In its most basic definition, homeopathy is a natural science of medicines, called remedies, said to help people heal physically, emotionally and spiritually from the inside out.

“Homeopathy helps all parts of a person to shift into better balance instead of treating one symptom at a time,” Schoder-Ehri said.

After achieving credentials through the School of Homeopathy in Devon England, Schoder-Ehri set up an office last year in her home at 480 Grubstake in downtown Homer, naming her business Bare Hands Homeopathy.

Though for 200 years this approach to health flourished in other parts of the world and the United States, homeopathy fell victim to amnesia and hostility among the American health establishment in the mid-20th century.

Homeopathy was founded by an 18th century German doctor, Samuel Hahne-mann. Medical practitioners at the time were using blood-letting measures such as leeches and mercury and arsenic cures. Horrified at high death rates, Hahnemann developed over his lifetime a system based on medicines that work with the natural energy of the mind-body connection.

Homeopathy grew as a practice and today is considered a common, cost-effective health care system. It is included in national health care programs in Europe, Canada and many countries around the world. Even the United States counted one out of five physicians at the turn of the 20th century as practicing homeopathy, with 22 homeopathic medical colleges. During the 1918 flu pandemic, homeopathic doctors lost only 1 percent of their patients, according to homeopathy historian Julian Winston. One in four people in the world contracted influenza then, and millions died.

With the rise of modern medicine and technology, the United States saw fewer practitioners of Hannemann’s arts. The homeopathic schools were closed in the 1930s. Young physicians were no longer able to learn homeopathic principles because those were not taught in the medical schools.

In the 1980s, Sara Berg was the only homeopath in Alaska. She entered the profession after being a nurse practitioner and has treated hundreds of cases. Today, Schoder-Ehri and Berg are thought to be the only practicing classical homeopaths in Alaska. (Many naturopathic physicians use homeopathy as part of their care, and many individuals and families use remedies for first aid and illness.)

Homeopathy is now experiencing greater favor with the American public, who may well be watching its success at treating Europeans and Canadians. Today there are an estimated 11,000 practicing homeopaths in the United States, according to a survey at www.homeopathy.org

Prescribing a “whole person” homeopathic remedy takes years of study and practice, Berg and Schoder-Ehri say. It’s a constant art of listening to patients and finding remedy matches. The first “constitutional” visit begins with an inventory that may take up to two hours. During that time, a health history is taken and a variety of questions are asked to discover where the patient is at in his or her life, spiritually, physically and mentally.

“The symptoms and the individual’s personality guide a first choice,” Schoder-Ehri said. “The process of refining remedy selection can take many months or longer, but a person usually knows that something is shifting, and a homeopath helps them ‘stay the course’ in their healing. Sometimes several remedies are needed in sequence to affect a cure, especially for chronic conditions.”

Homeopathy also can be effective at times when the person who arrives for help needs an acute remedy, something to stop an immediate trauma for a single condition.

During the process of finding a match, “you’re being deeply listened to and cared about. We’re not responding as counselors. We’re going to be a match-maker — to find you a remedy based on you as an individual to help your own system heal from within,” Schoder-Ehri said.

Berg said she has treated people with ailments ranging from diabetes to stress to high blood pressure. Her own diabetes found a cure in homeopathy, she said.

“I don’t have diabetes anymore,” Berg said.

It also works on children, who often can’t explain what they are feeling emotionally or physically.

“You can watch a child and learn a lot,” said Berg, who makes frequent treks to Honduras where she helps heal orphaned children suffering a variety of ailments.

The remedies also work on animals, practitioners say. Schoder-Ehri credits homeopathy for curing her dog, Runi, of seizures.

Homeopathic remedies come from animal, plant or mineral forms, as do some pharmaceuticals. The homeopath is looking for additional ways to treat the whole person, which may be encouraging them get into a Yoga class, see a family counselor, quit smoking or take other preventative measures that create lasting health.

One common problem might be a person’s energy level during the winter when lethargy or stress prevents people from being able to fully function.

“Three different people with seasonal affective disorder could benefit from three very different remedies,” Schoder-Ehri said.

One would find they felt a “heaviness lift’ in the first week. Another would have decreased appetite, less back pain and begin to volunteer over the next three month, Schoder-Ehri said. A third might wean slowly off antidepressants over the following year in consultation with a doctor.

Ruthe Schoder-Ehri

“I think homeopathy can work alongside conventional medicine to treat conditions,” she said. “Every patient takes responsibility for his or her own health. Homeopathy is there to meet and enhance the system’s amazing ability to heal itself.”

Enough of enmity in the past between conventional medicine and homeopathy, Schoder-Ehri said. “The more communication there is, the better, whether that’s with doctors, massage therapists or (those doing other energy work) or the veterinarian.

We can all work together in the healing arts.”

And now back to the puzzle that launched a new career for Schoder-Ehri: if working with a mother or father who lost a baby to SIDS, the nurse now feels she has more tools.

“The woman who lost her baby might benefit from an acute remedy and then a week or two later, a constitutional based on her individual reaction to the loss,” she said. “It’s a matter of who is this person and what might she need from the natural world?”