what’s mauri (really) and what does the breath have to do with it?

Absolutely NOTHING! Ha just kidding, but I’m interested to hear what came up for you when you read the title. Mauri is often described as the ‘life principle’, ‘life force’ or ‘life essence’, but what in the maoridictionary.co.nz or Oxford dictionary for that matter, even is that?! How do you quantify it? Where would you even start? Again, love to hear your thoughts… while we’re waiting on you to help me out with this, we’ll look into Hineahuone (Earth-formed Maiden, first woman)’s creation story, which might help us form some answers… or lead us to more questions, either way — a fun wānanga (deliberation), for sure.

A quick summary of the story; Hineahuone had all the things. Miss built-for-purpose was ready to go, fashioned from the earth and imbued with expressions of each of the atua, with just one last piece remaining to give her heart a reason to beat, thus bringing her to life..

… Tihei, mauri ora !

The hongi (pressing of the noses) to trump all others, from Tāne Mahuta (atua of the forest, pursuit of excellence) saw Hineahuone come alive and te ira tangata (human kind) come into existence, for the very first time. I’m digressing a bit here, but I like to imagine what that moment would have been like and let my mind wander a little, so if you’re feeling the urge, do your thing and come back to the next paragraph when you’re ready.

Suuuuuurely this part of the story entertains the idea that perhaps…. just mayyyyyybe there’s some correlation between the breath, or hongi for that matter and mauri. IS that what the breath is? Our life force?! That sounds reasonable, right? On a surface level for sure, but I’m sure someone comes to mind who although they breathe, there’s not much life to them. Or even someone who fits this description from my uncle Martin,

Well, you may go on and live until you are 90,

but you're just as dead at 38 as you would be at 90.

And the cessation of breathing in your life is but the belated

announcement of an earlier death of the spirit.”

― Martin Luther King Jr.

Ok, so it’s not just the breath, but it plays a role? Because that theory doesn’t allow for how we imbue mauri into tāonga (ceremonial pieces; weapons, jewellery etc.) or whare and other things — that don’t require oxygen or breathing in order to function.

It could be there was something more to the hongi, the exchange between Tāne and Hineahuone, that when combined with the breath, set alight the entire universe inside of our baby girl…

Perhaps mauri already existed within her and the breath activated it?

Like how our genes are up or downregulated based on cues we perceive and interpret from our environment.. maybe there’s something like that going on? Maybe there’s mauri in all things and the intention/energy we focus onto them flicks the switch.

Maybe this story is describing the fertilisation phases during conception? i.e. the eggs within the māmā, and sperm in the pāpā and it’s not until they’re united that life begins to form and grow? I dunno, there’s a lot of maybes here, a lot of intrigue in how we can interpret this kōrero (story).

But we must always come back to….. so what? How’s any of this relevant to our lives in a practical manner? What’s knowing this stuff or even thinking about the breath or mauri gonna do for us?

Well, approach it from a technical perspective and the breath is how the cells in our bodies get their oxygen to do their jobs. From an emotional perspective, effective calms and soothes your state of being, boosts immune system and other cool things. A mental perspective, it gives you a sense of space to respond to stimuli and make sound decisions. Spiritually — it gets you out of your own head.

Each breath contains a sea of possibilities, an opportunity for new life.

Hineahuone’s creation story emphasises how imperative the breath is for our ability to live well, to harness the boundless potential within us and the capacity we have to bring about new life — whatever form that takes.

Be intentional with your breath, get to know it and where its focused, where your energy is being allocated, what affects or impedes it. The breath brought Hineahuone to life..

What will it do for you?

Tēnā tātou,

Hana.