Ho’oponopono : An Ancient Hawaiian Healing Technique
Back in 2018, I was randomly browsing on YouTube looking for free audiobooks when I discovered Dr. Joe Vitale’s book, Zero Limits: The Secret Hawaiian System for Wealth, Health, Peace, and More. Intrigued by the name I selected this audiobook for my drive time.
In the book, Dr. Vitale shares the true story of his co-author, Dr. Haleakalā Hew Len, a Hawaiian therapist, who magically healed an entire ward of mentally ill criminals at the State Hospital of Hawaii in the 1980s. This mental ward was so unmanageable and chaotic that staff would often go on sick leave or quit shortly after joining. The story goes that when Dr. Len was brought on board, he would not make personal visits to the mentally ill inmates, but would go through the records of their criminal history and would work on himself by practicing Ho’oponopono on the emotions that would rise within him when he would read their files.
Slowly over time, the situation started changing and becoming peaceful at the mental ward. The staff eventually started coming back as patients became less destructive and were not required to be chained or locked away. Gradually, patients were taken off medications and were declared healed and healthy to return to society. After some 4 years that ward was permanently closed.
As I finished this book, I wasn’t fully convinced about the technique. My disbelief originated from all the fake guru scams that we would hear about growing up in India. I felt this too was probably in the same “too good to be true” category. I discarded this idea as just another book and moved on with life.
A few days later, I was on a downward spiral of some emotions. To give myself some break from mental chatter, I decided to visit the salon for a haircut. On my drive to the salon, I remember I was crying due to overwhelming emotions and anxiety that I was not able to manage. It was then that I remembered Ho’oponopono and thought of experimenting with it. I started practicing the prayer as mentioned in the book. Though I did not have much faith in this technique, I kept repeating the 4 mantras under my breath for my 15-minute car ride.
Soon I reached the salon and settled in the salon chair waiting for the dresser to finish working on their previous client. Engrossed in my thoughts, I noticed that all that anxiety and low emotions that I was experiencing a few minutes earlier had somehow vanished. I tried hard to think of the reason why I was feeling sad but could not remember at all. It was like someone had wiped my memory clean. I was surprised and wondered if this was really Ho’oponopono magic or am I having short term memory loss. The harder I tried to recall, the louder I would burst in laughter sitting by myself and how funny this situation was.
This incident made me realize that maybe I was too harsh in judging this technique and decided to experiment with this technique a little more. Soon I started applying this prayer to anything and everything and I am delighted to report that it does work like MAGIC. Since then I have witnessed many miracles with this prayer and have been recommending it to friends and family. A lot of friends came back and reported about positive experiences and their own miracles with Ho’oponopono.
How to practice
Ho’oponopono is a secret ancient Hawaiian healing practice for problem-solving and restoring harmony in life. Pronounced as Ho-Oh-Pono-Pono, the Hawaiian word means — to make (ho’o) right (pono) right (pono) or simply put to “make things right” or to bring them to balance.
The first step for practicing Ho’oponopono starts by taking full responsibility for everything that is happening in our lives, even for situations that have nothing to do with us. Taking full acceptance of a negative situation means that we are not blaming our circumstances or other people who might be in that equation. Full responsibility is like self-inquiry e.g. — “ What is it in this situation that I might be responsible for ?”
Once we accept that everything that is not working well in our life is our responsibility, we pray for seeking forgiveness to clear the energies of that negative situation and finally express our love and gratitude.
Ho’oponopono prayer has four simple mantras that are repeated several times over a period of time until you feel the negative situation has been resolved.
💗 I AM SORRY. PLEASE FORGIVE ME. THANK YOU. I LOVE YOU.💗
My Personal Experiences
Here is a session recording that I did for my meditation community that shares more in depth of my experiences with Ho’oponopono.
How does it work
With all my spiritual experiences, I have come to understand that our outer reality is a mere reflection of our inner worlds. And as we start resolving disharmony in our inner worlds, our outer reality starts to harmonize.
There is enough scientific evidence to prove that our physical bodies are capable of storing information in form of emotions and memories. But did you know that our bodies not only store memories from our childhood in this lifetime but also from times that we don’t even remember? Like from all our past lives or the lives of our ancestors.
I feel Ho’oponopono and eastern concepts of Karma are kind of talking the same thing. The origins of the pain in our current lives are often rooted in the memories of past lifetimes or ancestral lineage where we come from.
All the unresolved trauma, emotions, or behavior patterns are often passed on to the next incarnations or down the next generation. These memories are imprinted on our DNA which governs the course of our lives. And our current lives are an opportunity to resolve the past karmic accounts so we can get off the wheel of karma.
But what do we do when we are not even aware of these past interactions Well, Dr. Len says that it’s not our job to know these past events. When a negative situation arises, know that it’s an indicator to resolve something from within you. Take it as an opportunity to clear the karmic baggage. Because, without resolving our past, we will keep struggling in that area and will keep recreating our past in our present.
Forgiveness is a skill that is rarely taught in our culture. By practicing Ho’oponopono we acknowledge our responsibility for having caused wrong to someone somewhere, that we don’t even remember. We forgive others and ourselves as we seek forgiveness and love from our creator and finally express gratitude for this opportunity to clear karma and go back to a clean slate.
If you are ever feeling down and distressed, I highly recommend that you experiment with this technique to see if it works for you. Do let me know in the comments below about your experiences.
Resources :
- Original prayer from the creator of Ho’oponopono -Morrnah Nalamaku Simeona
- Enchanting song of Ho’oponopono
- Morrnah’s powerful MIRACLE PRAYER to heal anything in your life — By Joe Vitale
- Zero Limits : Free Audiobook on YouTube
- Zero-wise
- https://bluebottlelove.com/hew-len-hooponopono/
- https://www.self-i-dentity-through-hooponopono.com/in-memory-of-dr-hew-len/
