Ho’oponopono

Ho’oponopono is an old Hawaiian practice of healing based on love, reconciliation and divine forgiveness. Similar practices were performed on islands throughout the South Pacific, including Samoa, Tahiti, and New Zealand.

Traditionally, ho’oponopono would be done in a community or family setting. The community believed that what was happening in their community was caused in some way by past actions of the community or its ancestors. For example: if an ancestor in the family was abused during their lifetime, the effects of this trauma could result in a serious illness of a child born into the same family. The healing process would involve praying for divine forgiveness for all current and past actions that have caused the child to be ill, and sending divine love to the child from the whole community.

In 1976, Morrnah Simeona, regarded as a healing priest or kahuna lapa’au, adapted the traditional ho’oponopono of family mutual forgiveness to the social realities of the modern day. For this she extended it both to a general problem solving process outside the family and to a psycho- spiritual self-help rather than group process. After Simeona’s passing in 1992, her former student and administrator Ihaleakala Hew Len, co- authored a book with Joe Vitale called Zero Limits referring to Simeona’s ho’oponopono teachings.
Extract from Wikipedia

The main principles to remember when using ho’oponopono as a healing process are:

• The only way of changing past memories and karma is by connecting with unconditional love to our spiritual being (which is also the divinity that pervades all creation).
• Everything we experience in our life is the result of past memories held in our minds and bodies. These memories form the blueprint of what we experience in the outer world. Our outer world is simply a projection of what is hidden within us. It follows from this premise, that if we wish to change our outer reality we must first take responsibility for everything that is in our lives. This applies to us personally, but also to the community and society within which we live.
• We need to ask the divine for forgiveness, and for it to erase the memories that caused the situation we wish to change. The situation that we wish to change could be illness, conflict or any other undesirable situation. Joe Vitale refers to this process as reaching the zero point; this is when we no longer have the memories that led to the undesirable situation.

We need to acknowledge that our prayers are answered by saying thank you to the spirit within us, and at the same time feeling an intense sense of gratitude.

The spirit within us (which is centred in the heart chakra) is part of the spiritual divinity that pervades all creation. This may be regarded by some of us as God, Allah, Brahma, the Tao, or as some other representation of divine consciousness.

 

What does Ho’oponopono involve?

You can practise ho’oponopono on your own or be guided through the process by a family member or therapist. The process is always the same. You can practise using this technique at any time and in any place. Use it when negative thoughts come to mind, or when events that you dislike keep reappearing in your life. Simply follow the following procedure:

• Imagine something that connects you to a feeling of divinity or universal peace. This will be something personal to you. For example: a pet that you love, a beautiful wood full of bluebells or being in a church or cathedral. Say out loud, I love you, and sense that you are radiating love from your heart.
• Now gently focus your attention on the situation you want to resolve. This could be a relationship problem, an illness or any other problem. Say, I am sorry (that I/we have created this problem) and accept full responsibility for it.
• Say out loud, please forgive me and others involved, believing that divine consciousness will clear the memories that have created this experience from your mind and energy body, and the minds and energy bodies of all other beings.
• Say out loud, thank you, knowing that that the problem has been released in yourself and all other beings.Remember the simple mantra:Imagine something you love.
  Say out loud, I’m sorry. Please forgive me/us. Thank youIf you look carefully you will see a close parallel to the Lords Prayer from the Bible (KJV), Matthew 6: 9-13

What conditions does Ho’oponopono help?

Ho’oponopono is a process for releasing memories that are stored in our unconscious minds and the cells of our bodies. It can be used to release memories associated with trauma. It is useful when other approaches seem to have no effect, suggesting that the root cause of an illness or problem may be karmic. This will often be the case with inherited illnesses and inherited patterns of behaviour that are a product of the communities and society in which we live.

Is Ho’oponopono safe?

Ho’oponopono should be used to bring happiness and peace to other people in your life as well as yourself. Used in this way, you can only experience positive benefits from this process.