Aloha is ʻOluʻOlu

Aunty Pilahi Paki wrote this chant of aloha. In a wonderful workshop with Leialoha Lim Amina in 2005, Leialoha taught us what she had learned from her training with Kumu Pilahi. Here is the first verse of Pilahiʻs chant:

Akahai e nā Hawaiʻi           
Lokahi a kū like
ʻOluʻolu ka manaʻo
Haʻahaʻa kou kulana
Ahonui a lanakila.



This week I want to share my thoughts and feelings about ʻoluʻolu, Hawaiʻi meaning agreeable expressed with a feeling of pleasantness. It often seems that in this modern world those two words, agreeable and pleasantness, seem so old-fashioned and discarded by many. Spirit teaches us that these are needed more than ever to counter the chaos and unkindness which is prevalent all around us. And that we donʻt have to get drawn into othersʻ anger and distress. To be agreeable is not weakness, it is a show of inner strength to hold your core in kindness and release that feeling to your world. There will always be a time to fight, to protect your self, your loved ones. However, that is always the last response and seldom is needed.

To be agreeable and welcoming when in daily interactions on the phone, in the stores, in public and at work creates that warm and welcoming energy. It allows all you come in contact with to react to you with a smile and a sense of wanting to return your pleasantness.

The spoken word has power. When a word is spoken aloud, the meaning of that word is released into your home, your neighborhood, your world. In Hawaiian belief that word and its meaning cannot be called back once spoken. Its power has been released. Therefore, we endeavor to choose our words with care and consideration for our lives and our planet.

This is so true for me in my working world of real estate broker. I often spend full days in the car with new friends. Just did that yesterday! We had so much fun together and found so much in common as we searched for their new home here in our beautiful mountain village. Ours is a business of relationships. I strive to live with, and in, aloha with all of my business partners. To move through the day in ʻoluʻolu opens up so many more possibilities for magic and discovery between us while it colors the outcome of our business, as well.

I am grateful for Pilahiʻs wisdom and for Leialohaʻs additional teaching. My kuleana, responsibility, is to pass that teaching along, with aloha.

Aloha Is...Lokahi

Another glorious fall day in our mountain village. I am grateful for the beauty.

The traits of character that express the Spirit which lives in the people of Hawaiʻi are found in this chant written by Kumu Pilahi Paki.

A is Akahai meaning kindness expressed with a feeling of tenderness

L  is Lōkahi meaning unity expressed with a feeling for harmony

O isʻOluʻolu meaning agreeable expressed with a feeling of pleasantness

H is Haʻahaʻa meaning humility expressed with a feeling for modesty

A is Ahonui meaning patience applied with perseverance

Aloha is known throughout the world through these words of wisdom, intelligence and understanding. I was reminded of this teaching when I took a workshop with Kumu Leialoha Lim Amina at 3 Days of Aloha in 2015. In the workshop she shared the teaching of Pilahiʻs chant. This is the gift and message that we can share with the world.

My previous post discussed the meaning of akahai/kindness. Today I want to speak to Lōkahi, meaning unity expressed with a feeling of harmony. Two of the most obvious endeavors in Hawaiian culture that show lōkahi being lived to the core of those involved is to watch a hālau hula, the dancers moving as one being, total unity of mind, soul and bodies. Training together, being together in classes and in performance creates a bond, a sisterhood. Unity of spirit.

Another obvious place where lōkahi is prevalent is in the waʻa, the outrigger canoe. Paddlers train for hours/months/years to feel one another as they glide through the kai, the ocean. Becoming one with the canoe and each other. Unity of purpose. Lōkahi is not about self, it is about moving into harmony with others.

One of the things I miss the most about becoming the teacher, the kumu, is that I no longer dance on the line. My kumu told me many years ago that this loss was the hardest part of evolving to teaching. That I would deeply miss being a dancer with my sisters. And I do. Lōkahi.

How do I attempt to translate the lōkahi of aloha into my daily life? 

I feel lōkahi is central to welcoming my newly adopted rescue Alaskan Malamutes as they adapt to life in our Ash Street Pack. Dogs that come from so many levels of circumstances and backgrounds. Some abandoned, some mistreated. Some neglected. Trust comes to rule our pack through aloha: tenderness, harmony and patience.

I also reach for the sense of lōkahi as I teach a new chant or dance to my haumana, students. Our goal is to learn to feel and to trust our sisters as we dance together. We do this with joy and laughter.

I seek lōkahi in my home, my yard of trees, bushes and flowers. I seek lōkahi with my clients. 

Hoʻomoe wai kāhi ke kāoʻo. Let us all travel together like water flowing in one direction.

Aloha Is....

 

    Momi Palmieri, Kumu Hula - Mālamalama O Ka Mahina Leavenworth WA

 

In 1986 Hawaiʻi adopted The Aloha Spirit Law. The meaning of Aloha was written by Pilahi Paki.
Her students strive to live by, and for, the Aloha Spirit. Those of us who teach hula, chant, dance, healing and spiritual training do the same. We teach to remind and to keep alive the values of the life force of Aloha.

In 2015 I attended a workshop at Three Days of Aloha in Portland, OR. given by Kumu Hula Leialoha Lim Amina, a haumana (student), of Pilahi.. Her entire training that day was concerning this chant and its deeper and profound meaning. She passed this kuleana (responsibility) on to me and other teachers in this training.

"A - Akahai, meaning kindness to be expressed with tenderness;
  L - Lōkahi, meaning unity, to be expressed with harmony;
 O - ʻOluʻolu - meaning agreeable, to be expressed with pleasantness;
 H - Haʻahaʻa - meaning humility, to be expressed with modesty;
 A - Ahonui - meaning patience, to be expressed with perseverance.

These are traits of character that express the Spirit and the people of a land known throughout the world in these words of wisdom, intelligence and understanding. What the world knows in the word of ALOHA."

- Pilahi Paki

This beautiful fall morning in Leavenworth speaks to me of aloha in all facets of my life. I sit at my computer looking out my east facing kitchen window, my world on the rising sun and chattering, feeding birds. A hummer darts in and out of the young Indian Summer Crab Apple tree, which is brilliant with its bright red berries. In late winter the Pine Grosbeak comes down from our forests of spruce and fir to devour these choice berries.

Akahai, kindness to be expressed with tenderness, encourages me to be mindful of the needs of my real estate clients as well as my students, of my family and friends. Kindness requires forethought of my words as I teach the meaning of contracts, or the meaning of Hawaiian chants. Akahai reminds me to be tender with my rescued Alaskan Malamutes. Their past experiences often were fraught with fear, abandonment and mistreatment. They bring me their hope which, in time, grows to trust and happy dog laughter. There is no place in my life where the need for kindness and tenderness does not reach. I learn every day more ways to be in aloha, to take a breath and let aloha happen. Let it come from me, let me give it away...with joy and kindness.

Wishing you a day, a week, a lifetime of aloha.