Ho’oponopono - a personal account

I first came across Ho'oponopono in 2008 when I was in the midst of a serious illness and fairly intensely driven spiritually trying to find answers to life and make sense of what was happening to me.





Myself with Dr Ihaleakala Hew Len (known as Dr Len)
in Brisbane in 2009

Ho’oponpono, I came to understand, is an ancient Hawaiian spiritual teaching whose practice basically means ‘to make right’ or to heal, by taking 100% responsibility for any relationships that are not right in your life.

An Hawaiian woman, called Mornah Simeona, developed the Self Identity Ho’oponopono method (discussed below) as a practice performed by one person only, unlike the original Ho’oponopono method which was practiced by the entire community.

 Mornah Nalamaku Simeona

Zero Limits

Joe Vitale’s Book “Zero Limits” tells the true story of how through the continual practice of Ho’oponopono the power of ‘one’ can heal ‘many’.

In this case the ‘many’ were an entire ward of criminally insane incarcerated in Hawaii State Mental Hospital and were considered beyond cure. The ‘one’ was the resident psychiatrist Dr Hew Len.

Although such a tale sounds more like an urban myth it is in fact true and I later went on to meet this enigmatic healer Dr Hew Len one year later when he delivered his first Australian ‘Self Identity Ho’oponopono’ workshop in Brisbane in May of 2009.

Joe Vitale and Dr Hew Len

Dr Hew Len and Hawaii State Hospital

As the book Zero limits recounts, in this ward for the criminally insane, where staff continually left, paint peeled off the walls, plumbing problems abounded, plants would not grow and a dark stagnant energy of evil pervaded, Dr Len arrived as resident psychiatrist.

The only treatment he says, he gave those patients, was to examine their files and when the disgust and judgement arose in him reading of the ghastly acts they had perpetrated (murder, rape etc) he would ask Divinity “Please forgive me for whatever it is in me that is making these people show up in my life”. He would apologise for his judgements and keep extending love and forgiveness to the patients.

In time all the problems associated with the ward were eventually resolved. Plants started to grow again, staff stayed, the energy was completely transformed and the patients completely rehabilitated and the ward was finally closed down.



What we project

It may be hard to accept but according to Dr. Len if it is in your life, it is in you. (Stored in us as data, in the form of memories in the subconscious).

Another comment of his I really like is “Have you ever noticed if you have a problem, you are there?” In other words if it’s in your life somehow you are responsible.


Cleaning


Erasing the memories in our subconscious to bring us back to a Zero state is known as ‘cleaning’. This cleaning process can take many variations but the way I first learned and still use is by repeating the following four phrases

“I am sorry, Please forgive me, I love you and Thank you.”

 Dr Masaru Emoto's water crystal photos demonstrate the power of love and hate.

We all carry memories which, when activated, continually replay through our reactions to others. Those others sadly are the very ones we are generally in relationship with and the conflict caused by those reactions remain inside us festering and creating ongoing negativity in the relationship. Dr Hew Len often quotes Shakespeare “They are only memories replaying the woes”.


What Dr Len shared with us at the weekend workshop was he always cleans any room a workshop is to be held in for weeks prior to the event. He spoke of the sacred space within a room and how it should be honoured. He also said by his incessant cleaning of the room and also cleaning the names of the people attending the workshop, only exactly the right people would sit next to each other.


How I met Kyla

It was at the Brisbane workshop last year that I met Kyla. I arrived slightly late and her husband Marty beckoned me to sit with them. It transpired they originally came from Manly where I lived. (In another state and 600 miles away) Although my initial connection was more with Marty, because he was always laughing and cracking jokes, after the workshop Kyla and I stayed in touch and our friendship has just grown from strength to strength as we have discovered more and more similarities between us. We both also made another great friend there and all three of us stay in touch. We are so grateful to Dr Len for such happenstance!!



Zero State

The Zero referred is our original state or CLEAN state where we are free of any memories at all, basically a tabula rasu (clean slate) which allows Divinity to shine its light through us unimpeded and thereby allowing us to flourish in life unimpeded by negativity. (As you were as a baby) The practice of cleaning continually (I am sorry, please forgive me, I love you and thank you) is a petition to Divinity to erase those memories we carry that create the conflict and unhappiness in our lives


Taking 100% Responsibility

Taking 100% responsibility means if a problem shows up in your life there are memories inside your subconscious that have attracted it to you. That may be hard to accept given how we sometimes feel we have been really hurt by another, but with continual practice the ensuing lightness one feels as the negative feelings drop away, and the miraculous changes in some relationships previously considered unsalvageable, are all the proof that is required.


Fresh Information

Recently new information has passed my way courtesy of a teleseminar given freely by Mark Ryan which is two and half hours of him sharing his experiences with Ho’oponopono and the others he has connected to on that journey.

What has come to light are some very powerful additions to what I have understood about this process to date.

Mark was asked by a caller what exactly forgiveness was. He replied he had found in his work that many people cannot say “I am sorry, please forgive me” even silently in their minds. They can say “Thank you” easily but also struggle with “I love you”.

This made me see how powerfully we are locked into victim mindsets where all that happens to us is because of someone else’s actions, and our complete resistance to taking any responsibility for our part.

Mark’s reply might change the minds of anyone struggling with that resistance.



What is Forgiveness?

He asked the caller if she had ever noticed how contracted she became when holding on to judgements of others?

By holding tight to those negative feeling we are left in a contracted state carrying a very heavy load. Physically that load manifests as a tight feeling in our chest area. Equally that memory of judgement we have held so tightly to, triggers intense disquiet in the form of anger, anxiety and often a desire for revenge.


Letting go of those judgements

Certainly carrying these judgements of others in our lives is no recipe for a peaceful life. I know in my own life just having one relationship that is not flowing diminishes even those that are working.

Therefore by taking 100% responsibility for those negative judgements we carry, (as apart from the actual person’s behaviour) it becomes clear holding onto them only clogs up our own life and drains our energy. This insight then makes the process of forgiveness something we are only too willing to do. When our energy is clogged with these negative memories, the light of Divinity is unable to shine love through us out to others. It is only through being loving we become expansive and can radiate our light out to others.



Mark used the metaphor of sap moving through a tree to bloom as apples or oranges for others to enjoy. When we are blocked the sap does not flow and therefore nothing blooms from us for others to enjoy.

Saying “I am sorry, please forgive” then heals us first before it heals the other. You become the open vessel, the carrier of the healing power of love.


... ...

Our Inner Critic

Recently, following this insight into forgiveness, I was inspired to take responsibility for my own ‘Inner critic ‘or ‘inner judge’. The inner critic is that not very friendly but only too prominent voice in your head that never gives you any credit, judges you endlessly and harshly, and wants to frequently remind you how useless you are, no matter what you may have achieved.

This little critter is essentially just a memory that manifested during childhood when we learned to respond to parental praise or berating dependent on our behaviour.

From my perspective, to reach full potential, this is one memory that we really need to petition Divinity to erase. So why not ask Divinity for forgiveness for believing our own negative judgements so we can let love fill up ourselves.




Cutting the Cords that bind

Another powerful cleaning tool that I have recently heard came from a person who lived in Hawaii for many years and was a long time Ho’oponopono practitioner.

I have tried it several times and felt immense relief and release as a result.

It is known as ‘Cutting the cords” At the end of each day before going to sleep the idea is to conjure up in front of you every single person you have had a relationship with throughout the day on any level . You then imagine you are connected to them all via an invisible web of cords. Once they are all assembled in front of you, you then imagine yourself cutting those cords that hold them to you. Allow them to freely float away out of your consciousness and feel the freedom that follows, it is astounding!


Our impressions become reality

The explanation of its power is the impression created in our mind of whom we meet is based on our judgement of them. That judgement we hold of them keeps them that way to us and does not allow them to go their own way and heal and grow.

And where else can this mind projection be more prevalent than in our families of birth where our greatest judgements of each other are often set in stone? Once we have fled the nest we grow in all kinds of ways until we return home for a visit, where we usually oblige our parents or siblings by being exactly who they expect us to be.


An invisible web

We are all connected via an invisible web and this practice is an opportunity every night to mentally snip yourself free from those you have enmeshed with during that day. I just love this process. It is so freeing.

Also, because you have cut the cords and let them go, your dreams are most likely to be instructive ones from your inner teacher, rather than dreams based on your day’s activities.



Simplicity

Lastly, all I can add here, is Ho’oponopono is growing rapidly in momentum because of its simplicity and delivery of quite miraculous results. And I, for one, have been exceptionally blessed to have experienced some of those miracles in my own life and look forward to experiencing many more.

For more detailed information on the process and history of it please visit the following website

http://www.hooponopono.org/