About
Kia West
Spiritual Activist · Inner fire. Outer change.
I don't believe transformation waits for the right conditions. I believe it's my job to create them, inside you and in the systems around us.
Ko wai au · Who I am
My pepeha (how I introduce myself through my ancestors)
I come from a long line of chiefs and healers on my mother's side, and soldiers and philanthropist politicians on my father's side. I was born in Australia to two lineages that were once at war, and I carry both.
I find it so curious when I look at the work that moves through me today: the healing, the standing up, the fight for fairer systems. It feels like all of them, finding their way home in me. That is the heart of my work: to be a bridge, and to turn old conflict into something that moves us forward together.
My story
A fire that keeps calling me to stand
I've always felt deeply and spoken up for the people I love. It hasn't always been welcome. Speaking up has often left me on the outside, silenced and shut out. And yet there's a fire in me that won't go out. It keeps calling me to stand again, and again.
When words were too heavy, I painted, then I danced. That's where Dancing with the Shadows was born, long before I had a name for it.
Mission & vision
Tending the person and changing the system
My mission
To activate the fire within each person I walk beside, while working alongside others to change the systems that keep people sick. I tend the person in front of me and close gaps in the system through anti-oppressive practice, as a bridge of peace between my Māori and English ancestors.
My vision
To create and support a system that is reciprocal, collaborative and sustainable, and that redistributes power and wealth. It begins with my own work: Kōkiri Rising is offered by donation, as a living example of the system I want to see.
Who I serve
The woman, and the system around her
The woman
standing at a threshold
The system
meant to care, too often causing harm
Why spiritual activism
It was never a personal failing
So much of what wears us down was built into systems that profit from our disconnection. I can't look away from that. So I tend the person in front of me, and I gather people together to change the system through Kōkiri Rising (Kōkiri means to charge forward together).
How I work
Science, spirit and culture, woven together
Science
What psychology and research show about the body, intuition and change.
Spirit
Intuition, shadow work and the wisdom of the body.
Culture
Te ao Māori (the Māori world view) and the knowing held in land, ancestors and community.
Why I use te reo Māori (the Māori language)
Keeping the fire of our language alive
My koro (grandfather) grew up in a generation where our language and culture were punished. Born in Australia, I have something he wasn't given: the freedom to choose. And something in me is activated to learn it and keep that fire alive.
I'm still young in my learning, and I honour the privileges that give me the space to learn at all. Where I can, I grow my learning by sharing it, so you'll find te reo through my writing and teaching, always with the English beside it. I'm always looking for ways to keep learning te reo and te ao Māori.
Kia whakatōmuri te haere whakamua.
I walk backwards into the future, with my eyes fixed on my ancestors.
Beyond the work
Honouring our humanity
Humility is one of my deepest values. To me, it means honouring our humanity, the mess and the beauty of it, so we can reclaim all of it as our divinity.
I'm a devoted mother and partner, a lifelong student, a lover of horses and a lover of nature. Whenever I'm out in nature, I feel closest to God.
I walk this path guided by my tīpuna (ancestors), my wairua (spirit) and the intuitive intelligence I trust with my whole heart. I'd be honoured to walk beside you.