Benjamin Hanara

Wairoro is a te reo Māori term for the brain, and it is a concept grounded in Māori origins (Hīroa, n.d.). This paper is based on the lead author’s master’s research, in which he created Te Āheinga Pū Reretahi—a model developed to provide a structural and functional foundation of understanding the wairoro. Māori life expectancy is increasing (Ministry of Health, 2019), and Māori are now also experiencing the complications of wairoro illnesses that are associated with an ageing population (Dudley et al., 2014, 2019).