Hank
Hauora
So, what is Hauora? What does it mean to me?
The basic concept of Hauora is built around the four walls that make up our whare, or house, that represents our lives. These four walls represent aspects of our lives, that contribute, or should do, to our overall wellbeing. These are the physical, mental and emotional, spiritual, and social wellbeing. To me this is not some new age buzz words to grab attention, but something that over the last few years I have come to see the validity of.
The reason I mention this on the website, is when I first left my job of 19 years, and went to study at the Otago Polytechnic, in hindsight, I would say that my whare, my house, was more like a run-down lean to, with a tarp for a roof, that was ready to collapse. I was so focused on my physical changes, getting into body building, that I was only focused on that, thinking it would fix everything, to the extreme that it was not healthy. It was only in my second year of study that I encountered the concept of Hauora, and it began, in some small way, to resonate with me. I had been, for a long time, ignoring all the other parts of my life because I thought I was ok. But as the events of the following year proved to me, I was not.
So what do these four walls mean?
Physical wellbeing: this is about our physical growth and health, how we move, take care of our physical selves and care for ourselves.
Mental and emotional: Our mental health, how and what we think of ourselves, our self-image, how we interact and express our thoughts and feelings, and how we react to others.
Social wellbeing: Our relationships with others, our family, friends, loved ones and how these function, feelings of belonging.
