Ho’oponopono – Ancient Hawaiian Healing Technique
2014
Ho’oponopono is one of my personal favorite and most used (inner and outer) healing techniques. I first heard of it from an article by Joe Vitale many years ago, which told a fascinating story about a Hawaiian psychologist, Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len. Dr Hew Len worked in a prison for the criminally insane and made amazing transformations to the complete ward of inmates through the ancient Hawaiian healing technique of Ho’oponopono.
This very intriguing story fascinated me and right away I ordered and read Zero Limits, written by both Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len and Joe Vitale, and later The Easiest Way, by Mabel Katz, amidst more articles, research and of course personal practise. This mysteriously simple technique started working right away and I was seeing evidence of it all over the place. Often you will see a relief in stress (tension fades and peace surfaces) shortly after starting to repeat the ho’oponopono 4 line mantra. It is profoundly simple yet very very deep and always works for me.
What is Ho’oponopono?
The term Ho’oponopono means to make right. To make right with your relationships and with all others; to make right if you have done harm, whether intentionally or accidentally; to make right for any mistakes you have made, and to make right for the mistakes and errors of others as well.
The main objective of Hoʻoponopono is to wipe our slate clean and get back to our ‘zero state’, the pure clean slate we were born with before our memories and identity.
How to use Ho’oponopono
Ho’oponopono is wonderfully simple and anyone can practise it easily. To put it into practise, simply repeat these 4 simple statements over and over:
I love you. I am sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you.
You don’t really need to know more. But, of course, who in these days can stand such simplicity? Not me, so I delved and ordered Tor Norretranders’ The User Illusion, which I heard would explain the basis of how Ho’oponopono actually works.
Synopsis of The User Illusion
The User Illusion is quite a deep read. My copy had 400 pages of very small print with extensive notes and bibliography. I’ll give you the gist of it though, because it really is fascinating. Tor Norretranders gives a different view on consciousness and shows how our decisions are made before our consciousness makes them. He explains scientifically that out of millions of bits of information that we pick up each second, the intellect is only conscious of fifteen to twenty of these. Wait. Let me repeat that. That is, we only consciously get 20 out of 1,000,000+ pieces of information!
The interesting part of this is that our intellect believes that it is making conscious decisions, but it isn’t really. We are being influenced by so much more than we can possibly comprehend. His overall thesis is that the mind is more than we can ever see, and moreover that it is an inherent part, and the property, of nature. Bottom line is that we do not make our decisions, but nature does. (I find this kind of mind blowing! ..but back to our healing technique)
The big question with Ho’oponopono is: how can it affect and heal other people when we are only working on ourselves?
Total Responsibility
Ho’oponopono is based on the idea of taking complete responsibility for everyone’s actions, not only your own. If it comes into your life in any way, by knowledge or experience, whether you see it before you or hear it on the news, it is your responsibility, because it is in your life. It implies that to change your reality, you need to change yourself. The problem is not with the external reality, but with ourselves. It is an acceptance that everything exists as a projection from inside the human being and because it is in our reality, we are responsible for it. As you change your inner self, you change the world outside of yourself as well.
Heal yourself and you heal the world.
I love you. I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you.
If you haven’t already, try it. Put this simple mantra on repeat in your head and you may be amazed too!
