From Plastic Windows to Wellness Framework: How Lived Experience Shapes Indigenous Health
I am breaking from my usual weekly post to introduce you to where Te Poutama o te Ora originated. A kaupapa that must be shared.
When you hear about health frameworks and wellness models, they often arrive wrapped in academic language—clean, theoretical, and somehow removed from the messy reality of actual lives. But what if I told you that one of the most comprehensive Māori wellness frameworks emerging today has its roots in something as humble and heartbreaking as plastic windows?
Matapihi Kirihou—Plastic Windows. These two words carry the weight of lived experience, intergenerational trauma, and the kind of poverty that seeps into your bones along with the cold air that no amount of plastic sheeting can keep out.
This is the story behind Te Poutama o te Ora, and it’s a story that needs to be told.
Beyond the Theory: Where Wellness Frameworks Really Come From
In the 1980s, Mason Durie gave us Te Whare Tapa Whā—the four-sided house that revolutionised how we think about Māori health. It was brilliant, and it changed everything. But here’s what often gets lost in academic discussions: theories don’t emerge from thin air. They come from real homes, real bodies, real lives shaped by forces beyond individual control.
Matapihi Kirihou pulls back the curtain on this reality. It shows us the actual homes with plastic windows, the bodies carrying trauma in the Puku (gut), the children denied te Reo Māori, the cycles of poverty and violence that don’t just affect us socially—they literally change our biology through what scientists now call epigenetic inheritance.
This isn’t just a backstory. It’s methodological testimony. It’s saying: “This framework exists because of this pain, and through this pain, and it’s designed to heal this specific kind of harm.”
The Plastic Windows: Literal and Metaphorical
Picture this: A child, eight years old, responsible for siblings, living in a house where the windows aren’t glass but plastic sheeting—makeshift barriers against the world that nevertheless let the cold, the shame, and the violence seep through. Fast forward years later: H. pylori infection, multiple infectious diseases, breast cancer. These aren’t random afflictions. They’re predictable outcomes of what scholars call “structural violence”—the systematic denial of resources, culture, language, and dignity that manifests physically in Māori bodies across generations.
The plastic windows are both real and symbolic. They represent the resourcefulness required to survive when you’re given inadequate tools. They show the shame of visible poverty. But they also reveal something powerful: even makeshift barriers provide some protection. Even imperfect solutions demonstrate our refusal to accept what colonisation determined for us.
From Matapihi Kirihou to Te Ao Mārama
The journey from plastic windows to te Ao Mārama (enlightenment, the world of light) isn’t about transcending your past or pretending trauma didn’t happen. It’s about what Leonie Pihama calls “transformative praxis”—the deliberate, conscious work of breaking cycles while honouring the resilience that enabled survival in the first place.
This is where Te Poutama o te Ora becomes radically different from wellness frameworks that ignore their origins. It doesn’t ask you to forget where you came from. It doesn’t position wellness as something separate from your history of struggle. Instead, it takes that difficult ground—the poverty, the violence, the loss of language and culture—and transforms it into the very foundation for healing.
One of the most powerful elements of Matapihi Kirihou is the inclusion of the author’s daughter’s poem. This transforms shame into whakapapa, recasting poverty and struggle not as failures to overcome, but as the honest ground from which cultural reclamation grows. It says: “This is where we came from and look what we’re building now.”
Grounded in the Body, Rooted in Lived Experience
What makes this approach methodologically sound is its adherence to the principles of Kaupapa Māori research. It centres Māori experience as legitimate knowledge production. The author becomes both researcher and research subject. Individual wellness is explicitly linked to collective liberation.
This refuses the Western academic demand that Indigenous knowledge present itself as universal or objective to be valid. Instead, Matapihi Kirihou offers beautiful, powerful particularity: one Māori woman’s journey from childhood poverty to breaking intergenerational cycles. And paradoxically, this specificity makes it universally applicable. We see ourselves in the details, not despite them.
The Science Meets the Spirit
Here’s where it gets even more interesting. Te Poutama o te Ora, emerging from this foundation, integrates contemporary scientific understanding of trauma, epigenetics, gut health, and metabolic wellness—while remaining firmly grounded in Mātauranga Māori concepts of mauri (life force), wairua (spirit), and whakapapa (genealogy, connections).
This isn’t about abandoning traditional knowledge for Western science or stubbornly rejecting helpful scientific insights out of principle. It’s what Graham Hingangaroa Smith calls “conscientization”—developing the critical consciousness that enables Indigenous peoples to use Western knowledge without being consumed by Western worldviews.
The plastic windows taught lessons that modern science confirms chronic stress from poverty and violence literally changes our bodies. Trauma gets encoded not just in our memories but in our cells. The gut—te Puku—holds our emotional and physical health in ways that connect directly to brain function, immune response, and overall wellbeing.
But Mātauranga Māori already knew this. Our Tūpuna understood the connections between physical, spiritual, emotional, and collective health long before Western science had terminology for it. Te Poutama o te Ora simply creates bridges between these knowledge systems, allowing them to reinforce rather than contradict each other.
Not Aspirational Theory—Practical Necessity
This is crucial to understand: Te Poutama o te Ora isn’t an aspirational theory from a university. It is a practical necessity born from the bodies, homes, and lives of Māori people navigating the ongoing reality of colonisation.
When you’re eight years old and responsible for younger siblings, you develop systems. When you’re living with plastic windows, you learn resourcefulness. When your body carries the weight of intergenerational trauma, you either develop comprehensive wellness practices or you don’t survive.
The nine-element framework that emerges from this foundation isn’t about achieving some perfect state of wellness depicted in glossy magazines. It’s about the daily practice of healing what colonisation broke, while building different futures for the generations coming after us.
The Transparent Markers of Structural Inequality
The plastic windows remain in the narrative as transparent markers of structural inequality. The story doesn’t hide them or gloss over them. Instead, it follows their transformation: removing them, replacing them, eventually moving beyond them into homes with proper glass windows.
This physical journey mirrors what Te Poutama o te Ora offers: not the erasure of difficult history, but its transformation into a foundation for different futures. The plastic windows taught resourcefulness, resilience, and the understanding that what is broken can be mended—even if imperfectly, even if it takes time, even if the scars remain visible.
These lessons become bedrock. They inform every element of the framework because they come from lived necessity rather than theoretical possibility.
Why This Matters Now
In a time when Indigenous wellness is increasingly commercialised and commodified, when everyone wants to sell you a decolonised version of something without doing the hard work of confronting colonial harm, Matapihi Kirihou stands as essential truth-telling.
It says: genuine decolonisation in health must begin with honesty about how colonisation lives in our bodies, our relationships, and our daily practices of eating, moving, and being in the world.
It refuses the separation of theory from lived experience. It stands with Audre Lorde’s insistence that “the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house,” and with bell hooks’ assertion that theory emerges from pain and must serve healing.
The plastic windows are not footnotes to the framework—they are its foundation. Visible, acknowledged, and transformed into the very structure that enables others to find shelter, warmth, and ultimately, wellness.
A Different Kind of Framework
What emerges from Matapihi Kirihou is a wellness framework that understands you might be starting from plastic windows. It doesn’t judge that. It doesn’t ask you to have it all figured out before you begin. It meets you where you are, with all your trauma and resilience, all your broken pieces and incredible strength.
Te Poutama o te Ora says: “Your story matters. Your pain is real. The violence done to your Tūpuna lives in your body, and healing requires acknowledging that reality, not pretending it away.”
But it also says: “You are more than your trauma. The same resilience that got you here can carry you forward. The plastic windows taught you lessons that glass never could. And from this foundation—honest, difficult, real—we build something new.”
Moving Forward
The beauty of positioning Matapihi Kirihou as essential reading alongside Te Poutama o te Ora’s theoretical and practical materials is that it keeps the framework honest. It prevents the wellness work from floating off into abstract theory disconnected from the realities of Māori lives.
Every time someone engages with the nine elements of wellness, they’re reminded: this comes from somewhere. This emerged from necessity. This is built on the foundation of real homes, real bodies, real experiences of colonisation and survival.
The plastic windows remain visible in the story—not as shame, but as a testament. They show where we’ve been. They honour what it took to survive. And they point toward where we’re going: homes with solid walls and clear glass, bodies healing from intergenerational trauma, communities reclaiming language and culture, futures where our mokopuna won’t need to be resourceful about plastic windows because they’ll have what they need to thrive.
This is the power of Matapihi Kirihou. This is why it matters. This is the foundation upon which genuine, lasting wellness can be built—not despite our difficult histories, but through them, transforming pain into purpose and plastic windows into pathways toward healing.
Matapihi Kirihou is the origin story of Te Poutama o te Ora, a comprehensive nine-element Māori wellness framework. To learn more about the framework and its practical applications, explore the full Te Poutama o te Ora materials.
TPO, the backstory is available here, and a narrated flipbook version is here; both are free.
We look again at why some patterns—like stress, health issues, or even resilience—seem to run in families? Modern science has an answer, and it’s something Indigenous communities have known for centuries: experiences can leave marks that echo across generations.
What Is Epigenetics—and Why Does It Matter?
Epigenetics is the science of how life experiences—like trauma or nurturing—can change how our genes work without changing the genes themselves. These changes can be passed down to children and even grandchildren (Yehuda & Lehrner, 2018).
Here’s what research tells us:
Holocaust survivors’ trauma affected their children’s stress-response genes (Yehuda et al., 2014).
Syrian refugee families show trauma-related changes in DNA activity across three generations (Mulligan et al., 2025).
Colonisation trauma in Indigenous communities contributes to health issues like diabetes and mental illness in descendants who never experienced the original harm (Skinner et al., 2023).
This means health isn’t just about personal choices—it’s about inherited patterns shaped by history.
Te Whare Tapa Whā: The Four Walls of Wellbeing
In 1984, Sir Mason Durie introduced Te Whare Tapa Whā, a model that uses the image of a wharenui (meeting house) to explain health (Durie, 1998). It has four walls:
Taha Tinana (physical health) – Your body’s strength and function.
Taha Wairua (spiritual health) – Your connection to heritage and life force.
Taha Hinengaro (mental health) – Thoughts, feelings, and emotions.
Taha Whānau (family health) – Belonging and social support.
Durie’s model was revolutionary because it said spiritual and family health matter just as much as physical health. Today, epigenetics backs this up: trauma affects stress systems, immunity, metabolism, and brain development all at once (Bhattacharya et al., 2019).
Te Poutama o te Ora: Going Deeper
While Te Whare Tapa Whā laid the foundation, modern challenges need more detail. That’s where Te Poutama o te Ora comes in—a nine-part framework designed for today’s world.
Five Core Pillars
Whakapapa (ancestry): Recognises inherited patterns science now confirms.
Tinana (body): Includes modern insights like gut health and how stress affects babies (Szyf & Bick, 2013).
Tuakiri (identity): Separate from family because colonisation fractured identity, creating unique stress markers (Raffington et al., 2021).
Wairua (spirit): Spiritual health influences bonding and stress hormones.
Hinengaro (mind): Thoughts and emotions shape gene activity.
Three Transformation Stages
Healing takes time and repeated effort—science agrees (Clark & Rager, 2020).
The Ninth Element: Stability
This is full balance—where wellness becomes the new inherited pattern. Research shows resilience can also be passed down, not just trauma (Kellerman, 2025).
Why This Matters
Start Early: Support parents before conception (Yehuda & Lehrner, 2018).
Think Holistically: Health isn’t just physical—it’s spiritual, mental, and cultural.
Culture as Medicine: Language and cultural practices reduce stress and improve health (Comtois-Cabana et al., 2021).
Generational Approach: Healing isn’t just for individuals—it’s for families and communities.
The Big Picture
Epigenetics confirms what Māori frameworks have said for decades: health is interconnected and passed through generations. Te Poutama o te Ora builds on Te Whare Tapa Whā by adding detail and processes that match what science now knows.
Both show that wellness is cultural, systemic, and heritable.
The question isn’t whether these approaches work—science says they do. The question is: will health systems adopt frameworks that are as sophisticated as the problems they aim to solve?
We talked last week about creating structured goals that set you on your path to wellness. Goals enable you to refocus when you need that extra lift, and they give you the target to aim for.
With Te Whakatakato tō Mahere, we turn these goals into actions and activities that
move these thoughts into a plan. From this plan, you can monitor, track progress and revisit or flex when life brings unexpected challenges that change priorities.
Whakapapa – relationships and connection
Goal: –“Strengthen whānau bonds through regular meaningful contact, shared meals, and honouring family stories and traditions.”
Actions / the Plan: –
Small actions: I will make one connection each day with a family member or friend I haven’t talked to in a while.
Big actions: I will share at least one meal every day with my family, with phones away to create space for real connection.
Tinana – health, nutrition, weight, exercise and food timing
Goal: –“Establish consistent daily movement (30+ minutes) that energises you.”
Actions / the Plan: –
Small actions: I will track how often I take the stairs versus the lift or get up from my desk to take movement, getting clear about how sedentary my day is.
Big actions: I will block out my lunch break so I can focus on my wellness (eating mindfully) and take a 10-minute walk, building up to 30 minutes a day.
Tuakiri – identity, self-concept, where you fit in or strive to become, Mana
Goal: –“Define purpose beyond roles and titles”
Actions / the Plan: –
Small actions: I will observe daily what things anger or move me deeply, both good and bad, to gain an understanding of what matters most to me.
Big actions: I will brainstorm what I want to be remembered for or the change I want to create in the world, using sentences that start with “My purpose is to…”.
Wairua – inner spirituality
Goal: –“Develop consistent spiritual practice that feeds your soul”
Actions / the Plan: –
Small actions: I will observe karakia before meals.
Big actions: I will identify when I feel most connected to something greater than myself, what practices leave me feeling restored or aligned, and continue to grow my inner spirituality. I will write daily my observations and achievements in my journal/Te Whakatūria to Mana so I can acknowledge and celebrate successes.
Hinengaro – work, family activities, emotions, intentions, money and material assets
Goal: –“Cultivate positive self-talk and challenge inner critics that diminish your worth or capabilities”
Actions / the Plan: –
Small actions: I will recite my takutaku every morning to lift and renew my spirit and inner strength.
Big actions: I will observe when I am negatively triggered by events or happenings, “what about this situation triggers me?”, “Is this event within my control?”. “Do I need to sit in this discomfort to understand further, or can I let it go without it leaving a hook?”
This approach is highly personalised, focusing on your unique needs and aspirations. It encourages you to take an active role in your growth journey.
Trips and traps that can stall your actions
As you work through your actions and start tracking your progress, there will be things that trip you up or cause you to question why you are putting all this effort in. Here are some tips:
Whakapapa goals and activities:
Trap – waiting for others to make the first move.
Tip– send the text, make the call, be the bridge. It only takes one simple message – “Kei te pēhea koe?”, “How are you?”
Tinana goals and activities:
Trap – I’ll start on Monday syndrome.
Tip – Move your body for 10 minutes today, just 10 minutes. Not tomorrow or when conditions are perfect. A walk around your house or down your street, or dancing to a favourite song. Movement is what matters.
Tuakiri goals and activities:
Trap – Shapeshifting to please everyone.
Tip – Complete this sentence daily, “I am someone who…. loves quiet mornings; values honesty…”. Speak your identity into existence!
Wairua goals and activities:
Trap – waiting for mountaintop moments.
Tip – One breath with intention. Before eating, pause and acknowledge your kai.
Hinengaro goals and activities:
Trap – Forcing positive thinking over real feelings.
Tip – Name the feeling without fixing it, don’t rush to change it. Awareness before action. Acknowledgement before transformation.
What to do when you are stuck “Me Heke ki Mua”
It is normal for other life priorities to interrupt what is planned. How you manage those interruptions is what makes the difference. I developed this model with that in mind, and that is the difference compared to other strategies you might have attempted in the past.
Three steps:
Clear Backlog – clear physical, mental and energy clutter. Free capacity so you can breathe again. Tidy spaces, list and prioritise the to-do list, and block time in your calendar to enable you to take these actions. Delegate and let go of activities that no longer belong to you or serve you.
Heal Body – re-establish self-care rituals, move 30 minutes daily, work in cycles 25/5 or 50/10. That is 25 or 50 minutes of effort, 5 or 10 minutes break. Harness the power of Iwa (9).
Revisit Plans – until flow returns – realign your direction with intention. Review deadlines – adjust without shame. Choose 1 small and 1 big action to complete daily to keep you productive without the overwhelm. Review activities daily, then weekly, to bring flow and control back. Reconnect with your vision.
When Flow Returns
You’ll feel it
Your mind clears
Your motivation returns
Your intentions become sharper
Your Wairua lifts
Flow is restored.
Getting Support Developing Your Actions
Many people underestimate the power of guided support in making lasting changes. Changing life habits compete with daily life, and a personal development counsellor can help identify priorities, set boundaries, and help develop time management skills. Enabling you to articulate what matters the most and giving you the tools to achieve those.
Increase Self-Awareness: Gain clarity about your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours.
Enhance Relationships: Improve communication and empathy with others.
Boost Confidence: Overcome self-doubt and build a positive self-image.
Manage Stress: Develop healthy coping mechanisms for daily pressures.
Achieve Goals: Stay motivated and focused on what matters most.
Remember, the effectiveness of personal development counselling depends on your willingness to engage and apply what you learn.
Embrace Your Potential Today
Taking steps to move towards wellness and getting the right support on that journey is a powerful pathway to transform your life. It provides clarity, support, and practical strategies to help you overcome challenges and achieve your dreams. Whether you want to enhance your career, relationships, or personal well-being, this form of counselling can guide you every step of the way.
Take the first step today by exploring your options and committing to your growth. Your future self will thank you for the investment you make now.
Empower yourself with the tools and insights to live your best life through life improvement counselling.
Personal development is a journey that many embark on to enhance their quality of life, improve relationships, and achieve greater satisfaction. The journey to achieving this vision starts with setting clear, achievable goals. I have termed these as ‘Goal and Wellbeing Dimensions’.
Let’s examine some examples using the five Pou of Te Poutama o te Ora.
Whakapapa – goals related to relationships and connection
“Strengthen whānau bonds through regular meaningful contact, shared meals, and honouring family stories and traditions.”
In itself, this might seem like an easy goal. But is it?
How many families find it difficult to have one meal a day together?
Challenges: busy work and school schedules mean a lot of time is spent in transit. The ease of fast or convenience foods discourages us from taking the effort to make quick meals at home. In addition, we eat in our cars between locations or on the run, or at different times of the day from each other.
Impetus for change: Do you have the connection with your whānau that you want? Do you spend enough time with each other to know what is going on in each other’s worlds? When you are all at home…do you spend time in the same room or does everyone go off to their spaces, possibly behind closed bedroom or lounge doors, spending the day or evening in their own company or with their technological friends?
None of this is a problem if you feel that this whānau connection works for you and there is no reason to want anything different. Or does it?
Tinana – goals related to health, nutrition, weight, exercise and food planning/timing
“Establish consistent daily movement (30+ minutes) that energises you.”
This again might seem like an easy goal to achieve.
However, it takes concerted effort to make it happen.
Gains in this activity have a positive influence on other aspects, weight, health, and well-being.
Challenges: These are similar to whakapapa connections; busy schedules, and a lot of time is spent in transit. Sedentary work roles in front of computers or online. Work hours that discourage making personal time to focus on your health.
Impetus for change: Have you found yourself out of breath when going up stairs…or do you avoid those and always take the lift? Do you find your clothes are more ‘snug’ than they used to be? Are you always going to do that one day…”take a walk during lunch”, “get up early to exercise”, “walk to the shops…versus taking the car”. Whatever you choose, it must be something simple and achievable.
Tuakiri – goals related to identity, self-concept, where you fit or strive to become, and Mana
“Define purpose beyond roles and titles”
This can be a difficult goal to begin with, most of us are not comfortable putting a mirror to ourselves and asking, “Am I who I really want to be?”, “Do I know my real self?”
Challenges: How many roles have been assigned to you? A sibling? Mother, father, partner, employee of ‘X’ business, a professional…how many roles? How willing were you to take on those roles, or did they ‘happen’ to you? Having a role assigned can be a comfort, in that they ‘explain’ who we are…or do they?
Impetus for change: If you were to wake up tomorrow and be whatever you wanted to be…would you have the same roles you have now? If yes, then do you feel fulfilled by those roles? If yes, then do you look forward to every day knowing you are living the best version of yourself? Some people can say yes to all of these; there are also those who cannot. Which category do you place yourself in?
Wairua – goals related to your inner spiritual connection
“Develop consistent spiritual practice that feeds your soul”
People can confuse this goal with religion, and although religion, for some, plays an important role, spirituality is more about inner peace and our connection with the world we live in.
Challenges: A repeating theme that also influences achieving this goal is that of a busy life, work schedules, and sedentary work practices. If it is difficult to find 30 minutes in a day to take a walk or get out of the office, then finding that same amount of time to feed your inner self will be just as challenging.
Impetus for change: In a similar way to the other Pou are you living your best life? Do you find yourself taking time to be ‘still’ or do you rush from one activity to the next to try to ‘pack in’ as much as possible? What will happen if those things don’t get done? If you took 10 minutes and enjoyed the morning sun, or listened to the rain as it fell on the roof, what would you miss from your busy schedule?
Our last example.
Hinengaro – goals related to work, priorities including family activities, emotions and intentions, money, material assets
“Cultivate positive self-talk and challenge inner critics that diminish your worth or capabilities”
The way we think about ourselves has a profound impact on the choices we make. There is an easy test. When you are doing the things you love, your thoughts are positive, you feel successful, and you achieve what you set out to do. When you are doing things you have to do, they can be difficult, are less rewarding, and often you can’t wait until the experience is over. The approach for both is based on how you feel about those tasks or activities (your choice), which in turn impacts the experience (outcome of that choice).
Challenges: Similar to the roles we have in life, our self-talk has an outcome on what we experience. As a parent, it can be that you may find yourself comparing yourself to others, which in turn impacts what you tell yourself. Then there are influences of what we see on social media, online or television, that give a view of the ‘ultimate’ person. Theodore Roosevelt said, “Comparison is the thief of joy”. So true a statement.
Impetus for change: What role models have you had during your life? Have they brought the best out in you? Encourage you to become the person you always wanted to be, or have they diminished you in some way? Does your self-talk uplift you or bring you down?
Practical Applications of Te Whāriki o te Ora
By working through those examples, more questions were likely raised than answered, and that is the purpose of Goal Setting. Getting you to think clearly about what you want to achieve, but also to ensure that effort is going into activities that bring you to a place of wellness.
It does take time to create meaningful goals.
It took time to get you to where you find yourself today…and to change that…will also take time. You might find you are changing habits of a lifetime. What starts you on that change is the strategies you put in place to achieve those goals Te Whakatakato tō Mahere (laying down the action plan).
We will talk about that next week, as well as ‘Wants and Needs’, the 3-check test and how they also influence the choices we make.
Embracing Continuous Growth for a Better Future
Personal development is not a one-time event but a lifelong process. Embracing the changes you want to make in your life begins with setting Goals (Te Whāriki o te Ora). As well as accepting that the journey can continuously evolve, require adaptation, and help you learn to thrive in an ever-changing world. The key is to remain open to learning, be patient with setbacks, and celebrate progress, no matter how small.
Whether you are just starting or looking to deepen your growth, integrating these techniques into your routine can lead to profound and lasting transformation. Remember, the journey of self-improvement is uniquely yours, and with the right tools and support, the possibilities are endless.
Unlocking your full potential is a journey that requires dedication, insight, and the right support. Personal Growth Counselling offers a structured path to help you grow emotionally, mentally, and even spiritually. It is a powerful tool that can transform your life by helping you overcome obstacles, build resilience, and develop a deeper understanding of yourself.
You would have seen me discussing this model in previous posts – Te Poutama o te Ora.
This model encourages and guides you to look at Five Pou or dimensions of your life:
Taha Whakapapa – (family wellness) connections with family and community.
Taha Tinana – (physical wellness) your body, movement, rest and nourishment. Honours the body that houses your Tuakiri (Identity).
Taha Tuakiri – (identity and cultural wellness) your sense of self, whakapapa, cultural grounding.
Taha Wairua – (spiritual wellness) your connection to the sacred and transcendent.
Taha Hinengaro – (mental/emotional wellness) – your psychological and emotional wellbeing
There are Nine Pou in total, harnessing the Power of Iwa, initially we focus on these five.
The central Pou is Taha Tuakiri – every practice, every principle of wellness serves to restore Taha Tuakiri, your sense of self. Your identity, your knowing of who you are beneath all the noise, all the pressure, all the intrusions into your life.
Understanding how Te Poutama o te Ora supports Personal Growth
This approach centres on identifying what matters the most to you, what short and long-term goals you want to achieve for yourself and your family. We start off small building the steps, getting clear about the direction(s) you want to take and creating a plan of how to get there.
Then we put strategies and monitoring in place to check progress, decide if activities need to be ‘tweaked’ or changed when other life priorities happen. We build the skills to ‘flex’ and ‘adjust’ to those challenges.
The process involves:
Te Whāriki o te Ora – goal setting.
Looking at Wants and Needs – how they impact our goals.
Te Whakatakato tō Mahere – laying down the plan. The specific actions you want to take to achieve that goal. We use SMART criteria—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound goal/activity settings.
Te Whakatūria tō Mana – daily, weekly and monthly activities that keep your goals on track. We use 3-3-3 set, the Power of Iwa (9), nine rhythms that work with nature and what our bodies naturally turn to.
Integration with Te Maramataka – we look at how to use the lunar cycles for decision-making and action planning. Bringing you closer to the rhythms of the universe.
Te Tū Pūmau – establishing consistent practices that provide grounding for Taha Tuakiri.
Te Whai Hua – productivity through mindfulness and success built on Te Tū Pūmau.
Tū Maia – stability through body and mental health wellness practices. That makes Taha Tuakiri ‘tau’ (steadfast).
When Tuakiri is ‘tau’…te Ao Marama is ‘tau’.
The journey doesn’t end there…The Growth Mindset
There are specific challenges that influence all our lives, where Te Poutama o te Ora can bring those to light and provide a path to move forward and beyond those challenges. These fall into 3 main areas:
Taha Matihiko – Reclaiming Digital Mana.
Taha Pūtea – Money as Mana.
Nuku i tō Puku – Grounding your Core, healthy food, healthy body, healthy core.
We look at:
What led us to where we are today.
What things continue to keep us stuck in un-wellness….’always on technology’…’drive to buy more and more even when we don’t need it’…’the food we choose…easy…quick and affordable…but what is it really doing to us.
What can we do to ‘release us’ from the hold these ‘taha’ have on us.
By working with a counsellor or coach, you gain personalised support tailored to your unique needs. This guidance can accelerate your growth and keep you accountable.
How Personal Growth Counselling Enhances Your Life
The benefits of personal growth counselling extend beyond just feeling better. It builds the skills to make tangible improvements in various areas of your life:
1. Improved Relationships (Taha Whakapapa)
Understanding yourself better helps you communicate more effectively and empathise with others. Counselling can teach you how to set healthy boundaries, resolve conflicts, and build stronger connections.
2. Career Advancement (Taha Tuakiri)
Self-awareness and confidence are key to professional success. Counselling can help you identify your strengths, overcome fears like public speaking, and develop leadership skills.
3. Emotional Resilience (Taha Hinengaro)
Life is full of challenges. Personal Growth Counselling equips you with tools to manage stress, bounce back from failures, and maintain a positive outlook.
4. Healthier Habits (Taha Tinana)
Changing habits is difficult without support. Counselling can guide you in creating routines that promote physical and mental well-being, such as regular exercise, mindfulness, and better sleep.
5. Greater Life Satisfaction (Taha Wairua)
Ultimately, self-improvement therapy helps you align your actions with your values and passions, leading to a more fulfilling and meaningful life.
Practical Steps to Start Your Personal Improvement Journey
Starting self-improvement therapy can feel overwhelming, but breaking it down into manageable steps makes it easier:
The Awakening – Reflect on Your Current Situation
Take time to assess what areas of your life you want to improve. Be honest about your challenges and what you hope to achieve.
Te Whāriki o te Ora – Set Clear Goals
Define specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals. For example, “I want to improve my public speaking skills by attending a workshop within three months.”
Finding the Right Support
If this feels right for you…reach out on our services page…take that step to book an appointment and start your journey to wellness.
Te Whakatakato tō Mahere
Put those actions in place that will help you achieve the goals that will bring your life the alignment you are after….Life Re-Alignment
Te Whakatūria tō Mana
Consistency is key, claim back your authority through consistency, flexibility and adjustment that supports your wellness journey.
Tū Māia – Stable, Grounded
Tū Pūmau – consistent practices – Whai Hua – success, productivity – Tū Māia – celebration, wellbeing.
If you want to explore this further, consider personal growth counselling as a valuable resource to guide your development.
Overcoming Common Challenges in Personal Growth
The path to personal growth is not always smooth. Here are some common obstacles and how to address them:
Fear of Change
Change can be intimidating. To overcome this, focus on the benefits of growth and remind yourself that discomfort is temporary.
Lack of Motivation
Set up a support system with friends, family, or your therapist. Use visual reminders of your goals and reward yourself for progress.
Negative Self-Talk
Challenge negative thoughts by questioning their validity and replacing them with positive affirmations.
Time Constraints
Prioritise your self-improvement activities by scheduling them like important appointments. Even 10-15 minutes a day can make a difference.
Perfectionism
Accept that mistakes are part of learning. Aim for progress, not perfection.
Embracing Lifelong Growth
Lifelong Growth is not a one-time fix but a lifelong commitment to your wellness journey. As you evolve, your goals and challenges will change. Embrace this journey with patience and curiosity.
Remember, the most important step is to start. By investing in yourself through self-improvement therapy, you open the door to endless possibilities and a richer, more satisfying life.
Take the first step today and discover how you can achieve your full potential.
There’s a moment many of us experience when we realize that self-help advice, productivity hacks, and wellness trends aren’t quite cutting it anymore. We’ve tried the morning routines, the goal-setting frameworks, the apps that promise to organize our lives. We’ve read the books about habits, listened to the podcasts about purpose, followed the influencers who seem to have it all figured out.
And yet, something still feels fragmented. We’re managing pieces of ourselves rather than experiencing genuine wholeness. We might be crushing it at work while our relationships suffer. We’re physically fit but spiritually depleted. We’ve optimized our schedules but lost touch with our sense of meaning. We’re achieving goals but feeling increasingly disconnected from who we actually are.
The exhaustion isn’t from lack of effort. If anything, we’re trying too hard, juggling too many systems, measuring too many metrics, and wondering why all this self-improvement isn’t translating into feeling more whole, more grounded, more alive.
What if the issue isn’t that we need more tools, but that we need a different kind of map altogether?
A Different Kind of Framework
Te Poutama o te Ora offers that map. Rooted in Māori wisdom and structured around the sacred number nine (Iwa), this framework isn’t about adding another layer to your already-overwhelming to-do list. It’s about understanding the natural architecture of human flourishing and learning to work with it rather than against it.
The name itself holds meaning worth pausing over. “Te Poutama” refers to the stepped pattern found in traditional Māori tukutuku panels—those intricately woven wall panels that adorn meeting houses. The geometric design shows a series of ascending steps, each one building upon the last. It’s a visual representation of progression, growth, and ascent that has guided Māori understanding of personal and collective development for generations.
“Te Ora” speaks to life, health, and wellbeing in its fullest sense—not merely the absence of illness, but the presence of vitality, connection, and purpose. Together, Te Poutama o te Ora translates roughly as “the stairway to wellbeing” or “the ascending pattern of life force.”
But here’s what makes this framework fundamentally different: this isn’t a stairway you climb once, and you’re done. It’s not a twelve-week program or a transformation challenge with a finish line. It’s a living framework that acknowledges the cyclical nature of growth, the importance of rhythm, and the reality that genuine wellness touches every dimension of who we are.
This is not a program to graduate from. You spiral through Te Poutama o te Ora, returning to familiar territory with new awareness, finding depth in elements you thought you’d already mastered, discovering how everything connects in ways you couldn’t see before.
Beyond Fragmentation
Western approaches to personal development often fragment us into categories: physical health over here, mental health over there, career goals in another box entirely, spiritual life (if it’s acknowledged at all) somewhere else completely. We’re told to work on one area at a time, to focus, to isolate variables as if we’re conducting experiments on ourselves.
Te Poutama o te Ora works differently. It recognizes that we are whole beings living in relationship—to ourselves, to our ancestors (whakapapa), to our communities (whānau, hapū, iwi), to the natural world, and to something larger than ourselves. When one element is out of balance, it affects all the others. When we strengthen one dimension, we create ripples of wellbeing throughout the entire system.
The framework consists of nine interconnected elements, each one essential, each one informing the others. These aren’t random categories someone invented at a wellness retreat or corporate training session. They emerge from generations of Māori understanding about what makes life worth living and what enables human beings—and communities—to thrive.
The number nine (Power of Iwa) itself holds significance. In many wisdom traditions, Iwa represents completion, fulfillment, and the bringing together of all elements into a harmonious whole. It’s three times three—triads within triads, cycles within cycles. This mathematical and spiritual harmony isn’t coincidental; it reflects natural patterns that show up everywhere from human gestation periods to phases of the moon to the rhythms of transformation itself.
Working With Natural Rhythms
One of the most powerful aspects of Te Poutama o te Ora is how it aligns with natural cycles. While modern life tries to convince us that we should be the same every day—same energy, same productivity, same capacity—ancient wisdom tells us otherwise. We are tidal beings living on a spinning planet orbiting a star while being pulled by the moon. Expecting ourselves to be constant is like expecting the ocean not to have tides.
This is where the integration with maramataka (the Māori lunar calendar) becomes so relevant. Rather than fighting against our natural rhythms or feeling guilty when our energy and focus shift, we can learn to recognize these patterns and work with them. Some days are for bold action and outward movement. Other days are for reflection, consolidation, and turning inward. Both are essential. Both are productive in the truest sense.
Over the coming weeks, I’ll be unpacking each of these nine elements, exploring how they work together, and sharing practical ways to integrate this framework into your daily life. We’ll look at how Te Poutama o te Ora creates a structure for genuine transformation—not the kind that happens through force and willpower alone, but the kind that emerges when we align ourselves with deeper patterns of how growth actually works.
We’ll explore questions like: How do you honor your whakapapa (ancestry) in a disconnected modern world? What does it mean to tend to your wairua (spirit) when you’re not religious? How can understanding your hinengaro (mind and emotions) help you navigate challenging times with more skill? What role does tuakiri (identity) play in living authentically?
An Invitation
But for now, I want to leave you with a question:
What would change if you approached your wellbeing not as a problem to solve, but as a pattern to recognize and align with?
What if the fragmentation you feel isn’t a personal failing but a natural result of trying to apply frameworks that were never designed for whole human beings in the first place?
What if the exhaustion comes not from doing too little but from working against your own grain?
That’s the invitation of Te Poutama o te Ora. Not another system to master, but a pathway home to yourself. Not another set of external metrics to meet, but an internal compass that helps you recognize when you’re moving toward greater wholeness and when you’re drifting away from it.
This ancient wisdom made accessible for modern lives. It’s a framework sophisticated enough to honor the complexity of who you are, yet practical enough to guide your daily choices. It’s both deeply rooted in a natural worldview and universally applicable to anyone seeking a more integrated way of being.
Ready to begin the climb?
In the next post, we’ll explore the foundational elements of Te Poutama o te Ora and why the number nine holds such significance in this framework of transformation.
