The Vital Approach
Language
English
Type
Paperback
Publisher
The White Room
5 Items In stock
€20.00
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The Vital Approach is a condensed introduction in the case taking and analysis techniques based on Annes thorough understanding and experience. It is clear, methodic and sophisticated and enables to see the beauty of the coherent pattern in every case.
This is what Christel Lombaerts, head of the CKH, says about 'The Vital Approach': Ten years ago, when I attended my first homeopathy class ever, I was immediately captivated by the intriguing way in which Anne presented homeopathic philosophy. Her teaching was a living illustration of the adage that the mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled. She wanted us to be curious and inquisitive. She encouraged us to speak up, to argue, to question her and each other. Most of all she prompted us to make up our own minds, to deconstruct our beliefs about health and disease and to come to terms with the homeopathic paradigm in due course.
Annes own unusual, investigating mind continues to question whatever is presented to her in- and outside homeopathy. She was at the front row when new developments in homeopathy promised to make the homeopathic curriculum simpler, the material medica manageable, the homeopaths life easier. However, she did not assimilate unquestioningly the new insights nor did she pass them on without having them confirmed in practice. Always with her students and teachings in mind, she critically assessed provings, case-taking methods as well as theories. The Vital Approach is the result of more than twenty years of skilfully applying knowledge of materia medica, theory and philosophy, without ever losing sight of homeopathys protagonist: the patient.
Both in her teaching and practice Anne lives up to her own high standards of ethics, with compassion and care. In the last years Anne has become more to me than a teacher. She has become an invaluable colleague, a friend, a beacon in the turbulent waters of homeopathy today. I am challenging everyone with a passion for homeopathy, regardless of his or her background, to have Annes Vital Approach shed a new light on this fascinating art of healing.
excerpt from The Vital Approach
In our homeopathic jargon we are treating the disturbed vital force or dynamis that lies beyond mind and body but expresses itself on them.
If we can guide the patient along the levels of experience during case taking and we can make him express the disturbance of his vital force (his vital disturbance) in words, we can make a sure prescription. But often we wont be able or it will take too long. In children cases or patients who dont express well, we will be at a loss. With patients who cant get deep enough, we risk to have the feeling of failure as practitioners.
The Vital Approach is an answer to these problems since there is a methodic way to spot the vital disturbance on all levels. It merely takes discernment between what is common and what is vital and that is what Im teaching.
Exploring the different levels of experience we can focus on the vital sensation, even when questioning the physical complaints or the emotions. The vital disturbance is on all levels all of the time.
If the disturbance is confirmed on different levels, domains or topics we see the coherent pattern that underlies all feelings, actions and functions. That is the thing we are looking for in our patients. It is what I understand Hahnemann meant when he considered disease as a spirit- like disturbance of the dynamis.
This pattern is like a matrix through which the patient sees himself and the outside world. Because it means a limitation and produces conditions to be OK we call it disturbance. In reality there are no limitations or conditions, only freedom and imperfect perfections. In reality things just are.
In the chapter of the anamnesis I made an attempt to give useful hints how to get reliable information from the patient in the most natural way. All homeopaths said it before and I cant but confirm that a proper anamnesis is more than half of the work. But I realize at the same time that nothing compares to a life demonstration. I consider this as the best means to convey the subtleness and at the same time the firm classical fundament of this Approach. In this sense this Manual should be read as an appetizer and I hope it makes the reader longing for more...
| ISBN | 9789081001700 |
|---|---|
| Author | -- Please Select -- |
| Type | Paperback |
| Language | English |
| Publication Date | 2010 |
| Pages | 136 |
| Publisher | The White Room |
| Review | This book review is reprinted with the permission from the Winter 2010 Edition of The Homeopath. Reviewed by Margot Maidment RSHom Anne Vervarcke has impressive credentials and has been a teacher and practitioner for 15 years, during the course of which she has developed her own style of practice, which she calls the Vital Approach. This book is apparently a response to a plea from her students for a place where they could 'find a book with (her) teachings'. Her initial reply to this plea was to assert that she had nothing original to say, but was merely combining the basics of homeopathy and the insights of the contemporary leading homeopaths with her own clinical experience. Evidently she changed her mind and this book is the fruit of that mental turnaround. She is convinced that the Vital Approach is the route to finding the simillimum, and acknowledges the importance of the leaders in this field but warns that conceptual schemas need to be considered in practical contexts otherwise she fears that their use is liable to lead to many errors in practice Vervarcke offers a five level diagram as a working model by which to perceive the subtle bodies of a living being. This is reminiscent of but not identical to Sankaran's seven levels of experience. Like Sankaran, she sees the 'vital sensation' as being the common link between the mind/body experience. Vervarcke makes a valuable distinction between the Energetic, her level 2 and the Vital, her level 5 (Sankaran's sensation level). It is at this level, she claims, that the uniqueness of the patient is expressed. She then proceeds to distinguish between the five levels in terms of concept and treatment. In doing this she points out that there can be a lot of confusion around the concept of energy, asserting that ' Homeopathy is not an energy medicine as such'. She points out that we all feel we somehow know to what this concept refers but this is where the problem lies. Vervarcke's distinction encourages us to be more precise in our definitions, her view being that a concept that is self evident or somehow' obvious' is a useless generalisation for practical purposes. One caveat to my general approval of the book is that the author does make some statements that are unexamined. For example, she states that the basic axiom, 'you are what you eat', is quite contrary to the understanding offered from the homeopathic viewpoint. This axiom holds that 'the health stores will provide all that is necessary for a strong and healthy body... and believe that all the other levels will benefit, while the homeopath treats level five knowing that all other levels will benefit'. While I acknowledge the supreme importance of the sensation level or level five in Vervacke's schema, as a trained nutritional therapist and a homeopath, and having heard Jeremy Sherr on his activities in Africa relating that giving a well indicated remedy to a hungry person removed symptoms but did not make the person well, I think that adequate nutrition has to be considered seriously as an obstacle to cure or a maintaining cause. That said the book is very readable and suitable for novices and experienced homeopaths alike. A minor caveat is that some of the grammar and language use is idiosyncratic, but I shall certainly be returning to this book to give more consideration at leisure to the insights she provides. |
Review
This book review is reprinted with the permission from the Winter 2010 Edition of The Homeopath.
Reviewed by Margot Maidment RSHom
Anne Vervarcke has impressive credentials and has been a teacher and practitioner for 15 years, during the course of which she has developed her own style of practice, which she calls the Vital Approach.
This book is apparently a response to a plea from her students for a place where they could 'find a book with (her) teachings'. Her initial reply to this plea was to assert that she had nothing original to say, but was merely combining the basics of homeopathy and the insights of the contemporary leading homeopaths with her own clinical experience. Evidently she changed her mind and this book is the fruit of that mental turnaround.
She is convinced that the Vital Approach is the route to finding the simillimum, and acknowledges the importance of the leaders in this field but warns that conceptual schemas need to be considered in practical contexts otherwise she fears that their use is liable to lead to many errors in practice
Vervarcke offers a five level diagram as a working model by which to perceive the subtle bodies of a living being. This is reminiscent of but not identical to Sankaran's seven levels of experience. Like Sankaran, she sees the 'vital sensation' as being the common link between the mind/body experience.
Vervarcke makes a valuable distinction between the Energetic, her level 2 and the Vital, her level 5 (Sankaran's sensation level). It is at this level, she claims, that the uniqueness of the patient is expressed. She then proceeds to distinguish between the five levels in terms of concept and treatment. In doing this she points out that there can be a lot of confusion around the concept of energy, asserting that ' Homeopathy is not an energy medicine as such'. She points out that we all feel we somehow know to what this concept refers but this is where the problem lies. Vervarcke's distinction encourages us to be more precise in our definitions, her view being that a concept that is self evident or somehow' obvious' is a useless generalisation for practical purposes.
One caveat to my general approval of the book is that the author does make some statements that are unexamined. For example, she states that the basic axiom, 'you are what you eat', is quite contrary to the understanding offered from the homeopathic viewpoint. This axiom holds that 'the health stores will provide all that is necessary for a strong and healthy body... and believe that all the other levels will benefit, while the homeopath treats level five knowing that all other levels will benefit'. While I acknowledge the supreme importance of the sensation level or level five in Vervacke's schema, as a trained nutritional therapist and a homeopath, and having heard Jeremy Sherr on his activities in Africa relating that giving a well indicated remedy to a hungry person removed symptoms but did not make the person well, I think that adequate nutrition has to be considered seriously as an obstacle to cure or a maintaining cause.
That said the book is very readable and suitable for novices and experienced homeopaths alike. A minor caveat is that some of the grammar and language use is idiosyncratic, but I shall certainly be returning to this book to give more consideration at leisure to the insights she provides.
