WakaAloha

Incredible experience in Hawai’i thanks to Pōhāhā I Ka Lani , www.pohahaikalani.com
Kumu Ku’uleinani , 🙏
Thank you to my Lomi ohana from Australia and Japan for coming all the way to Hawai’i !!

Kumu Dane, we continue to learn to keep the teachings shine!

I believe that healing the body has many similarities with tasks we do to mālama ‘āina. We pause, listen, observe, remove things that seem to be suppressing growth. We heal, we grow, we thrive. The “weeds” that once hindered our growth now fuels our survival and makes us strong. May we remember there is always time to take care of ourselves. Pause, listen and always mālama pono. We are grateful that @lomilomihilohawaii, @larontakeo and their ‘ohana / haumāna was able to spend the day with us as we mālama nā lo’i o Nāpo’opo’o. Grateful that we were able to share kalo in which they took home to ku’i into poi. Always a special day when we get to spend it with this ‘ohana. E Ola Mau…..

By 1970, only six men left on Earth still knew how to cross an ocean with no instruments at all. Five of them would not teach outsiders. Everything Hawaii was about to get back came down to the sixth.

His name was Pius Piailug, from Satawal - a half-square-mile coral island of about 500 people in Micronesia. His grandfather, a master navigator, chose him as a baby. He set him in the tide pools as a toddler to feel the water move. At seven, the boy was dragged behind a sailing canoe to cure his seasickness. They called him Mau. It means strong.

In 1976, Hawaiians built Hokulea, a deep-sea voyaging canoe like the ones their ancestors sailed. But wayfinding had been dead in Hawaii for some 600 years. Not one Hawaiian alive could guide her. So they asked Mau.

On May 1, 1976, he left Honolua Bay, Maui, with no compass, no sextant, no charts. He steered 2,400 miles by stars, swells, and birds. On day 31 he read the white terns and the water and called landfall. On June 4, Hokulea slid into Papeete, and more than 17,000 people were waiting on the shore. In one month, one man had proven what the textbooks denied - that the Pacific was settled on purpose, by navigators, not by accident.

What the crowd didn't know: the crew had fractured at sea. There was a fight - a real one, fists. Mau recorded the return sailing instructions on tape, flew home from Tahiti, and vowed never to sail with Hawaiians again.

The return leg was sailed with instruments. The gift had been given once - and dropped.

Then came March 16, 1978. Hokulea capsized in the Molokai Channel. A young crewman and lifeguard named Eddie Aikau paddled his surfboard toward Lanai for help. The crew was rescued. Eddie was NEVER seen again.

A grieving Nainoa Thompson went looking for the one man who could make sure it never happened again. He found Mau. The answer came slow: "We will see. I will let you know."

Then it came whole: "I will train you to find Tahiti because I don't want you to die."

He came back. Most people guard a grudge like an inheritance. Mau Piailug decided a young man's life outweighed his own broken trust.

Before dawn he would take Nainoa to Lanai Lookout and make him read the stars, the swell, the wind, until the ocean became a map he carried inside. When Nainoa finally held the whole star compass in his mind, Mau told him: "Good. Don't ever lose that image or you will be lost."

On March 15, 1980, Hokulea left Hilo again. Thirty-three days later she reached Tahiti - and this time Nainoa Thompson navigated, the first Hawaiian to find Tahiti the old way in some 600 years. Mau rode along as a teacher and let his student bring her in.

Hawaii lost its way for 600 years. A stranger from Satawal handed it back.

Every kid who grew up in the islands drew that canoe in class. Crayon sails on a blue crayon sea. Most never learned the name of the man who made her more than a museum piece.

In 2007, Hawaii answered. Navigators built him a canoe of his own - the Alingano Maisu - and sailed her across the Pacific to Satawal. "Maisu" means the windfall breadfruit that belongs to whoever needs it. That March, his health failing, Mau initiated 16 new navigators in the first pwo ceremony held on Satawal in over half a century. Five of them were Hawaiian. Nainoa Thompson was one.

Mau Piailug died on Satawal on July 12, 2010. He was 78.

But count what is still here. By one 2019 estimate, some 30 master navigators now carry the knowledge across the Pacific. Hokulea is out on a voyage of the whole Pacific right now. And in March 2025, at her 50th-anniversary ceremony on Oahu, the chiefs of Satawal were seated at the center of a star compass drawn on the ground.

His grandfather told him never to hold the knowledge to himself. Mau Piailug held it for no one. He gave it to his children, to his students, to a fleet of strangers who had once broken his trust. Hawaii sails today because he chose to come back. He passed it on.

Self care: grow your food!!

“Kīpuka Farmacy” has been Kumu Dane’s dream.
The concept is grow Hawaiian medicinal plants such as ūhaloa, noni, mamaki and provide them to the community, involve and inspire people, raise awareness about taking care of oneself, family, community and Mother Earth to perpatuate their culture.

We were very fortunate to pay visit to the garden. We spent very precious time with aunties: listening to their stories and sharing food and getting our hands on the weeds!

I felt Kumu Dane’s presence which felt like heart warming. Finally I made it to your dream garden…
I look forward to next visit already!

I am very thankful to aunties for having us and to Kumu Kuʻuleinani .ola for connecting us with them🙏



#ロミロミ

Lomi Noho class has completed successfully!

My client and her son took the class together. He is a gymnast and very interested in bodywork. A quick learner, down to earth and takes care of his mom who has been through a challenging time with her health.

The class was filled with good energy and so much love which brought me back to the Kumu Dane’s teaching:

“Healing is 80% Mana and 20% is Aloha.”

I am truly grateful to Kumu Dane who is the source of my Lōkahi Lomilomi knowledge.

Kumu Yumiko Ku’uleinani thank you so much for your continuous support keeping the door open to those who has sincere desire to learn Kumu Dane’s healing art🙏