Nau mai haere mai! 

 

Welcome to my first column in our Te Hiku Hauora Pai Ana Pānui. I have called the column ‘me he manawa kuaka’, to encourage us all to look to our kuaka for inspiration. Like them, we all go on long, difficult journeys in life. We travel best in a group, supporting each other. Similar to the kuaka, we are wise to ensure our younger ones have experiences of leading with the support of the rest of us. Kuaka remind us that coming home has challenges and ultimately, as they say, there is no place like it.

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I have been very fortunate to be able to come home to work. As a medical specialist in child and adolescent psychiatry, the training and much of the work is centred in cities. Having the opportunity to develop and deliver primary mental health care and support the growth of our own skills in our own communities, based at Te Hiku Hauora, is very special to me. Mum, Ina Bowman, was born across the carpark at Kaitaia Hospital in 1935.

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I thought it worth sharing some thoughts about Hinengaro. I pay homage to our very own late, great Reverend Māori Marsden, as he wrote her name with a capital “H”. Wānanga and conversations with our kaumātua have taught me that Hinengaro was a deity. She has domain over everything we think, feel, do, and imagine. Our ability to form words, to learn and to remember. I have always thought that when we use Te Whare Tapa Whā, Hinengaro can be considered responsible for our ability to consider the metaphor of the whole whare in the first place. We know she lives in the body, not only in the head. For example, she can be felt in the increased heartbeat when we are excited or afraid, in our lungs when our breathing slows as we begin to relax or increases with worry, in our puku before we walk onto the stage for a performance perhaps, and in our heads when we feel confused and overwhelmed—or find our focus is clear and unwavering.

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So, here are a few practical skills for the stresses and strains of daily life from Hinengaro. Slow down the breath, drink some wai māori, move the tinana, eat something nutritious, think about what you see when you look into other people’s eyes, find a way to talk about what’s really going on, and focus on what you love or want to learn.

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Hoake!