HEALING WITH WHENUA AND WHAKAPAPA
Rooted in rongoa Maori and a deep relationship with the whenua, Aya Foraged Healing is a kaupapa-led practice grounded in care, connection, and the passing on of ancestral knowledge.
Aya Foraged Healing began in the most natural way, at home, gathering from the whenua and making rongoā Māori – traditional Māori healing practices – for Penny’s own tamariki. There was no intention to create a business. It grew from caring for her children using ancestral knowledge, lived practice, and a deep trust in the land as a source of healing.
Penny grew up in Leigh, and her connection to place continues to shape how she lives and works. Aya Foraged Healing developed alongside Aiā Healing, her eldest son’s healing and counselling service. The name Aya stands for Acknowledge Your Awareness, reflecting a kaupapa centred on remembering and reconnecting. For Penny, rongoā was never meant to be distant or specialised; it belongs in the home and is shared between generations. He oranga kei te kāinga.
Over the years, Penny has attended wānanga and studied rongoā Māori, but she is clear that her greatest teachers have always been whakapapa and the whenua itself. The knowledge she carries has been handed down through generations and strengthened through lived experience, careful observation, and time spent listening. Rongoā, for her, is not separate from everyday life; it is a way of maintaining balance, connection, and wellbeing.
What sets Aya Foraged Healing apart is that the products are not the focus. They are simply a reflection of the mahi. Penny’s priority has always been to teach and to pass on mātauranga, helping others feel confident caring for their own whānau using rongoā Māori. The kaupapa is about sharing knowledge rather than holding onto it, and supporting people to trust their own awareness and intuition.
Giving back to her tūrangawaewae is a central part of the work. Penny intends to offer her time and knowledge to the tamariki of Leigh, with the hope that they grow up grounded in who they are and where they come from. The aim is not to create healers in a formal sense, but to nurture confidence, responsibility, and connection, allowing that knowledge to flow back into whānau and the wider community. Māori rongoā workshops will be available soon, continuing this circle of learning, and Penny will also be at the Matakana Markets sharing her rongoā products with the community that shaped her.
At its heart, Aya Foraged Healing is about remembering – remembering relationships with the land, honouring the wisdom of tūpuna, and recognising that the foundations of healing and wellbeing have always been here, held in the whenua and within the people themselves.