Untold Medicine Interview: Ramsay Taum

Ramsay Taum: Reconnecting with Hawaiian Traditions, Embracing Mana, and Transforming Life Through Ho'oponopono

Ramsay Taum was mentored and trained by respected kūpuna (elders), Ramsay is a practitioner and instructor of several Native Hawaiian practices: Hoʻoponopono (stress release and mediation), Lomi Haha (body alignment), and Kaihewalu Lua (Hawaiian combat/battle art).

He is also a recognized cultural resource, sought-after keynote speaker, lecturer, trainer, and facilitator. He is especially effective working with Hawai‘i’s travel, leisure, and retail industry where he integrates Native Hawaiian cultural values and principles into contemporary business.

He is the founder and president of the Hawai'i-based Life Enhancement Institute (LEI) of the Pacific LLC, Director of the Pacific Islands Leadership Institute (PILI) at Hawaii Pacific University, and Cultural Sustainability Planner at PBR HAWAII & Associates.

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Key Moments

• 0:05: Journey Into Healing and Hawaiian Culture

• 13:41: Understanding Mana and Balance

• 23:20: Restoring Alignment Through Ho'oponopono

• 37:01: Empowering Through Ho'oponopono Practice

• 47:42: Healing Through Ho'oponopono Practice

• 1:03:32: Hawaiian Language Power

• 1:13:50: Guarding Words for Manifested Healing

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In the latest episode of our podcast, we embark on a fascinating journey into Hawaiian traditions and spirituality with Ramsay Taum, a renowned cultural resource and practitioner of Ho'oponopono. This episode is a treasure trove of wisdom, exploring the profound concepts of mana and the transformative practice of Ho'oponopono. We delve into the historical challenges faced by Hawaiian culture, the inspiring revival efforts, and the spiritual depth of the Hawaiian language. Join us as we reconnect with ancient traditions and discover how they can transform our lives.

Ramsay Taum begins by sharing his upbringing in Hawaii, where he was deeply influenced by his grandmothers and other elders. Despite the pressures of American assimilation, he was drawn back to his roots, learning the rich traditions of his heritage through service and sharing with the elders. This personal journey highlights the historical challenges Hawaiian culture faced, including the suppression of the Hawaiian language and traditional practices.

One of the key concepts discussed in this episode is mana, a life force or energy present in all things, akin to chi or prana. Ramsay explains how mana drives life and health through the balance of polarities: ma (feminine, negative) and na (masculine, positive). These energies are always in exchange, seeking equilibrium rather than equality. Proper access and distribution of mana contribute to overall well-being, much like maintaining a balanced parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system. This understanding of mana emphasizes the importance of internal awareness and balance for health, likening the process to monetizing our inner resources rather than relying on external validation.

The episode also delves into the transformative practice of Ho'oponopono, a traditional Hawaiian method for restoring harmony and proper alignment in our lives. Ramsay shares that Ho'oponopono is not about fixing problems mechanically but about healing from within, aligning our spiritual, mental, and emotional selves. The practice emphasizes forgiveness as a means to realign broken relationships and create preferred conditions, ultimately fostering an environment where issues no longer persist. This ancient practice goes beyond problem-solving, fostering healing from within through forgiveness and spiritual realignment, making it a powerful tool for personal growth and balance.

In addition to exploring Ho'oponopono, Ramsay sheds light on the spiritual depth of the Hawaiian language, particularly focusing on the word "na’auao”. He explains how words embody elements of fire, god, heat, light, and foundation, underlining the importance of mindful communication. The significance of the gut as a source of intuition and inner knowledge is also discussed, linking it to modern understandings of the gut-brain connection. This conversation highlights the fractal nature of Hawaiian thought, illustrating how our thoughts, emotions, and words manifest our realities.

Throughout the episode, Ramsay emphasizes the interconnectedness of all experiences and the importance of gratitude. He shares that viewing challenges and interactions as lessons allows us to remain humble students, learning from the issues presented by others. This perspective fosters a state of awareness and mindful living, enabling individuals to address imbalances as they arise. The practice of Ho'oponopono is presented as a means to empower individuals to take responsibility for their feelings and behaviors, rather than being victims of external circumstances.

Ramsay also discusses the challenges people face in identifying and overcoming personal triggers and issues. Awareness of these triggers is only the first step; addressing the underlying programming or base memories that cause recurring issues is crucial. The Ho'oponopono process is introduced as a powerful method for taking back personal power and responsibility, emphasizing the importance of prayer and meditation in establishing a relationship with the divine. This process helps individuals release past traumas and live from a perspective of shared truth.

The episode concludes with a reflection on the power of words and their ability to manifest realities. Ramsay shares wisdom from a mentor, highlighting the significance of guarding our inner and outer expressions to maintain harmony. The healing practice of Ho'oponopono offers a way to restore relationships when missteps occur, though it's best to strive for balance and righteousness from the outset. This conversation is an invitation to reflect deeper on personal practices and their impacts.

Join us for this enlightening episode with Ramsay Taum, where we explore the profound wisdom of Hawaiian traditions and discover how reconnecting with our roots can transform our lives. Learn about the power of mana, the healing practice of Ho'oponopono, and the importance of mindful communication. This episode is a must-listen for anyone seeking balance, spiritual growth, and a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness of all things.

• Read the full transcription

  elcome, everyone.

  Today, today we have Ramsay Taum with us. So welcome.

  I'm so excited you're here. Aloha.

  Thank you for having me.

  And I'm going to read a little bit

  about your background to introduce you, and we'll

  go deeper into that in a little bit.

  So, Ramsay Taum is a recognized

  cultural resource and sought after keynote

  speaker, lecturer, trainer and facilitator.

  He's been trained by respected hawaiian elders

  and is a practitioner and instructor of

  several hawaiian practices, including Hoʻoponopono

  In addition to others, he is also the

  founder and president of the Hawaii based Life

  Enhancement Institute of the Pacific LLC, the director

  of the Pacific Islands Leadership Institute at Hawaii

  Pacific University, and cultural sustainability planner at PBR

  Hawaii and Associates.

  Ramsey effectively integrates place based, cultural

  based, indigenous, and native hawaiian cultural

  values and principles into contemporary business.

  So thank you so much.

  That was a very impressive background, too.

  Oh, well, thank you.

  I appreciate it.

  I'm tired of just listening to it.

  So, to get started, can you kind of tell our

  audience a bit about your background and how you came

  into this and into teaching these practices and how it

  found you kind of on your journey, too?

  Yeah, I think that last statement is probably

  truer than anything else it found me.

  And actually, anytime I tried to step

  away from it, thinking I was going

  to follow another path, things happened.

  So I ended up getting pulled back into it.

  So rather than fight it, you know,

  I just continued on the flow.

  I was born and raised in Hawaii, and my

  ancestors come from both Hawaii, the islands, as well

  as from the east, the chinese ancestry.

  But I'd like to say I'm 100% part hawaiian.

  My cultural upbringing fundamentally has been in what

  we see, Kānaka Maoli the hawaiian culture.

  I say that because Hawaiian is actually a

  nationality and not so much an ethnicity, the

  rooted culture we refer to as Kānaka Maoli,

  the native people of these lands.

  So with that upbringing and really been immersed

  in various components of the culture, although I

  was raised in the american culture, because, of

  course, the United States and the state of

  Hawaii represent that frame and that concept.

  But deep underneath all that is

  the Kānaka Maoli Hawaiian culture.

  And I was fortunate that I

  had grandmothers that lived that way.

  They lived the culture and their being.

  And then I also attended Kamehameha schools, a

  school that was created for native hawaiian children

  by the Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, so that

  we would have a good education.

  And it was during these times, in this upbringing

  that we began to see that while we're trying,

  the community was trying to get us to assimilate.

  There were parts of our culture that

  were staying alive, being practiced and maintained

  by particular families, particular elders, kūpunas, we

  require, as I would say.

  And so I was fortunate at some point in

  time to be engaged with it, and they saw

  that I had an empty coconut that needed to

  be filled, and they proceeded to do that more.

  So because I was probably the last man standing.

  Everyone else went out to play, and I was

  still in the room with them, and I was

  close enough for them to grab, and they grabbed

  me, which I'm so grateful that they did.

  But it was really a reciprocity agreement, unspoken by

  being there in service to them, which is part

  of our practice, caring for our elders, I had

  the good fortune of learning from them, not so

  much that they were specifically teaching, but sharing.

  And I think that kind of leads into your other

  question about how I got into the teaching component.

  I really don't consider it

  teaching, but really sharing.

  And as a result, hopefully people learn things.

  And so it was that tradition, and eventually it

  led to the work that I'm doing today.

  Interesting.

  So it kind of started with the elders.

  You were around with your grandparents, and then

  you met different elders kind of on your

  journey, but it wasn't official trainings.

  It's more like you aligned with

  them and then learned from that.

  Yeah, there was always an interest there.

  But you see, I grew up at a time when Hawaii

  was just becoming a state, 1959, 1960, that period.

  So there was a concerted effort, really, to

  move away from or not highlight hawaiian culture.

  Actually, my grandmothers come from a time where they didn't

  want their children, my parents, or that generation to speak

  the language or to even consider that it was about

  becoming part of the american fabric of things.

  So even the language, I couldn't listen to

  the language unless I was hiding outside.

  I could hear my grandmother's to her friends,

  but the minute I walked into the room,

  they would quickly revert to English.

  And so it was a difficult time for

  the culture because there was a time when

  it was illegal to speak the language.

  It wasn't until 1978 that we began to see

  the revival of some of these cultural practices.

  The practice of Lomi Haha , which is part

  of the hawaiian battle art system, lua system.

  Even that was hidden for a while.

  The hula, most people knew about the hula

  that had been revived early, but more so

  because of the visitor and tourism industry.

  It was more for entertainment than it was

  for cultural transfer of knowledge and communing with

  nature, which is really an underlying principle behind

  that practice, the battle system of Lua, which

  I'm also a practitioner of.

  Similarly, we thought many of us

  didn't even know it existed.

  We thought it had been lost to time and antiquity.

  But fortunately, there are some parents, families,

  I should say, that maintained it.

  And then Hoʻoponopono, this practice of making

  right and putting things into proper order,

  similarly, was being taught by certain individuals

  and families, really more as an internal

  family mediation process, which brings about healing

  at many levels, physical, mental, spiritual.

  But all of our practices were considered, you know, taboo

  or kapu, things that you just didn't talk about.

  So it wasn't until I began meeting and being

  around these kūpuna these elders, that began to see

  that it was still very much alive.

  That we aren't a dead culture,

  something you see in the museum.

  We are a living culture, which was very important to

  us and to myself, to help not only restore it,

  revive it, but to make sure we perpetuate it.

  So this entered into many places in the world of

  business, in the world of legislation and policy making, to

  make it really part of our daily life.

  So culture isn't something you do on weekends.

  Honey, I'm going to do my culture

  thing, and I'll be back tomorrow. Right.

  If culture is what it is, it's part of our life.

  It's living, then it should be

  integrated in our daily practices.

  And to a certain extent, Hoʻoponopono is that it's a

  way of being the process and practice of lua.

  It's also a way of being as

  much as it's a combat battle system.

  The principles, the values, the intentions are things

  that you live on a day to day

  basis, and with that comes health, prosperity, happiness,

  and all these other things.

  But by being around them, I was

  able to see it and experience it.

  And as I said, they saw something within me that they

  felt confident enough to share it with me so that I

  could then turn around and share it with others later.

  And so I'm sitting here really appreciating the fact there

  are numerous elders, I would say between ten and 15,

  that at some point in time came into my life

  or I into theirs, and they began to share.

  If I stop at ten, mind you, there were a few more.

  I would suggest all of them were in their

  eighties or older, which means the accumulation of all

  that information was about 800 years of experience.

  So I had the fortune of being around that

  and around individuals who had really succeeded as far

  as the external parts of their lives.

  So they were really in what the

  Maslow talked about, that self actualization stage.

  And so to be around them at a time

  when they're willing to share was quite important.

  So I call it fortune as

  much as it was just opportunity.

  So I can say I didn't anticipate or vision being

  where I'm at today here, talking to you about these

  things, but it was just a matter of course.

  And being in the right place at the right time.

  Yeah.

  Or your energy attracting their energy and them kind of

  choosing you and you choosing them definitely for this experience

  and sharing this knowledge to a larger group, which I

  think is pretty amazing that you can do now also,

  and getting that knowledge and that sacred information out to

  people in a way that we can understand it and

  cherish it in that way, too, is pretty amazing.

  Well, like I said, I am grateful, because in hindsight,

  when I look back, I'm seeing now where early on

  there are downloads, there are things that are happening, um,

  little things are positioning and putting me on a trajectory

  to do these kinds of things.

  It wasn't a conscious, but it was a flow. Right.

  Staying in that flow so I can go back

  and look and say, wow, you know, this is

  not what I intended, but I guess it is.

  Yeah, you end up where you end up.

  Exactly.

  So it's been quite a journey.

  It's not over yet.

  And continue to invite other companions

  along the way when we can. Right.

  And can you tell us a little bit more?

  So I was listening to you explain different theories about hawaiian

  culture, and there's a lot of depth, and I know a

  lot of discussion between these, but I wanted to hear a

  little bit about how you described the term mana in the

  like and what that means in hawaiian and hawaiian culture, and

  kind of set the stage for that so people can understand

  the essence kind of behind it. Sure.

  You know, I'll start broad and come in.

  I mean, in biblical stories, they talk about the

  tribe of people walking across the desert, right.

  Being fed by Manna, the gift

  of goddess, life energy, this food.

  Well, the concept of mana is not so different.

  Mana is this notion of life

  force, life energy that's in all things.

  It's in us.

  The Chinese might refer to it as qi, the

  Japanese might refer to it as ki, others, prana.

  Basically, that life force energy

  that is in all things.

  And so mana is a big part of the

  understanding of health, but also of life at large.

  When we talk about electricity, the power that

  runs through and runs all things in terms

  of machines. Mana is kind of like that.

  It's in all things and it runs all things.

  So it's can be considered, I like to say, the

  notion that one is in and one is out.

  It's a balance.

  Ma is the feminine nature or the negative polarity,

  while Na is the masculine or positive polarity, and

  the interchange of these two energies, soft and hard

  in an out, light and dark.

  Those principles of yin yang, they're

  constantly in movement, they're in play.

  There's never more than one or the

  other, but they're always in exchange.

  So you're looking for equilibrium, not equality.

  So sometimes you're more ma, sometimes you're more na, you

  know, and if you're living health with health in mind

  and proper balance, that is always going back and forth,

  and that revealed in your health and your thoughts and

  your behaviors and practices like that, and it's.

  It can be inherited, but there's

  also something that's within you.

  I mean, it's already there, but then it can

  be generated, and maybe that's a wrong term.

  It can be accessed in the same way that I'm not sure.

  Have you ever seen an image of a fish spouting water?

  So the fish isn't creating the water, right?

  The fish is accessing water around it through

  its gills and spitting the water out.

  Mana is similar.

  We're in Mana, we're swimming.

  It's all around us.

  It's in us, but it's also all around us.

  And so it's a misnomer to think that we're

  generating mana any more than we're generating air.

  We're in the air oxygen.

  You can either accept it or not.

  So you access the air, the

  oxygen, and similarly access the mana.

  Now, depending on how well you are accessing

  it, you have more or less of it.

  And when you're in disease and disorder, illness,

  you could say that you are low in mana.

  By eating the right foods, doing the right movements

  and exercises, you begin to improve the system's ability

  to access as well as distribute that mana.

  So it is something that's accessible to all.

  And we tend to make it very mystical.

  But in reality, it's just part of who we are.

  It's what helps our hair grow and

  our eyes blink and our hearts move.

  It's all part of that.

  So it's not separate from us.

  Like many people want to make it, we

  have to bring it and go get it.

  But it's really a part of us.

  And once we understand that, then we can learn to

  access it and recognize it and utilize it better.

  And so it's. It's almost.

  It's keeping the balance somehow, too.

  So it's not having, like, an excess of something or

  like, not enough of something, but it's keeping that

  balance and keeping that flow at a certain rate, too.

  Because if you have...

  Is there an issue if you have too

  much or too little? or is it...

  Is there a, like, a negative and a

  positive when it comes to that energy?

  Or is it. Yeah. Yeah.

  Again, if we look at it from that

  standpoint as polarities, ma, and one soft, one

  hard, one negative polarity, one in positive polarity.

  And that's neither good or bad. That's the way we place weight on those terms.

  Right, right.

  But one is receiving and one is giving.

  So much like the parasympathetic- sympathetic system, when

  that's out of balance, if you're not sleeping

  enough, you're always up, something's going to occur,

  your adrenals are going to burn out, you

  know, so those are probably good ways of

  looking at them in the contemporary space, is

  that your parasympathetic sympathetic system is.

  Needs to be in balance so that you can amp and run when

  you need to or you can sit and relax when you need to.

  And the more you have the ability to control that

  and manage that consciously, then you're probably in a much

  better position to manage and maintain your health.

  Many of us, however, aren't aware of that.

  So we fall victim not to anything else external,

  but to an internal inability to manage and know

  our place, which is our home, where we live.

  Right, right.

  And it's odd because we should be living here, and

  yet when there's a disorder or disease, we leave

  here to go somewhere outside, to someone who lives outside

  to tell us what's going on inside.

  Right. Yeah.

  Which is kind of awkward. Right.

  So I'm going to my neighbor's house to

  find out how to clean my own.

  It just doesn't.

  There's a disconnect.

  So mana is like that.

  So I like to say in this world

  today, it's how to manatize versus just monetize.

  I like that. I like that.

  I mean, I think like that.

  The definition I always use for health is balance.

  Right? It's not.

  It's always keeping everything

  in alignment and balance.

  The same thing kind of, with finding

  peace rather than happiness or avoiding sadness.

  It's staying in the middle or staying in the

  middle of the circle, keeping the balance with everything.

  Yeah.

  And I think you can extend that to the notion

  of harmony, which isn't necessarily balanced from, I think, the

  traditional sense of there's five on one side of the

  equation and five on the other, right?

  That's the way I think most people look at balance, at

  least in the western principle, because balance is, you have five

  and I have five, you have ten, and I.

  That's equality.

  But we know body is changing constantly, right?

  There's a temperature fluctuation, and then something happens to

  either bring it back down or meet it.

  That's what we talk about, equilibrium.

  Much like the ocean, in order for the environment to be

  in balance, the tide comes in, the tide goes out.

  It doesn't just stay in and it doesn't just stay out.

  So there's always a movement.

  And being in sync, and synchronizing with that

  movement is harmony, and that's where balance is.

  And if I'm there at the wrong time,

  I could be crushed by a wave.

  Well, it's not the wave's fault, right?

  It's just I did not plan

  or prepare myself for that energy.

  Now, if I bring a surfboard, then I

  might ride that wave rather than get crushed.

  There's peace and harmony, right?

  So at that point in time, it's being

  responsive and recognizing conditions and adjusting and adapting

  to those conditions with mindfulness and awareness.

  And many of us just have either lost or forgotten the

  practices and the ability to be aware and to be mindful.

  So I think more and more of us are waking up

  to that, and I try to come back to that.

  Beingness, being present, being in

  yourself, being in it.

  I like to tell my students it's all an inside job.

  Right.

  And it really is, too. Yeah.

  So kind of with that, can we transition and can you

  kind of tell us so a little bit more about the

  practice of Hoʻoponopono and what the real meaning is?

  I think, especially today, that name and the practice is

  around quite a bit, but I still think there's a

  lot of confusion or somehow the depth gets, you know,

  that lost kind of in the mix here.

  So I think this is a perfect question

  to kind of ease into with that.

  Well, thank you. Yeah.

  So the term or the word is Hoʻoponopono

  So repeat that with me.

  Hoʻoponopono

  Hoʻoponopono Right.

  And it's...

  Pono is the word for proper,

  correct, appropriate integrity, if you would.

  It's a larger condition.

  The word pono pono refers to the ability

  to see or to measure when things are

  in proper order, balance and in harmony.

  So the example would be opening your kitchen drawer.

  I think most people, at least in this

  part of the world, are familiar that open

  the kitchen door, and there's a tray.

  And that tray is where your forks

  are, your spoons and your knives.

  So that helps you to see that

  everything is where it's supposed to be.

  In health, we look for vital

  signs, heart rate, blood pressure.

  When they're in the right place at

  the right time, I can measure it.

  We can say, ah, things are pono pono.

  So when things are pono pono, then

  everything else above that is pono.

  So my forks and spoons and

  knives are in the right place.

  Pono pono.

  That means my kitchen drawer is pono. Right. Okay.

  So the word ho'opono means to behave correctly.

  So after I wash my dishes and have my meal, I

  clean, I wash, and I return the utensils to the drawer.

  The spoons and the spoons and the

  forks and the forks and the knives. And the knives.

  That's Hoʻoponopono

  So when you behave Hoʻoponopono properly, you will

  see the results of your work pono pono

  And now you know that you are pono.

  See the order.

  So ho'opono behavior is measured by a pono

  pono method and assessed and described as pono.

  Pono is the condition that we're all trying to achieve,

  to be in proper alignment with the world around us.

  The spirit, physical, mental, and

  emotional, and our relationships.

  That would be pona.

  Now, when you find that your forks and spoons are

  not in the right place and everything else that's lost,

  you know, your keys and your license, and.

  And you find them scattered about your drawer,

  that is what we call pono ʻole, the

  absence of order, or a 'ole pono improper behavior.

  So when someone is behaving improperly, a 'ole pono or the condition

  is pono ʻole out of balance, and misaligned.

  There is a method now to restore that alignment,

  and that method is called Hoʻoponopono.

  Ho'o is the concept of combining,

  putting things together, bringing them.

  It's an action word.

  So anytime you say ho'o before something, you're putting it

  into action as Hoʻoponopono is doing the right thing.

  Hoʻoponopono means to put it into proper order.

  So ho'oponopono, then, is really the term for alignment,

  the act of putting things into alignment again into

  their proper place and to restore order.

  It is not, however, the idea of fixing.

  It's about healing.

  And it's important because we live in a world

  that really comes out of an industrial age, where

  we relied heavily on mechanics and technology and technicians

  to fix things that are broken.

  But the human condition isn't a broken.

  We're not a thing that breaks.

  We're in disease and disorder.

  So a technician, a mechanic, isn't what we need.

  We need a healer, a physician, something

  that helps us inside out versus outside in

  which which most mechanics do.

  They're outside the thing and they work on it, whereas

  a proper healer works with you from the inside out.

  Whether we're changing your chemical makeup or your mental

  thoughts and emotional focus, it's always an inside job,

  facilitated by someone trained to do that.

  So the whole Hoʻoponopono practice is about that.

  How do you restore alignment first to

  one's own internal family, your spiritual, mental

  and emotional family within you?

  Which is what our process recognizes.

  And it's a process.

  It's not something you do to people,

  it's not something you do at.

  So I'm not going to come in, pull out

  my gun and fire my Hoʻoponopono bullets at you.

  But it's something, a practice that each person does with

  guidance from someone else until they can do it on

  their own to realign those things within us.

  And once we have an alignment there, then

  we can start aligning with things elsewhere.

  So the process of really is about aligning to the one.

  The one what?

  The one condition, the preferred condition.

  Proper health, proper order,

  proper relationships, etcetera.

  Now, Hoʻoponopono upon is also

  known as a forgiveness process.

  Well, forgiveness just happens to be a

  process of realigning broken relationships, right?

  Or a misunderstanding.

  So, once again, at the end of the day,

  ho'oponopono is about realigning, putting things into proper order.

  Now, when I said it's not fixing what I

  mean by it's not just fixing a problem, it's

  actually creating a condition where the problem no longer

  exists, the conditions that the problem required to be

  a problem, such as misunderstanding.

  Otherwise, all we're doing is

  making a bad thing better.

  And I don't think we want a better bad thing.

  So we don't want to throw good after bad.

  Hoʻoponopono is about

  really creating a preferred condition.

  What does that look like?

  So rather than going to a conference on conflict resolution

  and trying to resolve the conflict by bringing it into

  the room and then pushing it out, it's like bringing

  an elephant in and trying to spend the rest of

  the day pushing it out of the room, how do

  we create a room where the elephant doesn't live anymore?

  So, rather than focusing on the problem, focusing on the

  preferred condition, and as a result, the whole Hoʻoponopono

  process really begins to remove the criteria or adopt a

  criteria that allows you to be in the preferred place

  rather than living better in a bad place.

  Does that make sense? Right.

  It's fixing within and going within for

  everything and saying, where is this out

  of alignment, what belief, what energy pattern?

  And removing that within.

  So then it's not a constant,

  even if it's not that elephant. And it could be another

  elephant that's coming in, right?

  That's right, yeah.

  So there's a tendency to look at the

  problem as an external thing, but the reality

  is whatever we're feeling is an internal thing.

  And so if I'm having emotional issue, to place

  blame on something outside of us, misses the point.

  So when we say, you make me feel this way, at

  the end of the day, I feel this way, but I

  place any responsibility of how I feel on someone else, it's

  taking responsibility, but this is the way I feel.

  And I feel this way because I heard what you said, or

  I saw what you did in a way that it bothers me.

  Right.

  So when I take responsibility for the fact that I'm

  making that decision about how you behave and how it

  affects me, then it really doesn't matter how you behave,

  it really matters on how I translate that.

  And where does that come from?

  Why do I translate it that way?

  It's because of memory, experience, expectations.

  And so the Hoʻoponopono process is

  really about reframing and removing those memories that

  serve as barriers and obstacles to our moving

  forward to our physical, mental, spiritual health, as

  well as to our relationships.

  And so it is a spiritual process and not one

  that I can consciously go in and say, okay, I'm

  no longer going to do this simply by saying that,

  which is what has happened in many ways, because that

  exercise, I think they call it NLP, right?

  There is that notion that if I speak

  it and I resonate with it, mantras, affirmations.

  While much of the time that does work, perhaps temporarily,

  if you don't remove, remove the fundamental memory or the

  thing that's inside you, then you and I may be

  able to come to an agreement and forgive one another.

  But the issue is still within me, which means the next

  person, and the person after that that triggers me will get

  the same amount of anger pain that I did with you,

  but I just happened to make it right with you, but

  I'm going to keep carrying that with me.

  And so this is where some people are

  having difficulty applying what has become a practice

  of saying certain things like thank you.

  I love you. I forgive you.

  Or forgive me.

  Those are important statements, no question, but they aren't

  necessarily cleansing or removing the internal thought, emotion, or

  reason for the fear that I'm feeling that's triggered

  by you every time I see you or anyone

  that reminds me of you. See?

  So maybe an easier way for it is for your listeners to

  repeat these words, and maybe you can do it with me.

  Just for fun, just for tickles, right?

  What is it about me?

  Oh, you want me to.

  What is it about me that allows me.

  That allows me to see in you?

  To see in you?

  What bugs me?

  What bugs me about you.

  About you. Right.

  So if each of us were saying that,

  what is it about me that's allowing me

  to see in you this person, this condition?

  What causes me to be bothered by that?

  What is it about me?

  What did I bring to this situation that every time

  I smell, hear, taste, touch, feel and experience this, that

  you, them, that I run, I hide, I freeze?

  There's something about me that is triggered by these things

  that causes me to behave a certain way, as in,

  move across the planet, quit my job, leave my home,

  whatever that might be, or prevents me from really achieving

  the goals that I had in my life because of

  some fear or some anxiety.

  Because it's not those things.

  I had a student come to me and said, kumu,

  I have a problem with her, I have a problem

  with him, I have a problem with them.

  And they proceed to ask me what I thought,

  and my response was, you have a problem.

  The common denominator in all of those things

  for that person was, I have a problem.

  In our contemporary space, we would

  often say, you bug me. When the Hoʻoponopono process says

  What is it about me that allows you to bug me?

  Because that places a greater ability within you to

  take responsibility for that, as well as to release

  that, once you understand what the process is.

  So to really oversimplify it, it's really a cleansing process,

  but removes those triggers or splinters, if you would, that

  are in us that get triggered by someone's words, behaviors,

  just how they look, because it goes back to an

  earlier memory that may be embedded in our subconscious and

  perhaps maybe came in with us.

  If you subscribe to the concept of life and rebirth,

  birth and rebirth, then there's a potential that many of

  the things that we came into this existence with had

  already been planted there to enable us to interact with

  the world that we chose to come into.

  If that's the case, then there are some things that are

  there to help us avoid pain and others to overcome it.

  Some of us, however, are programmed more

  to avoid pain than overcome it.

  And that tends to be a much more fear

  based experience than one of a proactive based experience.

  And much of that comes from those memories.

  And, of course, by how we were nurtured around

  people who were either fear based or faith based.

  So...

  Sorry, long answer to a short question. Right.

  I mean, I think that's incredibly powerful.

  And I think that a lot of my own

  patients and people who are listening, too, a lot

  of them, they recognize their triggers, or they're saying,

  I know that something's wrong with me.

  This is triggering me, or this happened,

  and I need to remove it.

  But a lot of people, I think, are

  like, okay, how do I remove it now?

  How do I push that button?

  How do I take that out, even if I

  am aware that it's my trigger and my issue?

  So I think that this practice could be incredibly powerful

  to learn because that's so much of a core issue

  that I run into in my own clinical practice of

  just having patients recognize wanted to get out of it,

  but then they really don't know the next steps of

  how to remove that.

  Yeah, I mean, I would liken it to the idea I'm

  sitting in front of my computer and all of a sudden

  I see funny things going on in my computer.

  Now, I can consciously say, I don't want that anymore,

  but I don't have the skillset to make it change

  because I don't know how to get into the programming.

  I'm not a programmer, so my conscious

  mind may say, I've got a problem.

  I've got to address this problem.

  Every day I turn on my computer

  and said, I've got a problem.

  I got to address this problem.

  I'm not going to do this anymore.

  But if it's built into the

  programming, I need a programmer.

  I need someone that can get into

  the underlying program to change the memory.

  What some of us don't realize is that we

  keep making adjustments, accommodations for the little errors.

  So one day it's an adjustment to the right,

  three days later, it's two adjustments to the right.

  The next thing you know, we're walking

  around in a circle, adjusting to the

  pain that we're feeling on the left.

  And the next thing you know, our life is about going

  in circles because we're avoiding the pain on the left.

  I don't want to do that anymore.

  I want to keep doing it.

  But we haven't changed the initial programming,

  that underlying base memory that is triggered

  every time I look left.

  So I fool myself into thinking that I've now

  overcome it by looking to the right only.

  And so when I look to the

  right, oh, the problem's not there anymore.

  But eventually we run into it again because all

  we did was walk around in a circle.

  You see that?

  And I keep telling myself I've taken measures

  to avoid it, therefore it doesn't exist anymore.

  Well, the stimulus may no longer be in

  your space, but the thing that's being stimulated

  is it's still in you, right? Right.

  So this concept really begins to say, if you're

  allowing external realities or externalities to define your reality,

  your pain, your discomfort, then really you're a victim

  of externalities and you're a victim of your own

  expectations of what those realities can do to you

  or those expectations externally can do to you.

  So that gives someone else, something else power.

  So this is the power dynamic, right?

  If I have to wait for you to say I'm sorry in

  order for me to feel better, I'm a victim of that, right?

  If I have to wait for the world to

  get better before I start behaving better, then I'm

  a victim of my own behavior, right?

  Because I'm expecting something else outside of you.

  So the Hoʻoponopono process really is

  a very powerful process because it enables us

  to come back into our power.

  And I'm not saying physical power to hurt

  people, but really to take responsibility for how

  I'm feeling, how I'm behaving and teaching others

  how to treat me, which is very different.

  So I am no longer a victim of your

  inability to say I'm sorry or your inability to

  see my truth while I'm living in it.

  And that's the other part, your truth, my truth.

  But what's our truth?

  The Hoʻoponopono process begins to look

  at that and say there are multiple truths.

  The real question is, what's the truth

  that we want to land on?

  What do we agree to?

  And can we live from that perspective?

  And my truth is, I come

  from a very wounded, traumatic experience.

  Well, if that's the case, then how can I move

  into something else until I release that, hypothetically, right?

  I mean, each of us needs to explore that.

  So if someone can get to that point, the

  whole point of process helps them to go into

  that depth, because what it's relying on is the

  programmer, your relationship with the programmer, in this case

  the spiritual relationship with the divine, the grand creator,

  the grand programmer, God, if you would.

  So if you subscribe to that notion at all then

  here is a way of actually becoming much more in

  tune and connected with the architect and the programmer, which

  is why it is a spiritual principle.

  It requires a different level of intervention.

  And I think definitely my audience too, is very

  interested in that component of it and really trying

  to figure out for themselves how to remove these

  blockages and really whatever works along the way.

  So can you.

  And I know this is extremely hard to do in a short

  period of time, but explain a little bit about the process.

  I think that they're gonna have to look into

  this at a much deeper level, of course.

  So this is always the tough part.

  Yeah.

  It doesn't involve prayer,

  it doesn't involve meditation.

  And one being the sending of the message.

  That's the prayer and meditation,

  receiving the message, the response. Right.

  So many people sometimes get that mixed

  up, but it does involve that.

  But what you're praying for and what you're

  listening for is also important as well.

  And so the Hoʻoponopono process

  is really about acknowledging this internal relationship.

  And so the ancestral practice that was updated for us

  to use in contemporary time by a Kahuna la'au lapa'au

  kahuna, hoʻoponopono, a disciplinarian, if you would, of that discipline, was

  Morrnah Simeona, who I endearingly call Auntie Morrnah

  And so she trained and taught us in this method so

  that we could use it in contemporary time, which acknowledges that

  the human mind, a single mind, may have three parts to

  that mind, what we call a Triune family.

  And anytime we're in disease, disorder, it's because

  one of those minds are out of order.

  So I like to say, when you are

  in alignment, mind, body and spirit, you are

  now mindful because you're complete, you're whole.

  It's when you are physically in dis-ease or

  mentally in disorder, that's when you can say you

  are mindless, you're out of your mind.

  So what we want to do is get back into that mind.

  And the process allows us to do that, to

  get back to one mind, a singular mind.

  And in your field, it

  might be called integration, right?

  We integrate, but we don't just integrate internally.

  That integration now allows us to incorporate as

  well as integrate with everything around us.

  So I'm much more in align with the spirit, with

  the trees, with the people around me, because I'm no

  longer self centered, I'm just centered in self.

  And once I can achieve that, I can now begin

  to interact and relate to people in a different way.

  And it becomes less transactional

  and much more relational.

  So the process asks us or helps us to

  actually get to that level of communicating with that

  grand mediator and begin to remove those memories.

  So that's what that would be.

  So if you saw people doing the process, it

  would look like they're sleeping because they're really.

  It's an internal, in as much as I might facilitate it.

  By...

  Reading the prayer or reading the meditation

  to them, it's really an inside job.

  So I really teach them, as Auntie Morrnah

  asked, to really do it for themselves.

  I don't really do group cleansings where people come.

  My preference is to teach people how to do that.

  The next thing, last thing you want

  to do is create a codependency.

  It's really about empowering people to do their

  own cleansing with their own family, with their

  own colleagues, with their own world around them.

  So if people wanted to do it, I would

  recommend that they look into a class or having

  someone like myself share that and teach that.

  Once they go through the experience and

  continue practicing it, then they become their

  own healer, as they should be anyway.

  Right, exactly. So are you.

  Are you still offering one on one teachings right now?

  I know, I know you're kind of on a larger

  scale and you're teaching this and giving a lot of

  speeches kind of around the globe on these practices, but

  are you still working one on one or in a

  different way to teach people then? Yeah. Thank you.

  I am.

  And because, of course, it's a timely undertaking,

  it's not something you just jump in and

  take a tylenol and feel better tomorrow.

  So it requires time.

  And so if people are willing to do that, I also

  like it to do it in small groups, preferably groups that

  are related because it's their relationship that you're trying to heal

  or that you'd like to help them heal.

  So if a individual wants to do that, they can

  coordinate that, and then we can work with them, or

  I can come to them or we can do something.

  My preference is to do it in person because I think

  there's energy as much as I do also do it online.

  But I find that whoever's in the room

  will determine the outcome of what's coming out.

  It's always the same, but it's always different, meaning

  the content is there, but it will find its

  way into the room and reveal itself depending on

  who's present and what the issues are.

  As long as I can get out of the way

  and let it come through me rather than from me,

  if that makes any sense, I can be in different

  rooms and people will get different things.

  But I really said the same thing in each room.

  But oftentimes the story that comes out that helps

  them to relate to their issue or their concern,

  maybe completely different from the last room because the

  people in the room were different.

  And so I like to say that this is your healing.

  This is the individual's individual practice.

  Consequently, it's customized for them in that way.

  So one on ones are helpful, especially with

  people who really want to delve into a

  deep understanding rather than just learn the mechanics.

  I just don't like teaching mechanics.

  I really want to share the meaning.

  And once people find deeper meaning, then I think they find

  it easier to embrace and do on a regular basis or

  as they need to, which I think is important.

  Hoʻoponopono is a way of being. It's a..

  When you're on default, the default

  mode is, I'm sorry, right?

  Or let's make this right, rather than allowing

  it to fester or turning away from it.

  So in that way, Ho'oponopono is a

  way of being my default practice.

  If I can live a life of pono,

  do the right thing all the time.

  But you know, we have a frailty.

  Sometimes we miss it.

  Well, I always have Hoʻoponopono there

  and so how do you like.

  So basically what you're saying is, like with

  this, it's you're just, your awareness has changed.

  You're always aware of kind of

  how you are in the world.

  And if there's an imbalance, you

  can utilize this to rebalance it.

  And so, like for you in your

  daily life, how do you use this?

  Do you take time and set aside

  every day to do the practice?

  Or is it more.

  You can utilize this throughout the day as it

  comes and kind of continue on that way.

  Thank you for that.

  My process evolved, but because it's really a relationship

  that I now have with myself, but also with

  the spiritual guide, if you would, with divine.

  So anytime I feel or sense like

  the movie... "the force is off", right.

  I feel a movement in the force.

  There are ways of going right into that and dealing

  with it, including putting up shields of some kind.

  So once I start feeling that negative energy beginning to be move

  in, I can now put up a shield necessary to deal with

  it, get into a place and begin to respond to.

  Equally important, it says, what is it about me?

  What did I just think or what

  just came up that attracted that?

  Or why did what you showed me bother me?

  Rather than trying to avoid the person, have to ask

  myself, why was I bothered by what they just said.

  Now, this isn't about taking blame,

  this is about being aware.

  So before I react to what someone is

  saying, my question is, why am I reacting? Right?

  Why am I placing so much value and

  importance on that word, on what that person,

  a complete stranger, has said to me?

  Why have I given that so much power that I'm

  starting to cry, or that I'm starting to run, or

  that I'm laughing or whatever my reaction is?

  Can it be a response that is now chosen

  rather than a reaction that is a conditioned behavior?

  So this is the difference between

  conditioned responses and informed choices, right?

  So when I become more aware of that,

  anytime something is said, done, or I experience

  is really a lesson for me.

  So any patient that I have, or a client that have

  is really becoming the teacher and I am the student.

  It really flips everything to come from a place of humility

  that says it's a little arrogant for me to think that

  they're coming to me to see that, to fix them.

  Why?

  So if I have ten patients, they come in, all

  with left shoulder problems, I start looking at my shoulder

  and I thank each of them for showing me the

  problem I need to work on today.

  Well, next week, I have people

  with right knees coming in.

  So now I start looking at my right

  knee problem, which is a directional thing.

  It's about flexibility.

  It's about moving towards the future.

  That's what my right knee represents, where my

  left shoulder was carrying ancestral weight of carrying

  things that really aren't mine to carry.

  But it's the patients that come, the clients that

  come with their issues are really the teachers that

  are now helping me move through the process.

  So this is gratitude.

  Thank you for showing me your problem.

  Thank you for showing me this illness.

  Because it subscribes to this belief that if

  I see the splinter in your eye, it

  probably came from the log in mine.

  That's the only way I can recognize it.

  Because what's coming out from you is somewhere in

  me, which then says that I'm just a mirror,

  as you are a mirror to me, the reflection.

  So if I don't like what I'm seeing outside,

  I have to ask myself, what did I just

  put in front of the mirror, right?

  And if I want to see something better, reflect

  the fact that I need to reflect something different

  again, it's not about blame, but it's about programming.

  Our memory is that this came

  from our ancestors, this came from.

  And that could be yesterday time.

  As far as they're concerned, time is continuing.

  So when we refer to our ancestors.

  It's not someone five generations ago.

  It could be your mother.

  It could be your teacher. Right.

  Who in 6th grade called you stupid.

  That ancestor planted a seed in your mind. Right.

  So we don't lock in on ancestors being a DNA

  ancestor, spiritual one, as well as a physical one.

  Anyone that had an influence on you

  in the past is an ancestor. Okay. Yeah.

  I mean, that makes sense, too, especially in

  this life and how things are influenced. That's right.

  That's right. Yeah.

  So that's part of it.

  And once I can get to that and I live

  that way, I can process that in a much more

  quicker way because it's kind of like having a filter.

  I'm not sure that's any different.

  Technologically, when you put an antivirus filter

  on your computer, stuff is coming in

  all the time, but something's catching it.

  Hopefully.

  Ho'oponopono is kind of like that.

  There's a way of developing this filter that begins

  to redirect viruses of emotion, of anger, of fear

  and pain, and kind of reprocesses it so they

  can define it in a different way.

  And you see it for what it is, a memory.

  Don't get me wrong.

  There are people out there

  who are just knuckleheads, right?

  They behave in a way that is bothersome.

  They behave in a way that might be hurtful.

  Well, even there, the question is, what is

  it about me that keeps attracting that behavior?

  What is it about me that thinks I

  can change that behavior and therefore put myself

  in the position to do that? Right?

  So this isn't about changing other people, which

  some people want to use ho'oponopono for.

  I want to change my wife. I want to change my husband.

  He needs to be doing this right.

  The really Hoʻoponopono says, what is it about

  me that keeps allowing me to be in

  this space that I continually see this?

  Because other people aren't in this space.

  They're not seeing it.

  They're not bothered by it.

  So there's something about me, and how

  do I begin to adjust to that?

  And oddly enough, when that happens, these

  knuckleheads can go be somebody else's knucklehead.

  I wasn't here to heal knuckleheads, but oddly enough,

  if I shift my perspective and behavior, they may

  no longer see that in me, and they no

  longer need to be a knucklehead.

  So to the external world, it looks like I

  just healed the knucklehead, but in reality, I cleaned

  myself up, and I removed that thing for them

  to be triggered by thus shifting their behavior.

  So this is where, in the stories that people

  hear about of a psychologist going into a hospital

  and healing everybody, I happened to know him.

  I knew I knew him, and I knew the story.

  And the real behavior was that he changed the

  way he behaved and responded to the patients, and

  as a result, they were no longer being triggered

  by his behavior, his beliefs, and etcetera.

  So anytime he walked into the room, they were fine.

  So to everyone else, they were healed,

  and to him, they were healed.

  But in reality, when he left the

  room, they were the same people.

  So if someone came in with that

  same behavior, they would get agitated again.

  So we have to be very careful about

  the narratives and the stories we believe and

  hear and dig a little deeper.

  And in this case, that particular individual, that

  physician, was able to look at himself, adjust

  himself, so that he no longer triggered others,

  and they then appeared to be healed.

  He healed their relationship.

  He didn't change them.

  He changed himself.

  That's a very powerful.

  Yeah, that's really where the power is,

  is being able to heal yourself and. And get in there.

  And, um.

  To me, at least, how I kind of view

  medicine and illness is that it's an imbalance, and

  a lot of it has to do with emotion. Right.

  The core of it is perception and how you see things.

  And then it can go into different realms and then

  go deeper and become physical and stay in the body.

  And so knowing something like this, to be able to

  remove it and to go in and to give somebody

  that instruction and have that tool, I think is huge.

  So I think this is an amazing practice to do, for sure.

  Yeah.

  And I see, it's been, in my experience, when an individual

  can actually own it, they can now let it go.

  As long as it's somebody else's, they can. And I...

  We've done this now with chronic pain groups, and

  these are individuals, 10, 15 years of pain medication, a

  whole number of other things, you know, not going

  to work, etcetera, have complete turnarounds, off medications, back

  at work, a number of things, simply by going

  through the process, maybe I shouldn't say simply, but

  by adopting the practice and beginning to really remove

  these questions I asked the group, after they shared

  their pain with one another, tell everybody about your

  pain and how you got it, and Etcetera.

  Well, once they're done, I ask them,

  okay, who wants to exchange pains?

  Nobody wanted to exchange pains.

  They said, I don't want his pain. I love it.

  I like my pain.

  And then I proceeded to ask them to

  point to their bodies where they were experiencing

  the pain or where the pain was.

  And inevitably, people pointed somewhere in their leg,

  their head, their back, or their chest.

  But here's what happened.

  None of them pointed at me.

  None of them pointed to the next person.

  Nobody pointed outside of themselves.

  They all pointed inside themselves.

  And it was in that moment that everyone

  had a recognition that it's an inside job.

  So in that recognition, I was able to say, so

  Doc here, who I was working with, a doctor says,

  you really can't do anything inside you, nor can the

  nurse or the technician or the x ray machine.

  None of those things until you decide.

  And it was at that moment that many

  of them were able to start moving towards

  preferred health again, because they realized they were

  holding onto it for whatever reason.

  They needed their pain because

  that was their new identity.

  They needed that pain because it

  allowed them to maintain their lawsuit.

  They needed the pain because they wanted to stay

  angry, because they couldn't find a way to find

  peace with the person that made them angry.

  The pain is the one thing that they could

  hold on to, that nobody could take from them.

  It was theirs.

  And the minute they recognized that and they could

  go back and say, well, this pain comes from

  a childhood experience or something my grandmother said, or

  my great great grandfather told my grandmother, who told

  me, it's not even mine. Wow.

  Okay, now I can let it go.

  So this is where ancestral trauma really becomes something

  that we can address that's addressed by this.

  When you realize it's not ancestral, it's yours.

  It's now. It's right here.

  It may have happened to your ancestors, but you're

  living it now, so don't blame your ancestors anymore.

  Right.

  Take responsibility for it here.

  And, wow, it's amazing the things

  that shift when that happens.

  But again, it's all an inside job. Right? I think.

  Anyway, sorry. You got me.

  on my soapbox

  No, I think that's important and huge

  for our audience, too, because that's.

  That's the biggest part, is recognizing that

  and giving them the power back. And.

  And when you have those moments of the

  reason why you're really holding on to things.

  Yeah, I think a lot of amazing things can happen. Yeah.

  Yeah.

  Okay, well, I hope that's helpful.

  And, you know, to your point, yes, I

  am available, and we have a process by

  which we address questions and opportunities.

  But thank you for this opportunity.

  Yeah, thank you.

  I have one more question that I want to

  ask you, and then we can close out.

  But I wanted you to tell us a little bit about

  the meaning, and I hope I'm pronouncing this right of Na’auao

  So, and how that means kind of because I heard you talk

  a little bit about it on something that I believe a lot,

  which has to do with letting go of your mind. Right.

  And finding source to get rid of all

  these thoughts and different things that are, that

  can guide you in a different direction.

  So I want to hear a little bit about

  that and then we'll be sure to let everybody

  know where they can find you and send the

  links and everybody to the this podcast too.

  Well, thank you. Yeah.

  So the term is Na’auao”

  Na’auao

  So, Na’auao Right.

  So in Hawaiian, it's a spiritual language.

  I'm not just communicating, but I'm communing.

  So when you utter the sounds,

  you're calling upon a spiritual element.

  And in the word Na’auao, there's elements of

  fire, god, heat, light, and foundation and base.

  So, ah, is fire, heat, light, God,

  the sun, like ra, la, yahweh.

  Then there's o, which is an earth energy.

  A more foundational when we say o is to

  dig mana'o, is the foundation of one's thoughts.

  Po'o is your head.

  So o is a foundation, as in ho'oponopono, all o's.

  It's all about getting back to the basics.

  And the foundation, well, Na’auao is the notion of

  an intuition, an inner knowing, an inner knowledge.

  We can also say no'no awareness, but Na’auao.

  And there's two, two or three root words in it.

  So na'au is the concept of intestines, like your

  intestinal fortitude, but your intestine is your gut.

  So oftentimes in behavior, it's like,

  well, go with your gut, right?

  Not with your head.

  And we now know medicine and science is

  telling us that, yes, that the microbiomes in

  our guts, right, is actually maybe the first

  brain that's affecting the second brain.

  It's interesting how our ancestors

  kind of recognize this.

  But what does your na’au say?

  What does your gut tell you?

  So that is like a.

  Like another mind.

  The word na means plural, as in more is

  also that positive, active energy in manna, right?

  So that is active.

  It's a plural na. O.

  Au is a reference to me, as in I am, right.

  There's a little I o, no me kah.

  I am humbled.

  O au.

  But in the spiritual reference, the definition of

  a refers to your relationship to God. Au.

  When you say you're acknowledging

  that you are a product.

  You are inside of that larger mind.

  Okay, so when you say nao, which talks

  about intestines, if you look at the intestines,

  it looks like a big brain, right?

  Now says the plural mind, the plural relationship,

  meaning the multi rather than the singular.

  So many minds, right?

  So now is your gut. What is your mind say?

  What is your gut telling you? What are your thoughts?

  Where are they coming from?

  So many thoughts.

  And it's interesting if you subscribe to the

  idea that we are what we eat, right? Yeah.

  What we eat mentally, physically, and spiritually.

  So everything you eat has its own mind

  or affects your own thoughts, including whoever was

  feeding you or whoever planted that plant or

  killed that animal or raised that animal.

  Their energy, their mana, their thoughts are in that.

  So if you eat that without cleansing it and

  remove it, that is now in you, in your

  intestines, and absorption is what your intestines do.

  So you're absorbing all that

  mana, that energy, that memory.

  See how that works?

  So the last word in there is a-o or ao.

  Aaaa, fire, O ground.

  Ao is also the term for light.

  So we say from po darkness to au.

  a-o, light.

  Ao is light or enlightenment.

  Ao with a little okina is the word for education, awareness.

  Na’auao is the education, awareness, and a

  knowledge that comes from your gut.

  So that's it.

  And it speaks to intuition.

  It's your inner knowing, knowing things that

  you know, but we're never taught.

  Recognizing that your body understands

  better than your mind itself.

  So your conscious mind may not understand what your body

  needs to stay in balance, in harmony, but you're na’auao.

  Na’auao”

  Na'au knows because it's been

  enlightened, it's been educated.

  So na’auao” is that it's this

  deeper understanding and awareness, right?

  And I think there's a lot of power there.

  It's so interesting that the language, too,

  every word has such a deeper meaning,

  and especially when they're combined.

  I mean, there's.

  It's very carefully chosen and organized and

  much different, I think, thank the english

  language in that sense, too.

  And it's very fractal, right?

  Because it can take a single single beam of

  light, but run it through the right crystal.

  A single crystal receiving a single light source of

  light, but casting many colors in the room.

  That's how the hawaiian mind and

  the hawaiian principle operates from.

  It's fractal.

  So depending on where I'm standing and who

  I'm with, I may see it completely differently

  because of how the light is being refracted.

  By the person that's next to me.

  Right, right.

  And so, yeah, it goes to emotions.

  And so it says, to be mindful of who

  you're with, to be mindful of who you're carrying

  in your mind and in your heart, because they

  are all influencing how you're seeing the light.

  So I'm a fractal being, and everything I'm experiencing is coming

  through a fractal now, at some point in time, how do

  I integrate all of that to a single light?

  Or am I able to begin to separate them, disintegrate

  that light, and begin to see the value in each

  vibration that I'm experiencing with the person to my left

  and the person on my right, that together we can

  create light, separate, we create darkness.

  That's the concept, yeah.

  It's a very beautiful language with

  a lot of depth in it.

  And it reminds me, because I'm in Greece

  right now, the greek language has a lot

  of really intense origins, where it has that

  deeper meaning behind each word, where the symbolism

  and the pronouncement of the words and the

  combinations all have different energy frequencies, too.

  If energy has a name, I think we want to call it

  the right thing if you want to invite it into you.

  Right, exactly.

  Same way that if I pronounce someone's

  name incorrectly, they don't answer me.

  So if I'm going to invoke something, I

  should probably know what its name is or

  pronounce it properly, if anything, out of respect.

  Right? Right.

  But if I recognize that if I use the wrong tone with

  it, I either turn it on or I turn it off.

  And we now can see that as we've created

  technologies that allow us to experience voice activated.

  Right.

  Type of technology.

  Well, if you say it wrong and doesn't

  hear you, it won't turn on the.

  So you have to be very clear. Right.

  So you really have to be.

  Why is that the human mind any more powerful

  than the thing that we created called a computer? Right.

  I think we've distanced ourselves

  from our true capacity.

  And at the end of the day, it comes down to respect.

  Can I respect each person, each

  thing, each animal, each tree?

  Can I respect it in such a way that

  it responds when I commune with it properly?

  Now, communing and communicating

  are two different things.

  Communing is being present.

  Communicating is imposing my thought, because I

  wasn't able to convey that, just my.

  By my presence.

  And so that's part of why the language was

  designed or evolved the way it did, at least

  for us, because it now allows me to commune

  with something, not just convey an idea to it. Right.

  Or imposing exactly my wishes or desires.

  Like, for instance, I'm not sure.

  There's so many redwood trees

  that grew up want to be furniture.

  Right?

  We might see the furniture in the redwood tree, but

  the redwood tree never saw itself as piece of wood

  that you're going to a piece of lumber.

  It's a tree.

  We impose upon nature, things and

  people, our desires upon them.

  And when they don't live up to that

  expectation, then we get angry with them.

  That anger then becomes an illness within

  us which we're spreading to others.

  So this is a full circle.

  It comes all the way back to what rule? Believing.

  What is it?

  How I treat others.

  I'm teaching them how to treat me

  by the way I treat them.

  And all of that comes from me.

  It's a memory inside of me.

  So what is it about me that allows me

  to behave this way when I'm around you?

  And so that all comes back to a spiritual principle.

  The words we use, the thoughts

  we have, the emotions we carry.

  So I can close it with this.

  The elder kūpuna, that was my mentor, she

  would say that the seeds of thought are

  watered by the emotions of heart.

  When you speak the word, it is given

  life on the life giving breath of ha,

  which comes from your heart and your lungs.

  So be careful of what you think,

  what you feel, but more importantly, what

  you say, because you're giving it life.

  The minute you open your mouth, guard your

  thoughts, guard your feelings, but above all, guard

  your words, for we manifest that.

  And once it leaves our mouth, once it comes

  from my teeth, I can't get it back.

  See, fortunately, we have ho'oponopono to heal that relationship,

  but it's better to be pono and hoʻopono

  So things are pono pono, right.

  Well, I think that was super powerful today, and I'm

  sure a lot of our listeners are going to seek

  you out to learn a lot more about this practice

  and to really go deeper in themselves, too.

  And I'm definitely going to dig

  deeper into this myself as well. Thank you.

  Well, I appreciate the opportunity.

  Thanks for the inquiry.

  Thank you very much.

  Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you so much.