Jasmine Rangi Jones
Descendant of Tainui and Aotea Waka
Mokopuna of Tongareva
For My Wairua was birthed out of a yearning to creatively express what my Wairua (spirit) is experiencing. The freedom I feel when I creatively express myself allows me to both heal self and heal others. The cycle of listening a Wairua has encouraged others to find themselves in this way.
For My Wairua is a nod to my Tūpuna and the ancestral knowledge they have imparted on me. It is an ode to the power of the puku (intuition) and the ability it has to guide, empower and maximise opportunities for our lives.
My Kōha to you
Here are a range of services and provisions I offer; From hauora (wellness) services, creative commissions, professional supervision in the health and social services sector, cultural capability, writing and professional development and training for educators.
Kanikani Dance Fitness
Dance Fitness classes are for all ages, stages and abilities across South Taranaki. I am passionate about Hauora (wellbeing) and believe as a plus size instructor there should be no barriers to people moving and feeling good in their bodies. You can expect a wide genre of dances (think Zumba meets Urban) to get the heart rate up, coupled with a moment of mindfulness at the end of the session and breathwork. Classes are $10 or $90 for a 10-trip ticket. Join Kanikani Dancefit with Jazz on Facebook for more information.
Professional Supervision
Supervision is an opportunity for professionals working in people facing roles to reflect on their practice. The role of the supervisor is to provide critical questioning and thinking for the supervisee to better understand themselves and the matters that impact their work. My approach to supervision is one that promotes Hauora (total wellbeing) and a recognition that supervisees bring their whole selves to what they do. The model that I base my work on is mana enhancing and, through careful questioning and reflection, empowers the supervisee to make meaning of their situation.
Hauora Coaching
Cultural Capability
My World in Picture
From dance instructing, creating artworks for commission and having my poetry published, here is a glimpse of my Ao (world) and some of my achievements and accolades.
Life Lately
Most of you will know how transformative my recent trip to America was. It’s hard to describe the feeling that comes with stepping into the unknown; It’s also a bizarre feeling knowing that you are forever changed because of the experience, but without your husband and child being a part of it. For those of you who don’t know, I was presented with the opportunity to go to America with a darling friend of mine (who is also my Neighbour) and attend Coachella…. Only one of the biggest music festivals on the PLANET! When the opportunity arose, a year prior, I was in shock and a little bit of denial about the whole thing… but I knew that saying yes to the opportunity was the absolute right decision (and only decision) to make. As 12 months turned into 5 months, as 5 months turned into 5 weeks, as 5 weeks turned into 5 hours, I was increasingly aware that life would never be the same…
It all sounds a bit dramatic, so let me give you some context. Somewhere along the way on this trajectory of life I believed that nothing would be uniquely mine. Meaning, I accepted that having a husband and a child would come with personal sacrifice. Anything I wanted to do would have to be something we would do together, and anything with a financial commitment would have to benefit the whole family. Looking back, I used this as an excuse to lessen the crippling fear that comes with doing something on your own. So, when I declared ‘I THINK I’M GOING TO AMERICA’ I was declaring that I am going to do something for myself for once, no looking back and no fear. The furtherest I had travelled was Rarotonga as a 21st present to myself. By myself. For 3 weeks. I spent the first week crying because I decided it was a good idea to get stuck on an island for 3 weeks on my own. The remaining 2 weeks was spent calming the fuck down and soaking up all the opportunities to connect to the motherland and connect to the amazing people I met from around the world. The rest of my trips have been to Australia. For my honeymoon, for our 10-year wedding anniversary with our son, for a weekend trip to see my friend and her kids. I couldn’t comprehend the fact I would be sitting on a plane, for over 10 hours, flying to a part of the world I had only ever seen in the movies.
Leading up to the trip I worked. Hard. I put the MAN in Manifested, and I worked my ass off to keep our family afloat while trying to make all my dreams a reality. I spent my 34th birthday travelling across the world only to have a second 34th birthday in America. I had the Qantas staff present me with a special keychain and a personalised happy birthday message (no upgrades to First Class though). I was clam, I was scared, I had people show genuine concern for me, I had people make me second guess my delusional ideas, but I kept focused on the dream I manifested, not giving in to people’s expectations and limitations of my abilities. I truly believe the powers that be were guiding and comforting me; From a kind stranger paying for me to go to the lounge at the airport to have birthday luxuries to the young boy in front of us on the plane who I swear could have been my son’s doopleganger. All of the micro moments a reminder that I am exactly who I am meant to be and where I am meant to be.
America wasn’t just an experience; It was a complete paradigm shift. I got to see my childhood idol Missy Elliott perform some of the music I grew up on. I got to be a Brat with Charli XCX. I got to rock out to Green Day. I got to experience millennial nostalgia with T-Pain. I was in the front row for Basement Jaxx. I got to perform one of my Kanikani dances to Meghan the Stallion LIVE. I got to explore Vegas and Joshua Tree, I got to experience life in East LA. See the Hollywood sign. Visit Michael Jackson’s Star at the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Beverly Hills. The list goes on. All of these experiences reminded me that life isn’t over when you have a family, life is only beginning!
Some of the offerings this experience gave me:
- You will never get time back. Make the most of every moment that you live and breathe this worldly experience.
- The doubts of the people around you should be the FUEL you need to keep going. You know what’s best for you, you have that intuition. Use it.
- Say YES, figure out the rest along the way. The unknown is where you experience the most growth.
- Don’t make finite rules about the world. You don’t have to travel with your oldest friend; You don’t have to wait for your family to experience something for yourself.
- Get your tits out, wear whatever you want and be whoever you want to be. Live life in the pursuit of happiness and believe the right people will be there supporting you.
With love,
J
You do you, boo
I say to myself as I stretch further and further beyond my comfort zone. I always knew that I had a weird and quirky brain because I was never afraid to be different. Living in Pātea and instructing a dance fitness class in my 30s was not on my bingo card, and yet, here we are.
I don’t know what happened, but I kind of got so caught up by being ‘perfect’ in my 20s that I spent a whole lot of it living in disappointment. I was always the high achiever in school, and I always wanted to make someone proud. I was deep in the people pleasing trenches that I didn’t really know who I was and what I was living for anymore. People pleasing was part of my DNA, it was the only way I knew how to receive praise and attention from others. It’s so fascinating what you learn from an early age and how those deeply ingrained belief systems never really leave; they just mutate over time (like a nasty virus)! The people pleasing followed me through the many different phases of my life.
In my faith I wanted to be the ‘best Christian I could be’ which resulted in total burnout and a complete lack of self-preservation and care. In my marriage I wanted to be the ‘best wife I could be’ which resulted in disappointment and discouragement when I could never meet my own expectations. In my friendships I wanted to be the ‘friend you could always go to and depend on’ which resulted in many friendships parting ways and a deep sense of sadness. In my parenting I wanted to be the ‘gentle parent who only feeds their child organic produce that I foraged from my garden in my plaid dress who never had to work again’ well- that one is self-explanatory. What I’m saying is at the root of it all, I have just wanted to please people and have absolutely failed at every attempt of that.
And WHAT A RELIEF! I mean, I read that now and I am seriously like what the fuck girl 30-year-old Jazz is so glad we got out of that black hole and came back to planet earth because gee whizz that is some out the gate thinking. But it happens, and it derives from deeply complex life experiences with other deeply complex humans (aka family). It is what it is, but here is what I’ve learned from it.
- You can only go as far as you have met yourself. I was meeting myself at the same brick wall every time I found myself wound up in the ‘rescuer’ mentality.
- If you’re sick of meeting yourself at the same brick wall, maybe it’s worth sitting there for to reflect on all the moments that led you to that place. Without judgement, without shame. Allow yourself to explore familiar feelings of safety and familiarity and ask yourself if those feelings are allowing you to move forward in a way that grows you or stifles you.
- You have to put words and names to those things that hold you back. And then you have to let them go. And you let them go by doing the OPPOSITE of what you are used to doing. And every day you accumulate more evidence in your brain that affirms a NEW way of thinking that replaces the OLD ways of believing. ‘
- Finally, and the name of this piece. You have to ‘do you boo’. Nobody else is going to do it for you, so you must do it (whatever IT is). You owe it to yourself to feel alignment and peace in your life, and if you’re there- I love that for you! As someone who truly feels connected to my truest self I can say that this is the best I have ever felt in my life. And we can all achieve that. There isn’t a magic equation, no one size fits all. You just have to search within you for the answers that have been there all along.
With love,
J
Testing, testing, 1 2 3…
How is it nearly March? I feel like there aren’t enough minutes in the hour, hours in the day and days in the week to get everything I want to get done, done. Anyone feel me on that? Anyway- I am trying to do all the little things that I said I would do for myself, like create this e-mail community. All the small steps count towards the bigger vision, that’s certainly the greatest lesson I have found on my Hauora (wellness) journey so far.
This is just a little introductory e-mail from me to say hi, and to share some of my plans for this community.
Before I get into that, I just wanted to share a bit more about myself and how I got to, well, being here.
I was born and raised in Wellington and lived there most of my life. There were lots of mixed feelings from our family and friends who were excited, understanding, nonchalant and concerned about the move. There were lots of questions like ‘Why Pātea?’ and ‘Where is Pātea?’ and ‘Do you have family in Pātea?’ A lot of these questions, in hindsight, I think are totally valid. In the moment it felt downright rude and frustrating. It’s hard to describe the wairua (spiritual) feeling that you feel when you know that another door is opening for your life, it’s even harder to feel like you have to explain and rationalise something to soothe the projected fears of others. Pātea was one of those doors for us, and we had to decide whether we were going to open it or keep it shut… we decided to kick that door down and make it our bitch!
It was 2020 and we were in the thick of Covid19. We were in level 4 for what felt like an eternity. The four walls of our apartment were starting to close in on us. Tobias was 18 months at the time and very much on the move, our only Neighbours were our landlords and between the 6 of us we made our own little community. We were surrounded by bush and birds; it was magical and a pain! Especially because we had no private outdoor area to let Tobias roam around in. It was fine for two adults, but with a child in tow it was becoming an increasingly difficult living situation for us.
I had been imagining what it would be like to start again and try something new for a few years prior to the move. I had felt like I reached the ceiling in my personal growth being in Wellington- I was itching to get out. I knew my imposter syndrome and fears of the unknown were going to get the better of me and so I suppressed my needs for a long time, until I knew I had enough.
I love my husband, but this decision was a pain point for our marriage. Living away from his family was the hardest decision he had made in his life (bless his soul lol), but he eventually accepted the stress and emotional toll it was taking on me. As soon as he said ‘I’ve had enough, let’s get out of here’ I found a permanent position in Whanganui and the rest is history!
Long story short- we purchased our humble abode and settled on the 19th December 2020 (Merry Christmas to us!). I remember driving up that day, one car full of junk and a sweet little boy in tow; Graham and his brother towing our livelihood in another car. I think I got a text from my family wishing us all the best, and they only lived 20 minutes away (no help whatsoever, but that’s okay). Needless to say, I was ready to start this new chapter of my life. Our nights were spent on a mattress on the floor and no couches, but at least it was in our own home.
This is when all the realities of living away from the village started to hit me. Not that I really had much of one to start with, but the feeling of the familiar was gone, and I had to start anew. Alone. I put an immense amount of pressure on myself, and I felt the pressure around me, to be a full-time worker and be a present māmā. I neglected any part of myself and suppressed my feelings with food. I was back in survival mode once again, a feeling I am far too familiar with. I became a shell within my body, and I started to lose touch with my identity. I spent the better part of my time living here working, feeling like shit, disassociating, disconnecting and hibernating from the world. This wasn’t the dream that I set out to reach for my son. What am I doing?
That’s when that one phone call in 2022 asking for help, made all the difference. That phone call led to a string of important decisions and choices that have led me to where I am today. And I can’t wait to share my story; A story of self-discovery, a story of pain, a story of acceptance and a story of self-empowerment.
Keep a look out for fortnightly newsletters from me, sharing my story and special podcasts that dive into some of the key themes that have guided my journey to wellness. In the future I want to create regular retreat spaces for our community to connect and share in our stories. I am in the throes of creating an e-learning and coaching series as an extension of the community we have at Kanikani Dancefit with Jazz.
My vision is simple: Creating to heal and healing to create.
Glad you’re here xx
J