Ho’oponopono: My Phrase to Accept, Heal & to be Free

Ho’oponopono is a Hawaiian phrase for, “I’m sorry, please forgive me, thank you, I love you.”

I was introduced to this word and phrase, two years ago, in my BodyTalk class. I was impressed with the history and meaning of it, but didn’t apply it in my own life until the year, 2017, as I gained a personal testimony of  how much power and influence words have on me. Throughout my experience, I have noticed a positive shift in the way I think and act towards myself and others. I will go into my personal experience more later.

History of Ho’oponopono

To begin, lets go over the history summary of, Ho’oponopono. Like I said, it’s a Hawaiian word/phrase and was originally taught by Morrnah Nalamaku Simeona. She was a healer and in the beginning of the 1980s, known as a living treasure of Hawaii. She taught, Ho’oponopono to all sizes of groups within hospitals, colleges, and also to United Nations personnel. To promote the principles of this, she founded “The Foundation of I, Self-Identity through Ho’oponopono.”

In the next few years, one of Simeona’s most avid students, Dr. Hew Len was the first person  to document and confirm proof of the healing power initiated by the Ho’oponopono process. In 1984-87, at the Hawaii State Hospital he worked as a psychologist staff member to observe patients. These patients consisted of criminally insane males who committed murders, rapes, assaults and were in the degree of insanity, thus it was a high security facility.

In 1987, just 3 years after he begun working at the hospital, body restraints were no longer used, and there was minimal violence, only from new patients. The energy of the facility and people improved, and soon after the facility closed because there was no need for it anymore. These patients had improved incredibly and moved to other low-key, non-violent facilities.

These three years were documented by several witnesses.

So you may be asking, how did this miraculous event happen?

In Dr. Hew Len’s own words he explained in his book, Zero Limits (p. 142):

• I did not do any therapy or counseling with patients
• I did not attend any staff conferences on patients
• I practiced updated Ho’oponopono process on a daily basis that included accepting 100% of responsibility for everything being experienced by me.

Dr. Hew Len was asked, by Joe Vitale (co-author of Zero Limits), how did he heal the patients without seeing them, his answer was, “I didn’t heal them. I healed part of myself that created them”.

What does it mean to me? My experience applying Ho’oponopono

What Ho’oponopono means to me is that I am 100% responsible for everything in my life. I have responsibility for my own mistakes and successes, as for others who I’m aware of.  By this I mean, I have the conscious and subconscious power, and loving desire to help others return back to their inner truth. I see this like a mirror, as I live, and practice this on myself daily, and naturally, and energetically it reflects back on others I associate with. Ho’oponopono has zero limits, exactly why Len’s and Vitale’s titled their book that!

During, the last decade I was great at self-sabotaging behavior. I listened to outside sources that told me I wasn’t good enough, I didn’t deserve …., I wasn’t skinny or pretty enough, or even smart enough. My thoughts created belief systems that manifested in those very sad and lost years of my life.

I felt like I didn’t have control over things, and even today I don’t even know why I believed that. One way I tried to gain control is through food. At age 17 years, I became obsessed with food, and wanting to be skinny-minny, as I was anorexic mentally and eventually physically. I would say at least 100-200 negative things about myself, verbally and non-verbally per day. I was against my body and soul, and in turn I was in a constant fight with myself. I got skinny, way too skinny, and I still wasn’t happy, and still I didn’t have control over anything- my thoughts, actions, my life, etc. I felt a sense of insanity, just like those patients.

As a couple years passed, I had experiences where I was hurt, and crushed by others, and it demolished my ability trust. So, literally and metaphorically I put up walls to protect myself, through my weight (subconsciously.) I gained somewhere around 60 lbs. in a few months. I chose to shut down, and to not honor my feelings, or self, and had no power to protect by fragile state, so this is what happened. There was so much shame and regret that had built up over time and my whole self was screaming to be free and find true happiness and joy in and with myself and everything else in my life.

2015 to now, I have been shifting this “stuff” in a positive direction, from something awful to something beautiful. I did positive affirmations lots back in 2015, and did other things that helped me connect to my inner truth and true self. A few of these things included: vulnerable surrender, and immersion in nature regularly (lots of hiking, and now I love and crave it); regular yoga/meditation; surrounding myself with positive people, and friends who showed me how great and awesome I really am!

2017, I began applying the process of Ho’oponopono. I was ready to unload some subconscious garbage, that I no longer wanted to be part of me. As I’ve been applying it, I’ve been learning everyday how it heals me and helps others in smalls ways, but that generate the bigger change. In the beginning, I recognized from meaningfully saying and applying the phrase  – “I’m sorry, please forgive me, thank you, I love you”, the immediate release of all the pain, shame and horrible things I had did to myself in past. It was a literal miracle.

As I’m writing this, I am crying, because it was a very, very dark time in my life, when I desired to no longer exist. But, as I’ve applied Ho’oponopono regularly, (and am striving to apply it daily) I feel a great relief, immense love for myself and an increased love for others and things around me that God has created. Also, I have felt several times the incredible benefits of forgiveness. It has assisted in helping me find my happy, letting go, being in touch with me and loving all of me, with unlimited acceptance and in turn the same for others. I have been able to spread my wings and fly! I am moving forward at relatively fast, and have been kicking life in the butt in a positive way!

I am at the happiest I’ve ever been, and feel a great amount of gratitude for the blessing Ho’oponopono has been for me and continues to be every single day. Recently, I drew a temporary tattoo on my finger (pictured above) to remind me and to have it marked on my soul. As much as it has done for me, I hope the same for you. I encourage you to apply the process of Ho’oponopono, (“I’m sorry, please forgive me, thank you, I love you”) to one aspect of your life that you want to be different. The journey is beautiful, and life changing!

I love you and wish you happiness and joy as you continue your own personal journey, whatever that may be!

xx

Courtney

Links on Ho’oponopono and how to apply it-

Link to the Ho’oponopono book, “Zero Limits”

Link to a Ho’oponopono meditation that I’m going to start doing tonight before bedtime! I started to listen to it today, and liked it.

Link on how to practice in 4 steps Ho’oponopono

 

 

Sources
Zero Limits
Present Love

Disclaimer
This page provides information from my personal experience and education only. It is not to be considered medical advice. I’ve tried my best to keep the information contained in this post as accurate and updated as possible, but I make no guarantee of the accurateness of the same.