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The Amazing Authorities Podcast
Lani Kamauu Yamasaki on Hawaiian Healing & the Power of Lokahi
00:25:47
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- [00:02]
A
Welcome to the Amazing Authorities Podcast, where game changers, visionaries, and category leaders share how they built their brands, platforms, and global influence. Your host is Mitch Carson, international speaker, media strategist, and creator of the Instant Authority system. If you're ready to learn from those who've done it and want to become the go to expert in your space, you're in the right place.
- [00:31]
B
Lonnie, welcome to the Amazing Authorities podcast. It's great to see you after our long hug when we met in Kyoto a few months ago. How long ago was that? Four months ago? Three months ago.
- [00:43]
C
It was the end of April, so.
- [00:45]
B
Oh, it's been, well, let's see, May, June, July. For three months?
- [00:50]
C
Feels like forever.
- [00:52]
B
Yeah, it seems like another chapter and so much has gone on since then, and we were able to have a little bit of pre call talk, but welcome. And I'm so excited about this session, and I mean that with all honesty, because we're going to talk about you as an authority in an, let's say, unpopular niche, but one that warrants more popularity and exposure. And that's what I'm going to do for you today. Now, you're an American, just like me. You speak fluent American, but you're a Native American of Hawaii, and you've been inducted into a methodology, spiritual methodology, of healing people as a kahu. What does that mean?
- [01:36]
C
Okay, happy to explain. But first, Mitch, can I tell you how honored and thrilled I am to be on your podcast and to share this conversation with you.
- [01:46]
B
Well, thank you so much. Glad to have you here. Mahalo for having me. Mahalo. Oh, arigato gozaimasu when you're in Japan.
- [01:55]
C
So let me share what kahu means.
- [01:57]
B
Okay.
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C
Kahu is a priest or a steward of knowledge, usually esoteric knowledge. And my elder hale, Aloha Makua, was the kahuna. And he initiated me after some 20 years of studying bokahi practices with him. He said, you're ready now. You're ready to go and start teaching lokahi.
- [02:25]
B
And is it huna or is that something different?
- [02:28]
C
Huna is something different. We kind of had this conversation in Japan before, but huna is a Western, Western philosophy of. It's a Western philosophy. It's very different from lokahi. There are some overlaps. So lokahi is at the center of Hawaiian cosmology, okay. And it means harmony and unity. However, as a practice, it looks like this, an equilateral pyramid or triangle with divinity at the top, humanity and earth and nature. And it is this relationship of interdependence, which creates sustained health and well being, not only for the individuals, but for us collectively and for the earth.
- [03:15]
B
Wow. And I know we had this conversation. I baited you a little bit because I wanted to give the distinction. You give the distinction out there, what you do. Because HUNA has been fairly publicized within the metaphysical field. I've heard about it. I was a former. Well, I am a former Silva mind control trainer. And several of the trainers that I knew were HUNA teachers also. That's where I learned. And they were Western, which was interesting. They were white American guys who went over to Hawaii to learn it and then integrated it into their. Into their offerings, if you will. But let's. Let's learn about the cost. You studied for 20 years before you were initiated?
- [04:01]
C
Well, actually, he initiated me a little bit before 20 years by formally studied with Makua. I call him Makua a little bit more than 20 years. And when he initiated me, it was in the presence, actually, the Dalai Lama. They were peers because we come from a family of peacekeepers. And so my elder Halua and the Dalai Lama were peers. And it was this time when he said, you are ready to go and teach. However, although I consider you my peer, you're not a true elder until you learn how to master your emotions.
- [04:42]
B
Oh, interesting.
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C
That took a long time. Still working on it.
- [04:47]
B
Well, aren't we perfectly imperfect? We are, but we. We progress, hopefully. And in what. What miracles have you experienced as a Kaha, both personally and. Or with clients or mentees?
- [05:07]
C
Okay, that's a great question. I would say as a Kahu, what I've experienced is people in almost lifelong trauma, people who have been violated, whether it's through domestic violence or child abuse, over and over again, from a young age to sometimes in their 50s or 60s. But when they embark on this practice of lokahi, they all of a sudden really begin to understand how resilient they are, meaning they begin to bring in their power and authority inwards and begin to understand their connection to divinity, to their ancestors has always been there. They've always been there to guide them. Their relationship with the land that brings them sustenance has always been there. It just had to be reawakened. And doing these practices, what's now called, like the ar, never called the, you know, the vagus nerve, for, for instance, they never talked about the vagus nerves, but through working with chanting, by doing breath work, they were able to, like, calm down. There were parasympathetic system and really began to do some inner resourcing. And what I've been told by them is that the work we do together in Lokahi, the progress they made in this amount of time, they had attempted to do for so many years, double digit years.
- [06:48]
B
So it's healing from within, spiritual healing and bodily healing, or are they intertwined?
- [06:54]
C
They're all intertwined. Because what our ancestors knew, our Hawaiian ancestors knew, is that true healing has to involve spirit, mind and body. And healing actually is done best when you co regulate, meaning you're doing it in a setting, a group setting, whether it's just you and your healing practitioner, your creator, your ancestors and guides collaborating for this thing to begin, or if you're in a safe circle. We know now that this is how healing begins. When your system begins to co regulate and your parasympathetic nerve begins to calm. What we might even call heart coherence. When you're breathing, when your mind, when your heart come into coherence and balance. So that as you know how to regulate your emotions and it permeates out into the universe and to actually immediately what's around you, the people around you, you see this coherence happen. As you heal, so do the people around you. And that to me is miraculous.
- [08:07]
B
Well, let me ask, in your belief system or practice, I don't know how to categorize it. I'll just say belief system. Would that be fair? Is it's a form, is it a religion? Would you call it a religion?
- [08:19]
C
No, it's not. It's not. Mitch, that's such a great question because I want to go back to. To Lokahi, right?
- [08:25]
B
Okay, sure.
- [08:26]
C
So we know divinity, but when we say earth and nature, that's ina a I n a right? Aina AI means to consume, which says what you consume in your spiritual, earth or grounds, your physical grounds, and your psychological ground you become. That's epigenetics. That's what modern science calls epigenetics. So this is a system, right? You are you, what you consume, you become. And then when we begin to look at this relationship, you know, before Western contact, before Captain Cook came. So we graduated in 1978.
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B
Yes.
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C
Okay, go back 1778, when Captain Cook came to the Hawaiian Islands looking for the transit of Venus. He brought in the Western contact 100 years. 100. Less than 100 years after he left the system, which change. Once healthy and thriving people living lokahi, well now only disconnected. They were having mental health problems, they had physical disease. So when they, when people, whether it's Hawaiian people or people around the world. When we're disconnected from our practices of having relationship with divinity, each other and land in nature, our spiritual, mental and physical health begin to deteriorate.
- [10:02]
B
I would agree. People, humans need connection.
- [10:07]
C
Yes.
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B
And religion, for example, whether you believe in God or not or whatever religion, that grouping is what secures people. We need that connection, that sense of community.
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C
Yes. That's the polyvagal theory, what science now calls the polyvagal theory, that we are hardwired to be in connection not only with divinity, whether we say God or Source or, or Buddha. Right. But with each other and certainly from the earth.
- [10:38]
B
I believe in that. I'm, I'm not a fan of some formal religions. I respect a lot of their teachings. You know, I have challenges with some of their strong control. But I think there's, and I think there's great value in some connection to source, whatever that source is.
- [11:05]
C
Well, absolutely. And absolutely. And again, core regulation with science now calls core co regulation is saying we are supposed to be for optimal, well being collectively, individually, we need to be in connection with divinity. We're not seeing religion, we're saying having a spiritual foundation, you know, being in service to each other and certainly taking care of earth and nature. Absolutely.
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B
How did you get exposed to this? What's your story to now? Being a teacher is, you know, I guess that's the, the ascension model or the evolution of a, of a teacher. You got to be a great student.
- [11:47]
C
Oh, my goodness. So you. We're the same age, right? We're both born 1960. 65. Right. So we're both 65. And so this is our family lineage. My mother is Chinese, Hawaiian in English. And her family, they're traditional healers.
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B
Okay.
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C
They're visionaries. They work with plants for healing, but they also work in cycle spiritual realms. And that's what lokahi is. And so I was trained from a really young age to be in nature. Now, our elders never said, I be teaching you this theory now, or, you know, they're just like, they throw you in the water, they throw you in the woods, and you, you are going to learn how to survive. And so I was trained from a very young age and how to be in relationship with nature. You know, what to eat, what not to eat, you know, what can heal me. And it's through learning how to ask the experiences. Right. And then learning how to ask questions that the training began. And so this lineage then carrying forth, it's a family lineage and we call it Kuleana and Mitch you have Kuleana, I have Kuleana. We all have Kolyana. It is our unique responsibility, so different from purpose, unique responsibility, work, and privilege in life. And it's our family's privilege to now share lokahi practices. For what? For peacekeeping and for healing.
- [13:22]
B
That's fantastic. And how do people learn from you? Where would they go to learn what Lonnie shares? I mean, you captivated a room when we met in Kyoto, you had this room, and everybody loved the. I don't remember everything that was discussed, but I remember how I felt that feeling. I've taken forward three months later. I was excited to have you on the call to reconnect, to hear you and see you digitally. This is fine. It would have been fine with the voice, but I remember how I felt, and I observed how others felt when you touch their hearts, when you touch their spirit. So I think it's important that others get to experience you. So how do they get to experience you?
- [14:13]
C
Thank you so much, Mitch. We. Well, the best way to get a hold of me is through my website, which is lanyamasaki.com Also, you have been very kind to let me offer a gift.
- [14:28]
B
Yes.
- [14:28]
C
May I share the. The COVID of this, please?
- [14:30]
B
We love gifts. Everybody loves gifts.
- [14:33]
C
Thank you. It's called Live the philosophy that we're talking about, the Hawaiian Ancestral Wellness Blueprint, and it's four transformational holistic practices.
- [14:46]
B
Oh, wonderful. Okay, well, we'll put that in the show notes. But where is there a. It's at your website. Can they get it there?
- [14:53]
C
No, it's going to be a link that you're. That is specifically for your audience and.
- [14:58]
B
Oh, perfect.
- [14:59]
C
Yep. And if they go to our website, there is another gift there called the Hawaiian Wellness Blueprint. Lokahi. The Hawaiian Wellness Blueprint. Yeah.
- [15:11]
B
Awesome. And who do you help?
- [15:14]
C
Oh, my goodness. Where do I start? Well, my main people, I say, are medical practitioners. Wellness practitioners, which includes coaches that want to bridge indigenous healing with modern science.
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B
Oh, I love it. You bridge that gap.
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C
Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
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B
Okay. And what was your background before you got into this? And how old were you when you got into this?
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C
Oh, my goodness. So I've been trained since I was a little tot, which, you know, we covered earlier. Right. But serious training really began in my mid-20s with my elder hale, Aloha Makua. That went on for 20 something years. And at the same time, you know, I'm college educated as well, so I'm bridging not only the Hawaiian world and the Asian world, but Western world. I also have a background as a certified integrative nutrition coach as well.
- [16:11]
B
Oh, okay.
- [16:13]
C
Yeah. So this approach that we take actually integrates so many traditional Hawaiian philosophies and practice for, well, being spiritual, mental, and physical, and then again, always bridges with the modern science. Because I don't know about you, Mitch, but I'm one that always said I was growing up. I hear it, but I don't feel it. So prove it. Yes.
- [16:38]
B
I need proof.
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C
Right. I need to feel it in my body. Right. And so this is what I help clients with, is having them go through these lokahi experiences at the same time. Okay. Let's validate it. Here's the science to show what we're doing. But first, you feel it. Yes, I experience it. Yes. Okay. If you need the proof, the empirical, scientific proof, here it is.
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B
Validation.
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C
Yeah.
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B
Yeah, I, I like that. And I, I observed how people felt. I remember how I felt. And I didn't understand the science. I still don't. I'll trust because I know my gut. And we, I, I. Do you believe that we have a brain in our gut?
- [17:21]
C
Absolutely. Okay. I mean, this would be a very long conversation, but our ancestors knew what modern science now says, you know, the gut is our brain. The gut doesn't lie. It tells the truth. Because when you get chicken skin or goosebumps, right. When your stomach begins to gurgle, these are all signs of your native intelligence saying, pay attention. So it's our gut and our heart in Hawaii, in this Hawaiian system, that's telling you the truth.
- [17:51]
B
Yeah. Does this apply to relationships? Let's talk about dating relationships. You, You're. Are you. Do people become attracted to the ones where your gut goes pitter patter? Is that a positive? Or should you observe it and say, okay, this person isn't good for me. Let's write down to the street.
- [18:09]
C
Whoa. That is a great question, and it's a really complex question. Well, first of all, if I get this huge pitter, this happened especially when I was younger, right? You're going, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Your heart's going off. The first thing I thought of was, this is a destined connection.
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B
Okay? Right.
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C
The Japanese call it in musubi, a destined connection. So why am I reacting this way? Right? Okay, this, this is all the physical symptoms, all right? Is it hormone speaking? I mean, there's all the things I begin to look at, right? But what I do look for is a sense of connectivity between, not between my gut. You literally feel the energy coming from the person's belly button. One of their centers. One of our centers. And the part there's actually you can feel a coherence. You can feel like this energy coming out towards you. I pay attention to that. And there's a difference between this calm but yet scintillating type of energy going between our hearts and gut as opposed to this like you could feel when there's sexual energy and attraction. That's a definite feeling as opposed to this beautiful calm, kindred spirit, soul relationship energy between your gut between your belly and the person's belly and heart. Does that make sense? Yeah.
- [19:36]
B
Oh it does, it does. And I and it's hard to distinguish, especially when you're young and. And hormones are raging.
- [19:42]
C
Yes.
- [19:44]
B
At our respective ages. I think an attraction on that level would be different or is different. At least speaking for myself, I don't look at someone only based on her physicality. I'm always going to be a man. I'm going to look at women. But acting on it now with maturity and I think a reduced libido or consciousness that has risen intelligence. And based on experience I know where someone is not good for my life. I also rely on in business if relationship isn't good. I. I have a spiritual friend of mine that advised me against doing business with somebody two years ago. He's. And he. He read it was through a different divination system, an African based system and he said absolutely stay away from this. He couldn't have been more right. I was already involved and I had invested money and I lost everything.
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C
Wow. Yeah, wow. But your gut, I mean at the time, what was your gut saying to you?
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B
Proceed with caution.
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C
Yeah.
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B
I also wanted to move forward and do some things because the person I got involved with sold a good piece and I he was supposed to put up half the money into a business venture and he had some story that he was waiting for a check which was all bs. So I put up all the money and things went south outside of his control. But he brought me into it and he wasn't willing to pay his half. So I am now chasing him still for the. The half the money that he owes and not a small number. And my friend, because I had a feeling in my gut that was something wasn't right before I put the money up. He said absolutely do not proceed. And he was accurate. So there are many ways to get to see the wizard of Oz. There's a yellow brick road that you have a path. There are some other people that have paths, have this ability that might be trained Learned or part of it is innate, like you were exposed to it in a young age. You've got a skill, you've tapped into that potential. Can anybody learn to be like you?
- [22:06]
C
Absolutely. And I'm going to say we all have a unique thumbprints, right? So our path with lokahi is to meant. It's meant to help us spiritually evolve. So I'm going to say the first thing with lokahi is to understand your Kuleana, which is again, your sacred responsibility, work and privilege. But let's look at this. Mitch. I think this is fascinating because language is everything, right? Kuleana is K, U, L E A N. A Kuleana, Ku means to ascend, like a, like a bird or a plane. It also means to descend. Ku is also a grand plan. Anna is over a period of time.
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B
Okay.
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C
So when we embark on a Kuleana to find it, it's like your hero's journey. You're going to be exposed, you're going to soar, you're going to have an overview what's going on. But at some time, you're going to have to come down so you can integrate life's lessons before going forward again. And that Kuleana is actually your path of spiritual and spiritual conscious evolution. And so that is the foundation of lokahi. But I think you're going to like this because of your background, right? Lokahi, this is it. Lokai is your third eye.
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B
All right?
- [23:27]
C
Kahi is the number one. So unity and harmony between all three realms. Divinity, earth, nature and humanity. Kahi also means like fire. Ahi is fire. All right, so when you embark on learning the practices of lokahi, you're on your hero's journey with your kalyana. It will open up your third eye or your pineal gland. Okay, so lo, this is it. Kahi kahi. The unification happens. The unity in oneness happens. Ahi is fire and star. This is when enlightenment begins to happen. This is what lokahi is all about. And we can all learn this. This is what we're here to in our philosophy. And I'm sharing from our family traditions because there are many schools in Hawaiian culture, right?
- [24:21]
B
Sure.
- [24:21]
C
In our tradition, lokahi is your pathway to not only consciousness, but like sustained well being and happiness. And we can all learn this.
- [24:31]
B
Wow, that's awesome. So they. So just to repeat, they can get in touch with you. I'm going to put it, of course, in the show notes. And Your website is www.lanyamasaki.com L A N I Yamasaki which is phonetic.com yes Lonnie, you've been a great guest today. Thank you so much and I will have you back. You'll certainly be a re invite at a later day. You've been amazing guest on the Amazing Authorities podcast. We will see you in the next episode. I can't tell you who it is, but I have another amazing authority coming your way very soon. Thank you for your time today.
- [25:14]
C
Mahalo, Mitch. My great pleasure and honor. Mahalo.
- [25:18]
A
Thanks for tuning in to the Amazing Authorities podcast. If today's episode inspired inspired you, take a moment to subscribe, rate and leave a review. It helps more experts like you rise to the top for behind the scenes access and free resources to boost your authority. Head to MitchCarson.com until next time, Stay Amazing.