Hawaiian Principles

The following 9 Hawaiian Principles support your journey with Essence Dance; to act as stepping stones in your everyday growth and in the expansion of your consciousness.

The Principles are based on ancient Hawaiian wisdom and the Hawaiian words themselves carry mana (power) with them.

~ KALANA ~

*Let go, forgive and set yourself free*

~ ALOHA ~

*Living unconditional love with joy, ease and presence*

~ E PILI MAI ~

*Be here, now*

~ MANA ~

*Your natural connection to source energy*

~ KALA ~

*Live without limits*

~ NA’AU ~

*Your gut knowing centre*

~ KIAKAHI, NOHO OLA ~

*Living your life purpose*

~ HILINA’I ~

*Trust & trusting are choices*

~MAHALO ~

*Gratitude… for all that I am and all that is*

1 ~ KALANA
*Let go, forgive and set yourself free*

To step into your true Essence in this lifetime it’s important to let go of any negative energy that you are holding on to that could be preventing you from living your life freely.

People often find themselves thinking or feeling like they might be able to do ‘this’ if only ‘that’ hadn’t happened to them, or if only ‘that person’ would make amends for what they have done. This idea is common in our society, yet it’s extremely disempowering, as it prevents a person from making decisions and taking action in this present moment.

The Hawaiian idea of forgiveness is entirely different to the Western idea of forgiveness (pretending that something didn’t happen, that it’s ok that something happened or saying that you forgive the person/situation for what happened).

Kalana – the Hawaiian way, is about acknowledging that anything that may be affecting you negatively in this moment related to a situation/relationship from the past, is only effecting you now because you are holding on to energy around this. You are free to let go of this in any moment that you choose to, and this has nothing to do with another person or a memory of a situation.

Once you give yourself permission to see how holding this energy in yourself is effecting your life, you can choose to set yourself free by taking responsibility for how you are personally holding on to this energy and simply letting it go.

2 ~ ALOHA
*Living unconditional love with joy, ease and presence*

The simplest word in English to describe aloha is love, yet aloha is so much more than what most of us think of as love. 
As with most Hawaiian words, ‘aloha’ has layers of meanings. These layers help us understand Aloha as a state of being that Hawaiians dedicate their lives to living and sharing: a state of being which is about the sharing of joyful life force energy in the present moment.
Anything that is not aloha (drama/trauma that holds you back) is pilikia, which weighs you down and prevents you from living your true Essence.
When you choose to live in aloha you can see that the universe exists because of love in its being and becoming, and that the more love you create in your world the happier you are, the better everything works out, and the better everything actually is. It also then becomes easy for you to live in the natural state of connection between all things.
Aloha requires loving without conditions: accepting and not judging. Love might always be there, but sometimes our fears, anger or doubts cover this up – this often leads to judgement, which then causes separation within our selves, and from others and the world. 
It is perfectly aloha to discern what is and what is not appropriate for you in your life and to act upon this and to recognize that you not only deserve aloha, but the universe requires you to live in aloha for it’s healthy functioning.
The more we can allow ourselves to be in aloha the easier it is to think positive thoughts about ourselves and those around us – which in turn creates more love and joy for us all.
Aloha is also used in Hawaii to say “hello”, “goodbye” and “love”. When said it acknowledges the essence of love in you and in me. 
A study has been carried out with most of the languages in the world to show how the vibration of words affects us. The Hawaiian language was the closest to the perfect sound for the human ear (followed by French), and the word aloha was the single closest perfect word for us to hear.
So say it as much as you can and help to share the aloha !

SUGGESTED EXERCISE
One way to increase the aloha in your life is to think of your entire life as a bowl of light. Anything that is not completely aloha in your life is like a stone (pilikia) which gets placed in your bowl and over time if the stones increase, then your bowl (your life and your life force energy) becomes weighed down.
One way to let the stones go, is to tip the bowl over and allow the stones to fall out. If that doesn’t feel possible then you can simply become aware of your choices, and if any of them are weighing you down and not allowing you to live in the fullness of aloha, then you simply change your choices to ones that are aloha for you.

3 ~ E PILI MAI
*Be here, now*

Now is the only moment that exists. Anything that happened in the past only effects you because of your memory of this, and the future has not happened yet. You will become a co-creator of your future when you allow yourself to be present in the moment and create from here, as now is the only true moment of power.

Whatever you focus on you will create. Be aware of your thoughts, your words and your actions and make sure they are all aligned with aloha in the direction you want your life to flow.

The more you choose to do whatever supports you in all areas of your life in this moment, the more you energise yourself and your path.

The Hawaiian concept of E Pili Mai (being in the present moment) is so strong in their ancient culture that the ancient Hawaiian language does not contain any verbs for the past or the future. For Hawaiians, the now literally is the only moment that exists. This means that any memory that you are holding onto from the past you are free to change, and any idea that you may have of the future you are also free to change if you find another way that serves you better.

4 ~ MANA
*Your natural connection to source energy*

You do not exist on this planet alone. You are connected to everything with each breath and step that you take.

When you recognize that we are all connected (people, animals, the land, the sea, the universe and spirit) you allow a natural power of life force energy to fill you, giving you more energy and focus to create the life you want to live now.

Simply breathing and setting an intention to energise your mana can increase your energy. Energising your body by eating well, exercising and breathing in to your belly naturally increases your mana, and choosing things that support all areas of your life increases your mana exponentially.

As you begin to live your life aware of the mana within you that is connected to all things, it becomes easier to receive guidance from your own spirit (Aumakua) and also from the Ancestors (Kupuna) and you are able to invite a deeper connection to Aumakua and Kupuna to support you living your true Essence.

5 ~ KALA
*Live without limits*

If we look at our lives and how we are choosing to live, we can often find that we are choosing within limits. When you truly recognize that limitations only exist because we believe in them, you can allow yourself to choose beyond any limitations.

There are limitless ways to choose how to relate and be in this world, and it s your natural birthright to choose what serves you best.

If you take a step back and witness yourself walking through your life you may find that there are beliefs you have accumulated from your childhood, school, family, society, relationships and experiences that you have used to create a foundation that you live from and subsequently make all your choices from. This foundation may or may not be serving you fully.

If your current foundation is not serving you fully then you will benefit beyond what you can imagine by employing kala in your life, as this is an endlessly expansive state of being, where there truly are no limits. An easy way to remember this is to always remain flexible to allow yourself to choose what is truly best for you in each moment.

6 ~ NA’AU
*Your gut knowing centre*

Sometimes it’s challenging knowing what is truly the best thing for us in some circumstances in our lives, and some of us even wish at times that there were someone or something that we could ask that would know what is right for us and give us guidance.

The place within us that knows what is right is our na’au. It’s the place where you know in your ‘guts’ what is best and what to choose, and whenever you feel this and don’t listen, you find yourself wishing that you had.

To connect to this knowing inside of you, you can simply follow whatever the knowing is, and the more you do this the louder it will ‘speak’ to you. Sometimes your na’au may guide you to choose things that are quite different to what you would normally choose, and it’s important to follow and act on all of this knowing (at the appropriate time) if you want to live your life in more expanded ways and in full connection with your Essence.

Your na’au is also your direct connection to your spirit/higher self, which if listened to can reason beyond your emotions, and beyond your limited logical mind.

7 ~ KIAKAHI, NOHO OLA
*Living your life purpose*

We all have special gifts and talents, and ways in which we can best serve the community and the planet in this life. While we are here it is our responsibility to find what it is that we are here to share and take care of, and to then tend to this.

You are your own authority in your life. No one outside of you has power over you unless you give it to them. When you own this authority it becomes easier to find what your purpose is and to begin taking responsibility for living this.

To live your life purpose you need to choose what is right for you (pono) and ensure that all relationships (to yourself, to others, and to all areas of your life) are healthy (ho’oponopono)

8 ~ HILINA’I
*Trust & trusting are choices*

A lot of people do not live their lives from their true Essence because they are choosing through their fears, rather than through absolute trust. The universe is here to support you in whatever you choose, and the more aligned this is with your true Essence the more the universe can find ways of supporting you.

Trust is a word that is used a lot these days, and sometimes it is used flippantly where an idea is created within a person that all they need to do is ‘trust’ that things will work out, and if they believe this enough that everything will magically fall into place. This often fails and unfortunately people are left feeling like ‘trust’ does not work. Or sometimes people believe that they simply weren’t born with trust, or that they didn’t learn this, so it is beyond their reach.

Trust is a choice, and it is something that we can choose in every moment. The opposite of trust is fear, and if we choose to listen to our gut knowing and live without limits then it becomes easier to choose trust in every moment.

9 ~MAHALO
*Gratitude… for all that I am and all that is*

When we stop for a moment and think about all that we are, and all that is around us, we can see the incredible things that have helped us to be where we are in this moment. When we give thanks for this we send blessings of aloha to ourselves and out to the world.

Take a moment now and think about all the things that you are grateful for in your life, and allow yourself your self to feel the magnificence of mahalo expanding your life and your heart.

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