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The beauty of Hawaiian language
I believe lomilomi can be understood only in the context of the culture and language. What are your mana'o (thoughts) and ninau (questions) about 'olelo Hawai'i (Hawaiian language)?
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Permalink Reply by rudy m smith on
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Some oils have different viscosities even from the same plant - coconut and kukui will sepparate if spun! However some oils we extracted by soaking plants and some we gathered from things like fish livers (yuk) still remember the smell. there are a couple of limu (seaweeds) that are oily and were also used. I do not remember the name of the tree bark that we extracted oil from... there were a few.
Makana Risser Chai said:That is so interesting that you mention oil. I almost put oil in my last post - though from a completely different perspective. I met with two kumu lomi the other night and we were talking about how much oil the kupuna may have used in the old times. One kumu said he spent a whole day making a small amount of kukui nut oil. The other had made coconut oil They both thought the old Hawaiians would hardly ever use oil because it was so hard to make! But I suppose for ali'i or chiefs they would get as much oil as they wanted.
Rudy, in order to separate like that do there have to be two different oils, or does one oil separate into lighter and heavier? -
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Aloha Makana,
This morning it occured to me that my healing background is kapakahi (mixed up) and or Poi dog (mutt) I have been to so many islands in so many locations and talked and watched so many different healers that my world has a blended together. In Mobile, Al. I do not get to do much of what I learned to do so many years ago, do to things like scope of practice and lack of natural resources etc... but I do love to share ... I hope as I glean a piece from here and there and share with everyone that I do so respectfully from the many different yet similar cultures who have blessed my life so much. Thank you for your wisdom and stirring thoughts. -
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Permalink Reply by Makana Risser Chai on
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Rudy, you are a treasure! I think I should interview you for my research - or how about you compiling all your notes and putting them in a book??? It's easy! (ha, ha) Don't worry too much about getting things mixed up, at least if it is all from the Pacific. I am right now reading Te Ranga Hiroa's "Vikings of the Sunset" aka "Vikings of the Pacific" by Peter Buck. He was a Maori, MD, director of the Bishop Museum, and wrote the book in 1932. I haven't even made it to the Hawai'i part yet but am finding so many insights into Hawaiian culture in learning about Tahiti and elsewhere.
I love what you are saying about kahela and kahuli being noun/verb and more. So true. I am going to send your thoughts on that one to one of the translators of the Hi'iaka tale, to see his reaction. And we haven't even heard yet from Kahu Lyons! One of my lomi mentors is also very excited about this discussion and just sent me an email. He wants to get a group together to talk about it. I told him - eh, small group - you, me and Rudy :-) -
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Aloha Makana,
I have been sitting in thought about "ocean billows" and lomi - When the ocean billows it is pushing up, rising into the shore but not to the point of the surf breaking, if you were to lay in the surf of a billowing ocean the sensation would be one of lifting up then dropping away or rocking. Perhaps this relates to the use of ama and lima to create a very rythmical rocking effect? This rocking was how I was taught by Dr. Ben to introduce my touch after pule.
Makana Risser Chai said:Mahalo Rudy. I met Kahu a few years ago and his insights and wisdom are wonderful! With many people exploring this question, I'm sure we can find great answers. But anyone can play! What do ocean billows mean to us as lomi practitioners? How do stars relate? Kahuli are also land snails that make a singing noise. In my Na Mo'olelo book are some stories of a practitioner on Maui who sang while she gave lomi. She sang of the beauty of the body she was working on, and how different parts reminded her of different places on the island. We can let our imaginations run with these images! -
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Wonderful Rudy! I have not heard before of ama and lima. Can you say more about those? Most lomi kumu I have met do not use rocking motions, and yet, having learned Trager on the mainland, it is my favorite way to start a session (after pule).
Your thoughts on ocean billows remind me of the time we went to take pictures of a salt scrub at Aunty Angeline's for my second book. The model did not show up so I "had" to be model. The practitioner was Aunty's granddaughter, Malia Locey, who has also danced hula at Merrie Monarch. There I was, with a bunch of people looking on, talking, lights, camera - and within a minute I thought I was lying on the beach, with gentle wavelets running over me and scrubbing me with sand. I have no idea what she was doing, I was so far gone, but now that you mention it I imagine she was rocking me. Bliss! -
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Ocean billows? A teaching term!
It is very difficult to explain how much pressure to tell a student to use, but if you tell them to press with their hands or elbows until the skin rolls up in front of the hand or elbow they are using the pressure is always "just" right. Try this it always looks like a wave rolling in to the shore.
Makana Risser Chai said:Mahalo Rudy. I met Kahu a few years ago and his insights and wisdom are wonderful! With many people exploring this question, I'm sure we can find great answers. But anyone can play! What do ocean billows mean to us as lomi practitioners? How do stars relate? Kahuli are also land snails that make a singing noise. In my Na Mo'olelo book are some stories of a practitioner on Maui who sang while she gave lomi. She sang of the beauty of the body she was working on, and how different parts reminded her of different places on the island. We can let our imaginations run with these images! -
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Hoku? stars... I used to give massages under the stars in Hana and if you put oil on beautiful dark Hawaiian skin you can see the stars in it... this is purely my Poetic Thoughts. Quick I need a Hawaiian and some stars!
rudy m smith said:Ocean billows? A teaching term!
It is very difficult to explain how much pressure to tell a student to use, but if you tell them to press with their hands or elbows until the skin rolls up in front of the hand or elbow they are using the pressure is always "just" right. Try this it always looks like a wave rolling in to the shore.
Makana Risser Chai said:Mahalo Rudy. I met Kahu a few years ago and his insights and wisdom are wonderful! With many people exploring this question, I'm sure we can find great answers. But anyone can play! What do ocean billows mean to us as lomi practitioners? How do stars relate? Kahuli are also land snails that make a singing noise. In my Na Mo'olelo book are some stories of a practitioner on Maui who sang while she gave lomi. She sang of the beauty of the body she was working on, and how different parts reminded her of different places on the island. We can let our imaginations run with these images! -
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Excellent! Rudy, you give us so much to think about, imagine, wonder and dream. Ahhh, Hana.
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Permalink Reply by Gloria Coppola on
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Rudy and Makana
I have been enjoying reading your conversations...
Rudy I love the poi dog! ;) -
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Mahalo Gloria - it's nice to know someone else is here. Thinking of waves reminds me of something we put in the picture book. A portion of what we today call Waikiki beach used to be called Hamohamo, and according to Queen Lili'uokalani, that area was particularly healing. Hamohamo of course means to stroke gently, to anoint with oil. I read recently that the area received that name because the water stroked the sand gently there, but "coincidentally" the beach boys used to give lomilomi on that exact same spot.
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I've spent the last 2 weeks working somewhat differently, thinking and watching the skin billow and roll in front of my arms and hands as I pressed into the skin... If I went to fast or didn't listen to the body the billowing and rolling was absent... but with intent the billowing and rolling was amazing.
Makana Risser Chai said:Mahalo Rudy. I met Kahu a few years ago and his insights and wisdom are wonderful! With many people exploring this question, I'm sure we can find great answers. But anyone can play! What do ocean billows mean to us as lomi practitioners? How do stars relate? Kahuli are also land snails that make a singing noise. In my Na Mo'olelo book are some stories of a practitioner on Maui who sang while she gave lomi. She sang of the beauty of the body she was working on, and how different parts reminded her of different places on the island. We can let our imaginations run with these images! -
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Wonderful Rudy! I no longer practice so it is great to have you trying it out in the field. This is quite amazing - so much coming from the kaona of this one sentence. I can see it in my mind's eye. And I can feel how it would feel so good to be "billowed." I imagine you feel different as well when it billows versus not - perhaps a bit more ease to it? I remember the first time I gave lomi to one BIG Hawaiian - I "got" that I had to swim on his skin. As I recall, billowing ensued!
Getting back to Uncle's mana'o (thoughts) that every word has many meanings, I read this and thought of you: "Each stanza [of poetry] might contain a literal meaning, a figurative meaning, a historical or a legendary reference, a sexual meaning and a hidden meaning (kaona). As a person grew in intelligence and understanding, he would be able to grasp more and more of the deeper meanings, eventually perhaps, to his great enjoyment, comprehending the entire work in depth." (L. R. McBride, in the book The Kahuna, Versatile Mystics of Old Hawaii, p. 38)
I can hear your growing in depth, and your great enjoyment! -
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