Note: I was trained to call this work Kahuna Bodywork, as it was taught to my teacher, and to her teacher, and as it was named by the creator of this style of Lomi, Kumu Abraham Kawai’i, who shared this work with non-Hawaiian people in the 1980’s. He also called this style of Lomi Lomi “Temple Style Lomi”. In this page, I refer to Kahuna Bodywork as the body of work that I was trained to practice by my teacher. It includes Temple Style Lomi and other forms of healing bodywork.
I am grateful to the lineage of teachers (kumus) that have allowed me to share this sacred bodywork with others, in the spirit of Aloha. I am not Hawaiian by birth, and it is with deep respect for Hawaii and her people, and these teachers, that I continue to share this work. Kahu Abraham Kawai’i believed that we are all Hawaiian in spirit, and followed a deep calling to share the aloha spirit with the world, because the world needs more aloha.
I am so grateful that this work crossed my path in Johannesburg, South Africa.
It was never on my bucket list to massage people. It was not something I ever dreamed I would do. (Ugh – touching other people’s bodies!)
I’ve been practicing Kahuna Bodywork since 2011, and I’ve completed all the seven levels of training offered by Anthea Hardwick of the ALOHA LIFE CENTRE in Johannesburg, South Africa. I cannot explain what happens in these spaces, because it is beyond words. It is a magic that touches the heart and the soul and changes your mind, slowly, over time, to bring about more peace, love and … ALOHA. It changed my life.
I came from a family that was not touchy feely. I only experienced hugging friends at school in high school when I was 13. In 2007, I received my first ever massage, and it happened to be a Kahuna massage, with Anthea Hardwick. It was the most loving, nurturing ‘touch’ experience I had ever had. I was grieving the loss of my father at the time, and it touched my heart at a deep level.
Then a few months later, I bravely went on a Kahuna massage training with Anthea as a ‘body’ – one that got massaged. One that the therapists practiced their technique on.
The 4-day weekend experience touched me so deeply and moved something in me. It was the first time I had left my young daughters, and it was tough to leave them. The night before my flight, I phoned Anthea to say I had changed my mind about going. My youngest, age 5, was crying and didn’t want me to leave her. Anthea, in all her wisdom, said these profound words that I still remember, “If you come, you will get wings, and so will your daughter.”
She was right. I discovered I had wings, and that they had been tightly bound up in grief from the death of my father, and depression and coping with motherhood and, as I viewed life then, the daily grind. I started to release emotional energy that had been trapped in my body for many years. I got a tiny glimpse of what freedom felt like, through releasing the tension that I was holding onto so tightly in order to survive. The tension was held in my body, in my cells and in my soul. It started to release on that weekend. It felt new and good.
It felt really, really good.
(And my daughters and family were absolutely fine without me. In fact, they found they had wings too, because they were strong enough to take care of themselves without me fussing around them all the time. I had given them a bit of space to breathe their own breath too.)
So life went on and in 2011, when I was at a really low point, a friend practiced her Kahuna massage on me, after she had participated in a Kahuna Massage Level 1 Training with Anthea. Something touched me deeply again, and I felt a strong impulse to sign up for the next Kahuna Massage Level 1 training. I did. And once again, that feeling of freedom and a sense of what was possible touched me again. I released more emotions and tension from my body, and I knew I had to continue learning more about this powerful healing form of bodywork. I felt ‘called’ to it.
I attended four training workshops in 4 months. During the second one, I felt transported in my mind to other realms of beauty, where I felt connected to my soul. I was flying up amongst the stars. That evening, as I went to sleep, I felt a physical shifting of my collar bones, and a metaphorical ‘cracking open’ of my heart space, which had felt so sore up until that point. The next day, my whole alignment had shifted, and my spirit felt immensely lighter.
It was the beginning of huge life changing events that have brought me to where I am now. I had hit such a low point, that radical change had to happen if I was to continue living. Yes, I had had enough! Opening up my wings, releasing a lot of pent up emotion, getting in touch with my intuition, my body and my breath, and building up courage to take big leaps of faith; following impulses to move my life in a new direction, were all as a result of being in the flow, being present to my intuition and following that one impulse to do the Kahuna Level 1 massage training with Anthea. And I don’t regret one moment, or one crazy leap of faith that I took after that.
I reconnected to the importance of nature in our lives, and learnt about the spirit of Aloha, and what that means, and the respect for the land that Hawai’ian people hold.
I never imagined I would continue to learn this incredible form of bodywork, become a full time therapist, and do all 7 levels of training with Anthea.
I never thought I’d get to live on my own for six years after twenty years of marriage and family life and have the opportunity to become a full time massage therapist and artist.
I never dreamed I would visit the land of Aloha – it’s the opposite side of the world from Johannesburg – and I visited Hawaii in August 2017.
I dreamed of living somewhere near water, nature and with a view of the sunset.
In March 2015 I met a most wonderful man. Three years later, we married and moved to live on the shores of Lake Washington near Seattle. .. with a view of the lake, trees and the sunset. Dreams do come true when you know how to live with aloha and flow.
What I have learnt through my journey with Kahuna Massage
- How to go with the flow in life – to be present and trust that Life will support me.
- How to balance my life through both giving wholeheartedly, and receiving graciously.
- How to ask for what I need, and trust that what I need will arrive in some form, not always at the time or in the ways I expected, but totally in the perfect way for my highest good and growth, and those around me.
- I’ve learnt to be humble, vulnerable and strong when I need to be.
- I’ve learnt Kahuna is a powerful tool for supporting a life of flow.
- I’ve witnessed so many shifts in my body and my mind that have resulted in me feeling happier and more satisfied with life than I ever was before, no matter what challenges I am going through.
- I have rediscovered the confidence I had as a child, but lost as a young adult.
- I’ve learnt about the importance of giving and receiving. It’s a dance. The support that I have received through the Kahuna “ohana” in South Africa has been incredible.
- Since being in the USA (since 2018), and having to attend massage school and start a business again from scratch, I lost touch with being in my body, because it demanded so much mental work. I have been reminded that healing and balance and health begin in the body. When my BODY feels free and open and aligned, everything else falls into place. I have been reminded to use the practices that I was taught as a Kahuna practitioner to keep myself balanced and healthy.
- I’ve learnt that when I don’t receive regular bodywork in some or other form, I am less able to live in the flow. I go into my head and lose touch with my body. So I get bodywork as often as I can.
I am truly grateful for the life I get to live. Doing what I love, being loved by many and spreading more aloha in the world through this sacred bodywork practice, Intuitive Creativity (at InFlowPainting) and my personal art practice.
Mahalo (thank you) for reading my story. I hope it inspires you to keep moving towards living your life in flow, and exploring ways to stay connected to your body, so that you can feel open, free and balanced, connected to nature, yourself and others in a way that is loving and deeply respectful for the earth and all living beings.
My wish is that more and more people can learn to experience the joy of living in the flow, with the spirit of aloha, through whatever path they find, and so bring more peace and joy to their own souls and to those around them.
Through the work that I do, I wish to contribute creating more peace in our world, sharing the gift of healing, loving touch with others.
aloha,
