Abstract

Tūhonotanga relates to one’s physical and spiritual embeddedness to the surrounding world, including to culture, to kin, and to Father Sky and Mother Earth. Kanien’kehá:ka researcher Alicia Ibarra-Lemay from the community of Kahnawà:ke, interviewed Māori psychotherapist Donny Riki from Aotearoa, to explore her practice of healing in relation to her own connections to the Ngāpuhi and the Ngāti Paoa. As granddaughter to Ina Tepapatahi, Patara Te Tuhi, Puahaere, and Haora Tipakoinaki, Donny carries the responsibility for healing in the sense of helping her people find their way back home after 186 years of colonial violence and rule in her homeland of Aotearoa. This chapter discusses the way she works with tāngata whaiora (Māori people, seekers of wellness) and how the process of healing is conceptualized in her Mãori worldview.

Highlights

  • Beginning with A Mihi: Nate kukune te pupuke Nate pupuke te hihiri Nate hihiri te mahara Nate mahara te hinengaro Nate hinengaro te manaako Ka hua te wanangaFrom the conception the increase From the increase the energy From the energy the remembrance From the remembrance the mindfulness From the mindfulness the longing From the longing the fruitful learning beginsThis passage is an excerpt from the traditional Maori whakapapa of creation, a story brought to Aotearoa by its First People, the Maori

  • In exploring Maori psychotherapist Donny Riki’s approach to healing and therapeutic work with the Maori people in Aotearoa New Zealand, readers are invited into a world of Indigenous knowledge and cultural systems of ‘relating’

  • The Tino Rangatiratanga (Maori renaissance) movement peaked during the 1970s when the Waitangi Tribunal was established to contest breaches made by the crown legitimized by Te Tiriti O Waitangi

Read more

Summary

Introduction

Beginning with A Mihi: Nate kukune te pupuke Nate pupuke te hihiri Nate hihiri te mahara Nate mahara te hinengaro Nate hinengaro te manaako Ka hua te wananga. Kohukohunui is our spiritual mountain Hauraki is our sacred ocean Tainui is our ancestral canoe My mother’s tribal people are Ngati Paoa My ancestors are Haora Tipa Koinaki and Puahaere My mother is Dianne Tamihana She passed into the spirit world at 64 years young My name is Donny Riki My Indigenous name is One-who-lives-beneath-the-skin I am a cis-gendered straight woman My sweetheart’s name is Viv Roberts He is a white settler His ancestors are French, Turkish and Jewish We live in Levin New Zealand We have five children between us Two beautiful grandbabies And a large mischievous puppy I greet you and your an cestors And share the breath of life! Donny’s whakapapa is further bound by human connection to great chiefs and warriors bestowing her mana (dignity) and the responsibility to uphold the spirit of her people

Maori Healing and the Importance of Maintaining Balance
Continuing with a Story of Love
The Greeting and the Beginning of the Interchange—Symbolism of the Hongi
Making Relationship
Healing Space
Beginning a Healing Session
Processing Past Violence and Traumatic Experience
Going into the Healing Experience
11. The Experiential Healing Ceremony
12. Integrating and Reflecting on the Experience
Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call