Western economic ideology and practices are well-known to have had a detrimental influence on the relationship humans have with the natural world. Recent studies also argue that there is an urgent need to determine alternative economic models which address the continual adverse impact of human economic activity on the natural world. Tangata Whenua worldviews and the contribution these values have to addressing environmental issues have also become to some extent accepted as a feature of environmental management in Aotearoa. However, there are few studies that express a unique or even novel Tangata Whenua perspective of what an alternative economy could be when based on a Tangata Whenua view of the relationship humans have with the natural world. My study responds to this knowledge gap in the form of a Tangata Whenua autoethnography based on my lived experiences. In the first instance I provide my insights about te mana o te Ao Tūroa (the rights and power of the natural world) and the relationship of humans to this mana. It is from this foundation that I demonstrate how a paradigm shift in the dominant western eurocentric view of economics could be realised. I further contextualize this philosophy in what I have termed as koru economies. In these insights, I have uncovered the multiplicity of meaning concerning what an economic paradigm may look like when based on a Tangata Whenua view of our human relationships with the natural world and each other.