Ngati Whatua
A mature Kahikatea in The Glade at Kawai Purapura
Ngati Whatua Nga Rima O Kaipara are the Tangata Whenua of the rohe (region) in which Kawai Purapura sits. The Prema Trust, which owns and operates Kawai Purapura, has a memorandum of understanding with Ngati Whatua, which guides the relationship. Central to this relationship is the whenua (land) of Kawai Purapura. The name of Kawai Purapura was gifted by Ngati Whatua kuia and kaumatua (elders) at a whakawaatea (dawn blessing) in 2009.
We are indebted to Ngati Whatua for the ongoing support and assistance in ensuring that our activities are consistent with the common values, principles and understanding we share, particularly in terms of environmental and health issues.
The relationship is one of partnership, with several important collaborative projects planned for the next few years. This partnership will work towards the development of educational, social and research programmes that foster understanding, greater health for all members of society and greater opportunities for Maori students from Ngati Whatua and other taurahere Maori residents within Tamaki Makaurau.
The preservation of Kawai Purapura and its environment is an important aspect of the relationship, and one that will be fostered over the coming years.
Read MoreOur Staff
Jenny Cottingham
Director
Jenny has had a long history in natural therapies, both as a practitioner and in the development of several enterprises. These include Hamilton’s first health food store and a large healing centre in Paddington, Sydney. She is also currently Assistant Principal of Wellpark College of Natural Therapies. Jenny is committed to developing programs and facilities that foster the integration of healthcare and spiritual well-being here at Kawai Purapura.
Following the completion of a master’s degree in the evolution of consciousness in New Zealanders, she is currently researching the process of self-realisation through Victoria University. Jenny spends some time each year with various teachers and saints in the Himalayas and southern India, and this enhances the work she is doing to develop Kawai Purapura as one of New Zealand’s leading centres for well-being education and spiritual unfoldment. Contact Jenny at manager@kawaipurapura.co.nz
Megan Wilson
Residential Manager
Megan came to Kawai Purapura straight from Tiritiri Matangi, a leading conservation island in the Hauraki Gulf. There she managed and worked with a dedicated group of volunteers, showing day trippers around, mending board walks, cuddling baby takahe chicks and watching the tuataras. She is passionate about fostering a unique eco-system and nature sanctuary here at Kawai Purapura and equally passionate about helping manifest the values of the trust in the resident community. She deals with all the day-to-day running operations of the community and oversees the wellbeing of all the residents. Contact Megan at administration@kawaipurapura.co.nz
Dyana Wells
Promotions and Publications
Dyana had been part of the administration and management team of Wellpark College and Kawai Purapura for over ten years. She has been dedicated to helping students, tutors, residents and workshop leaders achieve their goals. Her new position at Kawaipurapura is in promotions and publications. She and Jenny Cottingham are sisters. As a writer, she is currently enrolled in the Masters in Creative Writing program at AUT, she is well suited to this role and to ensuring all workshop leaders are given the promotional help they need so their workshops are a success. She is a teacher of yoga, meditation and chemistry and a life-long student of Tibetan Buddhism. Dyana has recently returned from a four month Abhidhamma retreat in Canada. Contact Dyana at yoga@kawaipurapura.co.nz
Ortrude James
Garden Manager
Ortrude has a passion for gardening. Her inspired craftwork can be seen all around Kawai Purapura in the flower beds and shrubbery. Although she has loved gardening since she was a child, it was during her time as a resident at Prasanthi, Sai Baba’s ashram in India, that this passion really took root. She reclaimed the rubbish heaps and waste land surrounding the buildings, and turned them into gardens. She swept through the ashram in her zeal, bringing colour, perfume and beauty to the ashram. She later transformed Sai Baba’s schools and hospital, and now she is similarly transforming Kawai Purapura. Thousands of devotees still find spiritual nourishment in those tranquil sanctuaries in India. Ortrude connects to and shares her love of God through her gardening.
Tony O’ Brien
Maintenance and Property Manager
Tony, our property maintenance manager has been with us since the birth of Kawai Purapura in January 2009. He manages a sensational team of woofers to ensure the gardens and buildings are all in top condition and to ensure that any problems or unexpected events are investigated and remedied immediately. His team of woofers come from all over the world, they love him, and they return regularly to be part of his team. You will see them around the property behind spades and floor mops, calling out, maybe even romancing, in Spanish or French.
History Of The Land
Mature Kauri tree, just one of many on the 19 acres of Kawai Purapura
This property was purchased by the Prema Trust in 2009, with the purpose of healing the land of its history and developing a long held dream of a residential care programme for natural medicine. It is currently a residential village of more than 90 people, a flourishing yoga centre, and a workshop and retreat centre. The property has also served as a venue for Wellpark Diploma classes.
Blessed, cleared and revealed by Ngati Whatua as Kawai Purapura, the name signifies a nexus point between the memories of the past and the seed for the future.
The site’s history includes a period as the CentrePoint commune and community, established in Albany during the 1970s. That era dissolved in dissarray as spiritual leader Bert Potter and other senior members were convicted on a number of criminal charges during the early 1990s.
Today, Kawai Purapura offers a tranquil setting for many energetic yoga and spiritual practices, alongside music, dance, healing and natural therapies.
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Prema Trust
Kawaipura is owned by The Prema Charitable Trust, which was founded in 1990. The Prema trust also runs Wellpark College of Natural Therapies.
The vision of the trust is to foster a deep understanding of the highest aspiration of a human being, which is to realise Self. This development of this understanding is encouraged through teaching and natural medicine, psychological studies, living in harmony with nature and each other, and spirituality. The Prema Trust serves the world and its people through education. It endeavours to make the world a better place for all beings.
It promotes five human values:
Prema: Love
To promote understanding that Love is the basis for the universe and this can be expressed as loving relationships with all living things
Sathya: Truth
Assisting people to explore their own true nature
Shanti: Peace
To promote peace as the end purpose of all human endeavour
Ahimsa: non-violence
Reverence for all life and the living processes of nature
Dharma: Right Action
Read MoreLiving with Integrity, in harmony with the universe.
About The Name
Te Tai Hauāuru, in one of the glades at Kawai Purapura
Kawai Purapura
This name signifies the nexus point between the past and the future.
Kawai is the memory, the ancestry, the tracing of the lineage from the past. Purapura is the seed of the future.
This name signifies the NOW – that point in time where all stands still, the place where there is no past and no tomorrow, yet where all pasts and tomorrows are to be found. The omniscient consciousness that is to be found within the human heart where all is synthesised into ONENESS.
For the land and the place it signifies that we are at that point where the past, with all its joys and grief, has led the land to this place in its journey; the future with all its hopes and possibilities is unfolding, like the koru (the fern frond).
Kawai is the wisdom of the past embedded in the land. Purapura is the seed that births the future.
As we stand upon the land we remember the past and our thoughts and memories trail back into the past like tendrils. That from which we have come has planted a seed with the new dawn, which comes as the sun rises over the horizon.
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Our Vision
In New Zealand we are on the edge of an exciting future. Social consciousness is blossoming into an integration of health care, social concerns and spiritual awareness. Kawai Purapura reflects this integration, providing an environment that fosters a sense of peace and well-being.
Our vision is to create a healing space wherein people can find their own potential for being well. This vision will develop into focused healing programmes that not only serve those who lack privilege, but contribute to natural health taking a significant place in overall health care delivery.
At Kawai Purapura we have a residential community that offers the opportunity to live and work in harmony with each other and the environment. The residents contribute greatly to the overall vision for the land. Living with the land allows us to manifest qualities that reflect the ideals of natural health and healing, spirituality and service, within a framework of sustainable lifestyle along with social responsibility.
I would like to invite you all to come and be part an integrative vision through the Kawai Purapura experience.
Jenny Cottingham
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