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Lomi Lomi vs Esalan?

I would like to know the differences and/or similarities of Lomi Lomi and Esalan massage. I get calls for Esalan massages, and I think there are some similarities, but need more info.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Makana Risser Chai on November 9, 2009 at 2:19pm

Mahalo Rudy. Thank you for reminding us about kapa being so precious. What you say makes sense. To add another dimension to the conversation, I do believe a lot of lomi in early times did not use oil. The only historic documentation I found about oil suggested that it was used for its medicinal properties, and that if medicine was not needed, oil was not used. Not one early visitor described the use of oil. I did not find any early descriptions of long strokes - it was all about squeezing, pinching, kneading and treading, all of which are easier without oil. So perhaps patients were put under a kapa when oil was not used.

Your thoughtful comments about conserving precious resources remind me of the question of salt scrubs. It is a long, difficult process to make salt, and I was not able to find any historic documentation of salt scrubs, so I do wonder whether the old Hawaiians practiced it. At Auntie Margaret's, we used sand! Cheap and easy.

Yes, lokahi is essential to healing. According to the dictionary, lokahi means "unity, agreement, accord, unison, harmony." Kumu Ramsay Taum says that lokahi does not mean that we all agree, but that our differences balance each other out - the essential duality of Hawaiian thought, ao and po, male and female, Ku and Hina. Isn't it wonderful -- that duality is happening right here in this conversation!

Permalink Reply by rudy m smith on November 12, 2009 at 6:44am

Aloha Makana,
Thank you for you wisdom. I love talking story! Salt gathering doesn't have much reference (chants?).
Over 30 years ago I drove Dr. Ben Nakamura, my lomi lomi and kiatsu teacher out to Makaha. We walked for awhile and when we rounded that special point on the Western end of Oahu we scrambled down the hillside and began gathering salt from tidal basins and some seeweeds. Apparently conditions were just right and the wind threw the ocean waters into the air and it would land on stones surrounding small tidal pools dry and was easily collected along with some opihi :}. Dr. Ben often mixed this salt with his herbs and a special red clay I would collect from the hard pan atop Kahoolawe; he said his source of clay had been tainted on Oahu. He was too old to travel much himself. He used this salt mixture for lots of things including a mixture people would drink...
Kumu Ramsay Taum sounds like a light in this world!
Dr. Ben used to explain the Hawaiian language to me like this: There are three meanings to most words. When you only have 12 letters you make the most out of what you have. Generic - a rock is a rock. Extended or contextual - a rock is a person who may be stubborn or holds his ground. Or spiritual - a rock my be the very foundation upon which we base our faith. Two years with Dr. Ben was too short. His favorite word was Halawa. He said it's most spiritual meaning concerned Breath/light/time. Where the breath of God meets the light of God time stops and GOD IS. always gives me chicken skin. Sometimes he would pull my skin with his stories and tease but othertimes his words sunk into my bones.

Makana Risser Chai said:

Mahalo Rudy. Thank you for reminding us about kapa being so precious. What you say makes sense. To add another dimension to the conversation, I do believe a lot of lomi in early times did not use oil. The only historic documentation I found about oil suggested that it was used for its medicinal properties, and that if medicine was not needed, oil was not used. Not one early visitor described the use of oil. I did not find any early descriptions of long strokes - it was all about squeezing, pinching, kneading and treading, all of which are easier without oil. So perhaps patients were put under a kapa when oil was not used.

Your thoughtful comments about conserving precious resources remind me of the question of salt scrubs. It is a long, difficult process to make salt, and I was not able to find any historic documentation of salt scrubs, so I do wonder whether the old Hawaiians practiced it. At Auntie Margaret's, we used sand! Cheap and easy.

Yes, lokahi is essential to healing. According to the dictionary, lokahi means "unity, agreement, accord, unison, harmony." Kumu Ramsay Taum says that lokahi does not mean that we all agree, but that our differences balance each other out - the essential duality of Hawaiian thought, ao and po, male and female, Ku and Hina. Isn't it wonderful -- that duality is happening right here in this conversation!

Permalink Reply by Gary Lloyd on November 12, 2009 at 8:23am

I am so grateful for everything that is being shared here. It is deepening my understanding of Lomi Lomi, with its connection to nature and its spiritual content. I am also reading "Wise Secrets of Aloha" by Kahuna Harry Uhane Jim echoes what has been reflected above.

THANK YOU.