Lessons on the Road to Hana

I studied the Hawaiian healing art of Lomi Lomi in 2016 and it transformed my healing practice. I was a reluctant massage therapist. I considered myself an herbalist and my connection to my massage “profession” was out of alignment of my calling.

Have you ever been called over and over again to something? For a few months in 2015- I would receive dreams and nudges to seek out training in Hawaii. My guides? Guardian angels? Ancestors?

Maybe.

This is an excerpt from the journalling I did following my mastership training on the Island of Maui.

My Kumu (teacher) Chucky is a wild driver. He takes the curves of the Road to Hana on the island of Maui to a’nother level. I rode shotgun on a trip to Hana one morning and learned about plant medicine and the healing art of Lomi Lomi along the way.

Chucky is a quiet Hawaiian man who seems to never miss a thing. Every day in our resident mastership training, he sits to the right of my Kumu Jeana. For some reason, we’re just happy he’s there. He rarely speaks but when he does , you listen. It’s a long way to Hana and Chucky and I only spoke about herbs and lomi for a matter of minutes- this is what I learned.

A lomi Ohana (family) approach to illness/disharmony/dysfunction is taken in steps.

#1 is pule, prayer

#2 is lifestyle changes. Or as they say in Hawaii, living ‘Pono’- the basics of eating well, exercise and managing stress. Also living in right relationship with self and others.

#3 is Lomi. Hands on touch to open the core and extremities, improving movement, organ function- the works.

#4 is , wait for it… Herbs/plant medicine.

At the time; as an herbalist- I am shocked to hear this.

Herbs are #4?! I have to wait until I have prayed about my body?? I have to change and address my lifestyle/habits? I have to get in alignment with my muscles and bones to optimise organ function through healing touch?

And then, only then, do I get to use powerful herbs to “fix” everything.

What is this nonsense?

In typical Chucky fashion, he just watched the road as he took the next curve to Hana. With each passing car and Shaka wave, I sat next to Chucky and let it set in awhile.

‘Yes, Erin. Herbs are last because after prayer, lifestyle change, healing touch and living in right alignment- you are in harmony.

You are healed.’

My respect for lomi increased that day. I began to understand the significance of this work. I saw the herbs as an extension of my hands as lomi practitioner, not the quick fix of matching herb to issue.

Being #4 doesn’t reduce the significance of the herbs; quite the opposite.

They are the elders of the tribe, hanging out, just in case. I sometimes feel them when I am providing Lomi Lomi in sessions. They remind me that they are there.

Like Chucky, they just quietly stand by if I need them.

And when they speak, I listen.