Mana for the Doctor's Soul

Many people are traveling for the holidays, especially on airplanes.  Someone spoke with me the other day about her fear of flying, which was intense enough to sideline her from certain trips.  She shared that for her, the worst part of this is "turbulence".  She couldn't stand the feeling of inner lurching, seeing things fly off seat trays, and flight attendants grabbing onto seats to walk.  Even the potential for this was too much to risk. I remembered a story that Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len told about his own travels with Morrnah Simeona, the Kahuna Lapa'au who updated Ho'oponopono for modern times.  Morrnah taught all over the world, including at medical centers and the United Nations 3 times.  For her expertise in Hawaiian language and culture, the Hawaii State Legislature and the Hongwanji Mission of Honolulu   named her a "Living Treasure of Hawaii."  Anyway, Dr. Hew Len worked and traveled with Morrnah for about 10 years before her dea

I have a story to tell.  It's been brewing for several weeks.   Many of you have written me with questions about whether Ho'oponopono really "works", and how we can tell.  I've heard similar questions on conference calls and live seminars also.   Usually Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len breaks out laughing when we ask such questions, because it's impossible to know at any one moment whether we're being run by "data", or by Inspiration.  The best we can do is "just clean", and know that if we do that, all falls into place as it should.  Mabel Katz often says that we usually only "know" when looking back. Despite this, it's human nature to get a little impatient sometimes.  Anyway . . . the story.  Please bear with me.  I share the many steps so you can walk along with me.   I've been dealing with a large government institution that manages some of my savings from many years' work as medical school faculty.  I h

  "Let the beauty of what you love, be what you do." ~ Rumi There are many ways to say "thank you".   Shown here in her pink finery is 7-month old Sienna Hoagland , who recently received a precious gift at St. Joseph's Hospital here in Phoenix: a new heart, just in time for Thanksgiving. Holding her is her mother Stephanie Provencio, and Dr. Stephen Pophal is in eye-and-finger lock.  St. Joseph's pediatric heart transplant program only started this year . . . and Sienna received its first successful transplant.  The gift was possible because of a selfless decision by parents in another state. Born with a cardiomyopathy, Sienna needed a pacemaker because her heart would only beat 50 times a minute -- far from the more normal 120 in babies like her.  Unfortunately,  pacemakers did not work as hoped. Sienna would not be alive today without the donated heart; it is rare for such a tiny organ to be made available. See how Sienna gazes at Dr. Pophal in t

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.   ~Plato Sometimes life can feel very difficult, even when practicing Ho'oponopono. Sometimes it seems like problems line up one after another, like legions of ants swarming in for a meal. Sometimes there are no words for such situations. I have been going through something like this for the last while. Morrnah Simeona, the Kahuna Lapa'au who modernized the ancient Hawaiian practice of Ho'oponopono as Self-Identity Through Ho'oponopono , said that talking about such things doesn't help anyhow. Being a psychiatrist trained in various kinds of "talk" therapy, I have struggled with this idea.  But in many ways I believe she was right.  For instance, many of us are very stuck in human stories of hurt, blame, resentment, anger, and shame.  No matter what the venue, our "talk" remains endlessly mired in these themes, and we have no insight into our own contributions to painful event

 "The rainbow is a sign from him who is in all things." ~ Hopi saying A physician colleague wrote this past week asking about Ho'oponopono , as he had come across this blog.  He had also attended a recent Ho'oponopono training near his home.  It was a blessing to hear from him.   Although Ho'oponopono is a way for all people to make amends for our misperceptions about others and life itself, I feel this is especially important for those of us in healing professions.  Not all are willing to consider these ideas, but I offer this blog from the part of me who is in all things.   As far as healers go, Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len often shares that as a psychologist he was trained to "help" other people.  But in practice, this doesn't work.  How many patients do my colleagues know, who are not "helped" by what we do in medicine?  Is this not uncanny, when we are trying so hard? In Ho'oponopono, we are not really here to help others at all

  People's experiences with Ho'oponopono are very individual.  For instance, after practicing this for awhile some feel peace, some feel nothing at all, and some might notice that they feel worse -- at least temporarily. Given our varying sensitivities, it's easy enough to understand the first two.  But feeling worse with a spiritual practice like Ho'oponopono?  How can this be? It might even scare some people away from doing it. My own experience has been all three (as well as others) at different times.   In this practice, we're adopting a world view that differs from most other cultural norms: accepting 100% responsibility for everything that shows up in our lives.  For many, this is a deal breaker and they get no farther.  After all, how can we be responsible for things we've never even been involved with in this lifetime?  Afghanistan?  Iraq?  Massive oil spills?  Patients committing suicide, or dying of cancer? We may not understand our personal con

Some people maintain that we're in conscious control of our thoughts and reactions, but Ho'oponopono suggests otherwise.   In fact Ho'oponopono posits that we are run by information that is so far unconscious we don't have a clue what's going on.  The "information" running us can come from generationally-transmitted memory, or from Divinity as inspiration.  We never know which it is. As a psychiatrist, this intrigues me.   Many psychotherapies aim to make the unconscious conscious -- hoping that by so doing, people can gain insight into their emotional troubles.  Healing is then possible.  Even cognitive behavioral psychotherapy is built on the idea that negative ideas about ourselves [negative self-talk] is what drives our sour emotions.   Yecchy, self-critical thoughts result in yecchy, depressive emotions and mood states.  Interrupt the cycle and you can interrupt the depression. We hope.  :-) A recent experience showed me how clueless my consci

There has been a death in my family, and I have been spending time with my father.  His wife (my stepmother) has been ill for a long time -- but died in Hospice very recently.   It has been a difficult process for both of them, and for the rest of the family too.  Evolution is sometimes like that.  Even the beautiful, flowering lotus pictured above is known to grow from mucky origins. All along, I had been asking Divinity how to best to clean.  Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len had also been kind enough to share a cleaning tool with me -- which I have used liberally.  It has given me great peace. For the first few days after his wife of 45 years died, my father wanted no one to come.   After all, she wanted no memorial, and he didn't think he needed any help.  I spoke with him daily on the phone, and although he called himself "lachrymose," he insisted he was fine.  Despite Ho'oponopono I had struggled with this, not knowing what was correct for me to do.  Suddenly one

The other day I received some alarming evidence of my own lack of clarity. It came in a friendly email, for which I am grateful. But the author went on to show me how I had apparently been unclear in my blog posts, or he would never have written me. After cleaning by myself for some time, I felt inspired to ask several other Ho'oponopono colleagues to join me. They graciously did. What had happened? The friendly person invited me to join his newly formed web site which cleans on behalf of its members, who pay a monthly fee for this service. He explained: "I teach and practice [a type of energy therapy] and Ho’oponopono. A couple of weeks ago my partner was watching Hew Len and got the idea that we should start a private members site to clean on behalf of the membership . It has been profound for us and our members. You have probably heard Dr Len talk about the gift of Ho’oponopono to “therapists”. People are attracted to your services because you are cleaning and

"Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible." Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet There are times when kindness is the only thing that makes sense. Perhaps this recognition dawns on us once we have lost enough in our lives -- relationships, jobs, pets, health, possessions, anything we value -- to connect with other beings experiencing the same. Once there, life is never the same again. It's like your heart is broken open, and no self-righteous stance holds any longer. There is only marveling at the diversity of life, the variety of human and other kinds of suffering, and offering of ourselves where we can. As a doctor, I see and hear a lot. As a homeopath, I have the chance to listen even more deeply than I could when practicing conventional psychiatry alone. From this quiet place within, I simply allow the other to be as s/he is. We gently track and find what needs healing. It gradually shows itself. I, too, have a homeopath who does this for me -- even

Ho'oponopono is an ancient Hawaiian method of problem solving, stress release, and making things right. It can help us no matter how resentful, angry, hurt, frightened, or righteously indignant we might be feeling. Historically, doing Ho'oponopono required all people involved in a conflict to be present -- along with a moderator (usually an elder) who would also offer prayers at appropriate times. The process was a ceremony aimed at resolving differences and restoring harmony. Morrnah Simeona was a Kahuna Lapa'au (Hawaiian healer employing prayer, herbs, love [aloha] and touch to restore health to ailing people) who updated this ancient process for modern times. This became Self-Identity Through Ho'oponopono (SITH), as now taught by Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len and others all over the world. Morrnah's SITH process allows each of us to work with Divinity within, rather than physically bringing together everyone with whom we might be having trouble. Ho'oponopono see

Many people wonder what "inspiration" really is, even though Ho'oponopono mentions it frequently. When we allow Divinity to transmute to zero whatever we're experiencing as problems, Divine Inspiration can supposedly come through. This may show up in all kinds of ways. I've often asked Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len about this myself, wondering how -- in the course of Ho'oponopono cleaning -- we can "know" when we're inspired. After all, we might experience peaceful feelings, urges to call certain people, or some other thing. How to differentiate our own inner ego (conscious mind) talking, from the urges of Divine Inspiration? Dr. Hew Len has often answered, "If you have to ask whether you're inspired, you're not." :-) It sounds glib, but it's really not. There's a big difference between trying to obsessively plan out an idea that sounds good, and moving forward with something that arises naturally from within. The fir

Mother Earth is bleeding. The above photo has been widely published , showing the rupture of a BP oil well pipe 5000 feet deep in the Gulf of Mexico. From this wound gushes live, liquid, and pressurized crude oil into the ocean above. I can't help likening it to hitting a major vessel in an accident or surgery -- I have seen this too many times in my career not to be triggered this way. But with human patients, bleeding eventually stops. Either doctors can repair the injury, or the patient bleeds completely out. In comparison, Mother Earth shows no sign of stopping her bleeding. It continues billowing forth, despite multiple attempts to shut off or cap the broken pipe. Ever since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and burned several weeks ago, many sources have spewed as many estimates of "how much" oil is actually gushing into the water. Eleven men died in the disaster, whose story becomes more graphic and painful with time. I have watched this news evolve, and wep

"Behold, I make all things new. " ~Revelations 21:5 I don't usually quote the Bible in my blog, mostly because I'm not a biblical scholar. But when I saw the above view from my backyard the other evening, the verse suddenly popped into mind. That is, after the initial "WOW!" that surged through my soul. I had been struggling for many months with some family issues, cleaning with them through Ho'oponopono . Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len had even given me a particular tool for this, which I had been using. In between storms of anger, resentment, and worry, of course. :-) Had I been cleaning perfectly, there would have been no inner or outer struggle. Nor would I have been so flooded with the kinds of pain mentioned above. But I am human. This is both a limitation and gift, since it brings all kinds of opportunities to make things right. Ho'oponopono is all about "making things right," in fact. Ho'oponopono is a very practical method for allowi