(Part 5, continued from previous issue)

Before embarking on a more detailed discussion of the miasms, a glance at the yogic and homeopathic concepts of disease in general will provide a foundation for understanding the chronic miasms. According to yoga, all finite forms are derived from the infinite and the formless, and are thus different expressions of one basic underlying energy field. In agreement with this comes the principle that the body is run by prana (energy), prana is directed by the mind, and the mind is guided by higher consciousness. Disease occurs when prana becomes deficient, excessive, obstructed or poorly modulated anywhere in the pranic body. This theory is echoed by Hahnemann in The Organon, a compendium of the philosophy and laws of homeopathy. The concept of disease as a dynamic internal process is basic to homeopathic philosophy. Disease is the expression of a disturbance of the subtle vital force that manifests as signs and symptoms. It is recognized that signs and symptoms are not the disease but represent the disordered vital force’s efforts to restore balance. The locale and area of the physical body in which the signs and symptoms manifest is determined by the region of the disrupted pranic sheath in which the flow of prana has become deficient, excessive, obstructed or poorly modulated. As in yoga, in most cases the maintenance and/or disruption of the integrity of the pranic body is/are under the control of the mind and consciousness. Even though the pranic body is not matter as we think of it, it has a highly sophisticated organization of energy channels (nadis) by means of which the energy that flows from consciousness to the mind, along with the prana that is taken into the body by the breath and food, is distributed with the utmost efficiency to the organs and tissues of the physical body. The different types of prana (apana, vyana, samana, prana and udana vayus) in turn underlie all biochemical and physiological functioning in the physical body. When the intricate organization of the pranic body is disrupted by whatever means, this provides the means for inherent or external subtle disturbing forces (or miasms) to gain entrance into the entire psychophysical complex.

One important fact emerges from both the ancient yogic concepts of the human entity and the homeopathic description of disease, and that is that the three bodies—causal, subtle and gross—along with their five corresponding koshas or energy fields, represent a continuum of energy vibrating at different frequencies but functioning as a whole. Any disturbance at any level will be transferred to all other levels to some extent, depending on the profundity of that disturbance. From this perspective, it makes no sense to limit the physical body to systems or to isolate illness to one part of the physical body. To think of the human being as nothing but a physical body is one of the grossest misconceptions of all times.

(to be continued)

Dr. Barbara Bova, HOD, Dept. of Homeopathy