Ho'oponopono
We are going to be traveling to Hawaii this month, as we expand our yoga practice into the traditions of Ho’oponopono, a spiritual practice of repentance, gratitude, forgiveness and love.
Ho’oponopono begins by recognizing a difficulty you may be having with something or someone through your reactions or experience. It is believed that we can only experience something from the “data” we have in our subconscious. The practice of Ho’oponopono helps us to clear the data and release us to a state of clarity or freedom. Once you recognize that you are experiencing something from your “data” and the suffering that it creates, ho’oponopno may be calling you to begin the practice.
There are 4 steps to Ho’oponopono that can be practiced in any order.
The four steps are:
I’m sorry
Thank you
Forgive me
I Love You
Or
Thank you
I Love you
Forgive me
I’m Sorry
I Love you
Forgive me
I’m Sorry
Thank you
Or
Forgive me
I’m Sorry
Thank you
I Love you
Scramble them up in any order, as the order is not important. Sit with each one. Explore them. Feel the charge of your reactions shifting.
With I’m Sorry, we take ownership for our data and approach repentance. With Thank you we allow gratitude to erase our other emotional data. With Forgive me, we melt into forgiveness. With I Love You, our hearts fly freely.
Any time you recognize you are anxious, judging, angry, hurt, afraid, suffering, etc., let those emotions signal you to sit with these 4 steps. It can take only a moment or days to erase the “data” and feel the release. Stay with it, follow the layers, unwind the patterns, and repeat when needed.
Be prepared to face the ego, as it is often bound with those emotions especially through righteousness. When I say to my ego I love you, Forgive me, Thank you, I’m sorry, I feel an immediate fracturing of the ego and a small smile grows across my heart.
From a practice of Loving Kindness we take this huge leap, into ownership, repentance, gratitude, forgiveness and love! Oh, the places we shall go…