Hawaiian Healing Services: Mea Hōʻola

Hoʻoponopono is a traditional Hawaiian practice of reconciliation and healing that helps restore balance within ourselves and in our relationships.

Rooted in the teachings of kūpuna such as Mary Kawena Pukui and carried forward through practitioners like Lynette and Richard Paglinawan, hoʻoponopono is a guided process that invites honesty, accountability, forgiveness and release.

Through intentional dialogue and reflection, individuals and families are supported in addressing unresolved conflict, grief and emotional burdens that may impact overall wellbeing. In hoʻoponopono, healing is understood as relational. Challenges are not viewed in isolation, but as part of our connections with others, our ancestors and our broader environment. Hoʻoponopono creates a safe and structured space to bring forward what has been left unspoken, allowing for emotional release, deeper understanding and the restoration of harmony. This process can support individuals, couples, and families seeking to move through conflict, strengthen relationships, and return to a place of balance and pono.

ʻAi pono is the practice of nourishing the body in ways that are balanced, intentional and aligned with both personal and environmental wellbeing.

Grounded in Native Hawaiian knowledge, ʻai pono reflects a relationship with ʻāina (the land), culture, and community. Traditional Hawaiian diets were largely plant-based, rooted in foods such as kalo, ʻuala & ʻulu and supported physical health, sustainability and a deep connection to ancestry.

ʻAi pono explores how food impacts not only physical health, but also emotional, cultural and spiritual wellbeing. Clients are supported in reconnecting with more mindful and nourishing ways of eating, while also understanding the broader systems that influence food choices today. ʻAi pono can be especially helpful for those navigating chronic health conditions, lifestyle changes, or a desire to reconnect with cultural practices. Through this work, eating becomes an opportunity to restore balance, strengthen connection to ʻāina and support long-term wellbeing.

Lāʻau lapaʻau is a traditional Hawaiian healing practice that uses plants as medicine, guided by spiritual connection, intention and relationship with ʻāina.

In the teachings of practitioners such as Levon Ohai, lāʻau lapaʻau is not simply about the use of herbs, but about cultivating a deeper connection to the natural world and recognizing the wisdom and purpose within each plant. Healing arises through this relationship, supported by practices such as pule (prayer), kilo (observation) and aloha ʻāina (respect for the environment).

This approach to healing is holistic, addressing the interconnected nature of physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. Clients are invited to explore how imbalances in life, whether stress, disconnection or illness, may be supported through reconnection with nature and traditional practices.

Lāʻau lapaʻau can include education on plant-based remedies, as well as guidance in developing a more mindful and reciprocal relationship with the land. This work emphasizes empowerment, self-sufficiency and returning to a way of living that supports balance and overall health.

Simply put; to indigenize psychotherapy is to express the therapeutic process through a Hawaiian worldview.

Indigenization recognizes that the ʻŌiwi (Native Hawaiian) language and culture do not represent broken pieces of the past. They are living systems of knowledge, valid and whole, and they have the same efficacy for treating mental health as those from the clinical setting (i.e. evidence-based treatment). Indigenized psychotherapy is therefore the delivery of evidence-based treatment from a Hawaiian worldview. That worldview is informed by Hawaiian language and values, cultural practice and traditional lifestyles. In short, it is ʻike kūpuna (ancestral knowledge).

Clinical interventions such as Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) and Motivational Interviewing (MI) are then expressed through ʻike kūpuna. Therapeutic activities may include mindfulness, mālama ʻāina (working on the land), journaling and engaging cultural practices that support balance and belonging.