Minutus

Hi,
I am leaving New Delhi today.
You would wish that finding a good classical homeopath in New Delhi would be easy. I suspect not. Staying alive as a homeopath is so much more important. Anyone know of a good referral for a constitutional case of a man with a stutter, slow digestion and fingernail deformities, otherwise young and healthy.
Ellen Madono

You could suggest Dr. Ashoka Borkar in Goa. He is strictly classical and if he is too far to travel to I am sure he will recommend a likeminded colleague.

​Maria,

I see mention of "the other song" on his website. Seems that Sankaran pops up everywhere. I think his method is really difficult to implement, so it is hard to imagine a New Delhi homeopath doing it unless he has a way to keep the patients coming and still make a living by not spending so much time with each patient.​

​Best,​

Ellen Madono

Hello Ellen,
I went to study with Dr Ashok Borkar (with two students) as I was told he handles 60 patients a day, is strictly classical and is an exceptionally adept homeopath. I found it all to be true. He is very effective and a compassionate and good person. What I did not know is that he has a team of 10 homeopaths he works with and is training. (Not all students). Dr Borkar goes over, checks and does final remedy selection of all cases that go through his clinic. Yes, every new case gets a thorough interview both by staff and Dr Borkar.

We spent a month, 200 hours with him in clinic. He was trained by Rajan and still teaches for him. Rajan is quite brilliant, his method works well when cases are homogenous - for convoluted, highly suppressed or twisted pathological cases Borkar lets the pathology guide, very Hahnemannian with due attention to modalities, pecularities (". . . What in this case does not make sense?" He used to ask,) and especially attends to Hahnemann's anti miasmatic treatment methods (Chronic Diseases).
I guarantee you will not find a more Hahnemannian approach to homeopathy.

Students and I were delighted that he felt the British Institute of Homeopathy (my school) trained some of the best students he has ever worked with.). A nice complement!!!

Studying with him was an enriching experience. It was like a finishing school for me. Like a good carpenter who knows his trade and then studies with an exceptional 'finishing carpenter'. Dr Borkar was very generous with the information he has learned based on his 20 years experience with 60 patients a day, 6 days a week. He is an outstanding homeopath and an outstanding and dedicated teacher.
He taught a perpetual student like me lots of little things that make a huge difference in my practice.
Your referral will not be sorry to see him.

Warmly, Maria

Ellen

I did study Sankaran's method a few years ago and found it fascinating. It tried to present a very
orderly method in case taking and analysis. The hardest part, I think, is guiding the client thru the

process which is alien to most people and can be threatening when someone is very emotionaly

repressed. However, once the person gets into the flow of the process it is quite amazing what

begins to come up. A positive thing is that you can avoid digging directly into the emotional trauma

of conditions which makes it easier for the client. It does require that you, the practitioner, adjust

your case taking methods and that may be a challenge.
t

Dear Maria and Tanya,

Reading your description of Dr. Brokar stimulates my desire to go to South India, at the same time, I have reservations about pursuing the Sensation Method. Based on what I saw on his site, he only has 3 day seminars. You must have done and internship.

I just returned from 3 months interning with Spero Latchis. He was a teacher for Sankaran and occasionally I saw the sensation method in its full glory. He would catch a gesture or a word and then lead the patient to the next level. But that was rare.

He is now primarily following Farokh Master and the 5 cup posology. I was amazed how powerful remedies were after so much dilution. The focus is wide and classical, and it is not the sensation method.

Spero warned me that the sensation method is very difficult to master. Speaking from many years of experience teaching, he said most students get stuck because they themselves are not willing to go to the level of sensation. I will describe my take on the problem later. Sankaran quotes him saying that you cannot go to the levels above sensation if you do not have a clear case for the levels below. Up to delusions. Pulling delusions out of an interview is rarely easy in my experience.

In Spero's clinic, we saw many very involved pathologies as well as patients who had absolutely no insight into their feelings and delusions much less meaningful sensations. Neither category of patient could be taken to the sensation level in just a few appointments.

Most patients do not have the slightest idea about homeopathy or any alternative modality. Everything is just allopathy. Just getting them to return was the most important first step. My ideal of finding the right remedy in the first interview took a an unrealistic degree of luck when so many patients are waiting outside the interview room door. Even with Spero's skill, hitting the right remedy on the first interview was unusual. He hit the bull's eye often enough though. The feeling of the right remedy was really clear. More interesting though was how he used previous remedies and interviews to come much closer to effective treatment. Not the bull's eye, but a clearly unfolding path of treatment.

Spero would readily spend 2 hours with a patient who he felt was ready to follow instructions and reveal their case. A few could do it on the first interview, but most needed to warm up. So, finding a good enough remedy was the most typical goal. Something that would bring the patient back with hope of more relief.

Farokh has a clinic in Bombay. I spend just a few days in Delhi and contrary to what everyone warned me about, it was bearable. But, it was just after torrential rains so the air was not polluted and the heat was no more than mid-summer Tokyo heat. The big cities of India are overwhelming. I would like to go back to study in Farokh's clinic. But, I have city phobia.

Like Ashok Borkar, Farokh has 10 doctors working below him and several clinics as well as patients in a cancer ward. I doubt that I need extensive training at the level of pathology that he works with. But, actually, I do get some pretty overwhelming cases. I saw them in Spero's clinic too. So, involved pathology is on my short list of problems.
I am thinking, should I plan to go back to work with Spero? Life was interesting and pleasant. Volunteers live in rooms where the foothills of the Himalaya mountains is the panorama of daily life. We live in close contact with Indian village people who were also some of our patients. That meant, the rhythm of harvest and animal care became the rhythm of my life. Spero also allowed me to work on his permaculture fields and that was a first experience for me. I dream now of making my own permaculture garden.

But, I was also thinking that in the future, I wanted to go South instead of going to Bombay. Dr. Borkar's clinic in Goa sound much more pleasant than Bombay. Just a room in Bombay near the downtown clinic would cost 1000 dollars a month. Worse than Tokyo.

But, then I should have training in the Sensation method. Right now, I really don't want to do that. I am training now with following complex cases and repertorization as I interview. I use Sankaran as a good reference, but really mastering the sensation method seems beyond me. I really want to stick to the basics regardless of how impressive the Sensation Method may appear. Here is why:

Spero has a very strong foundation in Tibetan Buddhism. He has been meditating since he was 17 years old and was trained by a very developed lama/teacher. While I was there, I fell into a 10 day seminar on Tibetan Buddhist philosophy and practice. I have been meditating regularly for the last 20 years. For the first time, I felt that I was getting help with my improvised practice. A lot of help. But, I am still a floundering beginner. Probably that realization is a good thing.

This problem of not allowing the patient to go to the level of sensation has a lot to do with the practitioner's inner development. It is not just a problem of knowledge base or practice routines. The homeopath has to be willing to go into a totally non-linear world without expectations of what is acceptable information. Going there in my meditation practice is difficult. Going there with someone else is even a step up in difficulty.

What do you think? Is your experience very different? Any discussion would be appreciated.

Best,
Ellen
Ellen Madono

Dear Maria,
My referral knows nothing about homeopathy. So, he would not travel to Goa for an appointment. I have to find someone in Delhi.
I would however, like to know more about Dr. Bokar for my own training.
Best,
Ellen

Ellen Madono

Ellen

Thanks for sharing such detailed and personal thoughts. When I studied Sensation Method it was

in a Buddhist Monastery in Colorado. One of the teachers practiced Buddhism and it became integral

to the homeopathic training. There were sessions with the Monk who was head of the center so
meditations were part of the training as well as a few lectures. The setting was stunning about
7000 ft above sea level and, needless to say, very pacific. There were a number of problems with the

program that made me back away from it, not least of all the cost of travel and room and board for

a week. I wont go into the problems as the question is more about the Sensation Method. It was very

different from more typical homeopathic training but I found it fascinating and saw possibilities for

some interesting work. But you are right that some people cannot go to the place of letting go and

going inside themselves. However, it also seemed possible to get the information needed to find a
remedy and begin the case. In a sense it was no different than working more traditionally with a repressed person who

provides only factual data and not a lot of words or emotion. In such situations observation is even more

important to try and pick up on nuances and small gestures. I found the training in noticing such gestures

very important as they often punctuate the importance of certain words or ideas of the patient and this
can be used very effectively in any form of case taking. I also found the focus on miasmatic analysis of a
case invaluable as no other person I ever studied with or workshops in which I participated ever did that.

As a matter of fact it was the first time I ever felt I was understanding miasms. The woman who did most of

this teaching used drama/acting vignettes in her teaching method and it was very effective.
I completely understand your emphasis on location of the training as that has a lot to do with your comfort

in the situation. And if you have a choice then why not be in a calm and beautiful place as opposed to a noisy,

bustling city if that is not to your liking. Of course, being in a city could be a good challenge and a learning as

this is the environment with all its unique stressors of the patients that come to you. I do feel one of the problems

with homeopathic training is that it assumes people have the ability to notice and let go of their own biases and

prejudices just because we are told to do so. Homeopaths are human beings first and they always bring their
subjective baggage with them which never gets challenged in trainings. And of course the other big limitation is

the narrowness of the practitioners experience which limits the ability to see/hear deeply what the patient brings
with them. Nobody ever wants to deal with these problems but I have seen them in action with the failure of

success in cases and also turning people off to homeopathy. The Sensation training I took attempted to get people

to look inside themselves so that was a first. It was pretty limited in some ways but at least there was some

acknowledgement of the problems and an effort was being made in the right direction.
t

Hi Tanya,

A week of meditation will not fill the bill. It's a life time project. Yes, going anywhere to learn is so expensive. The plane ticket and some hotels were expensive, but the 3 months on the mountain were not.

My meditation practice is written in the stars. On a full moon, I suddenly decided that I was going to join a training. Knowing nothing about Tibetan Buddhism, I was making a big jump, especially since I had made no reservations. I reached the door and was told there was no room for me. I said since I had come this far, I would wait the 4 hours necessary to find out if there were cancellations. Actually there was plenty of space. But, I needed that full moon energy to keep me moving.

I don't feel that Sankaran has to be my teacher for meditation. Or really any homeopath. That is a life journey. But going to an unidentified psychological place with a patient does require that daily workout on the cushion.

After this intensive internship, and 2 years taking lots of courses on the web, I have decided that I am going to just get better at the day to day practice. With Spero, I am looking for rubrics as the case unfolds. Every nod of the head, movement of the eyes goes with the words. I don't understand Hindi or Tibetan, but somehow I do understand the gestures. Convincing myself that I am seeing something that is comprehensible is part of the struggle. Laying down the other struggle with the computer and just focusing on the patient is also part of it. Spero says stop fooling with that computer and just observe. Then, as the case winds down, he is asking me for my questions. My evaluation. Without the computer work as well as observations, I have nothing to say. It is a challenge.

Blessings,
Ellen
Ellen Madono

Ellen

I think I am hearing you. First, there was no intent to imply that 1 week of meditation is sufficient. They were trying

to teach people how to do it and expected them to make it a long term practice. I am glad that you do this. Once went

to a workshop with a British homeopath, Rob or Bob Bannon (Banion??) The description of his approach was to take the

case while meditating with your eyes wide open. In other words go to that very open and calm place within in order to

receive the case fully. Just another way of saying the same thing.
I can see from your notes that you seem to rely on concrete or materialist structures and that you were being directed

to let go and trust your subjective perceptions, without judgement of course. This seems to be the hard part for many
people. It is a learning that is important no matter how we come to it.
t