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Showing posts from May, 2014

Ho'oponopono: What Are We Cleaning? Lessons from Morrnah and the River Iao

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The Iao River on Maui, whose Iao Valley was the scene of the battle of Kepaniwai ("damming of the waters") in 1790. So many warriors died that the river was jammed with their bodies.  Today the river runs clean and free -- and is still a very sacred place. Someone asked me the other day what Ho'oponopono is about, and what we are "cleaning" when practicing this process.  Morrnah Nalamaku Simeona, the Kahuna Lapa'au who was inspired in meditation to simplify Ho'oponopono for modern times, provided one of the best answers to this I've ever read.  Ho'oponopono literally means "to correct an error," or "to make right."  But what kind of errors are we talking about, and what is there to make right? Morrnah explained : " We are the sum total of our experiences, which is to say that we are burdened by our pasts. When we experience stress or fear in our lives, if we would look carefully

Ho'oponopono Cleaning: When is a Blueberry More Than a Blueberry?

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One question people often ask about Ho'oponopono, is "What is a Ho'oponopono cleaning tool?  What does this mean, and are there more than one?" Ho'oponopono is a spiritual practice and way of life.  It incorporates an attitude of 100% responsibility, humility, and gratitude in every moment.  It's a process of making things right, or "pono."   The idea is that Divinity created us in perfect alignment and rhythm with Itself, and our true nature is this state of "zero."  At zero we can feel peace and receive divine inspiration, which guides us.  When we then take inspired action, what's right and perfect for us comes into our lives.  Unfortunately we also hold unconscious memories (or data) inside us -- blocking our awareness of our true selves. These memories can also show up in our lives as problems, discord, fear, illness, war, and other unpleasant experiences. Ho'oponopono is a method of solving these problems by recogni