A season just for you
Founded by Cleo Shortland, the Wa Programme is a season-long one-to-one guided journey offering deep listening and guided self enquiry to surface what’s most important to you.
A season just for you
Founded by Cleo Shortland, the Wa Programme is a season-long one-to-one guided journey offering deep listening and guided self enquiry to surface what’s most important to you.
Wā
(noun) time, season, period of time, interval, term, duration
What is yearning to come through you and into the world?
Whether you're stepping into new territory, sitting with a long-held idea, changing aspects of your role, or simply aware that something is asking for your attention, everything starts with you. The Wa Programme is designed for exactly that. Working one-to-one over three months, a devoted space to express what feels most alive. To ask the questions you haven't had room for. To listen to what is yearning to come through you and into the world. Your season. Your journey. Stepping into what feels most alive.
How it works
Each session begins wherever you are. No preparation needed. You bring what's present, I bring close attention.
I ask questions to gently guide you into self enquiry, toward what is most important to you in the long term and in this moment. From there we look at what you want to ask of yourself or others, in a way that can actually be received.
Six sessions over three months gives the work room to breathe. What comes alive in one conversation often becomes the ground for the next.
Karakia, a Māori incantation, is offered to open and close our sessions if it calls to you.
"Your positivity wasn't just uplifting, it was empowering. You have a way of helping people see what's possible rather than focusing on limitations, and helping them recognise their own strengths and potential. That gave me greater confidence in my own abilities, and I always left interactions with you feeling energised, capable, and more willing to back myself and take the next step forward. The lasting impact for me was a stronger belief in what I could achieve and the confidence to go after it."
— Aime Carter, Sissys
What you receive
Six fortnightly one-to-one video calls with Cleo, each building on the last, and an unlimited communication line between sessions.
A three-month journey from 7 September to 7 December 2026
US$2,000/month · US$6,000 total
Kia ora, I’m Cleo Shortland.
Life is capturing the imaginative and the simplest moments of joy, and the complexity and pain that sits in-between. The Wā Programme holds the same season for you. Space to notice what's most alive in you, without rushing to look at what it's asking of you. Witnessing its meaning for a moment before it moves again.
My work will encourage you to step into what feels most energising and alive.
"My time working with Cleo was alchemical. I had never felt so deeply held and understood, a natural gift she holds. What stayed with me was a connection that transcended the surface and the ordinary. You could always tell that holding space energised her as much as it uplifted us both.
Through ritual, contemplation, deep enquiry and a focus on creating the future, Cleo sped up my personal evolution in a way only very few people can. Blending the rational and the creative, her structures and frameworks create a safe container for deeper magic to come through.
There is a true element of belief and magic in working with Cleo that goes far deeper than the mind, and you have to experience it to understand what can be created together. I made so much progress in those years, having Cleo hold my visions with unwavering faith. Cleo is the real deal.”
— Rhea James Fox, Writer
Frequently Asked Questions
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Each session begins with an open question: what's present for you right now?
From there I listen closely and ask questions that guide you toward what matters most. Not what you think should matter, but what genuinely does, once the surface has settled.
We close with something clear: a request you want to make of yourself, of someone else, or of the situation you're in.
Sessions are 60 minutes one-to-one with me via live video call.
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No. I'm not a therapist and this isn't treatment. This is a different kind of conversation.
Wā is a space for enquiry, for people who want clarity on their curiosity about what they want and where they're going.
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Yes, and perhaps especially so. The people I work with aren't usually in crisis. They're thoughtful, capable, and quietly aware that something, a direction, a question, a long-held idea, is asking for attention.
It is curiosity that drives this work.
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Te ao Māori, the Māori worldview, holds time, relationship, and the natural world as interconnected. Wā itself is a Māori word.
That orientation shapes how I hold space: unhurried, cyclical, attentive to what's ready to come forward. You don't need any prior knowledge of it to lean in.
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Because integration matters as much as the conversation.
Fortnightly gives you time to sit with what emerged, notice what shifts, and arrive at the next session with something real to bring.
To enhance the experience, the unlimited communication line is available between sessions.
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A short, free conversation, usually 20 to 30 minutes, where we meet and see whether this feels like the right fit. No obligation. If it's not right or now isn’t the right time, you are free to honour that.
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The curiosity call is where we find that out, before any commitment is made.
If something shifts after we begin, we can talk about it.
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Yes. US$2,000 per month over three months. You can also pay in full at US$6,000.
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7 September 2026.