What is Ho’oponopono?
On the surface level, many people have understood
Ho’oponopono to be a mantra where one repeats the words
‘I’m sorry, please forgive me, thank you, I love you’ as a form
of mental and spiritual cleaning that could be compared to
Buddhist techniques for clearing karma.
The basis of the mantra came from one principle that the
Hawaiians teach: Hurt no one. Along with this principle, the
mantra was used as a form of resolving conflict instead of the
arguments continuing to increase. It was believed that the
resonance of these four words created harmony and balance. It
allowed the conflict you were currently facing to be released and
the energy to change when there were surrounding issues.
It has been defined as forgiveness and reconciliation practice,
cleansing of ‘errors of thought’. The prayer demands that there
is a state of peace and resolution, even if there is no ability to
let go of the situation. You have to connect to the void, the zero,
or you can say, to the universe. The words are able to develop a
state of healing that takes place internally, allowing you to accept what is and to move into a more powerful state of mind. This
way, you can learn to let go and let love back in.
Forgiveness plays an important part in the whole process, to
get rid of any heaviness of guilt in the subconscious. For people
living in Hawaii today, Ho’oponopono is less about being a
personal shamanic practice through chanting a mantra internally
or externally, and more about a traditional system of dispute
resolution. It’s a practice that still holds the values of making
things right and correcting errors. However, in this incarnation,
it is focused on making things right with our relations; coming
back into the right relationship by correcting errors with
living relatives, ancestors and deities as past life regressions
help to rectify and clear the past life hurts and karmas. This
technique helps to clear blockages which create restrictions to
manifestations.
Not only are you resolving conflict with others, you are also
resolving the same conflict within yourself. The Ho’oponopono
prayer for healing is designed to release those uncertainties that
are holding you back from your true potential.
Everything you see, everything you hear, every person you
meet, you experience in your mind. You only think it’s “out
there” and you think that absolves you of responsibility. In fact,
it’s quite the opposite: you are responsible for everything you
think, and everything that comes to your attention. If you saw a
WhatsApp post regarding some murder or negative influence,
everything you see on your messages is your responsibility. That
sounds harsh, but it means that you are also able to clear it, clean
it, and through forgiveness change it.
Like many spiritual practices, such as meditation, it’s not thepractice you do while you’re in the crisis, it’s the practice you
do on a regular basis between the crises that makes it effective
when the storm hits.There are four simple steps to this method and the order
is not that important. Repentance, forgiveness, gratitude and
love are the only forces at work – but these forces have amazing
power.
The best part of the updated version of Ho’oponopono is
you can do it yourself; you don’t need anyone else to be there,
you don’t need anyone to hear you.
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