Culture of healing

Tukapua's latest book offers everyday language to explain people's emotional states and what those states are signaling.

"I see that there are a lot of challenges for young people who are absolutely in the new world while their elders are in the old world." She believes "a revival of their own wisdom framework" can help the two generations connect.

Although Tukapua says she is an expert, "with specialized knowledge that allows me to help people who are really seriously troubled", she says most people who need help need very simple things, which "everyday" people can offer.

One such person is Olly Clay, who "reluctantly" accompanied his girlfriend to a workshop with Tukapua in April.

"I didn't really know what to expect because I had been dragged to it by someone else," he says. "I started chatting with Cameron and realized she was saying some things that were resonating with me. But I don't think I was really sold on anything, but I was really curious on where this thing might lead."

Describing himself at that time as "trying to find some direction in my life", he surprised his girlfriend by suggesting they then join a five-day retreat with Tukapua.

"It showed me a different way of looking at things," he says.

Clay and his girlfriend also attended Tukapua's course in Beijing in September. He says he has now made yoga and meditation part of his life. What he most likes about Tukapua's teaching, he says, is that she is very approachable and "not at all preachy".

One important thing Tukapua has to say is that all of us are healers for one another. "It's alarming to me that people now don't feel that they have the resources to take care of their own," she says.

"You don't have to do anything. You don't have to say much. You don't have to know any fancy theories - you just have to be there for people. Most people today are too busy for that."

Tukapua is deeply connected to New Zealand's indigenous Maori culture through her marriage. She says she sees many similarities between Maori and Chinese cultures.

"There's a recognition that the group harmony is important for the individual to be in a place of harmony. The reverence for elders is shared with Maori culture - the appreciation of history and where we've come from and how that informs who we are today. And the recognition of spirit - in Chinese culture, there is a strong awareness of spirit. But, I think, in the last 50 years, the language for that has been lost."

That is one of the reasons she comes to China regularly, she says, to help people reconnect to nature and their inner beings and give them the language to express their awareness.

"I used to feel embarrassed and shy about coming here and teaching Chinese philosophy," she says. "And yet now I realize that this is my offering back to the philosophy that has nourished me for 30 years."