Te Ao Atua o Te Kapahaka
The natureworld of Haka
The Sky & Earth of Song & Haka
nā Chris Winitana
Ahorangi
Welcome to the world of nature of sky and earth
Of Ranginui Big Skyline and Papatūānuku Infinite Earthcircle
Ranginui e tū iho nei: Papatūānuku e takoto ake nei
Awaken
This book is about the natural world of haka performance
This is the natural world of Sky and Earth
The sky above our heads the earth beneath our feet
To be crystal clear we are talking to the same thing
All of our ancestral works fall from the altar of our Atua
Including our haka
Our Atua are well known to all:
Tūmatauenga of still: Tangaroa of flow: Rongo of feed
Tāne of curve: Tāwhirimatea of spin: Haumiatiketike of spiral
Whiro of speed: Ruaumoko of power
My Atua
And the tears fall
Kss
Our dance of haka activates boss mode in our bodies. Nature atua body mode. We hold our beloved dance of the centre of gravity in our mighty grip. Because we are the holders of the way of gravity. On behalf of our species. From the seed sewn at Rangiātea. From the spiral of Rangiātea. From the line in circle of Rangiātea. I O.
Our dance of haka activates boss mode in our bodies. Nature atua body mode.
Kapa haka is the I line in the O circle of Rangiātea. It is the line of I standing in the O of us. Because it is this centred in us, we luuuvvv it. Natural to naturals.
Kapa haka is the I line in the O circle of Rangiātea.
Haka binds the ahhhhhhhh of us
This is the ahhhhhhhhh of our super breath
From our middle from the diaphragm
Haka raises our body of nature
Natural to us
It is our old people’s
Best way of activating
Our atua body
This gift is hidden in our dance
Because dance is what we use to celebrate
Dance is how we entertain
Ourselves our guests
Dance in celebration is how we give worth
To ourselves
To our thrive
It puts on display our mastery of self power
In the body of our dance
It shows the grow of our self power
It shows the bloom of our self power
The fulfilment of the mastery of self power
Is the release of our nature body to us
Here’s how this works
Using kapahaka our cultural dance competition
As we know it in 2021
Which is a bracket of items that together
We call kapa haka, a group of people chanting, singing and dancing
Whakaeke launch song
Mōteatea breathe song
Waiata ā-ringa action song
Poi measure song
Haka activate song
Whakawātea free song
This is what kapa haka is
In its centre
The whakaeke item, the entrance
Is the process of balancing to the centre of the body
The leader’s calls hold its pathway
Taringa whakarongo
Ears listen
Kia rite
Together
Ki raro
Feet grip
Kia wiri
Hand grip
Kia mau
Centre grip
This is a process
A body process
To balance to centre
Kia wiri our hands quiver
Hovering between our human body of self power
And our atua body of nature power
Kia wiri our hands vibe
Making space between our two bodies
A transition space
The flickering heat of the horizon
The trembling leaf of the tree
Wiri the balance of life
Which is movement in gravity
Our self meets our nature
From tangata to atua
Self power to nature power
He tangata he atua
Human God
Kia mau take hold
Feet hold to earth
Hands hold to body
Centre activates
Centre takes grip
Ki raro, kia wiri, kia mau
Feet hold, hand hold, centre hold
Our ancients imbedded this self activation process in us
To activate our atua body of nature
Every time we dance
Whether we are aware of it or not
It makes no difference
To do haka is to do centre
Haka centres us bigtime
Which means we are always ready
In our bodies we are always ready
Always ready to nature up
It’s in us
We are the people of water and land
We are the people who stand on water
Who walk on water
Who run on water
Who flow on water
Who are water
Ko wai au
I am water
Ko wai ahau
Water engaged by air
If you need to right now
Go back and read the chapters
On centre mind body move flow
Just to make sure
This stuff is clicking
Cos the sooner the better
Whakaeke is the art of balancing to centre
This art is led by our god Rongo
The power of feed to flow
Rongo listen to flow
Mōteatea our ancestral song is expert breath control
It centres body to breath
To makes us still in the centre
Think sniper laser target
Breathe out controls the shot
Through the eye of the centre
Keep still in other words
How do you that
Breathe out
Mōteatea is all this
Extreme breath control
The air of us
On the water of us
Air on water
Gravity on earth
Taught over generations
Of watching and doing
And being
Water
Balancing on water
In flow
The flow of water
A raindrop
A pool
A trickle
A stream
A river
A waterfall
A lake
An ocean
All in a wave
Made by air
Movement
The elements of the wind
Mōteatea our ancestral singing style
Is about getting rid of dead air
Getting rid of carbon dioxide from our bodies
In a measured way
So we have full body capacity
Available
Tāwhirimatea is the god of wind who leads ancestral singing
His war with his brothers in the creation story of us
Physicalizes in our body
And onto the action song
The waiata ā-ringa is exactly this
Our song of action
We grip centre of body in the entry
We hold centre of body in the ancestral song
We move our limbs in the action song
Our actions
Follow the flow of life movement
From the water of the ocean
To the garden of the forest
Practically, our actions
Start on the water as we balance to centre
In a twitch
io
Our actions hold at the navel
Wrists for fine balance
Elbows for middle balance
Arms for big balance
The lineage of action starts in the pito navel
It circles out in our line
From there
Our actions are countermeasures
We stand on water
The water moves
We flow with it
To flow with water
Is to counter its flow
While still flowing
Our actions hold counterbalance
Arms hold counterbalance
Legs hold counterbalance
Fingers hold counterbalance
Toes hold counterbalance
To stand on water
Is to stand in counterforce
Which is to stand in nature power
Nature counters
Fall
This is where the power of its force comes from
The force of fall
Gravity falls
Stand
Fall
Counter
The counter
Is a shift in weight
On foot
Atua power of counterforce
Starts in the toes
Toes move fingers
Legs move arms
Leg movement is the fine art of waewae takahi
Of keeping beat with our toes
With our feet
Before we bust out
Into the leg actions of defence
And offence
Which move our arms
Best
For a specific reason
And this is to hold our tool
Our tool is the mighty stick
Rākau tapu holystick
Holistic
This is the action song
It is the gentle art of flow
Led by Tangaroa god of the ocean
Poi Ball on String
The poi dance of the ball on the end of a string
Puts our centre of balance
On our fingertips
To be read by our fingerprints
Our unique spiral imprint
From the spiral of one
Of Rangiātea
We grip centre – entry song
We hold centre – ancestral song
We move with centre – action song
We move centre – poi song
To master our centre of balance
Enables us to move our centre of balance
Onto our fingertips
Where we put our balance into the action of us
Which is the balance of the creature who stands
The physical balance of being human
It all comes together in hand
At the end of our fingers
This is the balance that we are
This is the still that we are
As human beings
Our fingers take focus
Thumb our nature
Which stands opposite
For counterforce
The rule of thumb
Out on its own
Our nature
1st finger our point
2nd finger our way
3rd finger our heart
4th finger our self
Times two hands = I O fingers
Times two feet = I O toes
Equals 20 fingers and toes
Equals 20 ways to counterforce
We have twenty ways to hold the power of nature
In hand from centre of body
Our body has
Twenty lines of power
Fed by circles of joints
Fed by one circle
In the centre
Which twitches to balance
In a moment
I O
The body twitch to centre
The poi ball is the circle
The string is the line
That turns circles
O
Powered by line
I
This is the power of line and circle
Poi curves line into circle
In nature energy terms
Poi is the refined art of curve power
Tāne of the forest of curves
Leads the poi
Which is the power of line to curve
To make circle
About Tāne the name
Immediately we think male right
Cos of Tāne which means male
The word Tāne describes the forest
The male element is what we see
The female element is what we do not see
What is it we do not see
We do not see connection and measure
Connection and measure of what
Of counterforce
The female element is all and everything
That is required for the forest to grow
This is connection to measure
This is the big of Tāne not seen
It is the connection of all things in the forest
To all things everywhere
Connection to measure means
In the exact amount required
To bloom connection
Not a bit more
Not a bit less
This is nature
Perfect
To environment
Self measuring
Atua force counter
Haka our dance of defiance
Is where we bring our atua body nature together
Our self power of dynamic force
To hold our best on display
Here’s what we physically bring together
Our centre of body in our navel
Our centre of balance in our breath
Our balance in motion in our action
Our measure in our connection
The haka takes all this
And does something with it
It empowers all this
Centre balance in motion
As our show of strength
The strength of our self power
Together now
Dancing in the middle
Of gravity
The creature with super balance
The creature with still balance
The creature with the power of nature in hand
Haka is this force
Of defiance
The defiance of gravity
To show our speed and strength
Of self power
Of human
Being
This is how we roll
Tūmatauenga leads the dynamic art of haka
Through the power of still in the centre
The exit song is freedom
In the body of nature
The final song of our kapahaka bracket is the exit
This doesn’t mean to exit our atua body
To be free of it
On the contrary
It means to keep it
And the freedom that comes with keeping it
We keep the nature of ourselves
In line with sky
In circle with earth
The entire bracket of items
Is the ceremony of raising our atua
Our freedom
Into the world of light
Of Skyline
Of Earthcircle
The way of creation
Spiral
Haumiatiketike leads the art of whakawātea
Which is where line and circle spiral
To make anew
Waiata Song
Our bodies mirror Motherearth
Most of it is water
This water slops around in us
With our movement
Which is the self power movement
Of humans
Our water is deeply agitated
Because of our human way of moving
Which is by using muscle
Muscle grows to our movement
Water moves with our muscle
Cos our movement is so out-the-gate
Falling off balance
And crashing into everything
In the snap of a finger
The water of us is the same
Sloshing about willy nilly
This slosh
Takes our energy
Breathing right controls it
Ancestral singing is the control
We have centre
We breathe out in subtle rhythm
From the pit of the diaphragm
Our breathe carries words
Which is sound
Māori language words all end in a vowel
Vowel sound has force
Consonant sound directs
Vowel sound empowers
Which physically means
Our carriage between words is seamless
As vowel sounds do the carrying
This breathing makes a pillar of our core
Otherwise known as abs
To allow the expelling of air
Under best body conditions
Which is in a single column through the core
With valve and seal
To make it easy to control
And available at will
The rate of flow of air out
Is dictated by the ability to control our breathe
Ancestral chanting gives us this ability
Easily
Pātere is quick speed
This is the rate of air out
If you want speed
Tangihotu is sob speed
This is the rate of air out
If you want instant power
With ancestral singing
We expel all the breath out of us
As we carry our words
To the natural end of breath
What does this mean
The natural end of breath
Breathing out
Is about getting the dead air out of us
The air that our body has used
And has no further use for
We breathe in
Our body uses the oxygen
We breath out
Air without oxygen
Dead air
As our body tires
Our breath shortens
This means we expel
Less and less bad air from us
As we suck in the good air as much as possible
To do our do
Atua breathing solves this
Taking control of centre
And breathing right
Means that with each breath
Or at will
We get rid of all the bad air
That’s built up
This breathing is long breathing
Where wind ripples on water
And tides flow
The earth turns
The sky aligns
Which leads to this
Our body counts gravity
So we know when we fill
Hawaikī
Fill full
The belly button pops out
Cos it’s now doing its job
Making centre
Counting gravity
What does this even mean
Movement is nature’s timeline
As opposed to time
Which is our human timeline
Of record of ourselves
Movement, like everything
Wants to grow to make its best
To grow movement
Takes gravity
To grow
Takes gravity
Our body counts gravity to grow
Our atua nature body
Our powered by nature body
Gravity powers this body
This is what the power of nature is
It grows us to fulfilment
Fulfilment is singularly finding centre
Completion is singularly holding centre
When we find centre
Gravity opens for business
Our body centre is in the business
Of counting gravity
The business of counting gravity
Lucky for us
Is a defined pathway already named
By our ancients
Rarohenga
The world of Hinenuitepō
The most profound of us
Rarohenga
The world of wairua spirit
With its mammoth task
Of joining us
There are many layers of join
They distil into a single bind
A topknot
This is the bind of the world of spirit
With the world of humankind
This is the re-join of gender
Of female and male
Its law is held by Hinenuitepō
Our human centric Goddess of Death
In her domain of Rarohenga
Rarohenga is about our DNA
Where gravity is counted
The knowledge of Rarohenga
The sacred knowledge of the female
At its innermost
Is the knowledge of what gravity
Does with our bodies
The sacred female Hinenuitepō
Measures connection
To centre
This is the centre
Of her teaching
Rongo o te whakaeke, Tāwhiri o te mōteatea, Tangaroa o te waiata ā-ringa, Tāne o te poi, Tūmatauenga o te haka, Haumiatiketike o te whakawātea, Whiro o te aomārama, Ruaumoko o te pito o te kaha iahaha!
Kei a Rangi me Papa te kawa o takarangi
E homai ana te kura o takarangi ki a tātau
Ko Tūmatauenga te tuatahi ki te mau ki te kawa o takarangi
Nō te kākano i ruia mai rā i Rangiātea
Tukua te kākano kia rere kia hua
Ahorangi 2026
Chris Winitana