Podcast 136 — Moms with Moxie: There’s Nothing Special About Me; You Can Do Amazing Things!

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IN THIS PODCAST, WE COVER:

00:59 Introduction: There’s Nothing Special About Me; You Can Do Amazing Things!

         Wendy Dickens

03:08 Is It Ever Too Late To Learn Homeopathy

03:57 In Search of an Answer to Lyme Disease

         Gateway to Practical Homeopathy®: A Guided Study Group Curriculum

07:23 Joining The Academy of Practical Homeopathy®

08:59 From Learning to Teaching to Hanging Out a Shingle and Working With the Amish

11:54 Success Story: Panic Attacks

         Podcast 129: Overcoming Anxiety and Panic Attacks with Practical Homeopathy®

15:03 Success Story: Ganglion Cyst

15:51 Success Story: Fibromyalgia

         “How I Cured My Fibromyalgia With One Simple Medicine”

17:02 Success Story: Anger Issues

         “The Angry Child”

19:26 Success Story: Incontinence

12:04 Closing Advice

         Joette’s Mighty Members

         Joette’s Learning Center

         The Academy of Practical Homeopathy®

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

Joette Calabrese on YouTube (Monday Night Lives)

PracticalHomeopathy.com

Joette's Study Group, Find Your New Study Group Friends

 

Kate:

This is the Practical Homeopathy® Podcast, episode number 136.

Joette:

Hi, I’m Joette Calabrese, and I welcome you to our health care movement — yours, mine and the countless men and women across the globe who have retaken control of their families’ health with Practical Homeopathy®.

So, for the next few minutes, let's link our arms as I demystify homeopathy — what was once considered an esoteric paradigm — into an understandable, reproducible, safe and effective health care solution available to all.

This is the medicine you've been searching for — my unique brand of homeopathy, Practical Homeopathy®.

INTRODUCTION: THERE’S NOTHING SPECIAL ABOUT ME; YOU CAN DO AMAZING THINGS

Kate: (00:59)

Hi, I want to welcome you to today's podcast. I am Kate, and we are so glad that you're here.

I'm here today with Wendy. She's going to share some very interesting stories. I can't wait for you to meet her and hear about how she's using homeopathy.

But first, I want to thank you for taking the initiative to learn about homeopathy. It will no doubt have an impact on your life and those around you — as you will hear it has in Wendy's life in just a minute. If you're new here, we want to welcome you to the podcast.

So, as I said, let's meet Wendy and get started.

Hi, Wendy.

Wendy:

Hi, Kate.

Kate:

It's great to have you here. I can't wait for everyone to hear your story.

So, as always, we like to get to know the people that are joining us on the podcast. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your family?

Wendy:

Sure. My husband and I have been married for 30 years. We live in eastern Iowa. We moved back here a couple of years ago to be closer to our parents and young adult children.

We have five kids; three, I still homeschool. They're 25, 21, 13, 12 and 11. We call 'em our “bigs and our littles” — although the littles aren't so little anymore.

Our youngest two are adopted from foster care, and I only share that because with that — for anyone who is familiar with adoption — there's lots of unique things that come out of that, both beautiful and difficult. And so, I have a lot of opportunity to use what I've learned. I'll just say that.

And then we also have kids with different challenges with learning and just different ways of learning — different ways of looking at life that I've had lots of practice in that regard as well. So, yeah, I think that covers pretty much mostly about me.

Kate:

Alright, that's great. Let's dive into your homeopathy story, as we like to call it, and hear about your journey from not knowing anything about homeopathy until now where you have a business actually helping people with homeopathy.

IS IT EVER TOO LATE TO LEARN HOMEOPATHY?

Wendy: (03:08)

It's interesting; I feel I'm a little late — compared to some people — to the natural healing modality.

Kate:

You're not late, let me tell you. We have people who go through The Academy who are in their seventies and even eighties! So, I hear that all the time from people.

So, you are not that old — and not that that's old. And isn't it funny what we consider old now?

Wendy:

Yes, absolutely.

Kate:

Yes.  You're young, and so you're not late. But I understand what you're saying … that those who learn it at a younger age or maybe as they're first starting their families, they have a lot more time.

Wendy:

I think as we get older — if we discover this older — we lament what could have been, maybe, had we known. But that's okay. We just start fresh from where we are and plow forward.

IN SEARCH OF AN ANSWER TO LYME DISEASE

Wendy: (03:57)

But yeah, my story actually began about five years ago. Well, a little bit prior to that, actually. I took my first Gateway class about five years ago, Gateway I. But a few months before that, our daughter had — just within a period of three days — gotten very ill.

It began with tingling symptoms down her spine, and within three days, she could no longer — without just being in agonizing pain — crawl. It was literally a crawl from the basement of our home where her room was, upstairs.

That was quite alarming, as you can imagine, and we sought help from doctors. That was largely disappointing. We had difficulties getting a diagnosis, finding out what was wrong.

At the back of my mind, thought maybe this is Lyme disease based on her symptoms. A few months later, she was diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease by a doctor. That was based solely on symptoms, which the majority of were joint pain that moved around (wasn't always consistent in the same joints), fatigue, brain fog, and then that spiraled later into a lot more anxiety and depression. So, that happened.

Her symptoms began in June of 2019. I took my first Gateway class. It was really an answer to prayer that I didn't know I was looking for. I'd never heard the word homeopathy before, but I dived into that first class, thinking, “Maybe there'll be something here that would help our daughter.”

Took the class. I was intrigued, kind of excited, but nervous. Began trying it a little bit here and there on just acute things that would come up in our family, and little by little, I began gaining confidence in its effectiveness.

Then, fast forward several months. Meanwhile, I should say, our daughter … we were meeting with a team of doctors. What's called a “Lyme-literate” medical doctor, a naturopath and then also consulting with a functional medicine doctor.

So, she was on, I think, about seven antibiotics at one time — which makes me cringe now — and lots of supplements. So, she was taking, I bet, 19 or 20 pills of some kind every day. And they weren't helping, and so we were pretty discouraged.

She was depressed, as I mentioned. And several months later, as I gained confidence in homeopathy, I realized maybe this is really our answer.

And so, she actually decided, “You know what? I'm just tired of this mom. I feel sick all the time. I have to choke down these pills. It's miserable.”

And so, I just encourage her. I said, “We've got a few options. One of them is homeopathy and just going all in on that. What do you think?”

She agreed.

We decided to just go off all the meds. One of them we had to wean off of, but she went off all the meds. And her symptoms, just by doing that, improved about 20%. And so that was a pretty big eye-opener right there.

In the meantime, I had contacted Joette's office and set up a consultation with her. And we were on the waitlist, and so I was sort of trying a few things homeopathically for her while we waited.

We got in with Joette a few months later, and within probably, I think, four months of consulting with Joette, her symptoms had improved another, at least, 50% … probably more.

And so, at that point, I was like, “This is it! Get rid of everything else.” I was clearing all the other stuff out of our cabinets, and it was just all homeopathy.

JOINING THE ACADEMY OF PRACTICAL HOMEOPATHY®

Wendy: (07:23)

Because of my excitement, I began teaching Gateway classes here and there a little bit, inviting my friends to learn what I was excited about.

And then maybe a year or so after that — I'm trying to remember the timeline — I had been thinking about going into The Academy that first, what was called the Founder's Year. But I was sort of nervous. I wasn't sure if I could manage it with homeschooling and all the things we had going on. And so, I didn't join.

But then, the second year, it came around again, and I think in a consultation, Joette said, “Wendy, you should really think about The Academy.”

And I said, “Well, it's funny that you say that because I have been.”

And so, I decided, “You know what? Now's the time. I'm just going to do it. If I don't do it now, I'm not sure when I will.”

And so, I did join the second year of The Academy, and I'm so glad.

My hopes in joining The Academy were to just know everything I could so I could take care of my family and my friends. I'm sort of a “Don't tell me you can't do this” person — as much as possible, especially after our experience with our daughter.

And then all the things that happened in 2020, I thought, “I'm going to do it myself. I don't know who I can trust, and so I'm going to just do it myself.” That was sort of my thought process.

So, in The Academy, I was learning a ton, enjoying every minute of it. I really, really encourage anyone thinking about The Academy at all to strongly consider it. We need more people who are trained in Practical Homeopathy® and helping the people in their circles. Whether you go on to take clients or not, it is so valuable, and it's so needed.

FROM LEARNING TO TEACHING TO HANGING OUT A SHINGLE AND WORKING WITH THE AMISH

Wendy: (08:59)

After The Academy, then, my plan was to just keep teaching classes and keep teaching others. My thought was that old saying, “If you give a man a fish …” If you teach a man to fish, then he eats for a lifetime. If you give it to him, he eats for a day. And so, I wanted to teach other people to fish and learn — like I had — to take care of their families. That was my plan.

And then people began contacting me, asking if I could help them with their different chronic conditions or ailments that they just felt were too overwhelming or, for whatever reason, they weren't comfortable taking care of themselves.

And so, I can't tell people “no” when they ask. And so, that launched my consultation business as well. It's been so fun teaching classes that actually led to an opportunity then. So, I had just graduated, was just starting to launch my business. Had taught, I think, maybe my first round of Gateway classes (so, Gateway I and Gateway II).

And then, one of my students approached me, who works with a large Amish community that's about an hour north of where we live and said, “Would you consider teaching classes to some Amish ladies up here who are interested?”

And so, I thought about it and thought, “Yeah, I would love to do that!”

And so, I went up there. It was one Saturday “fire hose” experience. If I had to do it all over again, I probably would've picked two days in which to do that. But I ordered all the books we needed. People signed up ahead of time. I ordered all the books that we needed (because, of course, they're not ordering things online) and worked with Joette's office. They were great to help me navigate that process.

And we did a one-day class where we opened our books, and we just went through the material together and with the idea that we would hopefully be able to help teach some of these ladies how to fish and help their own families.

This friend that I mentioned that lives up north near this community has been working with them quite a bit and feeling a little bit overwhelmed at times. And so, I think she was hoping that “Oh, maybe we could get them some education and some knowledge so that they could at least treat some of the acute things that come up in their family.”

So, that was a really neat experience.

Kate:

That sounds really exciting to get connected with a whole other group of people, and, like you said, teach them how they can help their families.

Also, I wanted to point out that I hear often from students who have gone through The Academy and then even Mastery™ or Mastermind, how they started out just thinking they want to go through The Academy and learn more about Practical Homeopathy® and help their family. And then that turns into the next thing, which turns into the next thing. And next thing you know, they're seeing clients and having a whole business around Practical Homeopathy®.

So, it's exciting. And now I want to hear some of the stories about the things that you've seen and how homeopathy has helped those conditions. So, will you share a few of those things with us?

SUCCESS STORY: PANIC ATTACKS

Wendy: (11:54)

Yeah, I would love to. Before I do that, though, I wanted to just add I realized I didn't say that our daughter — so that was several years ago — and we still consult with Joette twice a year, mostly because I don't want to give up that time with her, probably. But our daughter is doing very well. And you would not know today. She, once in a while, might have a faint inkling of one of those past symptoms. Almost never. She's doing amazing. She's now married and expecting their first child. So, we're super excited.

Kate:

Yeah, that's great.

Wendy:

So, success stories. Back to that.

I've got several that are really fun. And it was kind of hard to pick, to be honest, what I wanted to share. But some of them are — or one of them is, I should say:

I have a client that I've worked with for a time, but she came to me with panic attacks and anxiety. And she'd been struggling with this for two or three years, I think, at the time that we began meeting, and had tried several things: changing her diet, adding exercise, even counseling, supplements.

And she found some things that helped a little bit, but she still was struggling with panic attacks that would show up sort of out of the blue at least once a week. It made it pretty challenging to just live life as normal. And so, we began consulting, and I suggested that she begin with Aconitum 200.

I think Joette has a blog or maybe some Lives about that. And it was pretty amazing to watch. Within two months, she went from weekly panic attacks to none.

She commented that first follow-up that we had. She said there was one time that she could kind of feel the beginning of symptoms start, and then they just melted away. So, she, of course, was thrilled.

We've now moved on to working on other things, but that really resolved. She'd suffered with that for two, three, four years maybe, and that really resolved in a pretty short period of time.

So, she had in her back pocket the remedy she needed in case something would happen, but she really hasn't needed to use it. We've been able to move on to other things that are of concern to her.

Kate:

So, she just took that as she felt like a panic attack was coming on. Is that how she used the Aconitum?

Wendy:

So, she also had anxiety. She described it as “There's just sort of this hum in the background all the time,” but then a panic attack would come on. And that was, of course, the most debilitating.

She felt like she could sort of manage that anxiety, even though it wasn't fun. It was the panic attack that just made it impossible. And so, she was taking Aconitum 200, twice a day. And then if she felt an attack coming on … yes, then she would take another dose, and that would take care of it right away.

Kate:

Okay, great.

And you had alluded to Joette having more information on that. I know that there's a podcast, I think it's 129, called “Overcoming Anxiety and Panic Attacks with Practical Homeopathy®.” So, that's another good resource for those who want to learn more about dealing with that.

So, what else?

SUCCESS STORY: GANGLION CYST

Wendy: (15:03)

Okay, so I have another client who had a ganglion cyst on his wrist. He'd had this before and had been surgically removed, but it had grown back. And so, I began having him take Ruta graveolens.

And within a few months’ time … I should say, as we followed up, I had him take measurements of how wide and long and deep it was. And so, we take measurements each time and note any changes. And it gradually was getting smaller and smaller until finally then, I think it was nine months — yes, nine months — the cyst was gone.

The cyst has not returned, and he's thrilled to have it gone and not have to worry about thinking about surgery or some other means of treating it

Kate:

Wonderful.

SUCCESS STORY: FIBROMYALGIA

Wendy: (15:51)

I have another client who has struggled for some time with fibromyalgia and a few other things. But the fibromyalgia … she would get flares a couple times a month. And those flares would last two or three days and just were very painful and difficult.

We began working on that. She commented that she noticed right away if she felt a flare coming, that if she took Rhus tox, that it would just sort of melt away, and it wouldn't continue to grow.

This particular client was a little skeptical at the beginning, and that was a pretty big eyeopener for her in realizing, “Oh, this medicine may actually be able to help me, whereas other things have not been helpful.” And so that was really fun.

After about six months, the intense flares stopped altogether, and she reported that only a few minor flares continued. And that at our eight-month check-in, she had not had any flares at all! And so that was really exciting.

Kate:

That is exciting.

And then I think you have someone that had a little boy with some anxiety and rage, I think was the word that you used.

SUCCESS STORY: ANGER ISSUES

Wendy: (17:02)

Yes. So, this is a little boy that our family has some pretty regular interaction with. And when we met them, I noticed pretty quickly that he definitely had some issues with anger. He would get upset very quickly if the other kids were doing something that he felt was not right … and just what could be characterized as a rage.

He would go into a rage and sometimes hurt other children in the process. But then his mom reported that he would be very apologetic and woeful afterward. “Mom, I don't want to do this. I can't stop myself. I don't know why I do this.”

It’s just kind of heartbreaking. So, I didn't have a close relationship with his mom, but I just sort of hedged the idea: “I've been learning about homeopathy. It's helped my daughter and our family. Is that something you would be interested in trying? I think I know a remedy that might be helpful for him.” And she was all over that.

She was really at her wit's end because she felt like nothing was really helping him. And she was being pressured to increase medications he was taking, and she didn't want to do that.

And so, I recommended Stramonium, and she began giving him that. And she told me that she noticed if she saw him beginning to get angry — of course, you don't catch it all the time — but if she saw him beginning to get angry, she would have him take a dose.

And similar to the fibromyalgia story, she watched it just sort of melt away. He never fully exploded or got fully angry as he used to. And within, I think, it was just two or three weeks’ time, she told me he was doing much better, very few incidents and nowhere near as bad as they were.

So, that was pretty exciting, too, that it could have such a great impact on this little guy's life because people don't always understand those behaviors. And so, it's great to help the behavior melt away. But also … how much more is it also helpful for the way he now can interact with other people that won't be fearful of him or not want to be around him because of his prior behavior?

Kate:

Right, absolutely.

And there's also a blog called “The Angry Child” if you want to learn more, and we'll put a link for that on the podcast notes.

Wow. Yeah. That really — I'm assuming — changed the trajectory of that boy's life for sure.

Wendy:

Yes. Absolutely.

SUCCESS STORY: INCONTINENCE

Wendy: (19:26)

So, my last story that I have is when I was first learning about homeopathy. Our sweet springer spaniel that we had at the time was having a lot of trouble with incontinence. And that had actually began years prior.

Early on, I had found that just a little supplement for dogs was helpful in curtailing that issue for her. But over time, it began not working anymore. Again, at the time, didn't know what our options were, and the vet put her on a medication for that issue.

Knowing that it would potentially cause some long-term issues for her, I really didn't want to put her on it, but we didn't know what other options we had. And so that's what we did.

But as I began learning about homeopathy, I thought, “You know what? Maybe I'll look in to see what I could do for her.”

And so, like I said, I was very new. I wasn't sure what to do, but I did have a book that I had purchased that was specifically for using homeopathy with animals. And that book was “Homeopathic Care for Cats and Dogs” by Don Hamilton.

After scouring through that book and making some determinations, I chose Pulsatilla in a 30C for her.

And I should add, this was before I got very adept at scouring Joette's blog for her different resources, otherwise I might've chosen something different.

So, I was giving her the Pulsatilla as well as the medication for a while, and then I removed the medication and continued with the Pulsatilla for a couple of months after that. No issues.

And so, then I gradually began backing off the Pulsatilla, and she's not had another problem with incontinence since that time. So, that was pretty exciting, too, because we don't have to worry about side effects with homeopathy like we do with other things.

Kate:

Right. I would just like to mention really quickly that there is a blog titled “How I Cured My Fibromyalgia With One Simple Medicine.” And so I know you talked about fibromyalgia just a bit ago, and I wanted to mention that in case people wanted to find out more. You can just go to JoetteCalabrese.com, and you can find all of those blogs that we mentioned.

So, I loved hearing your stories. It's always so inspiring and encouraging because when we were talking earlier, you said, “There's nothing special about me.”

Well, of course, I think there's a lot special about you! But I think you were alluding to the fact that if you can do this — if you can have these successes, if you can go through The Academy — so can others.

So, would you just give those people who are wanting to experience these kinds of success stories or maybe go on to learn more about homeopathy … if you could just give them some of your advice as to how they could go about that, I would appreciate it.

CLOSING ADVICE

Wendy: (22:13)

Well, the first thing is I would say use the tools that are available. And I know there's lots of podcasts or places that this has talked about, but Joette gives so much away for free that's so valuable.

And so, just jump in and begin learning at the level that you are at and what you are able to do, whether that's her blogs and podcasts that are free.

Take good notes. Be a student of those, whether it's joining Mighty Members and hanging out there and learning from other people there, whether it's continuing on with her protocol courses or other more in-depth classes, or whether that's The Academy.

And regarding The Academy, I would just say I had lots of reasons why it didn't make sense for me to join The Academy in terms of our family dynamics or things we had going on, or you name it. But I just knew this was going to be important for our family, and it has been transformative for our family.

And then there's that ripple effect of all the students that I've now had the privilege to teach and the clients that I've worked with and seen amazing things happen. And so, there's no perfect time.

Back to what you were referencing, there's nothing special about me. I'm not this major intellectual. I have no background in medical areas. I have no leg up that I could even point to in terms of joining The Academy.

All you have to have is a drive and a willingness to learn, and you can do amazing things and help people in amazing ways.

Kate:

That says it all. Thanks so much, Wendy. I appreciate your time and your willingness to share with everyone.

Wendy:

Thank you, Kate. It's been my pleasure.

Joette:

It's my honor to share many lessons on this simple method of using homeopathy for free —without affiliates or advertising — here in my podcasts, but also my blog posts and Monday Night Lives.

But it's critical that you learn how to use these medicines properly. These podcasts should serve as only the beginning of your training. Peruse JoettesLearningCenter.com to find fun study group opportunities and in-depth courses developed by subject.

So, with the proper training, you can join the thousands of students before you in developing the confidence and competence to protect the health of your family and loved ones with my brand of homeopathy, Practical Homeopathy®.

Kate:

You just listened to a podcast from internationally acclaimed homeopath, public speaker and author, the founder of The Academy of Practical Homeopathy®, Joette Calabrese. Joette’s podcasts are available on all your favorite podcast apps.

To learn more and find out if homeopathy is a good fit for your health strategy, visit PracticalHomeopathy.com.