~ HOOPONOPONO stories from my life  ~

Part 4: contemporary hooponopono:
cutting cords, transmuting energy, and more

Ua mau ke ea o ka 'aina i ka pono.

The very life, breath & spirit of the land endures in right relationship between people, nature & Spirit.

Mornah Simeona - she is a BIG gift to our global community!!

In the 1970s native Hawaiian healer and lomilomi practitioner Mornah Simeona created a  potent hooponopono process which is done individually.   She combined Hawaiian traditions, praying to the Divine Creator, and connecting problems with reincarnation and karma to create a unique self-help problem solving hooponopono process. She was influenced by her Christian education and her philosophical studies about India, China and Edgar Cayce.

Mornah's teachings have influenced me personally via my studies with Mana Lomi® founder Maka'ala Yates, one of Mornah's  early students.   Mornah's  views on spiritual concepts, as well as teachings from other of his teachers, are woven into all Mana Lomi® classes. 

healing pain & harm which originated in previous generations

My favorite aspect of these hooponopono teachings is the concept and  process used to free myself from limitations caused by events which happened in previous generations.

  slavery and me

In my childhood and into my adult life I felt intense horror at the institution of slavery in the United States.  I carried an invisible-to-the-eye but very energetically real burden of horror, guilt and shame related to the enslavement of Africans by Caucasian Americans - relatives of my ancestors.  Do any of you feel this way too?

I grew up in a predominantly upper middle class, Caucasian community in the suburbs of Boston.  My parents actively sought opportunities for our family to connect with people of other races.  When I was in high school my family hosted Black student bused from inner city Boston to attend our school as part of an integration program.   

When my "metro sister" Arizona occasionally spent the night at my home she and I always enjoyed talking with each other and we enjoyed each other.  However, we never spent time together in school.  She and the other Metro kids always ate at their own, separate lunch table.  I marvel now that it never occurred to me to be friendly with Arizona at school, and I suspect that my behavior probably resulted from  my burden of ancestoral shame.

I frequently felt an anxious undercurrent when speaking with Black people which made me stiff as I partially held  back my Light.  I'm sure they could feel this too, and it probably made me not so fun to be with.  Thank you all my Black friends who have helped me soften my edges!  

I painted this painting in 1987 at the request of my elderly Black friend, Wallace Bacon.  Mr Bacon asked me to read the book To Be a Slave by Julius Lester and then to paint a picture of him on an auction block.  This is the result.  

What an wonderful invitation he offered me!!  In hindsight I know that this was a healing  experience for both of us. 

 
I married Vietnamese-Chinese and Black husbands

After graduating from college I married a Chinese man from Vietnam and we have two now grown children together.  We divorced after 14 years of marriage, and in 1994 I partnered with an African American man who  I've been with ever since.  My kids grew up with Gary as their second dad.  We weathered some rough spots which have made us all strong in love.  Yet even with building these family bonds,  for a long time I continued to carry that invisible burden of ancestral shame.  This burden was an elephant in my living room. 

 reincarnation and me

One day Maka'ala asked our class, "How do you know what life you were in at the time of that event?  Perhaps you were a slave, perhaps a slave owner, perhaps neither.  Why do you continue to carry that guilt?  Guilt has no positive purpose." 

Maka'ala's question woke me up and  helped me to release shackles I'd  imposed on my life.  In an aha moment I realized that I had been finding myself guilty via my ancestors, that there was no logical reason for me to do so, and also that I could and should lay this burden down.

I give the energy of guilt another job: to keep my eyes on the prize

Maka'ala's message then went one step further.  He suggested that rather than spend our energy feeling guilty, we ought to instead direct all of our intention and Light on creating the loving and healthy relationships with those people we have been separated from. 

Ahhhhh,  now I have another focus for that energy which had previously been bound up feeling guilt.  What a relief!!  It is much easier to replace a behavior than to simply stop doing or thinking something I've done repeatedly in the past.  Now, if I ever notice that guilt creeping back in, I can remind myself to "keep my eyes on the prize". 

Mornah Simeona's prayer

Here is a hooponopono prayer written by Mornah Simeona that summarizes this teaching.  I love this prayer!!

"Divine creator, father, mother, son as one.  If I, my family, relatives and ancestors have offended you, your family, relatives and ancestors in thoughts, words, deeds and actions from the beginning of our creation to the present, we ask your forgiveness.   Let this cleanse, purify, release, cut all the negative memories, blocks, energies and vibrations and transmute these unwanted energies to pure light.  And it is done."

cut the cords

From Maka'ala I learned a four step hooponopono process used to cut cords that bind me to problem producing people, places, things, ideas or memories.  Before executing this process, I must first determine that I am truly ready to release those cords. 

Here's the cord cutting process:

1)  Visualize a beam of light or a knife and use it to cut the cord.

2) Transmute the energy of the relationship into white light surrounding the person, place or thing.

3) Recycle transmuted energy back to the universe to be used in positive ways (I often visual the transmuted energy as rain.)

4) Fill the hole left in your aura with something which brings you joy (I am loved, I am beautiful, etc.), or fill it with a vision of the new situation you are choosing and creating. This hooponopono process releases and cuts the energetic cord(s) or ‘aka cords” that connect us with a  person, place, thing or event and it restores balance, harmony, and tranquility within the self as well as outside the self.  This process manifests healing for ourselves and others. 

This process is done by oneself with support from Spirit, without having to engage in any form of discussion or conflict resolution with another person or group of persons.  What a gift!!

hooponopono behavior guides

Embracing these behaviors help me to be pono.  (I received this list from Maka'ala as well.)

• be non-defensive
• allow uncomfortable silence
• non self resistance (do what you want to do)
• eliminate guilt
• meditate to develop inner awareness
• accept difficult tasks
• walk away from gossip
•  give up the last word
• actively slow down
• seek your truth within  

Do one or two of these grab your attention?  Which one/s?

Giving up the last word and allowing uncomfortable silence have both been especially juicy for me. 

I find that it's usually good for me to speak up when I am in an uncomfortable situation in which I disagree with the speaker, especially if the speaker is a family member or close friend.    If I don't "speak my truth", then I often end up feeling depressed and irritable because I've told myself that I was being disrespected.

However, if the conversation begins to feel like a verbal ping pong match, one of us needs to give up the last word in the interest of peace.  I find that very often when I give up the last word the person I'm speaking with will come back later with an open mind and the conversation can then be completed harmoniously.  We both feel better that way.

Thank  you, Maka'ala,  for waking me up to so many truths, and for waking me up to the best of who I am.

Copyrighted 2010 Barbara Helynn Heard

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