Exploring the science and wairua of alignment — where thought, energy, and action move as one.
Thought as Movement
In Te Ao Māori, creation is viewed not as a single event but as a continual unfolding. Whakaaro — thought imbued with feeling — carries vibration, and that vibration sets mauri (life force and energy) into motion.
When mauri is consciously directed, it shifts from mauri moe (latent potential) to mauri oho (activation), eventually flowing toward mauri ora — balance and vitality (Pohatu, 2011).
Neuroscience names this same phenomenon neuroplasticity — the brain’s ability to form and strengthen new neural connections through repetition, emotion, and attention.
Dr Tara Swart (2023a) explains that each experience, thought, and relationship literally reshapes the brain. When we visualise a goal with clarity and emotional resonance, the nervous system records it as something already familiar, lowering the stress response and preparing the body to act.
As Hebb (1949) described, neurons that fire together, wire together.
Both worldviews affirm that learning and creation are rhythmic: energy follows focus, and focus shapes form. Manifestation, then, is the living rhythm of thought becoming form through vibration, emotion, and repeated alignment.
The Science of Manifestation — Neuroplasticity in Motion
Where Thought as Movement describes the energetic rhythm of creation, neuroscience offers the physiological map.
Neuroplasticity is the brain’s capacity to rewire itself through focused repetition. When we visualise, affirm, or act toward a desired outcome, we are sculpting neural pathways — the circuits governing attention, motivation, and reward reorganise through practice.
The more coherently we hold an intention and pair it with embodied action, the more those circuits stabilise the mental and emotional patterns that sustain that outcome.
From this view, manifestation is not about external attraction but internal attunement — becoming the state that allows new realities to emerge.
Resonance and Relationship — The Chemistry of Connection
Te Ao Māori locates wellbeing in whakapapa — the ancestral and relational networks that bind people, place, and purpose. When those relationships are tended, mauri ora strengthens.
As observed by Dr Swart (2023a), gratitude activates oxytocin and serotonin, calming fear and opening neural networks for creativity and trust. Within Māori experience, gratitude is expressed through connection and acknowledgment — whakawhanaungatanga that restores balance and reciprocity.
Nature deepens this coherence. Research shows that time in natural environments lowers cortisol, enhances attention, and supports immune health (Bratman et al., 2019; Wilson, 1984).
Swart (2024) adds that trees emit organic compounds that stabilise mood and regulate hormones — a scientific echo of the understanding that Te Kōpu o Papatūānuku, the cosmic womb from which all life is birthed, and te taiao — the living environment encompassing all beings, waters, and lands — together form the body’s original regulator of rhythm.
In both science and wairua, resonance arises through relationship: gratitude, connection, and time with te taiao tune the brain and mauri to the same frequency of calm, creativity, and clarity.
Unblocking the Flow — Belief and Awakening
Transformation often begins in stillness — when mauri lies dormant as mauri moe. The awakening moment, mauri oho, arrives with a breath, a thought, a spark of courage or intention — what Pohatu (2011) calls tīhē, the living proclamation of awareness.
Swart (2023b) explains that unspoken beliefs of unworthiness can silence this spark. These patterns, held in the non-conscious brain, filter perception and dull possibility. When brought to awareness, the brain can prune old circuits and form new pathways that support confidence and purpose.
This movement from shadow to clarity parallels the shift toward mauri ora — energy flowing freely again through mind, body, and wairua. Manifestation begins not with acquisition but with awakening: the decision to see oneself clearly and act from that truth.
Tīhei Mauri Ora — The Breath of Becoming
In Māori tradition, “Tīhei mauri ora!” marks the spark of life itself — the first breath drawn and sneeze at birth, the declaration of vitality and consciousness. Yet this exclamation is not only a beginning; it is also a return.
Every conscious breath invites us back to rhythm — the living relationship between whakaaro, mauri, and tāiao.
Modern neuroscience echoes this truth. Research on controlled breathing (Röttger et al., 2021; Bentley et al., 2023) shows that slow, rhythmic exhalation activates the parasympathetic nervous system, quiets the amygdala, and enhances cognitive control — precisely the state required for clarity and focus.
In wānanga, this is embodied through the hā — breath that carries vibration and intention. To breathe consciously is to participate in the pattern of creation itself.
Te Whakatinanatanga — From Intention to Embodiment
Both neuroscience and mātauranga Māori emphasise rhythm and repetition as the foundation of change.
Swart (2023a) notes that intention must be practiced through consistent, embodied action; otherwise, the brain does not register it as real.
In Kaupapa-Aligned Leadership™, this practice is expressed as the embodiment of insight through deliberate movement and reflection.
A manifestation practice grounded in both science and wairua may include:
- Clarify the vision — Name what you are calling in with precision and feeling; the brain cannot reach for what it cannot recognise.
- Visualise with emotion — Engage all senses; emotional rehearsal strengthens the neural blueprint for change.
- Speak it aloud — Sound carries vibration. Verbalising intention activates auditory and motor circuits, anchoring thought in action.
- Cultivate gratitude — Daily appreciation recalibrates neurochemistry and steadies mauri.
- Regulate the body — Through conscious breathing and rest, align hinengaro (mind) and tīnana (body).
- Connect with te taiao — Time on the whenua restores balance and reinforces natural rhythm.
- Reframe belief — Replace limiting narratives with affirmations grounded in worth and purpose.
- Act consistently — Small, rhythmic steps signal safety to the nervous system, converting intention into lived pattern.
Each action becomes a pulse of tīhē — life affirming itself through practice.
Purpose as Resonance
Dr Swart (2023b) identifies love and gratitude as the strongest drivers of neuroplastic change.
Dr James Doty (2024) similarly finds that compassion activates the parasympathetic nervous system, supporting resilience and long-term wellbeing. When our aspirations are guided by contribution and care, the brain reinforces pathways linked to fulfilment and stability.
This distinction echoes the difference between hedonic happiness — the pursuit of pleasure — and eudaimonic happiness, which arises from purpose, meaning, and coherence between values and action.
In Te Ao Māori, this is the movement of mauri ora — the flourishing that arises when personal purpose aligns with collective wellbeing.
Aroha is not sentiment; it is the current that sustains coherence and connection — drawing people, purpose, and practice together.
Manifestation grounded in aroha becomes an act of reciprocity — shaping one’s own reality while restoring balance in the wider field.
The Rhythm of Becoming
Both neuroscience and mātauranga Māori recognise that we are participants, not spectators, in creation.
Our neural networks and our mauri respond to rhythm — to what we attend to, repeat, and embody.
When thought is guided by clarity, expressed through gratitude, and sustained by deliberate action, we move from mauri moe to mauri oho to mauri ora.
Manifestation, in this light, is not control but coherence — the continual dance between brain and spirit, focus and flow, self and collective.
Tīhei mauri ora! — may each breath remind us that creation begins again, within us.
Reflections for Leaders
- Where in your mahi does mauri oho — that spark of new awareness — seek expression?
- How do gratitude and connection influence the rhythm of your leadership?
- Which practices strengthen coherence between thought, feeling, and action?
- How might your growth contribute to mauri ora within the systems you serve?
Further Exploration
Explore the Manawa Kōkopu Poutama IQ Ascent Series™ to learn more.
References
Bentley, T. G. K., D’Andrea-Penna, G., Rakic, M., Arce, N., LaFaille, M., Berman, R., Cooley, K., & Sprimont, P. (2023). Breathing practices for stress and anxiety reduction: Conceptual framework of implementation guidelines based on a systematic review of the published literature. Brain Sciences, 13(12), 1612. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13121612
Bratman, G. N., Anderson, C. B., Berman, M. G., Cochran, B., de Vries, S., Flanders, J., … Daily, G. C. (2019). Nature and mental health: An ecosystem service perspective. Science Advances, 5(7), eaax0903. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aax0903
Doty, J. R. (2024, May). James Doty on the neuroscience of manifestation. Stanford Report. https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2024/05/james-doty-on-the-neuroscience-of-manifestation
Hebb, D. O. (1949). The organization of behavior: A neuropsychological theory. Wiley.
Pohatu, T. W. (2011). Mauri – Rethinking human wellbeing. MAI Review, 3, 1–12. https://www.journal.mai.ac.nz/system/files/maireview/380-3362-1-PB.pdf
Röttger, S., Theobald, D. A., Abendroth, J., & Jacobsen, T. (2021). The effectiveness of combat tactical breathing as compared with prolonged exhalation. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, 46(1), 19–28. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10484-020-09485-w
Swart, T. (2023a, June 1). #1 Neuroscientist: How to Trick Your Brain into Manifesting Goals and Desires [Podcast interview with Dhru Purohit]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k48ieWKiudE
Swart, T. (2023b, November 8). Leading Neuroscientist: How Intuition, Your 6th Sense & Manifestation Actually Work [Podcast interview on Know Thyself]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WqjpE_XsjI
Swart, T. (2024, July 13). Trees help you live longer. Express. https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/1922841/trees-help-live-longer-tara-swart
Wilson, E. O. (1984). Biophilia. Harvard University Press.
Image credit: Tahere, K. (2025). Used with permission.
Author: Megan Tahere. (2025).