About Manaaki

Meet Carmel

Carmel established Manaaki Wellbeing in 2001. She is the Founder of Atua Healing®, ACC Rongoā Māori Practitioner, Matakite Intuitive Visionary, Holistic Facialist, and Aromatherapist.

Ko Ngā Phui, Te Uri O Hau, Ngati Whatua Kaipara

I was born in Tamaki Makaura, Auckland, New Zealand, in June 1962. I am a fourth-generation Matakite Rongoā Māori Healer.

I fondly remember my Koro Bill Gillibrand, who had an in-depth knowledge of Rongoā. I was in awe of whetū, the Māori star navigation compass. His whānau, the Subritzky’s of Houhora, Northland, werebeing seafarers and boat builders. He taught me so much about the Te Rongoā, Te Ngahere, the traditions of our iwi tribe, and his Te kapehu, who was well-known for and maintained our whānau with this knowledge.

My Grandmother, Ngamako Rapana, taught my mother, Maureen Cochrane, the Ngāphui Rongoā rākau, Honohono, so that she could help people and their pets. My Mother would always boil up Rongoā to put on my chilblains when I was a child. Along with many other Rongoā for all sorts of childhood illnesses.

My mentors in Rongoā outside my whānau were Kāhu Ō Rangi Ngā Phui, Dr Rangimere Rose Pere, and Paora Paul Andrews Ngā Phui.

Over the years, I have taught Rongoā Rakau, Mirimiri, Te Hau, Mahu Whenua, and Honohono. I have also run workshops on Waiheke Island, Auckland, the USA, and Europe. For over thirty-five years, I have been providing healing treatments to people from all over the world.

Carmel started her earlier career as a Beauty Therapist. Carmel has been an educator in Beauty, Bodywork, and Healing. Carmel also pursued many areas of study in natural therapies, reflexology, conscious connected breathing, ayurveda, vegetarian, and vegan lifestyles.

As a spiritual healer, Carmel developed Atua Healing®, which helps release deep-seated trauma at a cellular level without a person having to relive that trauma. In addition, she uses her innate abilities as an intuitive visionary or Matakite to give clarity and direction to clients on their life paths.

When Carmel isn’t in the clinic, she likes to cook up a storm in her kitchen and loves to hang out with her family and friends. Nature is her happy space.

Carmel is available for bookings on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.

Our Brands

Carmel has chosen two skincare brands to deliver results for all your skin concerns.

SCIENCE MEETS NATURE WITH THREE-STEP HYALURONIC LAYERING

Using the latest medical achievements, a revolutionary system has been developed in Australia – Intraceuticals™ Infusion, combining hyperbaric oxygen with a special serum rich in hyaluronic acid and regenerating ingredients. Mixed with oxygen, it naturally and instantly lifts the skin surface, smoothens fine lines and fills wrinkles.

The Intraceuticals method combines medical sciences (local hyperbaric oxygen) and the effects of research conducted by Australian universities, crowned by the development of specific serums.

Using the phenomenon of infusion, the Intraceuticals treatment introduces active substances into the skin using pure oxygen and hyperbaric pressure. The introduced products are rich in low-molecular-weight hyaluronic acid, vitamin complexes and powerful antioxidants.

One of the secrets behind the efficacy of the Intraceuticals method is the utilisation of two forms of hyaluronic acid: low-molecular-weight form, which penetrates deeper skin layers together with attached active ingredients, and high-molecular-weight form, which is supposed to bind moisture from the surroundings and maintain the humidity collected thanks to the low-molecular-weight acid in the skin. Hyaluronic acid ensures a youthful skin appearance: firmness, elasticity and smoothness by connecting collagen and elastin fibres and influencing the fibroblasts.

Active ingredients attached to the particles of hyaluronic acid are efficient forms of vitamins A, E and C, EGCG antioxidant from green Japanese tea, aloe, squalene, beta-glucan, provitamin B5, serum albumin, vegetal oils of jojoba, macadamia, sweet almonds and wheat sprouts, and dextran sulphate.

Very popular among world-class stars, it is applied by, among others, Madonna, Eva Longoria, Jennifer Lopez, Naomi Campbell, Kate Perry, Fergie and Justin Timberlake. The cast on the latest season on Netflix, The Ozarks have been experiencing the Intraceuticals Oxygen Facials, which Carmel calls a Liquid Facelift!

100% BIO CERTIFIED ORGANIC SKINCARE

In 2018, PHYT’S celebrated its 45th anniversary. Today, the brand is considered one of France's greatest achievements in 100% natural and organic cosmetics. The choice to go green goes back to the very origin of the brand when, in 1972, Jean-Paul Llopart, a naturopath and biologist, and Rosanne Verlé, a beautician, created Phyt’s (Phytal), born from a dream and vision of developing a skincare range made entirely with natural ingredients and without the use of any preservatives. It was an extremely innovative approach at the time.

From the onset, the brand wanted to focus on and support forward-thinking Beauty Institutes. The founders coined the notion of “Nature-Esthetique®” (holistic aesthetic), a concept now well-known and regarded in Europe.

Phyt’s creators were market innovators and early adopters of emerging technologies that moved their vision from dream to reality in product development and packaging. The need to innovate in packaging came from protecting the formulations from bacterial contaminants and the external environment. Phyt’s introduced single-use packaging in the form of disposable glass ampoules. In 1974, a patent was even filed for the conditioning in ampoules of pasty or semi-thick skin care products (masks). In the 1990s, Phyt’s Laboratories turned to multilayered Polyfoil for all its tubes, a perfectly waterproof material that protects all creams from external contaminants.