I first heard about Ho’oponopono around a couple of years ago. I was instantly fascinated by it. It’s an ancient Hawaiian, Shamanic practise, meaning to make right, and involves cleansing and bringing order and forgiveness to relationships and situations.

My introduction to Ho’oponopono came through stumbling upon a story about a Dr Ihaleakala Hew Len, who apparently healed a hospital ward of criminally insane patients, using this technique. These were not ordinary people – they had committed some of the worst crimes imaginable, and yet, Dr Hew Len cured them all! I read that he didn’t even meet the patients, he simply performed the practise on his own by saying a set of statements with the people in his mind.

As a healer myself, it reminded me strongly of some of my own distant healing experiences and made me think immediately about projection, illusion, responsibility and the entire nature of our (individual) world(s). Do we really create everything around us?? Are healers only ever healing themselves?? It’s all just so fascinating! I was hooked from the start.

As I’m already an experienced healer and energy worker, I decided not to read any more about Ho’oponopono but to start practising it, as best as I could, based on the very little information I had read. I really wanted to see what would happen and didn’t want to bias my approach by reading too much. As happens sometimes, an opportunity was presented to me.

A friend of mine was going through a very difficult time with her elderly father-in-law. Following an operation, he’d moved in with her and her husband so that they could look after him during his recovery. Unfortunately, his stay did not seem to be coming to an end and he had become abusive and threatening towards her, making her home life increasingly miserable. She felt like she couldn’t relax in her own home any longer and just didn’t know what to do. Finally, she texted me to ask if I could ‘do something’ to help her. I didn’t answer that bit of the text so she never knew what I did, but I decided to try to help her, and the whole of her family, with Ho’oponopono.

I took myself into a quiet place, preparing myself much like I would do before any healing or meditative experience. I was very clear in my mind that I wasn’t just looking to help my friend – I was intending the best possible outcome for everyone. Then, imagining my view of the situation, with all of the people involved, I repeated the following Ho’oponopono statements gently to myself:

“I’m sorry. Please forgive me. I love you. Thank you.”

I said it to myself over and over again, until I felt I’d reached a natural stopping point (I’d guess this took about 15 minutes.) It felt good so I continued daily for a few days. I didn’t know how long I would need to continue with it so, each time, I would simply rest in the energies of my imaginings, watching and feeling for any changes. And, I decided to keep going for as long as it felt good to do so.

Then suddenly, on the 5th day, the whole scene changed! In an instant, the scene in my mind picturing the family members together, was suddenly flooded with light. And I knew, KNEW, that I was done! Whatever my part in it all was, I knew I had done all that I could do; I had healed it.

As I wrote above, my friend didn’t know what I had done. But, about 3 days later, I heard that her husband had decided the time had come to initiate the relative’s departure. The travel arrangements were quickly made and he was moved back to his own home at the first opportunity. As far as I know, all of their lives quickly returned to normal.

I thought that this was an incredible result for Ho’oponopono. The situation had been extremely difficult for my friend and her husband, and had been going on for many weeks, without any apparent resolution in sight. The decisions which were made and their timing fitted in perfectly with my Ho’oponopono practise. Moreover, the results have lasted. I have tried many healing techniques over the last 20-ish years and few have seemed as effective as this.

So, I tried it again. Another friend, another issue. This time, my friend was worried about possibly losing her job. Again, I settled down to imagine her in her work situation and to make my statements:

“I’m sorry. Please forgive me. I love you. Thank you.”

This time, I was surprised to see that when I imagined her workplace, she wasn’t in it! Instead, she was standing on her own, some distance apart from her colleagues, as though ‘out in the cold’. Then, on day 3, the picture changed when she suddenly jumped into the group! I was quite surprised as it was a significant change and it happened very quickly. I could see that everyone looked happy together and knew that the situation had changed for her. I’m pleased to write that it is now a couple of months later and she is still employed with that company.

Dr Joe Vitale & Dr Hew Len - Zero Limits

Since then, I have been finding out a little more about Ho’oponopono. Dr Hew Len has been working with Dr Joe Vitale on a system called ‘Zero Limits’ which they have run as a weekend event in Maui. Thankfully, we don’t all have to go to Hawaii to find out more – the DVDs are available here:

Click here
to be re-directed to Zero Limits, Live from Maui, DVDs

I really hope that you find Ho’oponopono as interesting as me. Let me know your results!

Please note: Healing stories are provided with the permission of the people involved. Some of the details have been changed to protect their privacy.