Honouring her connection with the land of Aotearoa and the spiritual elements of her Chinese culture, Jingjing Jackson believes that every living being should be valued and respected.
Jingjing works to incorporate what she is learning in te reo Māori classes into her traditional tai chi classes.
She says, because New Zealand is surrounded by water and our body is made up of 70 to 90 percent water, “it is important to honour the water element in our body flowing towards the lowest point”.
She is looking forward to the new year to put her ongoing te reo Māori lessons and understanding of Te Wharenui - the four dimensions of Māori well-being, to good use.
In Te Whare Tapa Whā, a model of understanding of Māori health, if one of the four dimensions is missing or in some way damaged, a person may become ‘unbalanced’ and subsequently unwell.
Jingjing’s journey to New Zealand first took her to the Rudolf Steiner village in Yorkshire, United Kingdom.
Here she lived for two years in a money-free community providing support to people with special needs with day-to-day living and their yoga practice.
Moving to New Zealand eight years ago, she acknowledges the grief of losing her Kiwi husband six months into her arrival has allowed her to connect more with her clients.
“People feel I can hold their emotion, stress or pain.” Jingjing says.
“There is such a long waiting list for therapy sessions, but my bodywork can offer some relief,” she says of her holistic practice that she learnt in Nelson.
Resilient and upbeat, Jingjing has been given the name happy or ‘harikoa’ from her te reo classmates.
“The classes are great. We are sharing food together and learning a holistic way of living through song, movement and telling stories.”
Next year, Jingjing will begin a project to offer bodywork to kaumātua at the Whakatū Marae while learning te reo.
Incorporating it into a series of tai chi movements is something she is keen to explore.
The former legal professional has now opened her own Healing Hut in central Nelson to help Nelson residents find their balance.
Here she combines her knowledge and experience of Chinese medicine and psychology, with her study of tai chi, yin yoga and holistic pulsing.
