What the islands know: from lessons of connection to the ultimate massage, the ancient secrets of Hawaiian healers bring joy and transformation

Beyond the silky beaches, plumeria-scented breezes and friendly locals, Hawaii evokes a feeling of centeredness and peace found in few places on earth. I once spent a sunset on Waikiki Beach and experienced what the writer Spalding Gray called "the perfect moment." In the idyllic setting of an orange-and pink-hued sky and skin-caressing temperatures, I found a complete peace that most days I would give anything to recapture.

Steeped in tradition and spirituality, Hawaii's land and people encourage such inner quiet and healing. "The main focus of our culture has been and always will be the understanding of the relationship between all living things," explains Maka'ala Yates, D.C., a certified Hawaiian healing instructor and a board member of the Ahahui Ho'ola Hawaii (Hawaiian Healers Council).

It's that connection of people to one another and to nature--called lokahi (unity of all things and embracing diversity)--that's at the heart of the lifestyle and the healing customs in these islands. And while many of the traditions are closely held among families and kahunas (keepers of the wisdom), there are some age-old Hawaiian precepts that can help bring wellness into your own life--no airfare required.

the power of community

The connectedness of all things in Hawaiian culture means that "every action, every thought that an individual has in a village--and the village concept can be used to mean the world--has an effect," explains Yates. Say you live upstream and are aware that people live downstream; you need to ask yourself how you can use the water from the stream and also assist your downstream neighbors. "If you don't care about those living downstream, you're disconnecting yourself," he says. So to make a village function, every person in it must work to be pono, which means having a synergy of mind, body, spirit and all living things.

"Healing has to do with that connection with all people" notes Yates. Otherwise, "you've lost the alignment of young people with old, the wisdom of sharing from the adults to the children, the coming and going of souls."

There is a special approach to reinstating that order after a falling-out within the community: Ho'oponopono (conflict resolution) is a ceremony in which both sides--two people arguing over money in a land dispute, for example--come together with a mediator who facilitates an agreed-upon solution, all in a spiritual context that begins and ends with a commitment to truly let animosity go.

Kapi'ioho'okalani Lyons Naone, a native Hawaiian spiritual and healing practitioner in Kipahulu, Maui, uses ho'oponopono to help couples work through the painful ending of a relationship. "When two people can't talk it out and find closure," he says, "I encourage them to write their feelings down, expressing love and finality." They send their letters, and then "they need to hold true to the declaration to themselves and their partner," he says.

Ho'oponopono also can be used at the individual level, says Yates. "Being out of pono has to do with health--a person who is ill is unaligned."

There are different levels of health in the Hawaiian paradigm of healing-unlike the Western medical model. "Normally, we are caught up in getting rid of eha," says Naone, referring to pain or symptoms that indicate an emotional, physical or spiritual problem. But once that's accomplished, he adds, and we are ala (well), we should move on to try to reach a higher level of healing, one that involves a spiritual component--and that's porno.

the power of spirituality

"Every native Hawaiian healer I've met could have been a minister because of their deep spirituality," says Terry Shintani, M.D., director of integrative medicine at the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center on Oahu and author of The Hawaii Diet. "Healers are so full of aloha [universal love], partly because they see the spirit of God in everyone."

Kamaki Kanahele, director of the center's Native Hawaiian Traditional Healing Center, agrees that all of the Hawaiian practices used, such as massage therapy or herbalism, are largely spiritual. "Eighty percent is spiritual healing, 20 percent is physical." he says. "The transition from illness to healing is always in a spiritual structure" In any encounter between practitioner and patient, the patient must want to be there. "You have to ask for healing. If you do, you're already 50 percent of the way through it," declares Kanahele.

Like Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda, the Hawaiian approach to wellness is holistic, looking to put an ailing body, mind and spirit back into alignment. To that end, ha (the essence of physical life) is essential. In fact, it is the base of the word Hawaii. Together with wai' (water of life) and i (creator), the name of this small island chain that Mark Twain called "the most beautiful anchored in any ocean" has a profound meaning. "It is the law," says Kanahele, "of ancient healing."