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Louise's Blog
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Hawaii: The Pause that Refreshes
It's never a hardship
to spend time in Hawaii. Having just returned
from two weeks in the sun, I still catch myself glancing out the
window, expecting to see swaying palm trees and ocean views in the background. The
smell of the salt air has been replaced with the scent of fallen leaves
in wet grass. As the memories of another Canadian summer begin to
fade, I am reminded of my connections to things that change and
to things that, within the change, always stay the same.
One of these is Huna and the gift of the Hawaiian people to
the world - the gift of the aloha spirit. I
chose to engage again in a nine-day Huna intensive as a participant, relaxing
into the sounds, smells and sights as they unfolded, letting my thoughts
and my spirit wander wherever it chose to go. Wrapping my tongue around
the language of the Hawaiians, and welcoming the vibrations of the chants
as their waves moved through me - opening and awakening - left me feeling
very much at home in this 'foreign' place.
For me, the spirit of aloha
does not change. It is the experience
of invite and allow... of opening and welcoming... of live well
and large and in that life, make room for others to do so for themselves. It
is an invitation to discover... to explore and wander and wonder...
and to become
willing to decloak to myself and to my world. It is the inspiration
to engage... to express and connect... in ways that honour the
truth of who I know myself to be, without surrendering the unfolding
truth of who I might become. In that moment, I emerge from my own
potential into an expression of its form in this life, in this breath,
in this time. I
am very mindful that I could never have planned or designed what
has emerged. It
just 'is'.
And within all of this, Huna
changes. As I grow and evolve, so does
the Huna of my expression grow and evolve. As I become welcoming of
and embrace the waves of my own evolution, so does the Huna of my expression expand
and enliven, opening more doors - wider and faster - that I might
gain momentum rather than become lost in the details. Life
is not lived in the details but in the spaces between details that
invite curiosity and a difference in perspective.
Perhaps more than anything else, my days in Kona awakened me to a new discovery - a discovery that my compelling attraction through Huna draws me to the creators of Huna...to the people of the Kingdom of Hawaii, their culture and their lives. Inside me, where I live, I 'know' things that I cannot explain. I asses this 'knowing' against my 'right' to know since, after all, I am not Hawaiian. And yet, in the Spirit of Aloha that is the greatest gift I allow myself to receive, my continuing journey now includes one of learning how to allow myself to 'know' that which I am not supposed to... know... deep in the tissue of my being. I am unwilling to deny the truth of my own experience. For me, the power that is Huna lies in its invitation to be claimed for us all.
I return from Hawaii revitalized
and refreshed - and I also return far more willing to trust the truth of my own experience. As
ancient as Huna is, there is always room for more! I am reminded of
a comment attributed to Uncle George Naope (a 'living treasure' of
Hawaiian culture) when asked about holding to the ways of the past. He
asked "You know that song... 'I want to go back to my little grass
shack? Well, I don't!" Uncle then went on to speak to the
changes of electricity and running water, and how we can add to
our lives without losing anything that we already hold as valuable.
And so it is with me. I can add to my experience of Huna -
and expand it and accelerate it - without losing any of its value. I
am clear inside myself - where I live - that the approaching Huna
Retreat at Oceanstone will be one of the most powerful in my experience. Within that
which stays the same - the spirit of aloha - I welcome and anticipate
the change to come.
Louise
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