TE WHARE TAPA WHA¯ – TAHA HINENGARO

OPINION: Te¯na¯ ta¯tou katoa! In this Backyard Banter series I will be sharing the concept of Te Whare Tapa Wha¯ and how we can use this tool to check in with ourselves.

In each part of the series I will introduce one of the four taha (walls) of our whare (house) and discuss how we can utilise this taha in our day-to-day lives.

So you guys are probably wondering, what is Te Whare Tapa Wha¯ ? Te Whare Tapa Wha¯ is an analogy developed by Dr Mason Durie. It describes health and wellbeing as a wharenui (meeting house) with four different walls. Each wall of our whare represents a different part of ourselves we have to nurture and look after in order for us to thrive. It is said that if all our taha of our whare are in balance, we thrive. But if one of our taha is out of balance it can impact our health and wellbeing.

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One minute of checking in with yourself each day can impact your whole mood, says Te Aorangi-Kowhai Morini (Tati), centre, wearing brown.