A Holistic Approach to Healing Through Rongoā Māori Something Beautiful for the World

Māori healing is about uplifting the mana of people and place, as well as the mauri, that life essence. That to me is Māori healing. Our goal is not to heal disease; our goal is to uplift the mana and mauri of people and place. so that we may be well. Nice to have all of you here. Hello. That's great. Hello. I know your face, how do I know your face? Thank you all for coming to join us; I'm really excited to have you all here. Māori medicine is so much more than plant-based remedies, but in the modern world, that is how it has come to be translated. Plant medicines are just one path into the realm of healing. It's very focused on people, individual people, more so than on disease. So whānau, one of the important things for us is learning te reo o te whenua, learning the language of the land. It's really important; unless we connect with the whenua, we cannot know the whenua, we cannot know the land. So when we understand the gifts of all our whanaunga, all our relatives in the natural world, Then we can begin to understand our place in the world as a species. Māori healing is about ensuring people know that they matter. Making sure that people know they belong. Reconnecting people to culture so they can see, feel, and know themselves. Reconnecting people with the ancestral world, with our spiritual world. Remember that we are all indigenous to somewhere. Today we view it through the eyes of the Māori, but it belongs to all of us. This is the story of Indigenous peoples around the world through the perspective of Māori. And sometimes we need to learn through the conversations of others in order to understand ourselves. We come with gifts from our respective cultures that can help each other, that can help each other thrive and grow. It is through our diversity that we are richer, not through our sameness. The more challenging aspect of our wellness is weaving together the physical and spiritual elements that make us whole. So if we focus on that and keeping people whole, then we are focusing on well-being rather than on disease. Māori healing is not beta, nor is it subordinate to the concepts of Western medicine. I think it's truly important for us to remember that our grandparents would have been grateful for the gifts of Western medicine in their time. But we are richer if we have the choice—the right thing in the right place at the right time. And what we've done is leave a vast amount of mātauranga—indigenous knowledge from people around the world—behind in what they refer to as the dark ages. And we need to move that forward because now more than ever it is needed. We need to adapt the ways of our ancestors to fit the modern world. Everyone living on this planet today is the living embodiment of their ancestors. They were the first people to know and establish that relationship with the natural world. They know things we've long forgotten. And we can draw upon that ancestral library when we slow down enough to hear the whispers of our ancestors. If we dig down here, this plant here's gift is very similar to the kōauau, the flute. It is the connector. That's the gift of this plant. So you see all this beautiful mycelium on it here, this beautiful white stuff. This is the internet of the land, connecting all the plants. So if this is the connector on the whenua, what are the connectors in our bodies? Nerves. It's a nerve ion. So it helps address pain and messaging in the body. We're trying to help you relearn how to learn. It's pointless to be dependent on me for this, as this is good for that, and this is good for something else. Because, you know, our brains can only hold so much. What matters is that we learn how to rediscover once more. We learn how to discover and always ask, what is your gift? What is the gift of this plant? What is the gift of that plant? What is the gift of this bird? And in the answer, it tells us it's rongoa. See how we're flipping our thinking. It's not what the plants can do for us, but what they gift to the natural world. And when we understand that, we understand their healing and how we can work with them to expand that healing. That is the essence of Māori rongoa. I think we need to step up and take greater responsibility for our own health and well-being. rather than subcontracting it to the medical profession. They cannot heal us; only we can heal ourselves. With their help, with the help of the taiao, the natural world, with the help of those people who understand the importance of certain connections. And Māori is the key. Māori is like a candle that sits in the pit of our stomach. If you can imagine every person on the planet, every tree, every animal, I had a candle that sat inside, and sometimes the flame of that candle would shine brightly. just as it does here in this beautiful place, and sometimes it would be dim. That candlelight is the reflection of their mauri. Mauri is the essence that binds the physical and the spiritual worlds. So that we may be whole, and in order to be well, we must be whole. If a Māori tells you to eat something, make sure they eat it first. Okay? Teach your children this. Because we love nothing more than watching the rest of you rush to the bathroom. So, I'm just going to take a small amount since I've already tasted it. But it's important that I taste it, so I go, ooh, that's not it, and I don't poison the rest of you. Or to give you confidence that it's okay to eat. So, that's our peko peko, and you can eat it raw. I hear a lot of conversation about how we need to integrate both traditional and modern ways of healing. For me, that in itself is the problem. Integration requires us to work with what is common between those two worlds. and then leave everything else behind. The aspects we disagree on, the parts we don't understand about each other's cultures, But it's in those details where the value lies. If a surgeon were to be operating on my grandchildren, I don't want the surgeon to leave his science at home, or her science at home, because I don't understand it. I want them to bring everything they've got to that table. And I don't want a healthcare system that says, "Can you set aside that spiritual aspect?" Please, your healing at the door, because we simply don't understand it. And all that requires, in order for it to work, is respect for different ways of knowing. Respect costs nothing, and yet we find it so hard to give. Understanding the interdependence of all things, recognizing that everything is connected, is where it truly matters. Our interconnectedness, our interdependence, is the key to our way forward. We examine plants that colonize the forest. Some of them bring great gifts that help our native species thrive and survive in the forest. The only time there's a problem is if those plants try to take over. But when they learn to live cooperatively and together, in their own mana, in their own knowing, Only then can the entire community thrive. Sometimes I think about the statistics we see here in Aotearoa. And as Indigenous people, we have performed poorly in all key health indicators. We have performed poorly in the education system as it is measured today. We have performed poorly in health statistics as they are currently measured. We are the most incarcerated population in our country. You kind of think, you know, what hope is there for Indigenous people who are doing so poorly? within the realms of a culture that is not their own And so I think some of the statistics, if we continue to believe what we are told about ourselves, We forget to acknowledge just how truly incredible we are. When we are able to operate according to our own practices, when we are able to act in accordance with our own values, We know exactly how to do it. And when we are allowed to be Māori, we are well. When we are allowed to be who we are, we are well.