The Roar of Your Haka

Written by: Alicia Howell

A Haka is a kind of symphony in which different parts of the body represent many instruments. The Haka is a traditional war cry/dance in Māori culture and was originally performed by warriors before a battle. It proclaims strength, prowess, welcomes guest, and acknowledges great achievements. Various actions are used when performing a Haka such as; facial contortions, sticking out the tongue, slapping hands against the body and stomping the feet, while chanting, crying, and grunting.

We face battles and achievements every day. The biggest battles aren’t the ones that we’ve prepared for or the possible L’s (losses) we expect to take. Our biggest battles are the ones that catch us off guard. Those battles are the ones that catch us when we were sitting down, and they keep us down. They are the L’s that took us the longest time to recover from. We don’t lose all the battles we face, sometimes we win. Many times, we down play our achievements thus losing the steam required to keep going and achieve greater.

Create a Haka (no not a Mantra, those are not for use here). Get your stance and your cry, and your grunt prepared for battle.

Hardships aren’t going to have mercy on you, so don’t have mercy on them.

And if you don’t win that battle that you are fighting today, that is okay, because you know that you have your Haka ready for war. Your battle Haka should be so fierce that even you are afraid to stay down. Be strong enough to take the L and determined enough not to take another one.

You should have your achievement Haka ready to celebrate every victory and greet yourself upon arriving to bigger milestones. It is an achievement to acknowledge that today wasn’t the best day, so celebrate that. Be as fierce and intimidating as the Māori people, show them your teeth (smile) and don’t go down without a fight (cry). Life is a battle field and you are a strong warrior.