Māori Traditional Healing: How It Is Influencing Modern Wellness Businesses

When you step into many of New Zealand’s most innovative wellness spaces today, you might notice something profoundly different from similar establishments overseas. Alongside contemporary health practices, there’s often a deep acknowledgment and integration of mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) and traditional healing practices that have sustained wellbeing in Aotearoa for centuries. This meaningful convergence of ancient wisdom and modern approaches isn’t just culturally significant—it’s revolutionising how wellness businesses operate and the experiences they offer their clients.

The Resurgence of Rongoā Māori in Contemporary Wellness

Rongoā Māori, the traditional healing system of Māori, encompasses far more than just herbal remedies. It’s a holistic approach that considers physical, spiritual, familial, and mental well-being as inseparable components of health—a perspective that aligns remarkably well with today’s growing demand for more comprehensive wellness solutions.

Understanding the Foundations of Māori Healing Traditions

At its core, rongoā Māori views wellbeing through the lens of balance and connection. Health isn’t simply the absence of disease but the presence of harmony between a person and their environment, their whānau (family), their spiritual self, and their physical body. This perspective is captured in the concept of te whare tapa whā—the four cornerstones of health—which include taha tinana (physical health), taha wairua (spiritual health), taha whānau (family health), and taha hinengaro (mental health).

These principles resonate strongly with contemporary holistic health movements, which similarly recognise that treating symptoms without addressing underlying imbalances often leads to incomplete healing. The distinction, however, is that rongoā Māori has developed these frameworks over centuries of observation and practice specifically within the context of Aotearoa’s unique environment and culture.

From Marginalisation to Mainstream

For many decades, traditional Māori healing practices were marginalised within New Zealand’s healthcare system. The New Zealand Tohunga Suppression Act of 1907 even explicitly prohibited traditional healing practices, driving much of this knowledge underground or limiting its practice to private, family settings.

Today, we’re witnessing a remarkable reversal of this historical suppression. Rongoā Māori is increasingly recognised not just as culturally important but as clinically valuable. The Ministry of Health now funds some rongoā services, and many wellness businesses are actively seeking to incorporate these traditions into their offerings—when done respectfully and with proper guidance.

“There’s been a significant shift in understanding,” explains Hera Tairua, a rongoā practitioner from Rotorua who consults with several wellness retreats. “People are realising that rongoā isn’t some primitive approach to be replaced by ‘real medicine’—it’s a sophisticated healing system with profound insights that complement and sometimes enhance conventional approaches.”

The Commercial Wellness Landscape Today

Visit a modern wellness retreat, spa, or integrative health centre in New Zealand today, and you’re likely to encounter elements of Māori healing traditions. From the use of native plants like kawakawa and mānuka in therapeutic treatments to the incorporation of mirimiri (traditional massage) and practices that address spiritual and familial components of health, these influences are becoming increasingly visible.

What makes this trend particularly noteworthy is that it’s not limited to Māori-owned businesses. While indigenous-led wellness ventures certainly lead the way in authentic integration, many non-Māori establishments are also seeking to incorporate these traditions—ideally through meaningful partnerships and with genuine respect for their origins.

How Businesses Are Navigating Cultural Integration

For wellness businesses looking to incorporate Māori healing traditions, the journey involves much more than simply adding rongoā-inspired treatments to a menu of services. The most successful integrations balance respect, authenticity, and accessibility.

Building Meaningful Partnerships

The most ethical and effective approach to incorporating Māori healing traditions involves establishing genuine relationships with rongoā practitioners and cultural advisors. Businesses like Hell’s Gate Geothermal Park & Mud Spa in Rotorua have demonstrated this by forming ongoing partnerships with local iwi (tribes) and incorporating traditional Māori knowledge about the healing properties of geothermal waters and mud into their wellness offerings.

These partnerships ensure that practices aren’t divorced from their cultural context or watered down to mere commodities. They also create economic opportunities within Māori communities and help preserve and transmit traditional knowledge.

Creating Authentic Experiences

For wellness businesses, the challenge isn’t just incorporating rongoā elements but doing so in ways that honour their true purpose and meaning. This often involves rethinking fundamental aspects of how services are delivered.

“It’s not about adding a kawakawa leaf to a facial and calling it a ‘Māori treatment,'” explains Renee Perkins, founder of a Wellington-based wellness centre. “It’s about understanding the principles behind the practices—like the importance of whanaungatanga [relationships and connections] in the healing process—and letting those reshape how we approach client care overall.”

This might mean allowing more time for practitioners to build relationships with clients before treatment, incorporating elements that address spiritual wellbeing alongside physical therapies, or considering the health of the client’s wider family system rather than viewing them in isolation.

Navigating Issues of Cultural Appropriation

As interest in Māori healing traditions grows, so too do concerns about cultural appropriation. Wellness businesses must navigate these waters carefully, distinguishing between respectful integration and exploitative borrowing.

Best practices include: acknowledging the source of these traditions rather than presenting them as generic “indigenous wisdom”; ensuring financial benefits flow back to Māori communities when their knowledge is being utilised; obtaining proper permissions rather than assuming traditional practices are in the public domain; and being willing to limit certain sacred or sensitive practices to contexts where they can be performed with appropriate cultural protocols.

The Future of Māori-Influenced Wellness in Aotearoa

The integration of Māori healing traditions into contemporary wellness businesses represents more than just a trend—it’s part of a broader reclamation and revitalisation of indigenous knowledge in Aotearoa. This movement has profound implications for both the wellness industry and public health more broadly.

As these traditions gain greater recognition within commercial wellness spaces, we’re also seeing increased interest in integrating aspects of rongoā Māori into mainstream healthcare. Several District Health Boards now offer programmes that incorporate traditional practices alongside conventional medicine, particularly in mental health and chronic disease management.

For wellness entrepreneurs, the message is clear: understanding and respectfully incorporating Māori healing traditions isn’t just culturally appropriate—it’s a pathway to creating truly unique, place-based wellness experiences that cannot be replicated elsewhere in the world. In a global industry where differentiation is increasingly challenging, this represents a significant opportunity.