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July 22, 2002

Ho'oponopono: Making Things Right
The Huna Way to Clear up Relationships and Let Go of Guilt
With a meditation you can do yourself
Dianna Seagiver Dumelle

Introduction
What is Huna?

Ho'oponopono
Sin and Guilt
Forgive Yourself. (Your Higher Self does.)
What the Kahunas Did
The Ritual of Ho'oponopono

Ho'oponopono Meditation
Resources

With mahalo nui to my teachers and my teachers' teachers, Aunty Pilahi, Morrnah Simeona, Papa Lyman, Ramsay Taum, Daddy Bray, Papa Bray, Uncle George Na'ope, Tad James, Laura Kealoha Yardley, and many others.

Introduction
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The ancient Kahunas (healer-priests) of Hawai'i discovered that guilt is the number one cause of illness in the mental, emotional bodies and physical bodies. They performed a ritual of healing to make things right: Ho'oponopono. But who really does the healing? Your own Higher Self!

There was virtually no mental or physical illness in Hawai'i until the Western influx into the islands. Today the powerful techniques such as Ho'oponopono, and the knowledge behind them, are just coming to light and being taught as Huna, or the Secrets.

Ho'oponopono is about moving forward with relationships. It is particularly useful for getting over heartbreak, and for letting go of guilt. Do you still pine for someone, even after years? Is it being hard to get over a loved one who broke your heart, or even an ancestor or someone who has passed on? Doing Ho'oponopono brings closure and lets you move on after the grieving period. Grief is natural and some say necessary. Self-recrimination or vengeance or depression isn't! And certainly anger and guilt only harms you and those around you.

(I learned Huna from Tad James, who lived and studied in Hawai'i with Kahuna David Bray and other kahunas for 20 years before he was iniki'd - graduated - and allowed to teach it. I have also read extensively and have incorporated my learnings into my teachings and, of course, my life. I ask forgiveness if any of my thoughts or words do not reflect the true teachings and practice of the kahunas.)

What is Huna?
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Huna is the body of knowledge encompassing the ancient Hawai'ian healing arts, tenets of spirituality, and code of right living. Huna is equivalent to the ancient teachings of many other indigenous peoples. Huna used to be called Ho'omana, or to make energy, to use the Life Force to heal and grow. It has been called a psycho-spiritual body of knowledge actively applied for healing mind, body, and heart, and making connection with your spirit. A kahuna is One Who Has Mastered the Secrets - of anything (like our PhDs.) We commonly think of the kahuna as a kind of priest or spiritual healer. She/he knew the mysteries of the three minds of a human being - the Unconscious Mind, the Conscious mind, and the Higher Conscious or Higher Self; knew how to utilize their different kinds of energy properly to be balanced, and healthy. And the kahunas knew it thousands of years before Freud! In fact, Maxwell Freedom Long's most noted book about Huna is called, The Secret Science Behind Miracles.

Ho'oponopono
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Understanding how the three minds worked probably initiated the ritual of ho'oponopono, the key to all healing. It was among their most powerful methods of healing.

Ho'oponopono actually means to make things really right - meaning with your relationships. It involves forgiveness, atonement, well-wishing, and letting go of anger and guilt, and of the past. Guilt, according to the kahunas, causes most illnesses, and could even cause things going awry in your life. The good news is that most of our guilt is unwarranted.

In Hawai'i, there are three kinds of errors and not all of them are sin, though we tend to think of them as such!

- First is Hala: to go off the path, to err, make a mistake, or to avoid the truth. Doing this may inadvertently harm someone, but it is not a sin. Boy, if we thought all our errors were sinful, we'd be in hell, right? But who likes to admit to their errors? So they get pushed down deep inside and/or denied, and can make us feel unaccountably guilty.

- The second type of error is Hewa: excess and greed. Hewa is really not sinning either, though it is considered worse than hala, and almost always harms both you and others somewhat. This includes things like being needy and taking more of a person's energy than s/he is willing to give.

- The third is the only real sin: ´Ino, intentionally hurting another, and acting out hate. (Note that sex is not considered any sort of sin! That right there is an eye-opener for us up-tight Americans.)

There is another kind of unwarranted guilt; of leaving a relationship, of not acting out of love, or of not being perfect. We judge ourselves harshly and this sends a message to our Unconscious that we are not worthy and are undeserving. We don't fully love ourselves then; and "a loss of love is frequently associated with health problems, illness and a decline in the quality of life."1

Sin and Guilt
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Forgiveness is called for in all cases. You need to forgive others, but it is imperative to your own health and wellbeing to forgive yourself. This is the secret of all healing. More may be necessary, but most often the forgiveness ritual, as I call Ho'oponopono, takes care of the problem.

´Ino is really the only type of sin that needs forgiving. But how often do you ´ino? Think about it. I'd venture to guess you haven't ´ino'd since you were a kid. Well, most of you. Or your answer is almost never. Yet, how much guilt are you carrying around? Long, the foremost Huna authority of the West, wrote,

"The kahunas knew what the psychoanalyst has overlooked to a painful extent. It is the fact that when a man has 'sinned,' and his Low [Unconscious] and Middle self [Conscious Mind] agrees that he has sinned, the low self may have a fixed idea that punishment must be given for sin. If this is the case, the low self may set about punishing the man through illness or accidents."2


Fixed ideas become complexes, and guilt creates some very insidious complexes because the low self has no reasoning abilities. If the Conscious Mind gets the idea that the person is sinning and plants it in the Unconscious and later changes his Conscious mind, the Unconscious may still believe it was sin. This creates a house divided against itself, and can result in illness.

Examine your beliefs and see if you can't stop guilt-tripping yourself. Use your conscience as a guide, not a jailer! If your conscience is pricked, it is a message from your Higher Self that you still have a ways to grow. Notice that you were acting in the best way you knew how, for a good reason, and just couldn't see the way for both to win. In the long run your action, if your intention was not to hurt someone, was probably the best for all involved. However, since changing deep-seated beliefs is not like snapping your fingers, there is hope: the forgiveness ritual.

Forgive Yourself. (Your Higher Self does.)
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It is part of the Western culture and most religions to ask forgiveness and make reparations. We see it in Catholicism (confession and penance,) in Alcoholics Anonymous (one of the 12 steps,) and in our family - every mother raising her children to apologize. The wiser court judges play a kahuna's part also in the setting of tasks for reparation. It not only pays back the victim; it is healing for the wrongdoer.

If you can't convince the Unconscious that you did not sin, you must and can appease it with atonement: asking forgiveness and giving a sacrifice. (Perhaps the misconception of human sacrifice in Hawai'i came from this practice.) When I say sacrifice I mean giving up something, or some time and energy, to make things right with someone you hurt. By the way, the Hawaiians are also taught from childhood to unconditionally forgive anyone who apologizes to them. Repressed emotions such as guilt and anger create toxins in your body. The kahunas said that you don't deal with them, you put old negative emotions in little black bags and stuff them down into your (metaphysical or etheric) body. They block the neural and energy pathways so the body cannot heal itself, and illness and depression can result.

Forgiving yourself can heal you. Forgiving someone else does not condone their actions or lessen your power; it frees you. Why? Because you are forgiving yourself: you are the other. On a spiritual level, we are all One.

Here's the good news. Spiritually speaking, the Unconscious Mind is that which communes with your Higher Self and the Creator and the Universe. Your Unconscious Mind (Lower Self, as Long calls it) cannot harm Spirit. Therefore you cannot sin against God. Your Unconscious mind is too small to be able to do that. "Nothing is a sin if it does not hurt someone."3

What the Kahunas Did
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If a person got sick, or didn't heal, or was accident-prone, s/he went to a kahuna who would try to get to the cause of the problem - not the physical cause but the mental/emotional cause. The kahuna would ask questions until she got to the root of the matter and found the decisions the person's Unconscious had made or beliefs they held that created a complex or fixation. And the kahuna almost always found that guilt was the cause! Guilt, and fear of/the need for punishment by the Lower Self.

First Noa, then Noho
1. The idea of cleansing, purifying, before praying or calling in the spirit exists in all religions and spiritual practices, and it is so in Huna. "First Noa then Noho." Ho'oponopono is a thorough cleansing. Noa means clearing out, letting go.



2. Once the Kahuna found the cause, she would set a task of atonement to be done for the person harmed or whom the patient believed was harmed. It must be a task that the patient felt was right and just and appropriate to the harm done - an item or money given, energy spent working for them or making them something, or if that was impossible, one could do work for some charity.

3. The patient must also ask for forgiveness, in person if possible and appropriate.

4. When that was done, the patient would return to the kahuna and the ritual healing of the Unconscious Mind would take place. Steps 2) through 4) might be performed with both or all parties as an intervention, like a family therapy session of today.

5. Finally, Noho, the reconnection to one's spirit or Higher Self could occur. Throughout the work, love (aloha) would be invited to spring forth; it is the force that both drives and completes the healing. Try Love

When all three of your Selves are working properly you are a balanced, integrated person. When that happens, provided you are paying attention to your body's needs, since health is the natural state, your health can be re-established.

The Ritual of Ho'oponopono
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Aka Cords and Mana Relationships can get sticky, if you know what I mean. That's because on the etheric plane you'd sense cords of energy going from each of you to the other. That is your energy reaching out and making contact. These aka (cords) are sticky, so they stay attached to the person you are relating to. Mana, energy, flows through the aka cords. The trouble is, they tend to stay there and keep you connected long after you've moved on. They maintain old perceptions - you keep seeing people as they were when you first related to them, so you don't see them as they are now. This inhibits the growth of the relationships, as the others - and you - naturally must have grown or changed. We don't know exactly how the kahunas would have dealt with these cords, but one method you could use is to cut them with a sharp object or scissors. The results are amazing: you feel done and clear with old relationships, and in the case of present relationships, rest assured, the cords will reconnect the next time you see or talk with them, and you will both be in present time!

Emotional inventory Before the meditation, acknowledge any guilt you know you are holding. You could make a list of everyone you have hurt inadvertently or intentionally. Make sure to include all the relatives you have spent time with. Start thinking about appropriate reparations for the ´ino types of actions. Promise you will carry these out in the next few days or weeks. Make deadlines and commit to them or the meditations may not work.

Acknowledge too any old anger you are holding. You could make a list of everyone you are still angry at. Forgiving others is forgiving yourself too.

Ho'oponopono Meditation4
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(You can tape this for yourself. Give yourself a few minutes between each direction.) Get ready to transform your relationships - heal them - with all those on your lists.
1. Get comfortable and relaxed. Take 5 minutes or more to get deeply relaxed

2. Know that there is an infinite source of love and healing energy in the universe, and it can be channeled down into you through the top of your head crown chakra. When you do this it reminds you of that state of complete love as you feel your heart open and accept it. Love is always there for us, if we let ourselves accept and feel it. Do this. Fill your head, your body, your heart with the pink or peachy-gold energy of love and feel it heal you. (If you can't feel it, perhaps you need to do something about your black bags that are clogging the works!) Sense the energy filling and overflowing out from your heart into your entire body. Let yourself drift and revel in it . . .

3. Now imagine a place in front of and below you that you will bring the persons to. (You may feel it, hear it, see it, know it, or sense it in another way - I will be asking you to see something; you just translate that into whatever sense works for you.)

4. Bring in the person or people you want to make things right with.

5. As the person if they will accept healing and forgiveness from you. (If they do not want healing, just skip the next part where you fill them up with healing.)

6. Fill your head with the healing pink or peachy-gold energy of love from the Universe and let it flow into your heart and overflow radiating out from your heart and into the person in front of you. Fill them up until they are overflowing with healing love energy.

7. When the person is filled with the healing energy, have a discussion with them, forgiving them for anything they've done intentionally or unintentionally that hurt you. Tell them you recognize that they are a magnificent being, and you support them connecting to their Higher Self.

8. Ask them if they'll forgive you for anything you've done intentionally or unintentionally that hurt them. Ask them if they recognize that your are a magnificent being, and if they support your connection to your Higher Self.

9. Cut the cord or cords that bound you so you can let go. See your energy returning to you. See their energy returning to them.

10. See them float away to return, whole and healthy, to their lives. Make sure the people disappear.

11. Repeat numbers 3 - 9 with every person on your lists.

12. When done, check to make sure you have no negative feelings left when you think about any of these people.

- If you still have negative feelings about someone, do ho'oponopono again after making reparations, or see a Kahuna or Huna Practitioner.

Purity of Thought
What can you do to stay clear after this? Do Ho'oponopono every night with people you came into contact with that day.

Practice Self-Love.
Maintain Pure Thoughts. My definition of this is simple. Purity in thought and deed is to mean no harm, and to create positive and life-giving thought-forms by your self-talk and visualizations. Now is the time to stop indulging ourselves in negative thinking. Since energy follows thought, what do YOU want to create?

Resources
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1. Huna (Ancient Miracle Healing Practices) and the Future of Medicine, Allen Lawrence and Lisa Lawrence, Hanover House, 1994

2. The Secret Science Behind Miracles, Maxwell Freedom Long, DeVorss Publications 1948

3. Ibid

4. This is primarily an adaptation of the technique of my teacher, Tad James of A.N.D., Inc. (see Resources)

Books and Other Resources
- Lost Secrets of Ancient Hawaiian Huna, Tad James, Advanced Neuro Dynamics, Inc., 1998

- The Secret Science Behind Miracles, Unveiling the Huna Tradition of the Ancient Polynesians, Maxwell Freedom Long, DeVorss Publications, 1948
Also by Long: The Secret Science at Work, Huna Cod in Religions, and Growing Into Light

- The Heart of Huna, Laura Kealoha Yardley, Published by Advanced Neuro Dynamics, Inc., 1991

About the Author Dianna Seagiver Dumelle is a Licensed Spiritual Counselor, Certified Master Hypnotherapist and NLP Practitioner, a trained Huna Practitioner, and Priestess. She offers private consultation, classes, rituals, and personalized audiocassette tapes. She is a compassionate psycho-spiritual healer, and offers her services to those having surgery or illness, anxieties, or who are just stuck with their wheels in a rut. She also loves working with people's strategies for success. Some of her powerful yet gentle methods include Time Line Therapy,® Higher-Self Therapy, and Huna. As she guides you toward health and happiness, the work is fast, easy, fun, and it lasts.

"It is my mission and desire to assist you to get clear - to let go of old complexes and negative emotions, re-evaluate your life and make healthy positive decisions - so you can be happy and achieve your life's purpose and all your goals. My personal goals are to Know, to Grow and Evolve."

Dianna has a private practice in Walnut Creek and Berkeley, and she volunteers at the Charlotte Maxwell Complementary Clinic for women with cancer in Oakland, CA as a Therapeutic Imagery Practitioner. You can call her for more information or to schedule an appointment at 925-932-2692.



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