Author: thethreeonenine

Lomi Lomi

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Diane, this lovely person that Wing Tek introduced us to said that if we ever wanted to try Lomi Lomi massage that she had a great person to recommend.  We do.  And she did: Maka at the Kailua Medical Arts Building.

from Wikipedia:

Lomilomi, (Hawaiian: masseur, masseuse) is the word used today to describe Hawaiian massage, traditionally called lomi (Hawaiian: To rub, press, squeeze, massage; to work in and out, as the claws of a contented cat).

Traditional Practice

Lomilomi practitioners use the palms, forearm, fingers, knuckles, elbows, knees, feet, even sticks and stones. Lomilomi practices varied by family, ahupua’a (region) and island.

Traditionally, lomilomi was practiced in four contexts:

  1. As a healing practice of native healers — kahuna lā’au lapa’au (healers) and kahuna hāhā (diagnosticians)
  2. As a luxury and an aid to digestion, especially by the ruling chiefs (ali’i)
  3. As restorative massage within the family
  4. By ’ōlohe lua (masters of the Hawaiian martial arts)

Although the word kahuna lomilomi is widely used in contemporary writings, traditionally the people who performed lomilomi were called ka po’e lomilomi (the massage people) or kanaka lomi (massage person). A related term, kauka lomilomi, was coined in 1920 to describe osteopathic physicians. The word kauka is the Hawaiianized version of doctor.

Like all endeavors in old Hawai’i, lomilomi was conducted with prayer and intention.

  • Hawaiian kupuna (elder) Auntie Margaret Machado describes lomilomi as “praying” work (Chai 2005: 39).
  • Emma Akana Olmstead, a kupuna of Hana, Maui, in the 1930s, said, “When a treatment is to be given, the one who gives the treatment first plucks the herbs to be used. He prays as he picks the herbs. No one should call him back or distract his attention, all should be as still as possible for they do not want the vibration broken. They knew the laws of vibration. They knew the power of the spoken word. They knew Nature. They gathered the vibration of the plentiful.” (Chai 2005: 40)

Lomilomi Today

Lomilomi is now a common and popular form of massage throughout the world, especially in Hawai’i, Japan and Europe. Traditionally taught lomilomi practitioners are generally unwilling to work at just any spa or massage office. They prefer to treat selected clients quietly and privately, often in home settings. Lomilomi practitioners may also ask their clients to pray, meditate, change their diets, and engage in other self-help activities usually believed to lie outside the scope of massage. Lomilomi is a holistic healing tradition beyond simple massage.

Is he the one?

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I asked Scott Cambell (www.scottcampbelltattoo.com) who did two of my tattoos if he could recommend someone in Hawaii.  He did.  And he is amazing.

What yelp user ‘Love S.’ said in part about Mike Ledger:

Call Mike’s secretary to schedule a consult if……….

you like his artistry
you play nicely with others
you’re patient
you got cash
you seriously want the best tattoo on your body for the rest of your life

Me. What is a Yoga head?

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I dragged my butt out of bed at 7AM this morning to go to class at Kula.  I really like that place–particularly teachers Martin and Brigitte.  I was telling Ken that Brigitte makes you feel like she’s paying attention to you even if she doesn’t look at you or talk to you.  She’s really tall but there’s this gentleness that emanates from her.  It makes you want to cry.  That sounds bad but it’s not.

It wasn’t an old lady class.  It was in fact very hard.  Halfway through I had to stop and rest.  I had this fleeting thought:  why is it that despite doing yoga almost every day it’s still really hard to get through most classes.  I think it’s because I’m competitive and I forget to breathe.

After class we went to Lily Lotus for new yoga togs for me!  I wore a hole through my yoga pants.  K got me a top from Lululemon (which is great)  but I hate how their stuff looks so jock-ish. I prefer this:

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That’s a t-shirt.  I like it so much.

As I was choosing stuff to try on, the Lily Lotus person would come and take my things and bring them to the dressing room.  After the third time I looked up and smiled at her and she crinkled her brow and said ‘did you take class with me?’  I totally didn’t recognize her so I said no. She said ‘I think you did…at Open Space’.  After a minute I figured out that Sarah and I had taken a class with her over a MONTH ago.  We came in 10 minutes late and it was a hard class.  We left without saying hi to the teacher, Laura.  That was her.  She remembered we came in late AND she remembered that Sarah and I were together though she thought she was my sister.

We talked for a little bit.  I said it was hard for me to find a class that didn’t make me worry about my bad knees while at the same time being a rigorous enough workout.  She suggested a Mysore class at Purple.  That I might be able to develop my own practice.  She said the owner, Cathy Louise, is from NY and if I wrote to her she could make suggestions for my knees.

She also satisfied my curiosity about the missing Yin Yoga class.  The woman Jaime Schrack who taught it at Open Space moved to the Big Island to study cranial-something-or-other.  That’s why all her classes disappeared from the online schedules.

I told her I’d been trying Bikram and that it was weird.  She laughed which was great that she knew what I meant.  She said there was a good teacher in Hawaii Kai.  Maybe one day I’ll go try it.   Laura was really nice.  I will definitely check out the Mysore class she assists at Purple.

Sarah joked that there were yoga teachers that every student has gone too–that I was going to be the student every yoga teacher has had.  Not a bad thing.

We had lunch in Kaimuki.

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It was good but it was tooo much food.

Finally, I’m obsessed with these cookies.  Maybe because I’m drinking less coke.

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