Mauri refers to the life force or the essence of life that binds together the body and spirit of a being or a thing. Mauri flows through all things, land, trees, birds, rivers, mountains, space and time, through to people – individually and collectively. Mauri is present in the relationships between living and natural things. The way mauri is expressed can impact on other people, and likewise their mauri can impact on you.
Ora means to be alive, well and safe. When our ora is protected and safe, our mauri will flourish. Mauri ora means that our life essence and our wairua flourishes with potential, ideas, and connections. Wellbeing for Māori is connected to two important aspects – mauri ora, and a secure connection to cultural heritage and cultural identity. A secure cultural identity increases our ability to cope with challenges in life, and to find the resources within ourselves, our whānau, and our community. Within a Māori worldview, we can strengthen our wellbeing through making our cultural beliefs part of our everyday practice.
There are no limits on what this means for each person. A word might be enough to get started. Others might want more advanced knowledge. We all start at different levels. We can use whakapapa (genealogy), tikanga (protocols), wairua (spirituality), tapu (sacredness), and mana (intrinsic dignity) as a basis for developing a way of being that is connected and flourishing. You can learn more about this in Whiti te rā, cultural pathways to wellbeing
He toka tūmoana he ākinga nā ngā tai.
The rock stands in the sea, lashed by the tides
This whakataukī reflects the state of tau which is to be steady and confident as the tides ebb and flow.
Tai pari refers to the changing tides day in, day out. There is a rhythm to the tides, and there is a rhythm to our kare-a-roto. These are more than our emotions, kare-a-roto include our intuition, feelings and moemoeā. Mauri ora tai pari means that our wellbeing changes like the tide. The pull of the tide is natural and the ocean does not fight it, rather she moves in her own way. As she does, she brings a space to whakawātea (to release and clear) to those that need it, and shelters those who need to rest from their activities.
For a guide around nourishing a strong mauri, and the ability to find mauri tau (calm and peace), we have developed an easy to remember interactive MAURI ORA mnemonic. It has a series of options for nourishing your mauri.
For strengthening one's cultural identity and resilience, we have developed an interactive model – Whiti te rā. Take time to explore all the different ways you can nourish your identity and mauri.
Experiencing and being aware of our mauri is part of being human and part of our relationship with others and the environment. While mauri itself does not change (it has its own energy), how you experience and express your mauri does change, and you have the ability to define that change. A Māori worldview of noho, tau ,and oho (from ūkaipō link) provides a simple way of understanding our states of wellbeing and the changes that can occur.
When things are stressed and our routines have changed, we need to take time to settle our kare-a-roto, our thoughts, wairua and behaviour so that we can make good decisions about our wellbeing.
When you find that you are in a state that affects your wellbeing, use the MAURI ORA TOKO as a guide to help you rebalance. From there, you can plan ways to move to a state of balance, or tau.
