most of presentations when Homeopathica comes out in the next couple of weeks. This week and next though
Thank you for all your good wishes for my time away- I am back working and all caught up on my many emails now. I thought I would do a brief recap of my holiday, and also talk about the conference, my reason for being there! I will have a few more in depth posts about certain parts of the
Being Prepared for Winter Illness We’re heading into July, which in New Zealand is typically the coldest time of the year. I haven’t already discussed dealing with colds and illness this winter, so this is what you need to think about. First of all, let’s talk prevention, the fundamental building blocks for health and wellbeing: lifestyle, what we eat and
Greek Gods of Healing As you know, I’m in Greece, and now the conference is over I’m taking some time to travel around. I had a lot of fun organising my itinerary, and also took the time to read more about the history of Greece – which you can’t do without considering the Greek Gods and Ancient Greece. Most people
𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐊𝐢𝐭 When you’re travelling, there is a balance between packing light, but also taking everything you need as well as some “just in case” remedies to be prepared. The good thing about homeopathy is that the doses are small, so you can take a good number of remedies and it takes up less space than supplements! Despite this, you still
Psychology and Homeopathy I was interviewed by Paul Brennan on RCR homeopathy about the NZ Homeopaths Demographics Survey, and we got off topic and started talking about homeopathy in general. (You can listen here: https://test.rcr.media/episodes/health-hacks-barbara-roberts-inside-new-zealands-homeopathy-shake-up). One thing he commented was with the holistic model there must be some psychology involved. Of course, in homeopathy the mental emotional aspect is so
We are looking for New Zealand Homeopaths to complete a survey and then be interviewed by a member of the research team. After the 2023 Demographics Survey, questions were raised: What does success as a Homeopath and meaningful practice look like? How and why do Homeopaths balance other jobs and practice? How does unpaid work and commitments impact on practice?
Gratitude is a practice of consciously recognising and appreciating the good things that happen in life. While it sounds like a simple practice, it is one that has deep reaching effects on mental, emotional and physical wellbeing. I like to describe the way this works as two paths through the woods – the one that is walked along more frequently
I have talked before about Te Whare Tapa Whā, which is a well known Māori model of health, using the four walls of a whare (house) to describe four pillars of health. It is not the only model however, and Te Wheke, the octopus, was developed by Dr Rangimarie Rose Pere in 1997 as another model for health and education.
In homeopathy we have a wide range of remedies- from large “polychrests” that have many symptoms across all parts of the body, to smaller remedies that seem to be quite specific for different organs or parts of the body. Dr. James Compton Burnett, was a Medical Doctor turned Homeopath in England in the late 19th century. He was an excellent