Different Strokes – MINDFOOD editor experiences Romiromi

The increasing awareness of Maori therapies is helping to propagate this ancient form of healing, while transforming the New Zealand spa industry. MINDFOOD editor Liz Hancock experiences a Romiromi massage with Wikitoria.

Most people who have undertaken spa treatments will at some point have experienced a Swedish, Balinese or Thai massage. Others will have had an ancient Indian Ayurvedic treatment, or some form of Traditional Chinese Medicine such as acupuncture, or Japanese shiatsu.

While all of these therapies are good for body and mind, have you ever wondered why it’s not common practice to use healing methods that originated closer to home?

Traditional Maori healing techniques, such as romiromi and mirimiri massage, have been handed down within families and communities since ancient times (according to practitioner Wikitoria Oman there are recordings of Captain James Cook being given a romiromi), and now they are increasing in popularity, with the growth of trained practitioners across the country and spas beginning to offer these treatments.

New Zealand is progressively being seen as an international spa destination for tourists, and the burgeoning indigenous massage industry is helping to define an identity for this market as it develops. “Traditional Maori massage has always been in practice in New Zealand,” says Sunisa Hughes, co-owner and director at Wai Ora Group of Companies, whose destinations include the Wai Ora Lakeside Spa Resort, located on the shores of Lake Rotorua, which offers mirimiri massage. Hughes says there is increasing recognition of the demand for traditional Maori massage in the spa industry. “Considering that tourism is a huge commodity in NZ, our visitors have an interest to experience traditional Maori massage because it is unique.”

ORIGINS OF TOUCH

The practice of Te Oomai-Reia – Maori healing arts – dates back to the early beginnings of Maori culture, but there was a resurgence from the late 1960s, due to the lifting of the Tohunga Suppression Act.

“There are variations tribally, it can be anything from therapeutic massage to remedial and it does have a spiritual component,” explains therapist Wikitoria Oman, (wikitoriamaorihealing.co.nz). “The romiromi is not as widely practiced [as mirimiri] and I believe that’s because there was the Tohunga Suppression Act of the 20^th century – 1905-1967, when all Maori medicine and a lot of the cultural practices were banned, so it went underground. It was always our natural healing method.”

MODERN RESURGENCE

Hohepa Delamere (known commonly as Papa Joe) is widely credited with furthering the education of Te Oomai-Reia in modern-day New Zealand and across the world, through his services and the training of many therapists.

In 2000 he began taking workshops to Europe, Asia and North America. Hohepa himself is from the Te Whanau-a-Apanui and Kai Tahu tribes, and like many Maori healers, he had the knowledge handed down to him by his elders, as part of an understanding that is taught from birth. Although he died in 2006, his legacy in the field is now spreading throughout the industry via those he taught.

One of Hohepa’s contemporaries is massage and healing expert Atarangi Muru, who learned the healing arts from her elders in her hometown Ahipara, and who has ties to the Ngati Kuri, Te Aupouri and Te Rarawa tribes. As she notes on her website, (maorihealers.com), “Growing up in a society where healing was a natural everyday event, I did not recognize the ‘training’ that was being given at the time.”

WHAT’S INVOLVED?

Te Oomai-Reia is traditionally used for physical, spiritual and mental health concerns as well as wellbeing, sessions can include anything from deep tissue body work to the use of native plants, massage using natural tools such as sticks and stones, song, laughter, speech, sea water, karakia and energy work.

While not common at a spa level, customarily healing sessions take place as a group involving everyone from young children to elders in a shared environment of healing, laughter, tears and support. Even when receiving a treatment one-on-one, an air of informality pervades.

The two most commonly practiced methods at a spa level are romiromi – an intensive form of massage and healing that can include energy shifting and incredibly deep tissue massage and pressure work, and mirimiri – a softer form of therapeutic massage and energy work that can be used for spiritual and physical relaxation and to relieve muscular tension. Both practices traditionally begin with a karakia and a blessing, and often involve the use of native kawakawa for its cleansing properties, and natural Pacific oils such as coconut.

WHAT MAKES IT DIFFERENT?

Both mirimiri and romiromi sessions are much more physical than many bodywork therapies you will experience, the latter in particular can be quite painful and emotional. Afterwards you will feel like you have experienced a “shift” in body and mind.

Mirimiri 

I experienced a mirimiri treatment at the Wai Ora Lakeside Spa which features a landscaped hot mineral pool, kawakawa-infused steam sauna, and food that utilizes many native herbs and spices.

“When [co-owner] Bryan Hughes decided to create a spa ethos for Wai Ora – it only seemed natural to incorporate our Maori culture and Ngati Rangiteaorere history into our treatments,” explains Sunisa Hughes. “Bryan had help and guidance from a local healing woman from Ngati Rangiteaorere/Ngati Pikiao as well as an osteopath using aspects of traditional  Maori massage, which is our spiritual aspect of karakia and incorporates aspects of osteopathy. Through trial and experimentation the Wai Ora Mirimiri regime was born.”

The Wai Ora Traditional Mirimiri Massage, was a very physical treatment, that involved strong, purposeful, muscular strokes. Afterwards I was relaxed and calm but alert, and my muscles felt like they’d been toned. “The mirimiri massage focuses more on massage than acupressure,” my therapist Te Aro told me. “But like a romiromi treatment, it’s about bringing things to the surface and clearing them completely”.

Romiromi

With both forms of therapy, you feel as though you are working in partnership with your therapist, rather than being passive. This is especially the case during a romiromi treatment, which I experienced from Wikitoria Oman, who attended workshops with Papa Hohepa Delamere before he died.

“Everyone is so different when they walk through your door,” says Wikitoria. “It’s a two-way thing. A person’s soul may not be ready to release. It just depends how ready someone is to let go, and that’s the skill of the romiromi practitioner, going through the korero or chat beforehand to understand and see, as well as looking at the body and knowing where there may be a blockage. We always ask permission on a soul level. So sometimes I work very deeply on a person and other times it’s lighter, but it’s still going deep in a spiritual sense.”

Often Wikitoria works on a massage table, and sometimes she takes her clients to mountains or beaches, but my treatment was given on the floor. She began with a karakia, then spritzed me with sea water before beating over me with kawakawa branches – which left my senses fizzing. My treatment involved deep stroking, beating and chopping movements, energy work and acupressure-like manipulation which was sometimes incredibly intense. I cried from nowhere at one point.

I left feeling pummeled in every sense – physically, mentally and spiritually, and like I’d had an incredible workout. But I felt exceptionally grounded, calm and happy afterwards, and I noticed in the coming days that physical niggles that had dogged me for years were disappearing – something I had not expected. Although you leave feeling like your body has let go of tensions, this isn’t a pampering treatment, it’s far more transformative than that.

“This therapy is to ground people, to take them out of their head and into their body. To open and brighten the heart more,” concludes Wikitoria. “Some people come in just to get healthy or for rejuvenation. The best thing I get out of it is that I know people will have a shift.”

LIZ HANCOCK

Beauty Director