Interviews

Liz Lalor

Written by Vatsala Sperling

Vatsala Sperling interviews Liz Lalor, founder of the Liz Lalor Fertility Program and author of Homeopathic Psychiatry.

Homeopath Liz Lalor treats all conditions and has specialized in the treatment of autoimmune disorders and infertility. Prior to homeopathy she worked for thirty years in counselling and brings that experience to her practice. She developed the highly effective Liz Lalor Fertility Programwhich she has taught around the world.She is the author of “A Homeopathic Guide to Partnership and Compatibility”and “Homeopathic Psychiatry”, which was developed into a repertorization program for Radaropus. Her writings have been published in Similia, Homeopathy in Practice, Homeopathy International, Links, and the American Journal of Homeopathy.

Liz Lalor and Vatsala Sperling at JAHC – 2012, Virginia

The Joint American Homeopathic Conference, JAHC, April 20-22, 2012, was held in Virginia and it was quite an event. Hundreds of homeopaths from all over the world assembled for a weekend that was packed with interesting lectures, case presentations, making of new and revival of old friendships. The homeopathic community had the unique honor of having a Nobel Laureate, Dr. Luc Montagnier present his new findings about the electromagnetic resonance of pathogenic microorganisms in high water dilution and how this phenomenon helps in understanding homeopathy. A room full of vendors displaying their skills and products brought on a festive feel to the gathering. The schedule was set up in such a manner that the participants could move freely between events. Someone with an eye for details had made sure that food, beverages and accommodations would appeal to the pickiest of folks and so, overall, everyone looked quite happy to be there and immerse themselves in the high energy of this annual event.

This was my very first JAHC, and quite literally, I found myself face to face with almost all the homeopaths whose work I have been following now for years and devouring every word they have written and published so far. It was only natural for me to want to share this experience with the readers of HPATHY, the E-Journal I have grown to love and admire, and I thought about interviewing a homeopath from Australia, Liz Lalor. Our lively conversation flowed easily and I learned about Lalor’s work, her new book and the software that she has developed.

Vatsala: Liz, please tell me about how you started your journey in homeopathy?

Lalor: I studied Natural Therapies in 1978. In 1998, I returned to study constitutional homeopathy. In 1987 my son was two and a half years old and was diagnosed with Perthes disease. I was already taking him to a homeopath. He said, ‘I don’t know what to do.’ According to the medical doctors, his prognosis was very poor. We had been told that he would need at least eight different surgeries. Perthes is a disease which disintegrates the top of the femur and interferes with the growth hormones. We were told he would never grow taller than five feet. After the appointment with the homeopath I came home, sat down with a Materia medica and read the whole Materia medica from the front to back. I gave my son Calcarea carbonica and Calcarea phosphoricum. Later when I studied constitutional homeopathy I realized he was a Calcarea silicata. He never needed to have any operations on the re-growing bones with Calcarea carbonica and Calcarea phosphoricum. Now he is six feet tall. Just this one experience was enough to convince me to devote myself to homoeopathy.

Vatsala:Your initial training has been in psychotherapy. You have also practiced for decades now as a homeopath. How do you marry the two?

Lalor:When I started working with people, I felt the need to learn counseling so that I could treat people. It was a very long process of study. However, I never worked only as a psychotherapist. I just used this skill in the process of natural healing and learned to pick what is unusual in people. For example, with my training as a psychotherapist, I have understood that the Delusion rubrics in the Mind section of the repertory are applicable in case analysis if the patient displays psychological delusions. This whole idea of using Delusion rubrics for understanding the abnormality or illness in the affected person’s thought process is elucidated in my book ‘Homeopathic Psychiatry’. I have also presented the idea of the five stages of delusion in my JAHC lecture. A brief version of this approach is given here in this link.

 

This book ‘Homeopathic Psychiatry’ is also intended to be a Materia medica of the constitutional remedies and how they help us make sense of the delusion rubrics. In short, this book helps you expand your understanding of how to use Delusion rubrics in case taking.

To answer your question about how I use psychotherapy in conjunction with homeopathy, what I do want to tell you is that, Homeopathic Psychiatry is now available in the form of software from www.radaropus.com

This unique software teaches us how to use simple psychological questions and counseling so that the leading answers can be elicited from the patients. These answers point to Delusion rubrics categories and the psychological stages manifested in an illness and from there finding a simillimum is a straight shot.

Vatsala: What is the foundation of your practice? What are you trying to do as a homeopath?

Lalor: As a homeopath, all I am trying to do is to make sure that my patients are happy, well and feel fulfilled. That is all.

Vatsala: Could you please tell me about the status of homeopathy in Australia?

Lalor: I am not the best person to answer that question. I practice, teach and lecture extensively in Australia, but I travel a lot and visit many different countries. So, I am not much in the Australian scene.

Vatsala: In the USA there are several instances of systematic stomping down of homeopathy. Is it the same in Australia?

Lalor: Yes and no. Depends on the network you create. When I had started working as a homeopath, I did not have any medical doctors as my patients. Now, three decades later, I have several conventional doctors as my patients. Many doctors send me referrals. It did not start that way. There are many practitioners who feel ostracized. I turned out to be quite lucky in that regard. I have attracted poor as well as wealthy clientele. The formula for survival is work hard, do great homeopathy and network. We just heard Rajan say that we can do all we want and bring all the facts in favor of homeopathy to the table, but the skeptics will not change their stand. We do not have to struggle to convince them, but we must focus on doing great homeopathy.

Over the years, I have also created a network of students whom I have mentored. I send them cases because I am booked solid for six to eight weeks. Sometimes the necessary rapport does not develop, the patient does not like me or I do not want to take their case. About 20% of contacts do not pan out but the other 80% is solid, and good.

Vatsala: Please tell me about a turning point in your homeopathic journey. When did you feel that yes, you just want to be a homeopath?

Lalor: That magic moment was when I discovered my own constitutional remedy years ago. I come from a very troubled background, and have endured a very difficult and damaged childhood and relationship with my mother. From age sixteen I have been receiving psychotherapy and counseling. I had gone to several different homeopaths seeking help for myself. Then I started going to Rajan’s classes in Goa. After one of those classes in India, I returned home and sat down with the books, determined to do all the exercise necessary for deciding my constitutional remedy. If I had not figured out this remedy, I would not be alive today and talking to you. I had a severe form of an auto-immune disorder. My mother died of this condition. But because of my constitutional remedy I am alive and well. I have been doing psychotherapy on myself and learning about myself since I left home at sixteen years of age. But the truth of the matter is, it is immaterial how much psychotherapy you do. It is of no use until you find a constitutional remedy that helps with sorting out the inner conflict. My moment of realization about the unique place of the constitutional remedy in the course of healing has been my special moment when all I wanted to do is homeopathy.

Vatsala: So, homeopathy does give its practitioners a powerful tool, namely, the constitutional remedies that help repair the split or conflict within and restore the whole person?

Lalor: Yes. Yes.

Vatsala: In this JAHC event, I have met several young students. Same is true in every other seminar I go to. There are lots of youngsters who are drawn to homeopathy and they take it up as a study and want to become homeopaths. You have been around for three decades now. What is your message to these student homeopaths?

Lalor: I am an intense perfectionist. I find it distressing to see when people do not put out a full 190% in their studies. You have to really study. I study sometimes too much to the detriment of my own health. I keep doing a lot of studying and I keep attending courses and learning from many different homeopaths. I may not particularly relate to their methodology, but I learn from their experience. If the students think that they come out of homeopathy school and they know it all, that is a mistake. I do not want to sound too arrogant, but I have a story to tell. When I came out of homeopathy school, I tore out five pages from my work book and that contained the summary of all that I had learned. I threw everything else out. Then I went to Europe and India and everywhere else just to learn the real lessons in homeopathy.

Vatsala: So, the real education begins when we get out of the school?

Lalor: Yes. Come out of the school and start studying. If I had not sat down with the Materia medica, I could not have treated my son. I could not have treated myself. I have to have time to meditate, time to study and time to look after myself, so that I can devote my time to help and treat my patients. Ongoing study is a part of being a homeopath.

Vatsala: Do you attract a large body of students?

Lalor: I have a group of homeopaths whom I mentor, but you see, I am a very intense teacher, if somebody does not work hard…off with their neck.

[At this point, Liz made such a swift movement with her hand slashing her neck that I could very well understand about her being a strict and relentless teacher – students seeking an easy life would not want to go to her. We both understood the implication and shared a jolly laughter. In my own life, I have been gifted with quite a few “very intense teachers” and I knew exactly what Liz meant.]

Vatsala: Liz, finally, could you please tell me about the nature of your practice?

Lalor:It is life and death. I run a fertility program which is quite popular around the world and I have successfully worked with hundreds of women who come to me for fertility and conception issues. I help them with life. The other half of my practice is dealing with chronic, degenerative illnesses, cancers, auto-immune disorders, psychosis, severe mental illnesses and so on. So, it is a good mix.

[A good mix of work that gives Lalor plenty of opportunities to continue to study, serve patients all across the world, deal with the beginning and end of life issues, write, teach and mentor…as well as take care of herself and her son… what a perfect mix of inspiration, perspiration and plain old good luck! On this note, we thanked each other and concluded the interview with hopes of our paths crossing again soon. ]

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:  “I sincerely acknowledge the help from my friend and fellow Homeopath, Carita Crawford Keene, in recording of this interview.”

About the author

Vatsala Sperling

Vatsala Sperling, RSHom (NA), CCH, MS, PhD, PDHom was the Chief of Clinical Microbiology services at a children’s hospital in Chennai, India, when she published extensively and conducted research with WHO, Denmark. On moving to the USA, Vatsala pursued a 4½ year course in Homeopathy at Misha Norland’s school. She has authored twelve books including her latest, Colubrid Snake Remedies and Their Indication in Homeopathy Practice. Journals from US and abroad frequently publish Vatsala’s writings on spirituality, health, and homeopathy. Vatsala continues to study with several teachers and practices classical homeopathy. She has served on the board of directors of NASH and currently she serves as a volunteer with NCH. She can be reached via her website (www.Rochesterhomeopathy.com)

7 Comments

  • How beatiful to know that Homeopathy is practiced by people like Liz and Vatsala, who has devoted their life to help people.

  • I have been diagnosed with CBD (related to Parkinson’s) . Can you tell from the symptoms whether I have been diagnosed correctly (and not the result of a heart attack in Jan 2010). I am 70 and am going to see several specialists to see if they can help me because I understand there is no successful Treatment eg yoga , pilates , pottery as well as homeopathy .
    You may ask me several Q’s which I haven’t touched on above.
    I suppose the first question I have is ‘Is CBD , or similar , a speciality of yours?’
    Cheers for now!

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