From music to homeopathy, Martin Byrne knows he has made the right choice
LEAVING AN industry and a career for another that has a completely different mindset isn't an easy thing to do. Homeopath Martin Byrne used to work in the music industry, initially as a sound engineer, on the road, and then in the public relations area where he worked closely with the likes of Snow Patrol, Ash, Divine Comedy, Garbage, David Kitt, Damian Riceand many others.
But something was missing, something wasn't right. Byrne gradually came to realise that, despite the perceived glamour of the music industry there had to be more to life than walking around muddy fields at festivals, being nabbed at gigs by sections of the media, and having demo discs thrust at you when you least expected it.
Homeopathy - a system of medicine based on the main principle of "like cures like" and developed more than 200 years ago by German doctor Samuel Hahnemann - had always been an interest, and in 2003 Byrne came to the point where if he had to hold another musician's hand (so to speak) he would have exploded.
Cue, then, a strategic withdrawal from the music industry and a period of reflection. The latter wasn't to last too long, however; energy kicked in, and his interest in homeopathy was realised when he embarked on a four-year part-time course at the Irish School of Homeopathy at Dublin's Milltown Institute.
Coming from a job in the music industry, where studying academic material isn't necessarily a priority, Byrne says he wasn't exactly prepared for the amount of reading involved.
"I was fine time-wise," he admits, "but I certainly didn't realise the amount of work involved. You're researching and looking through what is known as Materia Medica, which is a series of books that tell you all you need to know about that which can solve the problem.
"You also need to know what symptoms can be cured from the source. Everything, in fact."
Was there a point during the course where he thought it was a bit too much to handle? "Yes, but I think everyone goes through that sense of doubt. And then there's an ethical side, where you ask yourself are you sure you can look after someone's health?
"People go through that, too. My initial answer to this question was that I didn't know, but as you continue to inform yourself via the research - to know your Materia Medica, to know your remedies, diseases and how they manifest - that doubt disappears."
Going back to college at the age of 36 didn't seem such a daunting thing to do; this was partly because of Byrne's inherent interest in the course material.
"I knew I wanted to do it, and I knew I didn't want to do anything else that might bore me rigid. I had never been to college, so I had no idea of what was ahead of me - certainly the days were filled between doing the course and hitting the books.
"People going back to college later in their lives maybe didn't have the opportunity to go when they were teenagers. School didn't do it for me at all, and once I left it I just wanted to get out and earn money.
"Also, I didn't have the grades. The fact that I got on so well at Milltown showed me that I actually have an academic side. That said, hitting the books initially was a problem - I had to read things over and over again, because my brain just wasn't used to it. Now, I can sit down and read through them no problem. I read it, it's in the brain and I can make all the connections."
Following the completion of the course last summer, several champagne corks were popped when Byrne opened for business in a Rathgar-based practice in August. "So far it's going fine," he says. "Initially, it was quiet, but that gave me the time to get brochures and other business aspects sorted out. I had some patients during the third and fourth year of the course, who were there for the supervised/mentored part, and they have stuck with me."
A percentage of his client base is in the music industry, of which he has had no regrets leaving. "There are no negatives that I can detect in what I'm now doing - although it's certainly hard work. It isn't just the consultation and the follow-up appointments, it's the working out of the problem that takes the time - getting as much info about family, medical history, reactions, and so on. All that detail is important, because it reflects who the person is and how they react to things. So with that information you go away and try to work out the puzzle."
No regrets, then, but does he miss anything at all about life within the music industry? "Working in the music industry has its benefits, such as being able to get a ticket for a sold-out gig and free albums, but your priorities change and something like that doesn't matter to me anymore.
"I'm very happy doing homeopathy, and I reckon it's something I should have been doing all along. But for whatever reasons things come to you at a particular stage in life when you're ready for them. And that's why homeopathy did it for me - I was ready for it. Twenty years ago I would have been too immature, whereas now there is the life experience."
Martin Byrne works out of The Winton Practice, 12 Winton Avenue, Rathgar, Dublin 6
