Waireti Rostenburg
Abstract
Indigenous thought reminds us that a wind, a movement of creation has always and continues to breathe into and through us. Having regard for and living in alignment with the flow of this wind facilitates wellbeing and was the primary concern of our original Māori institutions. Ihirangaranga are sound vibrations that continue to carry and impart these source vitalities. Indigenous women have a unique role in embodying and expressing these vibrations. As Māori sound science practitioners at Te Amokura Centre for Wholeness and Total Wellbeing we continue ancient traditions of healing and wholeness by soothing hearts, minds, bodies and souls by facilitating these vibrations. This work extends a lineage of healers and sacred sound practitioners – but for many years, my whānau (family) and I did not know this. This article shares our story of the wind and how, despite colonisation, it continues to move and find expression in our personal, collective, and intergenerational bodies since before my grandparents’ grandparents’ to us, and beyond into the vitalised lives of our grandchildren’s’ grandchildren.
