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Like many bloggers, I occasionally receive emails from publicists hoping to get some coverage for a particular book, seminar or other product. I don’t usually pay much attention to them, but a couple of weeks ago I received some communication about a Hawaiian system of healing called Huna. This was a totally new concept to me, so I decided to look into it and found it quite interesting. I inquired about the possibility of doing an interview with Dr. Matthew B. James, an expert in Huna, and Dr. James kindly agreed to answer some of my (very simplistic) questions. I found his responses very interesting and think you will as well.

If you’re wondering, “What the heck is Huna?” keep reading. There is also a generous offer for more information at the end of this interview.

1. Thank you so much for doing this interview. I have to admit that I did not know about Huna before reading your website and I suspect most of my readers aren’t familiar with it either. Could you please share the “elevator pitch” version of what Huna is and where it comes from?

Huna is the modern label give to the ancient system of psychology and energy work that was present in the islands before western influence. Some of the first visitors wrote that they discovered a group of people almost completely devoid of mental and physiological disease. The teachings of Huna, in part, were helpful in maintaining the island paradise.

The major focus of the aspect of Huna that I teach deals with the psychology and energy work that was taught in ancient times. The word Huna means secret, but not in the sense of I have a secret that you don’t know. More accurately, Huna means obscure or just beneath the surface. So the secret that it refers to is the information that anyone can get into contact with that is just out of most people’s awareness. In ancient times an enlightened individual was said to be able to pierce the veil, and thus in Hawaii, they would have been able to know the Huna.

2. My great powers of observation suggest that you may not be native Hawaiian. How did you first discover Huna and where did you learn its principles?

The son of a well known Kahuna passed the lineage on to my father, and it was taught to me at a very early age. Some of the elders in the Hawaiian community have asked me to continue to teach and care for the lineage as it is now entrusted to my family (or a part of my family). The Kahuna’s name was Daddy Bray, and his son had no one to pass the information on to. He (Daddy Bray’s son) taught my father and gave us permission to teach and practice the techniques.

I actually did not plan on teaching, rather I was more interested in the practices of Huna. I grew up with this as a part of my life, so I feel that when I am teaching, it is a sharing of my mana‘o (my thoughts and way of living) more than training a student. I respect everyone that is teaching, because Huna explains that A Ohe Pau Ko Ike I Kou Halau, which means, think not that all wisdom is in your school. There are many ways to get to the “light” and to argue over who’s path is right and who’s is wrong is counter productive to empowerment. I teach Huna because it is who I am.

3. Many cultures have traditional systems of healing and working with energy. Ancient Chinese medicine and the Native American shaman traditions are two that come to mind. Does Huna share any similarities to, or relationships with any other ancient systems?

I believe that at one point there was only one teaching on the planet. This story was told by Pappa Bray to my father. Because of this, most (if not all) ancient teachings share a common theme. Huna teaches that one must follow their own path in order to experience empowerment. Just as there are many cultures and languages, there are many paths. While Huna does share many concepts that are in other traditions, Huna (and much of the Hawaiian culture) has the least amount of interruption from Western influence. My teachers studied with people who lived in the ancient ways. You don’t find that in many cultures, because in many places the teachings were wiped out hundreds of years ago.

4. In reading through your site and articles, I noticed that forgiveness is a powerful theme in your work with Huna. What role does forgiveness play in your teachings and why is it so important?

This is the basis for my dissertation in psychology and truly this could be a lengthy answer. Simply put, if a person is not pono (right) with themselves, they are unable to discover what they need to do to be fulfilled. To become pono means that you are standing in your own power and you are congruent with who you are. Forgiveness is one technique to become pono. The process that I teach is ho’oponopono, which means to make it right, or doubly right in your life. It is a simple process, and one that I teach to hundreds of people every year.

5. Please share a forgiveness exercise that my readers can do right now to get an idea of how Huna can help them.

A simple thing to do to become pono is to start communicating in a different way. In English we say sorry and sorry is very blunt and one sided. In the Hawaiian language, there is no word for “sorry”. Rather you would say E Kala Mai I Au (please forgive me). Saying sorry makes no connection and it asks for nothing in return. In ancient Hawaii, the concept of mana (energy) was very important, and it was known that communication, in part, was experienced through words and mana.

When you say please forgive me, and you say I forgive you, you are creating a connection and asking for one in return. This means that there is a flow of energy, which allows for a deeper level of forgiveness. This is one step that is very easy to take, which will allow you to become pono.

6. Never the Same River Twice is all about working WITH the forces of change in our physical, social and spiritual worlds, rather than AGAINST them to create our own ideal lives. Does this align with the teachings of Huna? How can Huna help a person get closer to his or her ideal life?

When you are pono (right) with yourself and pono with your surroundings, you work with your environment to create harmony in your life. In ancient times, the people were pono with the land and with others, so this is an important step in creating change and empowerment. In fact you would not take action unless you were pono.

In Western thinking, we pride the conscious mind and sometimes over ride the gut (or na‘au). The gut is where information comes in from the unihipili (or basic self / subconscious mind). This is also where the information from higher consciousness comes from. Huna teaches that you would align the conscious mind, the subconscious mind, and the higher self before taking any action. With this alignment, one is closer to the true path, and this helps create the ideal life.

And now to the informational offer. If you would like to receive a free ho’oponopono CD about the Forgiveness Process, please call The Empowerment Partnership at 800.800.MIND or e-mail at info@huna.com.

If any of you have learned to use Huna, I would love it if you could share your experiences in the comments.