The Ancient Origins of Lomi Lomi

Ancient Indigenous peoples lived as one with the land.  Their harmonious and synergistic relationship in nature was seamless.   Food, clothing, recreation, healing and spirituality was experienced within a harmonious whole.   What we perceive today as separate healing modalities:  Lomi Lomi Massage, La’au Lapa’au (Plant Medicine), Pule (prayer) and even Lua (Hawaiian Martial Art) were, in various forms, a part of daily life.  Growing up with the land, it was a natural learning to discover what parts of the ‘Ohana (family) could assist when faced with imbalance or illness. Since every form of Life was considered family by the Ancient Hawaiians, this would include the body, emotions, thoughts, spirit, plants, rocks, elements, motion, touch and attention.  In this way, plant remedies, healing touch, massage tools, and the energetics of attention was uncovered and nurtured.  According to the earliest records, everyone grew up absorbing aspects of healing from the land, elders, and their own experience.

Kahuna Lomi Lomi

Often families would gravitate towards specific conditions or techniques such as pregnancy & birthing, skeletal manipulation, muscular strains, sprains and bone setting.  Some traditions included cleansing sauna therapies, poultices, purging, prayer, topical or internal herbs, spiritual counseling, or ho’oponopono, in preparation, or as part of the healing session.

While everyday applications were part of the fabric of society, those who were chosen for in-depth study, or who mastered certain aspects of the healing arts, became Kahuna (experts in their field).  The Kahuna would embody a broader, deeper spectrum in their area of expertise.  They were connected with all aspects of the illness, remedy, environment and particular method needed for restoring balance in the whole person.  Kahuna Lomi Lomi specializing in the art of bone setting, for example, were often knowledgeable in ‘Lua’, the Hawaiian martial art — absorbing a relationship with the bones, joints and deeper body structures, both for battle and healing.

Kahuna Lomi Lomi specialized in a wide range of modalities, derived from the need for therapeutic application.  Their fields of knowledge were vast and results could be stunningly effective.  Lomi Lomi covered a wide range of ailments from digestive disorders, convulsions, fractures, chills, fever, swelling, to pain and poor eyesight.  The healing experts of Ancient Hawai’i offered methods and protocol too numerous to list here, applicable at every stage of Life, some even possessing the knowledge of how to bring a person back from the brink of death.

Ke Ala Hoku — Pathway to the Stars

While Lomi Lomi was practiced seamlessly with herbal medicine, in its even more ancient origins, it was also performed as a spiritual practice. 'Lomi Lomi Nui', ('The Great Massage'), was a rite of passage practiced exclusively in designated he’iau or temples for a minimum of 10 hours. This sacred form of bodywork comes primarily from the Spiritual traditions of the pre-Polynesian Hawaiians, who inhabited the islands for thousands of years. These mystical people held the belief that Spirit inhabits all kaona (levels) of matter, including the human body.

Kahuna practitioners would refine their ability to work with the various access points of energy, spirit, light and information in their own bodies, allowing a pathway of transformation to open. This was reflected in one of it’s original names:  ‘Ke Ala Hoku’ (Pathway to the Stars). In addition to its many therapeutic effects, this sacred rite was designed to bring initiates to an expanded experience of their place in the Universe, creating more possibility of living in the best possible alignment with themselves, their families, communities and environment.

Lost for hundreds of years, this profound work was revived by Kahuna Nui Abraham Kawai’i of Big Island and Kaua’i.  It was practiced and taught by at least one other Kahuna on the Big Island, only after all other Kahuna training had been completed.

Therapeutic Lomi Lomi Today

Though few true Kupuna (elders) with the old knowledge survive, some in the younger generations have preserved what they could of this ancient art. As a result, many versions of Lomi Lomi are now practiced throughout the islands and worldwide.  Most forms of Lomi Lomi, have been put in to two or three different ‘schools', distilled from the knowledge of hundreds of family lines. 

Lomi Lomi today is generally thought of as a soothing, flowing and relaxing massage, consisting of long, smooth strokes with the forearms and hands, and deeper work with the elbows or fingers.  Certain techniques will be applied for specific conditions such as the various stages of birth including pre-natal care, labor, childbirth, after birth and infant care. The surviving body of knowledge also includes common ailments such as sciatic pain, migraine headache, digestive disorders, and fractures among others.

A few forms of Lomi Lomi using the feet have also survived, imparting a different quality of energy and pressure for skeletal alignment, muscle and connective tissue tension. Some practitioners today, with additional training, also combine herbal medicine with the practice of Lomi Lomi.

Ke Ala Hoku Today

Ke Ala Hoku is probably the rarest surviving form of Lomi Lomi today.  While it maintains the essence of it’s ancient roots, sessions are typically 2 to 3 hours instead of 10.  Therapeutic Lomi Lomi techniques might be included, however these are applied with no intention to heal or fix.  Ke Ala Hoku creates a container allowing the Life Spirit Force in the cells of both giver and receiver, to be the healer.  This form is appropriate for those in emotional, mental, or physical transition — from jobs, relationships & deaths, among others -— and works with the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, ancestral, and energetic bodies in motions which inhabit the resonance of Life Itself.   The session is conducted to ancient chant as well as music from the recipient’s ancestral lineage.  Working with music, breath, movement and attention, this work becomes a vehicle for deep transformation on all levels of being.

Each type of Lomi Lomi, just like each individual technique, is appropriate depending on the need.

Mahalo Nui Loa

If we are lucky enough to live with the profoundly special Life which is Hawai’i, we will likely have a natural gratitude for the healing that it offers in so many ways.  Mahalo Nui Loa to the land, to the ancient cultures which came before us, the healing practitioners who awakened such potent knowledge and those who bring it into the present day.  We are blessed by all of you.