Holistic Healing and Heartfelt Living with Cameron Tukapua – An Exclusive Interview
- Mar 16
- 7 min read
Updated: Mar 24
Cameron Tukapua draws from a rich heritage and a lifetime of holistic healing, blending her family farming roots on New Zealand’s South Island with her married Māori identity, which honors the interconnectedness of life. With over four decades of experience in Acupuncture, coaching, and Heartfelt Living education, Cameron helps individuals and leaders navigate burnout, life transitions, and personal transformation by reconnecting with their inner wisdom, balancing mind, body, and spirit, and cultivating authentic, grounded living.
Cameron Tukapua, Heartfelt Living Coach & Chinese Medicine Practitioner
Who is Cameron Tukapua?
Cameron is my original family name, and it keeps me connected to my farming roots. I grew up on the South Island of New Zealand, where my ancestors were farmers and pioneers. At age 21, I stumbled into Chinese Medicine, a holistic medical practice based on nature.
Tukapua is my married Maori name. Indigenous cultures honor life as an interconnected whole. The ancient ways of being are heartfelt, deep, and strong like the earth. ’Tu’ means to stand, and ‘kapua’ is the clouds. The idea of standing tall in the world and reaching for something higher feels deeply familiar. Exploring how to live a grounded spiritual life and forging pathways for others is my destiny and compass. Learning about love with my partner has been my greatest healer.
As an individual, I have always been more heart than head. I am very right-brain dominant, and big-picture thinking is natural and normal for me. In my language, this is Heart-mind. Fun has always been a big driver for me, and I’m a naturally sunny, lighthearted being. I get up most mornings and go to the beach for chanting at sunrise, weather permitting, I body-surf. Autonomy, Freedom, Heartfelt Living, Love, and Connection, are my primary values.
Professionally, I have practiced Acupuncture and Coaching for four decades. In the early 1990s, I lived and taught at a retreat centre in Hawaii, where I learned the power of full immersion healing retreats. Every year I host these in beautiful natural settings. I introduce self-care healing tools blending ancient Wisdom teachings, with Qigong and/or Yoga practices. For nine years, I owned and directed an Acupuncture College registered with the New Zealand government. I love empowering people through education, sharing ancient wisdom teachings and practices they can use to heal and transform their lives.
What inspired you to pursue your work in holistic healing, consciousness, and personal transformation?
There were significant health challenges in my family life, and I grew up fast. At times, our family was split, and here I experienced humanity’s primal wound, the pain of separation. Feeling like an outsider, I became an observer of people’s behavior, and to this day, I can quickly sense when things and people are ‘out of order’. Our parents were very liberal, and our social conditioning was minimal. They were kind, empathetic, compassionate, and accepting of difference. We were encouraged to question and challenge when we didn’t understand. “Just because everyone’s doing it doesn’t make it right”. Early on I was disenchanted by the medical system and aware of how mental health rules your life.
One night at a party, I was invited to attend an open day at an Acupuncture College in Brisbane. It was 1983, and acupuncture in the West was not widely practiced. The holistic medical philosophy immediately hooked me, and the next day I enrolled to study. During my years of acupuncture training, I started practising meditation and Yoga. In Yogic philosophy, we learn how the pure light of consciousness lives inside us and that our natural state is very blissful, light, and free. Early in my meditation practice, I had multiple experiences of seeing that divine light. Across the years, this lightness of being has kept me strong in my practice of helping others.
Can you explain your core philosophy of holistic healing and how it differs from modern medical approaches?
In holistic medicine, we honor how we are more whole than broken. As we nurture that wholeness back into being, we begin to heal. We acknowledge signs of distress as indicators of imbalance, not the problem. In modern medicine, the symptom, the part, is targeted, and we aim to eliminate the signs, which is like switching the alarm off while the burglar is still in the house. This is needed and helpful for saving lives and stopping pain. For well-being, we need to look at the whole picture.
What specific problems do your clients usually face when they come to you, and how do you help them transform those challenges?
Many people today are experiencing some level of cognitive dissonance. The world around us doesn't make sense, which is hard on the mind and nervous system. This can cause signs of distress, for example, mental confusion, overwhelm, anxiety, sleep problems, and headaches. This collective upset also puts pressure on relationships, at home and at work. Pressured times reveal what is truly important to us, they invite us to look deeper at the lives we have created. A tipping point used well can propel us on our path of growth and evolution. Most of my clients are bright-minded people who respond well to exploring their situations from higher points of view. I help them identify their blind spots and teach them to listen to their heart to navigate change step by step. I give them practical tools to nurture body-mind balance and engage their power to direct and heal their lives.
How do you blend ancient wisdom with modern practices in your healing work?
The ancient wisdom worldviews provide a holistic picture of a person's needs, which is my strength. If required, I use a team of professional colleagues for external referrals. For example, I may recommend holistic medical check-ups, which may include functional medical testing and analysis, and/or the use of trauma release technologies to reset nervous systems.
Why is understanding our inner world so important for creating lasting change in our outer world?
Our inner world of body sensations, thoughts, and feelings, what we dream about and yearn for, keeps us connected to our life dream and purpose. When we have language and frameworks for our inner life, we can start to connect how we think and feel with how we act and show up to life. When the two worlds of inner and outer don’t match, we can easily lose touch with our real needs and real self. If we have been abandoning ourselves to keep others happy, we can be a long way from living our best life.
What results or transformations can clients expect from working with you?
You can expect to feel more connected to your heart’s natural joy and lightness of being. You will get in touch with your own knowing of your deeper needs, and your real self. When you are more connected on the inside, your relationships and the world around you opens up. You find your flow, your people, and a truer life to match your needs. You will take away tools to care for yourself and your lifelong wellbeing.
How do you support leaders, coaches, or professionals who feel disconnected, burnt out, or stuck?
We start with a holistic overview of all levels, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. From here, we assess which level needs help first and begin the journey back to balance. When you are in a stuck place, it can feel overwhelming. When someone else guides you to zoom out, identify your blind spots, and look at the big picture, and make a plan, the way forward is step-by-step. Burnout and breakdown moments in our lives are highly creative. Supporting them well can lead to long-lasting healing and transformation. In these situations, I recommend a deep dive, a few months of coaching for a conscious reset.
Can you share a real-world example of a client breakthrough that illustrates your unique approach?
A client in their late 20s presented in a state of burnout. He had given up his medical career and was deeply depressed, anxious, and suicidal. As we talked through his history, it was obvious that he was a highly aware individual with no language for what he was feeling inside. The first step was explaining how anxiety is often a deeper quest for meaning. “I don’t understand what is happening," is the driving question of deep anxiety.
Listening to his stories of sessions with psychologists and doctors, it was clear he had not been heard. I validated what he, as a medical professional, knew about his body. I affirmed his insights and gave him relaxation treatment to settle his nervous system. As he was open, I gave him a brief astrological reading to explain how shifts in the planets may have been impacting his energies. We established a strong rapport when he realized I wasn’t trying to label or fix him. At each session, I reflected on what he communicated to help him piece together his broken picture and find wholeness. His clinical goal was to deliver a speech at his wedding three months away. I coached him fortnightly through that period. His wedding was the turning point in his healing journey. Standing in his power, owning the space and speaking his truth, he felt his true self shining, and he has never looked back. That was nearly two years ago. Currently, he is project managing a property development. His anxiety levels are high but manageable, an entirely appropriate response.
What makes your offering as a coach stand out among others in the industry?
As a healthcare professional, I’ve led hundreds and hundreds of people on heartfelt healing journeys. Drawing from four decades of clinical Acupuncture practice, I offer guidance for all levels, mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual. I help people manage their big life transitions to navigate changes in relationships, health, work, and life roles. Through change, we grow and expand. I help people clarify what needs to shift and change, to make room for the new that’s trying to birth.
As a wellbeing educator, I offer ‘Heartfelt Living’ pathways, practices, and tools for coaches, leaders, healers, and teachers to share. These pathways are designed to help people show up to life in ways that honor the highest in ourselves and others.
How can someone know when they are ready to begin their healing or self-discovery journey with you?
If you feel like something is missing in your life, or if you wish for something more. If you want support to live an authentic life, enhance your relationships, and live guided by the higher awareness of your heart-mind, I can help.
What programs, pathways, or ways of working with you are available right now for people who are ready to start?
Online self-study healing pathways based on ancient wisdom teachings and practices. Choice of two online live-time group healing pathways. ‘Nourishing Roots’, Chinese medical and spiritual life guidelines with restorative Yoga practices to rejuvenate your body energy and reset your direction. ‘Aligning Head and Heart’, Chinese Medical, Qigong, and Yoga teachings and practices. How to show up in Heartfelt presence to live guided by inner knowing. One-to-one coaching for a deep dive.
Join me for a FREE 30-minute coaching chemistry call to see if we match.
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