What is ho’oponopono

The ho’oponopono is pronounced ho-o pono-pono. It is a deceptively simple but completely profound ancient Hawaiian forgiveness practice. Today it is used in family reconciliations but its history goes back thousands of years. On one level many people regard the ho’oponopono as a mantra, similar to the Buddhist practice of clearing karma.

“I love you, I forgive you, I am sorry. I  thank you”.

The Root of Ho’oponopono

Literally, the ho’oponopono means “to put in order.” I first came across this practice about three years ago, and I could not for the life of me remember the order of the words.

Today I understand that there is no order, somehow or other in whatever situation you are speaking about the order comes quite naturally.

I have also noticed that it ALWAYS  feels right to start with I love you. This is because I always try to work from the heart center everything comes from love. Love is a given in every aspect of my life. So it makes sense that I always begin the ho’oponono mantra with I love you.

The spiritual Root Of Ho’oponopono

The spiritual root is the understanding that all negative feelings such as anger, frustration, confusion, conflict et cetera eventually manifest themselves in a physical result. In other words, our bodies ultimately reflect what we are thinking about. There is an underlying connection between what we think and feel and how we feel physically. Initially the practice was led by the Kahuna’s the ancient priests. They believed that illness stemmed from the breaking of the spiritual law Kapu.

Once this violation had occurred the only way back was by admitting the wrongdoing and asking for atonement. Atonement and forgiveness do not come from guilt. It has nothing to do with the Christian Concept of guilt or sin, but everything to do with mutual cooperation.

You are responsible for everything you see, hear, touch, say and feel. You can practice the ho’oponopono on your own.you don’t need a teacher or a guru. Also you can chant it with friends or family.

Although it does work to an extent if you think the four steps of the ho’oponopono it works best if you sing it. If you can’t manage to sing it yourself, then listen to it as a song and speak it out loud.

The resonance of speech is essential. We all hear music differently according to the vibration of our own skull!

Why Resonance is Important

We actually hear with our brains rather than our ears. However, that process starts in our inner ear. The cochlea has tiny hairs when sound hits these hairs the soundwaves quite literally bounce around your head.

Everything will choose to vibrate and its natural frequency of possible including your skull. The natural frequency of your own skull is governed by its density, size, and shape.

This means that what you hear is entirely individual. This individual resonance will affect the music you don’t like to hear. It doesn’t necessarily predict sounds that you like. It does predict what sounds you dislike. In other words what sounds are discordant to your hearing.

The sound of your voice has its own unique timbre. The timbre of music is the difference is the difference between a violin and piano playing the same note. It’s the difference between your voice and your father’s. We recognize other people by the timbre of their voices.

The universe recognizes your unique timbre. It can distinguish it from any other. It hears the unique sound of your own individual Ho’oponopono. That sound gives it power.

Repeating the Ho’oponopono seemed as odd and alien to me when I first started as my gratitude journal. I would forget the order I was saying things in and mix it up. That sound felt alien because it felt wrong. Eventually, I learned that every unique situation had its own unique repetition.

Also when I first started, I was talking to the universe, about the universe. It was almost as if I was trying to forgive the collective consciousness. It wasn’t an individual thing at all. It wasn’t me taking responsibility for my actions.

In fact, I had been thinking it rather than saying it for over a year before things changed. I can’t exactly remember whether it was because I started to say that things changed.

Subtle Changes

Gradually I began to realize I was actually talking to myself. I was asking my soul to forgive myself. I was wondering what I had to be sorry for.

In other words, I was attracting what I was thinking about. It helped me reconnect with my sense of inner guidance. The reflection led me to be more honest with myself. I found it more difficult to lie to myself.

When used in the modern concept of Hawaii it is a way of reconciling family differences. The familial differences can be defined within a family and also within a community.

I was using it differently, albeit subconsciously. The use for me was reconciling different aspects of my life. Beginning to forgive me led to all sorts of positive changes.

Lasting change can only come about from a sense of inner healing. Letting go of the baggage of my life became much more relaxed. It gave me the clarity to move forward.

I can’t say so far that it has led me to where I want to go because that is still a journey to be discovered. What it has done is allowed me to be freer to let go of the things which no longer serves me. My inner GPS, if you like, is becoming more evident.

The first significant changes are I am more patient. I am more patient to recognize that change of myself takes time.

At the same time, I am less obsessed with time. I know have all the time in the world in which to make the changes that I want to make.

It is very empowering to realize that it’s me personally me that has to let go of the feeling. These destructive emotions and feelings within myself are just that utterly destructive. Learning to love me as an essential part of going forward.

Everything that is going on in me, in my thoughts in my head, everything that happens to me is a reflection of my own consciousness. We all carry are passed around with us, but it doesn’t have to be locked inside us.

Somehow chanting the ho’oponopono out loud does allow you to disconnect from the negative emotions those thoughts. We are indirectly and directly affected by our actions and the actions of others and by healing ourselves we managed to heal everyone around us. That’s the ripple effect. They see our healing and they want to become more like us.