Bermudian homeopath Adrianna Holman may live and work in Britain but has also started a clinic here in Bermuda. Ms Holman began practicing homeopathy eight years ago and holds clinics at two well known herbal companies in England – Nelson's and Neal's Yard Remedies. In addition she has a clinic at London Bridge Hospital's Oncology department. She also has clients through her website.

"I have people from all over," she said, "from Australia and Africa. People I have never met but we talk over the phone and I treat them," she added.

With an already hectic schedule, Ms Holman said she decided to start a clinic in Bermuda because of local pressure to do so. The two practicing homeopaths on the Island each closed their offices in recent months. Melanie Dupres currently teaches homeopathy to students in Ghana, West Africa and Suzanne Mayall closed her practice to pursue other interests.

"My mother would call and tell me what she's read and then local people started calling and asking me to come because they had no one to go to," Ms Holman said.

Last month she saw her first local clients when she held her clinic from May 19 to 22. In fact, demand was so great that she had to turn some people away. "I saw between five and six people a day. Unfortunately, I did have to turn away two," she said. "But I will see them when I come in August."

Most all the locals she saw had complaints relating to allergies or atopic conditions where the person is overly sensitive to allergens in the environment. Typical atopic conditions are eczema and asthma. Ms Holman herself suffered with the skin disease eczema and wrote a book on how she controlled it with homeopathy. She said this accounts for why the bulk of her clientele, not only in Bermuda but in Britain and around the world, are people with allergies.

"Even people with digestive complaints I find are usually suffering an allergy," she said. "It's usually that a particular food is bugging you."

Homeopathy works on the premise that like will cure like and as such weak solutions of natural extracts that elicit symptoms like the symptoms the patient is experiencing, are what is used to treat that condition. The remedies are prescribed not only based on the physical symptoms the person exhibits but also takes into account the person's emotional and psychological state. Ms Holman said typically she spends an hour with clients on their first visit, gathering lots of background information and usually follow up visits are about half an hour long.

"But, as a homeopath, I want to lessen the dependence of clients on me. We (homeopaths) believe that the body can heal itself and so all I do is try to teach people how to do it for themselves.

"I point them in the right direction looking at things like diet, lifestyle and their emotions."

For example if someone is holding on to grief in his/her life, according to Ms Holman, it can manifest as congestion in the lungs. This in turn results in less oxygen being available to the cells of the body and consequently more problems in other parts of the body.

"If they can release that grief then not only will it prevent physical problems but it also means more energy will be available for healing," she said. "Homeopathy is helping people to be more aware of themselves.

"I have no interest in seeing people a lot. Typically I see clients once a month for three months. My aim is to get people to take care of themselves, changing their lifestyle and knowing what remedies they need.

"A lot of healing is self responsibility. I have to have a serious chat with people who want to keep coming back to me."

Ms Holman also said people have to decide what level of comfort they want to live with in regard to their health. "All of us have strengths and weaknesses in our makeup and we may need to work on our weak links," she said.

But clients with a history of heart disease who refuse to stay off fish and chips, and sour cream on their baked potato and who will not exercise have to realise they are hurting their bodies. Ms Holman will visit Bermuda four times a year to meet her clients and is available to them by phone in the interim periods.

"I have a lot of experience in phone consultations," she said. "I'm confident about working that way even with people I haven't met. I have a website and through it have many clients that I've only consulted by phone. It's been successful."

Ms Holman will hold her next Bermuda clinic August 18 to 23. She can be reached at adrianna.holman@hotmail.co.uk or through her website www.homeopath.moonfruit.com.