Sensations: The Healing Power of Homeopathy

by Ildiko Ran, CCH, with Anna Menyhert, PhD

Inner Experience Press, 2007, softcover, 232 pages, $18.95

ISBN: 978-0-9799303-0-0

Reviewed by CAROL BOYCE, CCH, RSHom(NA)

"Aude sapere/Dare to know"

- Samuel Hahnemann, founder of homeopathy, 1755-1843

 Throughout the history of homeopathy's evolution, there has been a continual and healthy debate within the homeopathic community. Is a methodology sufficiently classical? Is one posology (i.e. method of dosing) more effective than another? Are miasms just a theory or an essential component of prescribing?

Practitioners of different persuasions describe describe different experiences, and each claim their own o  be the most valid. In the process of this exchange, there has been the opportunity for mutual education and growth.

But even the furor created in the mid-1980s by the disappearance of my erstwhile eclectic teachers to a small Greek island to study with homeopath George Vithoulkas pales in comparison to the split in the homeopathic community created by the latest refinement if the work of Dr. Rajan Sankaran of India.

Sankaran's "Sensation Method" is hailed by some as the most important evolution in recent homeopathic history, some even assert possible since Hahnemann himself, while others maintain it is to be resisted at all cost. Students are attracted by the method's apparent simplicity, while many teachers struggle with how (or if indeed) it should be integrated into established curricula based on a solid foundation of homeopathic philosophy. 

Supporters of the Sensation Method would describe it as a style of case-taking and analysis that is absolutely built on solid homeopathic philosophy, and Ildiko Ran offers her book as a way into the mind of a homeopath who uses this method to solve cases.

The book is presented as an introduction to this particular homeopathic methodology and is divided into chapters, the first of which is entitle "Need for a Paradigm Shit" and described as: "...an introduction to homeopathy, with the main focus on the Sensation Method. It describes the system, the process, the tools, and the goal of treatment." Comprising just twenty-three pages, the introduction covers "The Challenge," "The System of Homeopathy," "The Emergence of the Sensation Method," and "The Techniques of a Homeopath."

In The Challenge, Ildiko invites readers to "... explore homeopathy, even if it sounds unfamiliar to you at first." In The System of Homeopathy, she describes the vital force, gives a brief explanation of the law of similars, and a homeopathic definition of disease and healing. In The Emergence of the Sensation Method, she moves straight to the crux of Sankaran's approach. At only 11 pages, it is the briefest of overviews, necessary of appreciation of the cases that follow, rather than a study of the method. Six pages of Techniques of a Homeopath include hand gestures, the value of a patient's doodles, "source language," and the flow of the interview.

In light of this brevity, Ildiko rightly recommends in the Author's Note: "...It is important to emphasize that there are essential basic ideas in homeopathy the Sensation Method rests upon, which the scope of this book does not allow (us) to explore."

The remainder of the book is divided into three chapters, introducing and then giving illustrative cases of patients who were given remedies from each of the three kingdoms – animal, plant, and mineral. The cases are given in dialogue format and abbreviated for ease of understanding: the patient's words are given with explanations to clarify issues or explain the practitioner's thought process. The intakes flow well and demonstrate the particular process of case-taking used in the Sensation Method. It is as if we are present in her practice watching as a case unfolds, sharing in her though process, in her discovery of the patient's "source material," and witnessing the consequent transformation when the patient receives their remedy.

For those new to concept of the Sensation Method or not currently using it in their practice, she offers explanatory sections, which put her actions into context and identify the differences between this method of case-taking and analysis and others.

The ten cases epitomize the gentle but persistent way the homeopath enables the patient to reach their own "Human Song," as Sankaran describes it, and more importantly facilitates expression of the patient's "Other Song," the one that need to be quieted in the journey to cure. 


Ildiko shows how acutely present the homeopath must be in order to clues from the patient's unconscious language, context, and hand gestures, as well as to connect those clues and the pattern they describe, to the source material hence the remedy prescribed. 

In the two-page section on "Homeopathic Interviewing of Children" and the two cases of children included in the book, it is clear that the author is very relaxed and highly skilled in this arena, and by the final cases we are getting an idea of how, as experienced practitioners, we might duplicate the process for ourselves. 

For those not familiar with Sankaran’s latest refinement of his method, her book offers a useful insight and some compelling cases. For those not familiar with homeopathy at all, it could offer an example of the potential of homeopathy as a therapeutic option. For those practitioners with experience of the Sankaran method, it might offer a text to recommend to others who have not yet tested the water. In its attempt to please too wide an audience it may not have fully satisfied any, and perhaps might have been better to focus on the experienced practitioner exploring a new methodology through the lens of cured cases. The section devoted to a general introduction to homeopathy could then have been used to explain the Sensation Method in more depth.

As with many self-published books, errors which are nothing more than a mild distraction for the reader can be expected, but there are a few, especially in the introduction, that may lead to ambiguity of meaning and possibly reduce the clarity of the concepts described. However, all that said, once into the cases, the book is engaging – providing an insight into the potential of the Sensation Method and encouraging readers to perhaps delve deeper and try the method for themselves, as practitioners or as patients.