“Ho’ale’ale Mana I ke kaha o Kaunalewa.
Mana ripples over the land of Kaunalewa.
Said of the movements of a dance. A play on ‘ale’ale (to ripple like water), referring to the gestures of the hands, and lewa (to sway), referring to the movement of the hips.”
Enjoying Indian Summer at Thatcher Woods - Photo by Lyndi Wellhausen
We’re in the first month of our Hula-Inspired Practice 100 Day Challenge. It’s loosely modeled after the Zen Ango (peaceful dwelling) that the Zen Life & Meditation Center is doing right now. The Ango is an intensive practice period designed to take your practice deeper through meditation, study, and ritual.
Our 100 Day Hula-Inspired Practice Challenge is meant to support your wellness by helping you make hula, meditation, and nature practice regular habits in your lives. It's an intentional action that brings the sacred into everyday life.
To be a hula dancer, one must truly love Nature. Can you be intimate with watching the way leaves flutter when a breeze blows? Or marvel at the grandeur of the stillness of a lake. Or relish being amongst trees?
I’ve been walking around my neighborhood as part of my self-care regimen. It’s especially fun now because of all the Halloween decorations - lots of skeletons, spiders, ghosts - meant for all trick or treaters.
I’ve tried a practice of being fully present when I walk and thanking each tree as I pass them. Trees convert carbon dioxide into life-giving oxygen for us. They are home to birds and squirrels and insects. They bring rain, shade, beauty and so much more. By about the fourth tree, I was totally moved and in tears.
Watching a person dance hula can also be an inspiring and moving event. In addition to watching hands ripple like water and bodies sway like branches in a gentle breeze, the love that emanates from hearts communicating aloha always brings me to tears.
Hula helps us be mindful with our bodies. Meditation helps us wake up to our precious lives. Nature helps to nurture our lives.
That is our Hula-Inspired practice. What could be more sacred than that?
Malama pono (take good care of body and mind),
June Kaililani Ryushin Tanoue
Kumu Hula, Sensei
P.S. Here are 2 talks I gave on Grief during our Fall Sesshin (silent meditation retreats): Part 1 and Part 2.
P.P.S. The students of Halau i Ka Pono dance Poliahu https://youtu.be/RpZv9U2OVKk lyrics by Frank Kawaikapuokalani Hewett and sung by Teresa Bright. Poliahu is the Hawaiian Goddess of the Snow also known as the goddess of compassion. She lives atop Mauna Kea.