If you've spent any time in Homeopathic circles, you'll have come across the great combination remedy debate! Classical Homeopaths can be quite protective of the single remedy approach - and as someone who trained classically myself, I completely understand why. The methodology is sound and the wisdom runs deep. Over time though, I've found that drawing on a variety of approaches gets the best results for my clients, so while classical prescribing is very much in my toolkit, it's not the only thing in there.
But today I want to talk about a system of combination remedies that I think deserves a lot more attention: the Narayani remedies.
These are not your average health shop combination. There’s a fascinating history behind them, a clear and thoughtful philosophy, and when used well, they are genuinely powerful tools. I use them regularly in my own practice and I want to share why.
🌿 I love this story behind the remedies
This all begins with a remarkable woman named Norma Harman, born in Durban, South Africa in 1924. Norma had a deep interest in yoga and spirituality, and in 1960 she met Swami Venkatesa, a disciple of Swami Sivananda. That meeting changed the whole direction of her life.
Norma graduated as a Doctor of Homeopathy in Durban in 1970, and on the advice of Swami Venkatesa, she set up the Venkatesa Mobile Clinic - a not-for-profit organisation offering health care on a no-fee basis. She was serving large numbers of people - visiting clinics only once a month - with very limited time and resources, and working with patients who were often from very low income backgrounds or living in remote areas.
Classical Homeopathic prescribing - which involves a thorough one-on-one consultation, careful repertorisation, and finding the single remedy that fits the whole person - is a time-intensive process. It’s brilliant, but it requires a certain set of conditions. Norma didn’t have those conditions. She had hundreds of patients, very little time per person, and a need for a system that local community members with basic training could also use.
So, she did what passionate people do - she found a way. She developed a set of combination remedies based on conditions rather than constitutional pictures. Starting with around 36 mixtures, the range kept growing as her clinical experience deepened and her student network expanded. The clinics spread through South Africa, Mauritius, and India. These remedies were tried and tested in real-world conditions, on real people, over many decades.
In 1981, Norma was officially initiated at the Shanti Ashram and became Swami Narayani (often called “Mataji,” meaning mother). In 1989 she received an Albert Schweitzer Award for Humanitarian Work in Healing. She passed away in 1995, but her work carried on - and today the Narayani formulas have expanded to over 200 combinations, being used in over 70 countries.
The original reference text is the Handbook of Healing, written by Swami Narayani and Swami Ananda. There’s also a very useful condensed guide by Nimisha Parekh that I use regularly and would highly recommend.
🌿 So what actually are they?
The Narayani remedies are combination homeopathic remedies, meaning each one contains several individual homeopathic remedies together, all prepared and potentised according to standard homeopathic methods. They are safe, gentle, and non-toxic - just like any other homeopathic remedy.
The key difference from classical prescribing is that you are selecting a remedy based on the condition or presenting symptoms rather than the full individual constitutional picture.
Some of the most well-known combinations include:
WAR - for infection. This is one of the most used remedies in the range, and it’s incredibly effective when you’re dealing with any kind of infection and the picture isn’t clear enough to pinpoint one single remedy.
Drawing - widely regarded as one of the most important remedies in the range, especially for drawing out morbid material, infection, or anything that needs to be pulled to the surface and released.
GFM - for fever management.
Inflammation - for any kind of inflammatory process in the body.
And that’s just scratching the surface! The range covers everything from digestive issues to respiratory complaints, emotional states, hormonal support, and so much more. Some of the more advanced remedies move into deeper territory - including chakra remedies, meridian remedies, gem remedies, and the Omkar remedies, which were developed at the Soham Sanctuary in South Africa and are used for deeper, more chronic conditions.
🌿 The Philosophy behind them
Even though these are combinations, they are not just a throw-everything-at-it approach. Each combination has been carefully built based on how individual remedies relate to the physiology of a particular condition.
The idea is that when you put together several remedies that each have an affinity for a particular system or symptom picture, the most appropriate remedy in the combination will resonate and act, while the others sit quietly in the background. The body takes what it needs.
This is actually not so different from how we sometimes approach an acute situation in classical prescribing - where the picture isn’t yet clear enough to nail one remedy, and you work with a few closely related options. The Narayani system formalises this into a consistent, condition-based approach.
And importantly, the original intention was always a humanitarian one. Norma wasn’t building a system for well-resourced practitioners seeing one client at a time in a consulting room. She was building something that could be used in the field, by people with varying levels of training, to help large numbers of people who had limited access to healthcare.
🌿 When are they useful?
This is the question I get asked most often, so let me be really practical here.
Acutes and first aid situations. When something is happening right now and you need to act quickly, a well-chosen Narayani combination is incredibly handy. WAR is a perfect example - if someone has a tooth infection, an acute injury with signs of infection, or you’re simply not sure which single remedy is the best match, WAR gives you a well-trialled, clinically tested combination with a very strong track record.
When the picture is muddy. Sometimes a case just isn’t clear. The symptoms don’t point obviously to one remedy. In those situations, a Narayani combination that fits the presenting condition can be a really useful bridge while you gather more information - or it can sometimes be enough to shift the acute layer so that what’s underneath becomes clearer.
Alongside constitutional prescribing. This is the use that I think gets misunderstood the most. You absolutely can use a Narayani remedy to address a specific presenting symptom or organ-level issue while also working with a constitutional remedy for the deeper picture. They are not mutually exclusive - in fact, they can work beautifully together. I often use Naryani remedies alongside single or constitutional remedies, and cell salts.
For home use and families. Because the Narayani system is based on conditions rather than individual remedy pictures, it is much more accessible for someone without extensive Homeopathic training. If you’re using remedies at home for your family, having a few key Narayani combinations on hand is wonderfully practical.
🌿 When single prescribing is the best choice
For deep, chronic, constitutional work, single prescribing is going to give you better results. The reason classical Homeopaths spends so much time getting to know the whole person - their mental and emotional state, their miasmatic background, what makes things better or worse, their constitution, their sleep, their dreams etc - is because the single remedy that fits that total picture has a depth of action that a condition-based combination simply cannot match.
If someone has had eczema for fifteen years, anxiety that’s been with them since childhood, or a complex chronic illness with layers of suppression and old trauma - you need a proper constitutional approach. A Narayani combination might take the edge off some symptoms, but it is unlikely to produce the kind of lasting, deep healing that good single prescribing can achieve.
There’s also the matter of case management. When you’re working with a classical single remedy, you can track the response very precisely. If things move in a good direction, you know why. If there’s an aggravation, you can make sense of it. Combinations make it harder to know what’s doing what, and that matters when you’re navigating a complex case over time.
Norma herself never saw her system as a replacement for single remedy prescribing. The original philosophy was always that a better understanding of combinations could actually deepen your understanding of single remedies - and that both approaches have their place.
🌿 A note on the Omkar and specialist remedies
Within the broader Narayani range there are sub-groups with different purposes. The Omkar remedies are designed for deeper chronic use over months rather than acute situations. There are also five element remedies, cranial nerve remedies, and single organ remedies.
If you’re getting serious about working with Narayani remedies, Nimisha Parekh’s condensed guide is an absolute must-have. I’d also recommend connecting with a practitioner who uses them regularly - having someone who can guide your prescribing makes a big difference, especially when you’re starting out.
🌿 The bottom line
The Narayani remedies are not a shortcut or a dumbed-down version of Homeopathy. They are a pragmatically developed, clinically tested system with a genuinely beautiful humanitarian history behind them, built by a woman who dedicated her life to making healing accessible to people who needed it most.
They are not a substitute for constitutional prescribing when deep chronic work is needed. But for acutes, unclear pictures, home use, and as a complement to single remedy prescribing - they are a wonderful tool to have available.
Homeopathy is a big tent. There’s room for both.
If you’d like to explore MY approach to healing using a combined Homoeopathic approach, you can do that here:
A reminder: my Homeopathic mentorship group has limited spaces left!
If you missed my previous post about this, here’s a recap on what I’m offering:
I am offering Homeopathic mentorship to trainee and qualified Homeopaths. To ensure the mentorship remains focused and genuinely supportive, availability will be limited and there will be a selection process. This allows me to work closely with a small group and ensure the experience remains aligned, committed, and valuable for everyone involved.
Expressions of interest are now open, and registrations will close once places are filled.
If you would like to be considered, please email me at:
wholebeinghealthnz@gmail.com using the subject “Mentorship”
with a brief introduction about yourself, your training or experience level, and what you’re hoping to gain from mentorship. Further details will be shared with selected applicants.
In wellness, Kirsty xo