Today at Starship Children's Hospital where we work caring for and supporting whānau with severe mental illness, we talked about the power of karakia.
We see, feel and hear the potency of karakia in the lived experience and practice-based evidence of our everyday mahi. We discussed the way karakia changes the wairua, the feeling, the intuitions of the group, bringing us together, whether people understand the words or not.
There is a solemnity, a sacred energy and mutual respect that grows into something so tangible.
Karakia sets our interactions up for optimal relationship building, for whakawhanaungatanga, for whaka whiti whiti kōrero, for healing.
Spirituality in mental health work and in psychiatry is not new. There is a significant body of global literature demonstrating the importance of spiritual beliefs and practices and their key role for many in their recovery journeys.
Karakia is just one example of the wealth of mātauranga that has continued to provide comfort and protection handed down from our tūpuna until now, and into the future.
This mātauranga related to the workings of Hinengaro, our deity of the mind, is a wellspring of resources that continue to provide meaningful options and better outcomes in our contemporary world.
While the idea of' "mindfulness" originates from Buddhist traditions, there are natural synergies for us as Māori with this concept.
Māori researchers have published peer review findings about the benefits of mindfulness from a Māori perspective especially for our tamariki mokopuna and rangatahi.
Mental Health Awareness Week. Image / Supplied
Alongside our colleagues in iwi services and in education, we see such an urgent need for mauri tau and oranga mauri resources to be put into the hands of our whānau - particularly as this next chapter of the impact of Covid on oranga hinengaro, wairua and on whānau relationships unfolds.
Our own Māori resources in the form of apps, modules, and aspects of the curriculum are meeting this critical need.
I am reminded of precious times spent with Dr Amster Reedy, one of the rōpū kaitiaki during my doctoral research.
I have never forgotten him describing how the first Pākehā arriving on our whenua reported on the "magnificence of the Māori mind".
The extraordinary memory, the intellect and wisdom of our forebears. Those magnificent mind-tools of our tūpuna, their pūrākau, their way of seeing the world can help us reclaim a sense of calm and reflection, strengthen our sense of identity and provide a crucial, additional source of oranga hinengaro for our whānau.
Dr Hinemoa Elder narrated one of the mindfulness practices on the M3 Whānau App, which provides accessible wellbeing tools that are grounded in mātauranga Māori. The app will soon be available on the App Store and Google Play.
Hinemoa Elder (MBChB, FRANZCP, PhD, MNZM) is a New Zealand Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist. She is a fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. She has whakapapa to Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Kurī, Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi nui tonu
