By Tutti Gould ND
 
Ingrid Bekhor always thought that if she knew enough homeopathy she would have a large practice. What she didn't anticipate, was that "large" in her case meant across continents.

Ingrid Bekhor might best be described as a global homeopath.  For the past 20 years she has pursued both the study and practice of homeopathy. Her passion is obvious as she recounts her story of first finding, and then following, what has emerged as her mission in life.

"Even as a child I knew there had to be something seamless" she said. "Seamless" meaning a health care approach that fits smoothly into the patient's life. Allopathic medicine seemed too invasive in its diagnostics. Acupuncture had its needles; herbal brews were bitter, and supplements expensive. Her search for an approach that was client friendly led her to George Vithoulkas'  book, The Science of Homeopathy and her introduction to the world of the Repertory and Materia Medica .

Ingrid's path of study has taken her in depth into a variety of schools of homeopathic approach. First, 3 years as a pluralist eventually led her to single remedy classical prescribing and another 5 years of studying and practice with Dr Andre Saine. Her knowledge base expanded further through her discovering Sankaran's methodology for organizing the remedies. She was able to study with him in India and later was responsible for coordinating his North American seminar in Montreal, Quebec.

Fluency in speaking both English and French availed Ingrid to Quebec's ties to European influences which opened her to the world of Zissu and constitutional homeopathy that she studied with Dr Michel Kaminsky.

Several years ago, Ingrid met up with an old friend from high school, Martine Jourde. Beyond her medical degree Dr. Jourde was also a homeopath and president of Canada's oldest and largest group of professional homeopaths: Syndicat Professionel des Homeopathes de Quebec (founded in 1989). Through her reassociation with Martine , Ingrid learned the art of combining remedies into complexes.

Around this same time, Ingrid became one of the founding members of the French group of 'homeopaths without borders' (Homeopathes de Terres sans Frontieres).  This enabled her to be part of various humanitarian homeopathic missions in developing countries. Through that organization she has traveled to Honduras and Africa equipped with homeopathic remedies from sponsors Standard Homeopathic Company, Homeodel and Solidago. Her latest expedition last fall involved teaching "Front line prescribing" in Burundi, Africa. Kits were distributed with twelve key complexes for treating first aid and acute conditions. As fate would have it, the wife of Burundi's former president had an anaphylactic reaction while eating seafood at a local restaurant and was able to  successfully recover by taking a complex containing the remedy Apis. From this experience, she became a valuable supporter for the project and helped recruit seventy five people to take the introductory courses Ingrid and her colleague Marie Louise Vallee offered. In the spirit of promoting efficacy and autonomy in healthcare, the project involves a second phase that will teach local health promoters to use single remedies along with complexes to facilitate serving their community. This will offer a viable, cost effective approach to medicine. Ingrid and Marie Louise hope to implement this second phase in the coming year, provided that the necessary funds and resources can be gathered.

Ingrid traveled to Cuba's Findlay Vaccine Institute's first conference on homeopathic prophylactic protocols in Havana in 2008. The Cuban homeopaths presented a study on the prophylaxis of Leptospirosis, using homeopathy, one of the largest of its kind ever carried out. Four million doses of the nosode Leptospirosis mixed with  Bach flower Rescue remedy were given to 2 million people  in two provinces that are annually affected by this bacteria carried by rats during the flooding aftermath of hurricanes. The same institute that manufactures the vaccine which is expensive and time consuming to produce also manufactures the homeopathic nosode at a fraction of the cost and time. Within two weeks the rising incidence of the infection dropped to almost zero infections and zero deaths. This presents very interesting evidence for any developing county struggling with extremely limited health budgets.

An overview of Ingrid's journey with homeopathy reveals a bringing together of diverse studies with different teachers and mentors. She has practiced and taught in North America, Central America and Africa. Her vision of homeopathy's future is of integration of all the offerings the homeopathic world has to serve and to the spreading of that knowledge and potential to the world and its people.

Ingrid's stated interest has been to make things seamless for the patient. Her own success has not always come easy for her. She cites times of discouragement in practice and with the vast amount of knowledge necessary to be a "competent" homeopath. And yet, in Ingrid's case, her quest for competency has resulted in a mastery of both the science and art of homeopathy. Whether she's with a patient in her home office in Montreal or bringing frontline grassroots homeopathy to third world communities, Ingrid Bekhor brings all her learnings and experience, her compassion and wisdom to the way she embraces homeopathy.

Contact information:
Ingrid Bekhor, homeopath
Montreal, Qc., Canada
514-485-3737
www.homeopathesdeterresansfrontieres.com