Yoga from the Heart

I haven’t written a post in a while, and so there is the inertia and pressure of what is worthy to post. Something that I personally have found very worthy and helpful is a practice that comes from traditional Hawaian spiritual practices called Ho’oponopono. Don’t worry, you don’t have to say that word! That is part of what is so wonderful; the simplicity of this and the ease of adding it into your daily life. In Hawaian tradition they use this practice anytime there is conflict or disruption in interpersonal relationships. As you can imagine, that can come up frequently in our work, our families, our world. So anytime you notice yourself not feeling positive, peaceful, harmonious, this practice can help. Or anytime you notice conflict and angst in your environment you can use the phrases in the title of this post. You simply repeat the phrases, ‘I love you, I’m sorry, Please forgive me, Thank you. Also, and importantly, you cultivate the heart quality of each of those phrases. So as you say or think ‘I love you’ you need to create within yourself the feeling of love toward the person or situation that is troubling you. As you say or think ‘I’m sorry’, you try to acknowledge that you could have in some way or some time contributed to the trouble. As you say ‘Forgive me’ you ask for the compassion and mercy of the other person and of God or Spirit. ‘Thank you’ reminds us to cultivate gratitude for what is well and good and right, within ourselves and the other person or circumstance. All of this takes much less time to do that it took me to describe it. As you do it more often (believe me you will find plenty of times to practice it!) you will become more adept at it.

So the short description is: Feel or See trouble, anger, worry, fear, judgement, injustice, resentment, regret, despair, guilt………… (fill in the emotion of your choice). Then, instead of staying in that mode, move out of it by saying to yourself, “I love you, I’m sorry, Forgive me, Thank you”. You may need to say it a few times through to have the feeling that it is resolved. You will be able to tell because you will, in that moment, feel less anger, worry, fear, etc. There will instead be a feeling that it has softened in some way. Often times (almost always) when I apply this in my life I come to a place of deep peace and acceptance and faith. This truly is a miraculous technique. It is another way of praying. It follows the golden rule and the grand premise of so many religions to focus upon improving ourselves rather than casting blame on others.
May we all find a bit of peace with the ones we live with work with and share this Earth with. This boxer has figured it out! He is now a “lover not a fighter”.