Indigenous Healing & Plant Medicines

Why is Hawaiian Culture important to include in integrative multi-speciality healthcare and mental health?

To neglect acknowledging this knowledge and history we believe would contribute to oppression through silence. For generations, Hawaiian culture has used native plants for medicinal purposes. Plants and other vegetation have been used to treat, heal, and cure various illnesses and diseases. Mindful Living Group believes consulting cultural practitioners, being in sacred spaces together in our personal journeys, and hosting these workshops or experiences for our community increases our cultural understanding of holistic health and living in harmony with our natural environment. We recognize and embrace acculturation as a process that may include healing historical traumas of colonization and harmful settler lifestyles while recognizing the multiculturalism within the community and its diversity of need and preference for traditional and non-traditional healing and healthcare arts, sciences, and practices.
Health is not just physical; it is also mental and spiritual. Our living within Hawaiian culture and community teaches us that spiritual healing is as important as physical and mental/emotional healing. The Hawaiian words "lāʻau" and "lapaʻau" may be loosely translated to an understanding of vegetation/treatment and heal/cure. Lāʻau lapaʻau is a traditional practice of healing the mind and body using plants. It was banned in 1820 after missionaries arrived on the islands. The influx of foreigners brought new diseases to which native Hawaiians were not immune. These ailments ultimately contributed to the decline of the Native Hawaiian population and the inability to heal physical or mental conditions through native methods.
For half a century, Native Hawaiians were prohibited from practicing physical and spiritual healing through lāʻau lapaʻau. In 1988, Congress adopted the Native Hawaiian Health Care Act, acknowledging lāʻau lapaʻau as traditional medicine. Mindful Living Group seeks to embrace the recognition of this historical significance and re-emergence of plant medicines from lā’au lapa’au practitioners into health and healing services. Our guest teachers periodically share their valuable wisdom with our community which we cherish with a deep reverence. We encourage our clients to explore Hawaiian and Indigenous cultural programs including our guest events, workshops, and teachers as part of their healing journey and remind those who are receiving this valuable knowledge and experience to engage in a balanced exchange. To Live Well. To Live Aloha.
This article contains words and phrases from Hawaiian culture and language. While we make every attempt at accuracy, sometimes the words and phrases used do not have a similar word in the English language. Originally, we have been taught that the Hawaiian language was only spoken and not written. To know and understand these words, we rely on the guidance and leadership of our Hawaiian elders and teachers, which we encourage you to learn directly from. Our effort to share these words is done so with the deepest respect for Hawaiian culture and our own practice of acculturation and integration of the words and values into our practice and lives. If you believe a term was used incorrectly, please let us know. Mahalo.

Please check our calendar of events to schedule an herbalism consultation or attend an upcoming workshop.

PŌHALA ~ To Recover Consciousness/To awaken ~ Ancient Hawaiian and Mū Culture ~ Fern Medicine By Ke’oni Hanalei