“E Kaiona aloha, i kuhia mai ke ‘ala.
O beloved Kaiona, Goddess of the Lost,
let the pathway be pointed out.”
Kumu June and Roshi at Morton Arboretum
Happy New Year from wintry Chicago - I am deeply grateful to all of you for your support of Halau i Ka Pono and your love of hula!!!
Our adult class has been practicing a wonderful hula, Poliahu, for the snow goddess of Mauna Kea. She’s also known as our goddess of compassion. It’s been a year where we’ve needed a lot of Poliahu’s compassion and aloha.
They perform Poliahu here for you, separate yet together. Enjoy!
I’ve been thinking about the many challenges that happened in 2020. And I’ve been thinking about what has helped me stay sane. Two practices have enriched my life immeasurably: Hula and Meditation and I want to share them with you.
I'm offering a workshop called the Path of Hula and Zen workshop on Saturday January 2nd. We’ll be practicing mindfulness meditation, self care, and hula. Kaiona, the goddess of the lost is who we’ll focus on for hula. Kaiona lives on Mt. Ka’ala in the Waianae Mountains on Oahu and according to legend, helps people find their way home.
In Zen, we come home to ourselves when we practice meditation. What does this mean? In Zen retreats we follow a schedule that includes a good dose of meditation throughout the day. We bring mindfulness practice into our everyday life with an attention to whatever we're doing: cleaning, cooking, eating, resting. Meditation strengthens our minds by seeing and letting go of habits - thought patterns - that no longer serve. Letting go is ongoing, a discipline, that one does throughout one’s life.
Meditation and hula have been a good combination for me. Hula requires the same kind of discipline that meditation does. It’s not a punitive definition of discipline. But rather it’s an uplifted attitude of a person able to see reality as it is and able to be with it - whether that’s happy, sad or challenging.
Hula requires a mind/body connection. Our western culture stresses mind and sometimes we forget about the body. In hula if your brain is not connected to your body, it is difficult to dance, since you are dancing a story. It takes time to make the connection so it's about repetition and the practice of patience. Hula builds connection and harmonizes body and mind.
This is the pathway of our heart, our home. Many blessings to you and your family for an aloha filled year!!!
Malama pono (take care of body, mind and heart),
June Kaililani Ryushin Tanoue
Kumu Hula, Sensei