What is the Ho'oponopono Meditation?
Does Forgiveness and Gratitude actually change your state of being?
Aloha!
What a word to begin with. People presume it’s just a plain greeting like ‘hi’ or ‘good day’. It’s so much more than that for the Hawaiian people.
It can be a lovely way of greeting of course but it also means ‘breath of life’. It’s meaning includes unconditional love, without prejudice or any form of discrimination.
The Basics of Ho’oponopono
Ho’oponopono is an ancient Hawaiian therapeutic practice that indigenous islanders used long before westerners arrived on their beautiful soulful island.
The practice is focused on forgiveness but features gratitude and letting go of negative connections to others.
It could more accurately be described: the energetic power we give to others to negatively impact our wellbeing with or without their consent.
Even today in therapeutic settings on the islands, Ho’oponopono is offered as a specific technique used for healing from abuse and the negative entanglements of psychic connections.
There is a mantra that is used to help the individual focus on the energy of forgiveness and of recovery that follows letting go.
The beginning of the session will have you focus on the person you need to forgive. But it can involve the plural … people, situations and larger group entities.
In the case of substance abuse, addictions or challenging personal behaviour - you can focus on yourself.
The Ho’oponopono Meditation
There are four main mantras to repeat whilst in your meditative state.
I am sorry
Please forgive me
Thank you
I love you
It is important to set your intention before you start and also let go of the outcome. You may find thoughts appearing in your mind, that you hadn’t expected. You might experience emotions that you had no idea were nestled deep in your heart and needed the opportunity to be heard and to heal. You might find yourself experiencing a ‘wake up call’ to your own attitudes, mindset and behaviours.
There is a deeper and fuller version of the prayer that helps explain further what the Hawaiian tradition aims to achieve but for now, let’s stick with the most commonly shared version.
The Hawaiian traditional beliefs like many of those that ‘feel’ intuitively right for humanity, involves the ancestors, the essence of life, all that there is …
They believe everything and everyone is connected.
The more we learn about our world, that we together with nature co-create the existence we experience: the more the belief we are tied with our past and our future, makes sense.
It makes sense that energetically, we humans are connected to all others, just as the trees co-exist with the ground upon which they grow, the water that rains down on them and fills their roots and the sun that shines upon them.
Just as the food that sustains and enhances our lives, grows in the soil that the rains fall onto, that the sunshine supports in growing.
And just as all living things are healthier, when we have respect for their existence and appreciate with care, we nurture not only that, but it then nurtures us.
The same is true of forgiveness.
When we forgive, we let go of a need to hold onto something that causes us pain. When we stop experiencing or suffering from the pain, our minds and hearts are lighter. We find it easier to become fulfilled. We have greater energy for more creation of positive things, experiences and the network of humanity grows healthier.
Letting go of pain with Ho’oponopono
If I handed you a sharp round object and asked you to hold it in your hand whilst squeezing your fingers around it to ensure you don’t lose or drop it …
- you would quickly refuse and wish to let it go.
Holding onto resentments, blame and anger toward others actions, affects us in the same way. The tighter the resistance to letting it go … the more pain we experience. It’s tiring aside from anything else, to have to use so much energy holding on to something that causes us pain.
Forgiveness is never for the other, it is always for the self.
Except in Ho’oponopono.
In Ho’oponopono meditation, the assumption is that everyone is co-creating the experiences that cause us suffering, therefore everyone takes responsibility for the clearing (or cleaning).
It is believed that our ancestors are involved in the creation of the pact we made before arriving here, a pact or contract made with other souls where we determine to show each other things we didn’t see or know before.
The idea the emotional and spiritual entanglement continues through each generation is part of this belief and therefore for the Hawaiians is part of their growth when using this exercise.
Accepting that we are both affected by our ancestors, as well as currently supported by them in our healing endeavours, allows for a sense of acceptance that a) we are not alone and b) we are collectively responsible.
Ho’oponopono Made Famous With Dr Ihaleakala Hew Len and Joe Vitale
Joe Vitale is someone who I first encountered when the ‘internet’ was just becoming a place to advertise your wares (businesses, services, products, education etc).
I actually came across him for his online PDF of hypnotic writing. He was also the first person I encountered who made money from selling his experiences and knowledge online.
He later interviewed Dr Hew Len about the now famous story of how he ‘cured’ the inmates of a prison hospital using Ho’oponopono. Now that story has been challenged over the years but the meaning given to it remains the same.
Dr Hew Len believed he could help release the negative hold over the patients by using the Ho’oponopono meditation whilst focusing on them in his mind; having learned their individual stories in their hospital notes.
His philosophy asks that he ‘clean’ the self, the subconscious of the self with the help of the divine. He believed that to erase (clean) the negativity by taking responsibility for what is going on ‘in you’ because you encountered that person/ experience/ thought is your responsibility and when erased, the issue also dissolves.
There is an easy to read book written by Joe Vitale with Ihaleakala Hew Len called Zero Limits. The book has excellent testimonials and in my opinion, is a really useful guide towards personal healing and growth.
Does Forgiveness and Gratitude Change Your State?
Absolutely yes.
I’ve learned over many years of working in a deep place (people’s subconscious minds!), that forgiveness and gratitude have their place and their time.
Forgiveness is incredibly powerful but it’s not something that people can just ‘do’ on a whim.
The work of Katie Byron helps with achieving forgiveness without other interventions but in my work as a Clinical Hypnotherapist, I’ve learned that there are stages we work through to achieve the mindset where forgiveness and letting go is possible.
Gratitude is entirely different. There are now many studies showing the practice of gratitude, is both healing but also actually changes our brain and neurochemistry.
It is also true, you can fake it till your ready to fully make it. But that’s a whole other article.
Meantime, just know that both these powerful emotional experiences, provide YOU with tools to achieve a higher state of being and a better quality of life.
Meditating with Ho’oponopono
Now on with the meditations and of course I have those for you to listen to in several formats.
I will be adding free versions to my YouTube channel in 2023 but for those who prefer ‘ad free’ listening, the substack provides a perfect place to present those to investors in self.
There are also more options on the paid side of the substack that include 20 or 30 minute meditations with returning to full awareness instruction to ease you back into your day.
And sleep hypnosis options that provide you with wind down post hypnotic instructions to guide you into a deep sleep after listening.
You can get back to the Members Menu here:
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MEMBERS CONTENT
Daytime Listening
Listen to these audios during the day. The concluding instructions provide you with an opportunity to boost your energy and set your mind for a positive day!
Ho’oponopono Meditation Daytime Listening ~ 20 mins with Alpha Beats
Ho’oponopono Meditation Daytime Listening ~ 30 mins with Alpha Beats
Night-time Listening
Listen to these audios if you plan to drift to sleep after listening as the concluding instructions are designed to help you remain relaxed and return to a deeply relaxed state after listening, preparing for a positive night sleep.
Ho’oponopono Sleep After Listening ~ 20 mins with Theta Beats
Ho’oponopono Sleep After Listening ~ 30 mins with Theta Beats
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