If you are familiar with my sharings around Lotus Birth and the relevancy I share around in supporting She’s, or following the younglings, then the Wananga of Hapuutanga and sharing around its significance to be remembered, practiced and shared on more openly is here to provide you with new inspiring thoughts and wisdom of ancient times that are timeless and ever so precious. Arohanui! I met with Te Kaha at NewEarth Haven, Bali for korero around the Natural Way of Pregnancy and the origin Wisdom Culture of the Maori peoples that he shares from.

I have found this by far the most articulate and in depth comprehension shared on the patterns of interconnectedness in relationship to how new Life on both a physical and spiritual is nurtured, supported and most naturally brought into this, our world of light.

Te Kaha: ”This is not alternative Birthing, this is not altering the Natural, this is the way of Naturally Birthing”

Together with his wife, , Te Kaha received his teachings of Hapuutanga during the pregnancies and births of their own children. His “papa Joe” who carried the Taonga, wisdom teachings from this Wananga as he received them from his Grandmother and Grandfather elder teachers, to care for and pass them on. He transferred both the practical and deeply spiritual teachings to them both through the journey of their pregnancies and births. With receiving this knowledge came a responsibility that was recognised, it was felt and is acted upon with great care and love.

Through the Wananga of Hapuutanga ancient natural knowings are shared by Te Kaha that truly benefit being remembered and practiced as a matter of norm and navigation by us as our collective human family if we want to encourage, bring into being and experience the re-emergence of a human culture of Love in which our future generations as a spirited human beings are given all the (natural) nourishment from conception onward.

Peace on earth
starts
with
peaceful births.

One at a time.
A labour of love.
Together.
As Life always intended.

As Te Kaha shares in his knowings on natural pregnancy and birth much is focused on restoring men’s natural and relevant roles during this time of conscious co-creation. To a large extend the focus is on men reclaiming their natural role during Pregnancy and Birth, which shows to lead to co-creating balance and harmony in all the fields between father mother and child.

Sharing insight into the connection and love building techniques, the relating approaches, mental attitudes and the spiritual attributes and effects of applying these teachings during pregnancy, Te Kaha offers men and women their own opportunity into remembering these natural ways, their impact and how much they benefit the field of Love between each other and therefor their child.

Te Kaha: “My people always understood that it was not just the woman that was pregnant. One of the foundations I try to instill in all couples, is the concept of  ‘we’ are pregnant, not ‘she’ is pregnant. When a man says to his friends and family ‘she is pregnant’, he is creating separation. ‘We are pregnant’ is a commitment you make as a couple, to allow this eternal being to translate from that other place, into the world of light, that we live in”.

By returning to an innate awareness on how to follow the natural stages of life processes and take on the roles and functions that benefit the above, men can reclaim with great pride the natural roles of fatherhood. Not waiting until he is handed his baby after it was caught by a doctor but right in the first trimester of their shared pregnancy together.

Through comprehending the relevancy of massage, Ori Ori and our mental attitudes during the different stages of pregnancy and birth, the intimate functions that a man can choose to perform during pregnancy all lead to greater levels of connection, love and relationship with the child as it is growing. This naturally also fulfills mans’ needs for connection with his lover and She.. she benefits in beautiful ways, which benefits baby.

The way Te Kaha explains this through his workshops on Hapuutanga speaks of simple truths that all men can acknowledge are healthy driving motivations, as her responses “feed” men. All is interconnected in the Wananga of Hapuutanga.

As Te Kaha shares on the natural benefits of OriOri it becomes apparent how integral, beautiful, highly beneficial and even as an analytical “tool” (to reveal the functioning state of the babies’ brain in both hemispheres, to indicate the ears and the arms and legs are all working, ), this form of relating, nurturing and connecting with baby is.

Te Kaha: “Oriori is the most sophisticated diagnostic tool known to man, although it’s not known to men.”

Commonly explained oriori is just a lullaby used to traditionally remind younglings of their ancestral heritage or impart instructions to them during warring times based on vengeance;

orori (noun) lullaby – song composed on the birth of a chiefly child about his/her ancestry and tribal history.

How Te Kaha was taught about OriOri through the Wananga of Hapuutanga returns the syntropic (love filled and life supportive) ways of relating to this beautiful and indeed simple form of establishing and continuing the connection as Wanau (family).

Te Kaha: “an OriOri is really easy to create: you simply think of how you feel about this baby, about this being who has chosen you. You waited so long, your heart is so full of joy (..) the two of you, its just made your whole life come true and you think of words like this and you create a song (..) and you just sing this song (..) right from go.”

Te Kaha: “In the first trimester of pregnancy us men we must massage your feet 2 to 3 times a week, minimum, and in the second trimester 5 times a week, and in the last 3 months every night and the reason we do this is many fold.”

Te Kaha so eloquently explains how the massaging of feet promote blood flow and the creation of the feel good chemicals in her that feed baby on an emotional level and on a spiritual level.

The pattern for fostering this loving relationship of multi level wholesome nourishment is learned by the Maori people from knowing of the relationship between Papa Tuanuku (Mother Earth) and Ranginui (father sky).

All patterns in Nature are therefor teachers with teachings for the children of Papatuanuku and Ranginui that when followed help us navigate to create, together as Wanau, outcomes that are, from a space of love, truly nurturing and supporting our new children as these spirits make their way into this world.

Te Kaha: “So when you and your partner love each other, when you are given her a foot massage and she is going: “Oh, honey that is so nice….God it’s lovely…” See, that is that love and it feeds that baby, that emerging spirit, it feeds that spirit on an emotional level, on a spiritual level and the good food and exercise and good drink that we have, thats what feeds baby on a physiological level, and we feed our children that are coming through in all of these ways, there is no reason why we have to have ten hour births (or) twenty hour births.”

By singing the OriOri during this process of the papa massaging mama’s feet baby starts figuring out that when that signing starts and when that voice comes into range the “feel good chemicals”, endorphins, oxytocin, serotonin and dopamine start being experienced. It doesn’t take long for this baby to work out that it likes that voice and feels really safe and nice when that voice is singing this priori. Natural trust, just as it should be, is formed from the simple acts of these loving practices.

Hapuutanga also goes into turning baby and massaging baby inside the womb, knowledge on addressing what is known as “breach position”, are all known. Hapuutanga only works on the outside of the womans body.

Te Kaha: “the only time that we go into a woman body is with our minds. Never, ever, ever with our hands, only with our minds because that is just not necessary. You can do everything externally, everything else you can do with you mind.”

In the current western model where birth is predominantly occurring in hospitals all sorts of seemingly subtle, innocent and practical compromises have been made for the sake of convenience of others, fear, or even worse, efficiency. The whole institutionalised western standardised medical practices and model is not about natural and unconditional caring for mother and babies’ comfort or needs. Reclaiming our sovereignty in this process of birthing our children together is what can scare many men and women due to all the conditioning we’ve undergone through the western model of mindset building.

Subconsciously we have all been exposed to fear based programming where birth is an unknown (misunderstood) process that is scary and women are at the hands of institutions and their mostly rigid protocols. Upon much closer inspection Birth has become a business and without reclaiming our own self Souvereign desires and honouring the way of natural birthing for our She’s we are missing a huge piece of the puzzle on how to bring forth children in peace and connection.

Te Kaha: “When that being enters this world and you are the first physical contact that that being feels there is connection is made. (..) On a spiritual level a connection is made between us men and our children that can never be broken.”

It is ever so relevant that the father is not only there during birth, but there to catch and receive his child as it is birthed into this world by mama. Te Kaha’s inspiring words help people comprehend the relevancy of reclaiming this role as men while also naming the current place that most men find themselves relegated to in our “western birthing culture”.

Te Kaha: “We go and outsource the privilege of catching our children. We give it away to some doctor who is on call that night or someone else. Don’t do it. Make that connection. Be there to catch your child when your child enters this world and if you have to have a doctor make him sit on the side of the bed and hold your wife’s hand, in case need him later on.

Because this is what its about. It’s about re-empowering ourselves as men to take back what we have been relegated to, waiting in the waiting room with cigars and chocolate. Cigars in case it’s a boy and chocolate if it’s a girl. That’s insane. As the man who has been chosen by that being to be papa we need to be there. We owe it to our children. Be there to catch them when they enter the world. Make that connection. And I am not being melodramatic that connection is fixed for life.”

Great significance of all the roles and functions men can perform is explained in such a simple sense making fashion that it makes apparent that all of the comprehensions that Te Kaha shares around are fully ”of this world”. What also becomes apparent however is how these “natural ways” of navigating this journey of pregnancy together have been programmed out of our awareness and replaced with a current, dis-empowered, fear based western mindset.

From my own comprehension and in-depth study of Syntropy and the “entropic mindset” I know that “planned absolution” is part of the business model that western birthing culture is operating from. “Agency” can simply take over, rendering both mama and papa as “uninformed by-standers” in the most critical and significant phase in a new babies’ Life; the entry from the dark void of the womb field into the world of Light. It is injust and false to say that the Natural ways of pregnancy and birthing are not given enough focus and have been somehow forgotten in the mainstream that has been focussed on a more “scientific”, “medical rational” that often due to its mind-heavy orientations segregates and separates out what are living processes into singular no longer necessarily related but observable events.

Perhaps by the dreaming shared of these ancient wisdoms that predate computers, foetal monitors, maternal monitors, motorised adjustable hospital beds, ultrasound equipment and the entire industrial paradigm needed to create these “certainty enhancing” monitoring devices (that cost billions of dollars and have gone through decades of “needed” improvements and upgrades), we can take a deep breath and find that place in our own mindscape where we can allow these intrinsic to our own memories of the Natural Ways of Pregnancy and Birth to emerge again from within.

Imagine the peaceful births, the loving gentle lotus births, the foot massages throughout all trimesters and the back massages to release tensions and pain. Feel into that lukewarm water of the birthing pool, the dimmed lights and softly spoken sounds as all those present honour the sacred space of transition of a new human being coming to join our human family on this earth.

There is a lot to remember, reclaim, refocus our attentions on. For thousands of years women have always birthed the next generations without the need for fear driven orientations.

Birth is still a Natural Process, as it was in the beginning.

Te Kaha: “This is not alternative Birthing, this is not altering the Natural, this is the way of Naturally Birthing”

-*-

I hope this sharing attracts your attention and attraction to share this out further. We are currently where we are within “the paradigm” together and we need each other and mostly ourselves if we want to overcome collectively the approaches and orientations that aren’t ensuring we honour and navigate with the natural ways of pregnancy and birth, together as a couple and as a human family.

Please know that I am in the full awareness of the pain, hurt, resentment, deep disappointments that, stemming from trauma, can become triggered and activated as fields of fear when we re-engage in returning to doing things naturally again. If you feel to share, express or reveal any of such possible feelings please know that I am available and welcoming to relate directly if you so wish. In grace and Aroha,

Souvereign

Syntropic Links:
Te Kaha’s Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/tekahapounamu/

Beyond the Wananga of Hapuutanga there are actually very few places where actively the deeper relevant “spiritual”, or better put intrinsic, role of the papa is “spiritually” comprehended and so the below links may just serve as extra inspiration and sharing from those who actively promote Natural Ways of Pregnancy and Birth which is ever so relevant during our time, as it has always been.

https://goodmenproject.com/families/natural-childbirth-a-fathers-perspective-dg/

https://sarahbuckley.com/healing-birth-healing-the-earth/

Inspiring Syntropic Films & videos:

Robin Lim – Heroes Tribute
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLtpPXqG6W8

Ina May Gaskin at TEDxSacramento
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9LO1Vb54yk&feature=youtu.be

This teaching carried directly into a Lotus Birth, told in full in All the Way Whole: Nine Months, Ten Days, and Seventeen Years, free to download and free to pass on.

Hapuutanga is the Māori word for pregnancy, and it carries more than the state of carrying a child. The root hapuu speaks of being with, of a people and a swelling both, so the word holds the woman, the child, the father and the wider whanau inside one condition. This sharing takes it as Te Kaha teaches it: a season the whole circle enters together.

The placenta is the whenua, which is the same word as land. It goes back into the earth, often at a place that belongs to the family, and the burial makes a lasting tie between the child and the ground they came from. That is where the phrase tangata whenua, people of the land, meets an actual person: the whenua of your body is returned to the whenua under your feet.

He holds the field. Practically that means guarding the space the mother and child are in, meeting the fear that arrives with a threshold, and staying present through the parts he cannot do himself. The teaching here treats that holding as real work with real consequences for how a soul arrives, and For Men Expecting carries the fuller resource for fathers.

A wānanga is a gathering where knowledge is passed on by those who carry it, in a setting that holds the teaching rather than only the information. This piece comes out of that setting, which is why it reads as a sharing and keeps the teacher named.

From Te Kaha, in whose wānanga this understanding was received, and it is shared here with that credit standing. What lives on this site is one father’s account of walking it, and the lineage stays with the people who kept it.