Ho'oponopono

Ho'oponopono is a Hawaiian self-healing ritual that uses a meditative, repeated vocal mantra to cleanse and heal the energies of the relationship with self, others, ancestors and future generations.

Like so many ancient spiritual teachings, its powerful effect is derived from the Natural Lores of the Universe.

Sub-conscious Creation

Everything we experience in this life is created by our sub-conscious mind. These experiences then imprint an energetic stamp on us in the form of a memory. This is how we, as individuals, store knowledge and behavioral patterns. We all hold our own personal memories within us. The conscious mind deciphers that which the sub-conscious mind plays on the screen of life in front of us, it then sends the information interpreted back to the sub-conscious. The sub-conscious then either replays the same screen or puts out a new one, dependent upon the information received, storing the patterns of actions we employ to respond to those experiences as memories. It is a process of cause and effect.

The Hawaiian people refer to the conscious mind like a little child who takes everything at face value as real.

Consolidated memories

We each also carry the culmination of everyone's memories within us. This energetic memory mass is the collective sub-conscious knowledge of humanity, which we use to build skills and learn new concepts. It is a true and necessary process, but cannot end here if we are to grow spiritually as a people. In order to tune in to the interconnectedness of all that is, we need to move away from the cyclical patterns that ensue once this process unconsciously takes hold.

An example

A very simple example of this process in action may be a general consensus being that a certain make of car doesn't drive well once it reaches 100,000 kilometers. Such a notion comes into existence after a person experiences this and believes it to be concrete reality. Others then hear this information and adopt the same belief, regardless of their own experience with the car. The information feeds the energy that creates the general consensus, that then manifests into physical reality as that certain car actually not performing well after 100,000 kilometers for all who hold and operate that belief.

If such a person then meets a person who owns one of these cars that has already clocked over 100'000 kilometers, they put it down to luck, or other acts of chance, when really, it is that owners unwillingness to accept, or ignorance of, the general consensus, which therefore doesn't effect them as they do not operate within it, nor feed it, and so they do not experience it as their reality.

This is how humanity as a whole becomes stuck in a certain frequency. All that is needed is enough people holding and operating similar sub-conscious memories. These memories then amalgamate to become the turning cogs of humanity's consciousness machine... like a hamster running endlessly on his wheel, his energy feeding the same circular motion.

An active regression

One of the biggest struggles I feel we face today, is the far reaching influence and subsequent damage of modern advertising and propaganda campaigns, cleverly designed to penetrate the sub-conscious and keep humanity's frequency beating with the pulse of consumerism... you get what you want, then there's something else you want, you get that, then something else is on your radar.

In her book 'Belonging, Remembering Ourselves Home', Toko-Pa Turner observes that "Materialism is not evil... but left unmitigated by a higher purpose, is dedicated only to it's own invasive spread." The constant need to have more (which affects us all to varying degrees) is artificially filling the void we often don't realise we have. And in doing so, we render ourselves closed off to opportunities to fill ourselves up on the endless supply of love and strength available to us if we so choose.

"...your possessions are your burden"

(Bill Bennet (Chris Haywood) - 'The Way, My Way' Motion Picture)

Dr Karishma Ahuja clearly explains the effects of Ho'oponopono...

Shifting the Collective Sub-conscious

In order to shift the frequency of humanity so we can heighten our lives, we all must start within ourselves, cleaning up the energetic fields of our own personal memories. We are each 100 percent responsible for our own memories and the part they play in the turning wheel of humanity's collective consciousness. It may seem a tiny and insignificant practice, to utter a few words into the air, directed at no-one but your higher self, but those words absolutely do have a huge impact on the universal energy! 

All it takes is each of us doing our own bit, then all of that culminated energy will invite and attract other energy of the same frequency, shaping humanity's collective consciousness. Each of us already has all that is required, nothing outside of our intention is needed.

So How do you practice Ho'oponopono...?

"I'm sorry, Please forgive me, Thank you, I love you"

This mantra s repeated either out loud or in the minds eye, over and over for the duration of the meditation.

As much as this practice is able to be done in as little as 60 seconds, I find it advantageous to first sit into some conscious breathing to connect with the body and the mind, and to relax and become fully immersed in what you're about to do.

I find this then heightens the power of the mantra, as it gives you time to really experience each phrase with the entire being as it focuses on those particular words.

"I'm sorry"

This is an apology to yourself for being part of the conflict, missing warning signs, going off track... whatever actions or in-actions have lead to your personal energy being intertwined with that of the person or situation your aiming to heal.

"Please forgive me"

This is the method of neutralising the field of energy between yourself and the 'other' so there is no blame. It is a way to keep the doors of communication open between the conscious and sub-conscious minds so new information can come through without it being automatically designated to the same energetic memory.

"Thank you"

This is a statement of gratitude, you are thankful for the opportunity to clean up your memories so you can be free of old patterns, as well as positively influence the collective energy.

"I love you"

This is connecting to the divine love that we are all born from, that we are. The unconditional love that gave life to the energy we call ourselves. Only when we connect back to this pure energy of love can we really heal.

The most common way to practice

The most common practice used today is to bring to mind a person, place, situation, even yourself to mind... you will instantly have the memory (the entire dynamic experience of that person, place or situation up to that time).

You then repeat the mantra toward that. The purifying and repairing energy of the words then cleans up that particular memory.

This particular style of the practice was burgeoned by Hawaiian Kahuna Morrnah Simeona.

The practice of Ho'oponopono is sometimes referred to as Morrnah's prayer...

"I am sorry, forgive me, I love you, I am grateful. I declare myself at peace with all the people on earth and with whom I have outstanding debt for this moment and in all time and for everything that I do not like in my present life — I am sorry, forgive me, I love you, I am grateful"

Morrnah Nallamaku Simeona

Click on the picture of Morrnah to hear her original prayer

My experience with the practice...

I was initially introduced to Ho'oponopono by a friend during one of our usual conversations about spirituality and the universal ethos. After never hearing of it previously, I decided to do some research. I obtained a lot of information from visiting different sites generated by a quick Google search and I started to gain lots of little dots of knowledge about the practice and it really felt like something I could do and benefit from.

Then, in 2020 I came across a course in Ho'oponopono training. Naturally I was onboard!

The training course, developed and delivered by Joe Vitale and the late Dr. Hew Len really solidified my understanding of the practice by bringing together all those dots of knowledge floating in my conscious brain, into a more connected sort of map, or blueprint. I was practicing and cleaning as much as I could! And I noticed effects quickly. I would do the ritual with a person or situation in mind and my experience of that energy the next time I encountered it would be altered.

A huge awakening for me

There was one particular time when I'd had an argument with a person who was, at the time, really stuck in a negative replay of emotions. I too, was stuck in the same old pattern of response. Needless to say we were were both contributing our energies to the resulting friction. The problem was, this person was too close to my family to simply ignore, or not have to deal with. The whole situation was causing me heartache and stress on a daily basis.

I'd done many Ho'oponopono practices already and was confident that it worked, so one evening as I sat facing out my lounge room window (may favourite place to meditate indoors), I brought the whole set of circumstances to mind. It was quite a fuzzy and ambiguous image that came to mind, changing quickly from memory and emotion to memory and emotion. I was immediately overcome with emotional pain.

I was letting go

I resisted the urge to just sit there and cry and let it all pour out of me (which, don't get me wrong, also has its therapeutic benefits). I got through half an hour of the mantra with what I can only describe as divine strength. As I started the phrases...

'I'm sorry, Please forgive me, Thank you, I love you...' with my shaky and crackling voice, the words became clearer and the dark, painful energy was being transmuted. I was letting go of the pain I had attached to the whole, ongoing situation and had burdened myself to carry. It was being cleaned by divine energy.

This was not seen, heard, or witnessed by anyone but me... on my own in my lounge room. Nor did the other person ever know I had practiced this cleansing ritual. Afterwards, I felt lighter. Nothing had physically changed between myself and this person, no new words, no new interactions, but it had shifted... I could feel it. It wasn't so dark or so painful.

I now felt hope and love for the situation with this person.

An unexpected Apology

A few days later I received a very unexpected apology message from the other person. Their attitude toward me also continued to ease, allowing us to communicate more effectively, not perfectly, it wasn't all cleared and remedied at once, but a new process of energetic connection between us had started. 

I knew then the power of Ho'oponopono and have used it regularly since then, with both small matters and the big, dark demons we all know we need to face but rarely dedicate time to do.