Walking My Own Programme
Te Poutama o te Ora — the framework I’d been building for some time now — has nine steps. I walked through those steps, took notice of what came up, what parts were easy and some not so.
My goal for my Tinana Dimension was “I will only drink water with dinner”. My practice activity and boundary became “No alcohol Monday to Friday”. Clear, measurable, and — I can tell you — genuinely difficult. The first week was a grind. I’d got to Wednesday, and after a successful workday, I thought “I’ll have a glass of wine with dinner”. Ah yes….but then there was my Tinana goal, and the commitment I had made. I was glad when Friday came. When it got to the following Monday, I found I had made sure there was no wine in the house, so I had no excuses or temptations. Monday came and went without drama.
Omutu
I track the maramataka phases every week in ‘Taku Maramataka”, a planning and guidance tool I designed that situates you in the Cosmo. I didn’t notice it immediately; however, I traced that I had just shifted into the phase of Omutu under Whiro’s influence, the Autumn phase of the month. A time to fast, detox and retreat. And, it all made sense. I was fasting in the right phase and rhythm of the month.
With this realisation and the physical boundary of “no wine in the house” in place, the fast was easier. I took notice of my thoughts as the days continued. Incredibly, I weighed less, and then a calming sense of control came over me. I put a second boundary in place – eat meals at home; going out to dinner or lunch only once a month. Then I realised after a few weeks that we hadn’t bought takeaway food…happy pocket-$$$…happier weight.
Reading the Map That Was Already There
The Maramataka names every night of the lunar month. Each night has its own character, its own invitation. Some nights are for planting. Some are for fishing. Some are for gathering. Some are for rest. This isn’t mythology — it’s an ancient observational system built over generations of watching how the natural world actually behaves in relationship to the moon.
And looking at those names through the lens of the nine steps, I could see it: the programme’s first step — Te Ohorere, the awakening, the moment when you first decide to change — belonged at Mawharu. The first reach of the waxing moon. The natural moment of beginning.
Once I saw that, everything else followed. Each step found its natural home in the lunar month. Reflection fell where the moon was full and clear. Release work fell where the moon was waning. Rest and integration fell in the dark of the new moon. The programme wasn’t something I was imposing on the Maramataka — it was something the Maramataka had been holding, waiting to be seen.
Ninety Days
When I mapped the full journey, it took three complete moon cycles to walk all nine steps through to integration. Three cycles. Roughly ninety days.
That number started appearing in other places. Habit researchers talk about 66 days on average for a new behaviour to stick. Many recovery programmes use 90 days as a meaningful threshold. But what struck me was that in this case, 90 days wasn’t arbitrary. It wasn’t an estimate or a convention. It was the time the Maramataka required.
Three full turnings of te marama. A complete journey.
What If You Start Mid-Cycle?
The next practical question was obvious: not everyone can start at the same time. What happens if someone comes to the programme in the middle of a moon cycle?
The answer reshaped everything. What matters is not that everyone starts together — it’s that each person starts at their own Mawharu. The next waxing moon that arrives for them.
Their own moment of beginning.
From that insight came the Three Rhythms — three simultaneous cohorts, each beginning at a different Mawharu, each following the same path. The programme is always running. There’s no waiting for the next intake. There’s just the next moon.
Te Aho Maramataka — The Thread
I eventually built what I call Te Aho Maramataka — a guide that maps each of the nine TPO wellness dimensions to the four lunar phases.
Waxing for growth and new practices. Full moon for expression and celebration. Waning for releasing what no longer serves. New moon for rest, stillness, and quiet intention-setting.
It’s not a rigid protocol. It’s a navigation compass. A way of asking: what phase are we in, and what does this moment call for?
Each of the nine dimensions — identity, relationships, mental and emotional wellbeing, spirituality, physical health, digital wellness, food and gut health, finances, creativity — has its own relationship to each phase. The guide makes that visible.
Why This Matters
Most wellness programmes are built on the assumption that time is neutral. That a Monday in March is the same as a Thursday in October. That the only thing that matters is the intervention itself — the exercises, the worksheets, the sessions.
But if you’ve ever tried to make a significant change in your life, you’ll know that time isn’t neutral. There are moments when growth feels effortless. There are moments when release comes naturally. There are moments when you genuinely need to rest, not push.
The Maramataka has been tracking those moments for generations. Te Poutama o te Ora is a programme that listens to that tracking.
The Wednesday I struggled, the realisation that came on the following Monday as I moved into Omutu, was the shift, and not a coincidence. It was a body responding to the natural rhythm of Te Taiao – the environment. And what the 90-Day Engine does, at its heart, is design a programme that honours that relationship rather than ignoring it.
I return again to my post about “Today’s Alignment” that uses the Maramataka and TPO Rhythm experience. The Maramataka is calibrated to Whiro, the new Moon and the beginning phase of the lunar calendar.
If you missed that article, you are warmly invited to explore the live experience here and join the community:
👉 https://www.iantemo.com/today-s-alignment
About Te Poutama o te Ora
Te Poutama o te Ora is a nine-dimensional kaupapa Māori wellness framework developed in Aotearoa New Zealand. With Taha Tuakiri — identity and purpose — at its centre, TPO guides individuals and communities through a structured journey toward holistic wellbeing, using the Maramataka as its temporal spine. The 90-Day Engine and Te Aho Maramataka are core programme tools within the TPO suite.
Maramataka — the rhythmic thread that weaves through all dimensions.