# About Maoria

**Maoria** is the practice of **Maria Munoz**, a traditional Māori bodywork practitioner based in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. The name carries her own and the kaupapa of maori healing she has been trained to hold.

Sessions take place in your home anywhere across Auckland. Slow hands and tikanga held with care.

## The practitioner

Maria completed her training with **Gabrielle Rangihoea**, who recognised her as a practitioner of maori healing. She now offers sessions in home across Auckland, holding space for chronic pain, grief, postpartum recovery, and burnout.

## The kaupapa

The practice is grounded in three principles:

### Tikanga

The right way of doing things. Every session begins and ends with karakia. The space is prepared, the body is honoured, the mahi is done with intention.

### Whakapapa

Maria does not carry Māori whakapapa herself. She works in honour of the whakapapa of her kaiako, Atarangi Muru and Gabrielle Rangihoea, who carried these teachings to her and recognised her to hold them. The techniques used in mirimiri and romiromi were not invented yesterday, they are an unbroken thread back through Māori knowledge of the body, and Maria stands in service of that lineage rather than claiming it as her own.

### Mauri

Life force. The aim of the work is not to fix the body the way a mechanic fixes an engine, it is to restore the flow of mauri so the body can do what it already knows how to do.

## What mirimiri and romiromi are

**Mirimiri** is the gentle to firm rhythmic stroke work that warms and opens the body. It is what most people would recognise as "Māori massage" if they have heard the term before.

**Romiromi** is the deeper sister practice. It works with elbows, knees, breath, and sometimes voice to reach into held tension and trauma the surface layers cannot release. It is physically deeper and emotionally more involved than mirimiri alone.

In Maria's practice the two are not separated. They flow as one continuous session.

## Who it serves

People often come to Maoria for:

- Chronic pain that has not responded to conventional massage or physiotherapy
- Grief carried in the body
- Postpartum recovery, including cesarean recovery
- Burnout and nervous system exhaustion
- A culturally grounded bodywork experience as an alternative to Western massage modalities
- The simple wish to be cared for in your own home rather than travelling to a clinic

## Contact

- WhatsApp: https://maoria.net/wa (tap to open a chat, sessions are by appointment only)
- Email: https://maoria.net/email (opens a draft to Maria)
- Service area: Home visits across Auckland (Tāmaki Makaurau)
- Hours: Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm NZST. Closed Sunday.