Description of Hawaiian Herbal Healing/ La'au Lapa'au

Hawaiians usually begin their morning just before the sunrise with chants. Some use a chant titled, He Mu (a prayer to silence yourself on all levels) followed by E Ala E (welcoming the sun). The goal is to become one with the sun-one with the energy/light/wisdom represented by the sun.

La'au Lapa'au is practiced using different parts of a plant to make different types of medicine. This is a form of traditional herbal healing that has existed from the beginning of time. Herbal Hawaiian healing has a lot to do with the language and appreciation of the land. The whole interaction between the kahuna, the land, the herbs, the ancestors, the ill one, etc. is part of Hawaiian herbal healing.

Kapi'ioho Lyons Naone learned everything he knows about Hawaiian herbal healing from his grandmother. He has never studied herbs in a medical setting and he does not know the scientific terms or components of herbs. He knows the Hawaiian names for them and sometimes the "common" English name. Most of this material comes from his teaching.

There are different styles, or branches, of kahuna just as there are warriors. The Ku side has Mo`oku and is the side that deals with violence, wars, state of the nation, protocols, builders of heiau, and they are the ones who set national kapus. On the Lono side is the Mo`olono who deals with people, individuals. Healing work kahuna usually is done under Mo`olono. The kahuna that sets spells is under the Ku side; however, in the old days, this was very rarely done. It was thought not to be a good idea. The method then was usually to take the gods of the "other" party instead. This is why the heiau were often sites of war-the newcomer wanted to take the powerful place and claim it for themselves and their own power. The healing practitioner is usually called Ka Huna La`au Lapa`au.

When Hawaiians learn la`au lapa`au, it is traditional to taste each tea or medicine to become familiar with the plant and its attributes. When la`au lapa`au is taught in a classroom, it is usual for herbs to be presented for the class to see, smell, and become familiar.

In the beginning there was Wakea/Papa who had a child called Haloa (a sickly or stillborn child) that they buried in the mud. The child that re-emerged was the first taro plant which was named Haloa Naka, the child that quivers. Haloa Naka represents all plants and animals in the Hawaiian healing modality. This child, Haloa Naka, was a special child because it knew how to care for itself, how to sacrifice itself, how to protect itself, and how to feed itself so that everything would be pono (all right). Haloa Naka was pono and lived for several million years. Then Wakea and Papa had another child called Haloa and this child was not able to feed itself, not able to care for itself, not able to protect itself, and not able to sacrifice itself. Haloa Naka's natural purpose in life was to teach, protect, and heal. Haloa had to look to its elders to learn everything. This child, Haloa, had no natural enemy. This child also grew a brain and hands to imitate the plants and trees. All we (haloa) have to do is protect them (plants and animals) and they will protect us, feed us, sacrifice for us, etc., including heal us.

The elders developed a system of pono to keep everything and everyone in its right place. As long as haloa obeyed the kapu of the pono, haloa naka would always be there to feed, protect, and heal us. There came a time when the kapu was removed. Once the kapu was gone, haloa created a natural enemy for itself-itself!

The Hawaiian belief is that you take care of your elders. And in turn they will teach, feed, protect, and hanai (also means to feed or nurture) you. The Haloa Naka will hanai haloa forever unless we destroy the haloa naka. The kahuna has to understand this enough to know where the priority is.

Note that this priority pattern is the reverse way of honor of modern peoples. Greed and power mongering began when the ali`i began to be described as acting in greedy ways-grabbing power. This was not the original way.

In response to a question from a student as to "why" this was not the original way or why it changed, Kapi`ioho noted that "why" was the worst question you could ever ask as a Hawaiian child and the answer (if you got one) was always "because up is up and down is down."

To make a Hawaiian herbal tea to smell and taste for familiarization, take young adult leaves from the tip (muo) and ALWAYS use an ODD NUMBER of leaves. This represents an even number for the patient/user plus one for Spirit. Don't mix teas! Use one at a time to see results. Boil teas for 20 minutes. The teas will be very light and are for familiarization purposes. Notice scent, taste, and learn what they can do for health.
Always be sure to use clean, non-sprayed tree for gathering your leaves. Hawaiian healers normally don't mix teas or add sugar, cream, etc.

An example of different ways of using the herbs is WAPINE or lemon grass. Almost every tea has a benefit for the body. This one offsets blood pressure and could cause problems if abused ( blood pressure may drop to too low). It affects soft muscle, and involuntary muscles (such as heart). If you use green leaves, it can and does cause a quick dive in blood pressure. If you dry the leaves for at least one week, you can use it safely for blood pressure and other uses. DON'T mix medicinal teas unless you know the effects of mixing them. Do not add sugar, cream, whiskey, etc. to any of the teas. Drink as much as you want of the tea made with dried leaves. Cooking lemon grass with your food is safe and produces no blood pressure effects.

History of Hawaiian Herbal Healing/ La'au Lapa'au

The Hawaiian people had no written history prior to the missionaries who began to record what they could observe while simultaneously working to change the culture. From word of mouth handed down from generation to generation by way of the oral sun and moon calendars, the Hawaiians know they came to what we now think of as Hawaii about 75 B.C. That date has been established because of the position of Pleiades at that time. It was a time when warring peoples migrated to other parts of the world and those who first settled what we now know as Hawaii migrated by canoe from the Marquesas. They migrated because the sun, moon, and stars in the heavens guided them in their daily lives and it was the stars that directed the migration. They also migrated to give the land a rest and allow it to heal from human life. Life was very peaceful in the Hawaiian Islands until 1250 A.D. when the Ku warrior chiefs known as Pa'ao arrived from Tahiti. They introduced competition for who is biggest, strongest, has the most and they also introduced human sacrifice into the culture.

Hawaiians saw human sacrifice as uplifting the person to another level and that person became part god. In fact, they would often send the person they believed was the right person to be elevated even though that person was not the one named by the Tahitian chief and the person would go willingly to their own death knowing they were making the sacrifice of their own life for a purpose their people understood. Sometimes the chiefs would choose an enemy for the human sacrifice so expediency was also introduced into the culture at that time.

Prior to the arrival of Captain Cook, no one ever questioned the right of healers to practice. Once the outsiders began to arrive, breaking of the kapu (traditions and rules) began. The Hawaiians became a sick race and were subject to many illnesses beginning in 1865. They were exposed to mosquitoes and venereal disease as well as many other diseases brought by the ships, the rats, and the people on the ships.

In 1865 Kamehameha V started issuing licenses to Hawaiian practitioners to ensure their ability to practice Hawaiian healing. He did much to preserve the old ways. He created the secret Royal Order of Kamehameha which today is the oldest such organization still in existence. There was no law or legislation associated with his creation. Licensing disappeared after his death until 1886,

In 1886, Kalakaua, the first elected king, adopted legislation that created a Hawaiian Board of Health. He appointed 5 Kahuna to sit on that Board The kahunas job was to certify Hawaiian Health practitioners. They licensed 300 Hawaiian practitioners. This process legitimized Hawaiian practioners/Kahuna. In 1893, the monarcy was taken over by American businessmen and the U.S. Marines. All recognition of Hawaiian healing practices was lost. This was the beginning of practitioners going underground.

In 1919, David Malo Kupihea, a member of the legislature, introduced into law legislation to empower the issuing of licenses to Hawaiian practitioners by the president of the Territorial Board of Health. This did not become effective until 1948.

In 1948, a Board was finally created to issue licenses. There were three persons on the Board of Examiners for Hawaiian Herbalists that was originally created under the 1919 law. The first practitioner to come to them for a license was Luka G. Kinolau and she was also the last person to go before them because she was denied certification; she did not know the botanical names of all the herbs and the Board members were dubious about whether the herbs could really heal.

Lomi lomi was the only certification ever issued by the Board of Examiners for Hawaiian herbalists-with language to avoid prostitution. After that time, lomi lomi was the only Hawaiian practice allowed. That practice was controlled by the police so they could be sure it was not inciting prostitution.

In 1959 the 1919 law was struck down and thrown out when Hawaii became a state. This action meant there were NO legal, allowable practices or practitioners. No practitioners could even stand up and talk about healing.

In 1980 several healers came forward and began discussing the need for Hawaiian health care. Abraham on Kauai who was the Kaupo area of Maui was one of those.

In 1983 an organization entitled Papa La'au lapa'au was created. All the names in Kapi'i'oho's geneaology were present and he was made President. This meeting took place on the Big Island at Keohua. They continue to meet on different islands, even today.

In 1984 a study was conducted to gather facts and figures to support the need for Hawaiian health care. Alu Likee was the group that initiated that movement. The effort was funded by the state legislature until it ran out of money and Alu Like and individual people took over to finish the study. Kapi'i'oho and other traditional practitioners participated in this study. This group included western-trained Hawaiians led by traditional practitioners.

In 1986 a group took the results of this study to the U.S. Congress. Their biggest opponent was Senator Inouye because he thought it would take money away from Indian Affairs. Now, he is the healers' biggest supporter. It was also 1986 when the Maui La'au lapa'au was formed by Kapi'i'oho Lyons Naone III, Ka'ala kea (Papa) Mitchell, Keopi Ramon, Ave Makua, and others.

In 1987 Papa La'au lapa'au met on Molokai to set up standards of training. They set forth the time of study, qualifications, and standards. He was the original president in 1983 and again in 1987. These qualifications and standards were all written down. The standards were first implemented in April 2000 when Kapi'i'oho held his first class of the Indigenous Healing Institute.

In 1988, the Native American Health Care Act was passed by the U.S. Congress. It established health systems and provided $19 million to Hawaii for improved health care. In addition, its wording includes the following: "Western practitioners must work along side Hawaiian practitioners to improve health care of the Hawaiian people." This wording gave Hawaiian practitioners the right to go into hospitals and to practice openly once more. It also gives the right to practice cultural medicine. This was the first legitimization of the traditional practitioners. One of the main considerations for today's kahunas is to improve the health statistics and the health itself of the Hawaiian people.

The $19 million created Kapuna Papa Ola Lokahi (a statewide health organization) that in turn created organizations on each island. Maui's organization is called Hui No Keola Pono. The state organization created the Alexander Kaonohi Award to recognize Hawaiian practitioners/kahuna. These are the only recognized practitioners. Alexander Kaonohi was a recognized healer, a renegade, who became a symbol of the practitioners. He practiced all over the islands openly and was not apprehended. Those given this award are considered to be legitimate practitioners/kahuna. Kapi'i'oho was the youngest ever recognized by this group.

So, there are two geneaologies of Hawaiian healing: the legal history that says, "you can practice," and the birth geneaology that says, "you must practice."

It is believed that the Hawaiian people who currently inhabit Hawaii had previously lived in an area outside of Mexico City where petroglyphs appear inside caves that depict Polynesian people and the canoes they used for travel thousands of years ago. Many of the same plants that Hawaiians use for healing in Hawaii now also grow in that area of Mexico and are used by the natives for similar healing purposes (32 were identified as being used for identical purposes a few years ago in a study led by medical doctors). Native Hawaiian kahunas believe that their people migrated every 2,000 to 4,000 years to give the land a rest and perhaps they carried some plant life with them…or perhaps they were always guided by the starts to places that naturally grew the same type of plant life.

What to expect from Hawaiian Herbal Healing/ La'au Lapa'au

If working with a Kahuna, you can expect the session to be outdoors. It might be in the mountains, at the beach, or somewhere in between-the place will depend upon what the Kahuna senses is needed for your willingness to talk openly and be receptive; where he/she may want to obtain the natural medicines for you or show you how to obtain your own. It is unlikely that a kahuna will "treat" by just providing a tea but rather will want to talk with the client and learn the entire story of the person's daily life and surroundings. These things may be impacting the person's health and require a change in diet, or rest, or the amount of work being done, etc.

Cost

There may be a set fee ranging from $50 to $150; but if you are working with a true Kahuna, it is likely that the cost will be your commitment to make the changes required to get healthy plus whatever donation you will make.

The kahuna's job is not to work miracles-it is bring you back into balance. The symptom is usually pain in the body.. The symptoms are not really the problem, usually. The kahuna uses I or haloa naka to remedy the out-of-balance individual. Now, in modern times, the kahuna specialize-in the old days they did not. Conflict resolution could be required to resolve a body symptom.

Uses for Hawaiian Herbal Healing/ La'au Lapa'au

The uses are as extensive as any other form of herbal healing and will not be detailed in this document. However, there are many Hawaiian herbs and each herb may have one or many uses and the uses range from treating skin disorders to blood pressure problems. Noni has been used for many things, including the treatment of diabetes. It is best known for its detoxification qualities. Lemi kane is used to treat rashes and white skin spots-and to keep mosquitoes away. It is sometimes used for prostate problems in men, menopausal symptoms in women, and can be used for general good health. Kinehi, also known as Spanish needle or "hitch hiker," can be used to stimulate appetite if brewed one way; made another way, it is great for the skin-eliminating wrinkles, toning the skin and body. Lauae or lawae (the fern that grows wild in Hawaii) also is good for different things depending upon how the medicine is made. One way it is good for internal use; made another way, it is good for treating sores on the body externally. Ie'ie is used to staunch bleeding after childbirth.

Certification

Legal licensing: no longer issued; the practice is recognized under the 1988 Native Hawaiian Health Care Act.

Certification: Indigenous Healing Institute offers certification in la'au lapa'au and ho'opono'pono. Other certifications may be available.

References / Literature

Books

Practitioners for Hawaiian Herbal Healing/ La'au Lapa'au

Find Hawaiian Herbal Healing/ La'au Lapa'au Practitioners

Learn how to qualify a practitioner.