Te Whare Tapa Wha - Health Class with Whaea Kata

Lately in Health class we have been focusing on the Te Whare Tapa Wha or in English, The four dimensions of well being. Our class participated in a few activities so that we get familiar with the four dimensions of well being. These dimensions are, Physical (Taha Tinana), Social (Taha Whanau), Spiritual (Taha Wairua) and Mental/Emotional (Taha Hinengaro). To further our understanding, we created our own whare and decorated it to our desire. The whare could be any shape, size, colour it just had to have the four dimensions displayed on each side. Let me explain the different dimensions of our well being:

To start off, let's discuss our Taha Tinana meaning Physical Well being. Taha Tinana gives us the ability to move. Whatever sort of movement you carry out can influence this foundation of your well-being. Making sure you're aware of your body and keeping fit creates a positive result in this dimension which means it's doing well and strong. However, if you're eating unhealthy and not doing any sort of exercise that makes a positive impact on your body, that means you should check in with your Physical Well being just to cover any concerns.

The next dimension I will be covering is our Spiritual Well Being or the Māori term Taha Wairua. Our Spiritual Well Being are the things that we value or believe in. These values and beliefs that we hold define the state of our Taha Wairua. I value my education and I believe that I should be aware of my learning at all times. Lately, I haven’t been paying attention to my work and I’m always getting off track. I definitely need to improve this state and make sure I’m focused on my learning, therefore I can feel a sense of achievement later on.


Our Social Well Being also known in Māori - Taha Whanau, is the communication we have with the people you are surrounded by and how that communication impacts our Social Well Being. I feel that my Social Well Being has been in a very fine condition. I enjoy meeting new people in college and I have already built friendships with a few people! Since these are new people, I have been endeavouring in listening and talking more with them.

Lastly, let’s take a look at our Taha Hinengaro meaning our Mental/Emotional Well Being. Many, many things can affect your Mental/Emotional state in both a positive and negative way. This can be your Thoughts/Feelings. For some reason, as much as I love collaboration, I tend to work well independently with mildly strict boundaries and secure away from the people around me, which means my Mental/Emotional Well Being is in a positive condition. I sometimes feel frustrated and annoyed when I’m working at a group table because I then easily get distracted and lose focus on my work, which then creates a negative impact on my Mental/Emotional well being.

All four of these walls (dimensions) that I have explained create a whare. This is not just an ordinary whare, but it's one that covers all aspects of health from our physical appearance to the way we think and feel about things. Keeping these dimensions stable as in making sure your Physical, Mental/Emotional, Social and Spiritual Well Being is maintaining a healthy state means that the walls keeping our whare standing is strong and you are doing absolutely well.

If one of these dimensions starts becoming weak or is not doing well at all. This means that one of our walls that help support our whare in standing strong is crumbling and that is not a good sign. If this ever happens always be sure to take it into consideration and discuss this matter with someone that you feel you're able to trust. Not all walls of the whare will do well all the time as we are going through different phases in our life that will affect us in various ways. All dimensions will some time go through a healing process and it's not something to rush. Make sure you are comfortable and always checking in with your Well Being.