Free downloadable karakia posters for your clinic, three for opening and three for closing.  You only need to do one of each one at the beginning of your session and one at the end.  Some people only do karakia at the end.  It is always polite to ask if your whaiora (client) would like karakia, it is okay if they say no.  You can also say these just for yourself as an opening and closing karakia for your clinic for the day. 

Karakia, often described as prayers; are ritual chants that call upon the natural elements and acknowledge our ancestors, the environment and our whakapapa.  They bring into the space they are recited protective and healing energies when we chant them at the beginning of our sessions.  When we recite the karakia whakamutunga (closing chants), they close off the session, bringing us back to the world, clearing and cleansing ourselves and our space, and allowing us to move on with our day free from the energies of that particular session and in this way are also protective for you, and for your whaiora.  They signify that the mahi (work) is done.

Remember that macrons count!  The little line you see above a word like tēpu (table), means the e in that word is sounded for a little longer.  It’s important as some words are spelt exactly the same but if you don’t use the long vowel sound when indicated by a macron, you could be saying a different word.  A good example is kēkē which means armpit, where as keke, means cake! You may also see double vowels, different iwi have different dialects, so if you see a double vowel in a word it is correct too, some examples are whānau or whaanau, Māori or Maaori, rōpū or roopu.

If you are unsure on how to pronounce a word, head on over to Te Aka Māori dictionary here, look up the word you are wanting to learn and next to it, you will see a little audio sign, click that, and you will hear a voice recording of the kupu (word). 

There are links to some of the karakia to youtube videos to help with pronunciation and intonation.