authentic Lomi Lomi massage
the aloha spirit of Hawaii
“Imagine a bodywork therapy truly exquisite to receive, and at the same time remarkably effective at facilitating transformation in your body, mind and spirit…
“Lomi Lomi is an experience that overwhelms the mind with sensation as the practitioner uses intuitive movement, breathing, rhythm and focused intention (energy flows where attention goes) in continuous flowing strokes over the body. To move like the ebb and flow of the ocean is to connect with the natural rhythm of Nature and Life within each one of us…
“Lomi Lomi is the joyful sharing of life energy in the present moment. Aloha is the unconditional love one feels flowing through the Lomi Lomi therapist that touches something deep within us and moves us towards celebrating our true essence with joy and purpose.”
from Aloha Spirit, by Louise Kleu
The video below shows the sytle of Lomi Lomi which most resembles mine. ‘Kahuna’ is a Hawaiian word which means ‘expert’ or ‘shaman’ and refers here to the masters of the practice of Lomi Lomi.
A Lomi treatment
If I were to explain to someone with a ‘Western mind’ what happens in Lomi Lomi, I would share what I was told when I was first introduced to the practice: as the therapist’s hands and forearms flow over the whole body, the brain of the receiver eventually gives up trying to follow the movements and they sink more deeply into their parasympathetic nervous system and a state of deeper relaxation than a normal massage treatment. The massage strokes flow in one movement from the sole of the foot to the top of the head, and as such it is a massage which ‘treats the body as a whole’ and not a collection of separate parts. Lomi unifies and connects. For the therapist it encourages a more intuitive approach to body work, as opposed to simply following learnt sequences, and the receiver undoubtedly benefits. This is so important in any discipline where ‘energy exchange’ occurs, which in Lomi Lomi certainly happens.
However, authentic Lomi Lomi goes much deeper and is more powerful than eliciting a particular beneficial physiological response. If you are lucky enough to receive a massage from a Lomi master, you will experience a massage which deeply touches body and soul, bringing personal rejuvenation and healing. Shamanic in origin, authentic Lomi Lomi is full of ritual, prayer and chanting. You bring your intentions for healing (great or small) to the massage, with the Lomi practitioner acting as a ‘space-holder’, a vessel and channel for all that is good in the universe to flow into the receiver wherever it is needed.
If you seek this kind of experience in the UK, be sure to look for practitioners with lineage to these great masters. I have trained with Ricardo Balkhoven, whose own training goes directly to Lomi master Abraham Kawai’i, the founder of Lomi Lomi’s Temple Style. Ricardo encouraged us to develop the spirit of Aloha within ourselves, to fill our lives with “blessing, praise, appreciation and gratitude” and walk the “path of power through love.” It is this which, as Louise Kleu says, allows the Lomi to become a true “dance of breath and life from the heart.”
A rather beautifully-written article on Lomi from Australia, detailing its cultural origins and spiritual foundations….
