Renee Taylor is a speech-language therapist and freedive instructor who founded Salt Aotearoa — a freediving school and community inspiring connection to the moana/ocean through freediving and kaimoana/seafood.

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In this episode I talk with Renee Taylor, a speech-language therapist and freedive instructor who founded Salt Aotearoa here in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

Renee shares her personal journey to experiencing freediving as rongoā Māori and its role as a healing practice; with the ocean supporting a deep level of mind, body and spiritual well-being. If you’re stressed and burnt out, keep listening!

We chat about the kaupapa of Salt Aotearoa and creating a safe space for wāhine to transform their lives by learning to freedive, spearfish, and collect kaimoana.

Today we’ll find out just how easy it is to get into freediving, and how good it is for us. And you’ll hear Renee’s beautiful wee baby during this episode, who wanted a chat and was absolutely adorable!

More information

Join a freediving or spearfishing course with Salt Aotearoa and experience more life underwater:⁠

Website: Salt Aotearoa
Instagram: @saltaotearoa⁠

Episode Notes | Renee Taylor

01:00 Family and motherhood

2:06 Speech therapy and the toll of death in daily life

04:06 Unsafe cultural spaces and journey into freediving

05:50 Being wāhine in the freediving world

11:26 Joy of the beginner experience

14:09 Being underwater: scuba and freediving

14:43 Benefits of freediving

16:21 Supporting reconnection

20:20 Dangers of freediving

23:50 Collecting kai

25:12 Addiction of spearfishing

26:00 Shore diving

27:30 CPR

33:00 How to get involved

35:10 Freediving and pregnancy

Te Reo Māori
Aotearoa - New Zealand
Hauora - health
Kai - food
Kaimoana - seafood
Kaupapa - purpose
Kōrero - conversation
Moana - sea, ocean
Māoritanga - Māori way of life
Taiao - natural world
Wānanga - meeting to share learning and knowledge
Wāhine - women
Whānau - family

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