Using Hot Stones – guest blog by Kumu Dane Kaohelani Silva

Editor’s Note from Makana Risser Chai:

[A 2006 newspaper article sparked an email conversation among some kumu lomi (teachers of lomilomi Hawaiian massage) about the traditional use of hot stones for lomilomi. In my research in the Bishop Museum Archives, I found few mentions of hot rocks. In my book, Na Mo’olelo Lomilomi, are quotes from kahuna la’au lapa’au (medical priests) who used stones to heat salt or la’au (herbal medicine). There’s an eye-witness account about rolling heavy round stones up and down the back for compression. But I could find nothing written about rubbing the body with bare hot stones as is done today, or laying bare hot rocks on the body.

[Kumu Dane Kaohelani Silva sent this delightful description of what he learned from Uncle Harry Mitchell of Keanae, and also talks about an event with Papa Henry Auwae. I love his stories of using an umu, a shallow version of an imu oven, lined with hot rocks. They would lie in the umu to heat and relax their backs.

[Kumu Dane is a Native Hawaiian teacher of lomilomi. He was trained in lua (martial art) and lomilomi both in his family and from noted traditional practitioners. Dane is a Doctor of Chiropractic and Licensed Massage Therapist.]

"Hot Rock Soup" – guest blog by Kumu Dane Kaohelani Silva

Traditional kahuna la'au lapa'au used hot stones to treat their patients. Sometimes they used it on la'au, and sometimes they used it to kahi [rub] the patient. Stroking downward from the houpo (ie. area inferior to the xiphoid process) to the area just above the symphysis pubis is one specific technique where a stone was used. This was used to treat heartburn, esophagitis, and symptoms of hiatal hernia. Research may reveal this method was used for the treatment of "huli opu."

Uncle Harry Mitchell of Keanae [Maui] taught me about the use of hot stones with la'au (eg. koli leaves). He learned that practice from someone else, probably his grandparents. He passed on around 1990 or '91. Uncle Harry was the kupuna la'au lapa'au who led the renaissance on Hawaiian medicine, back in the mid 80's. At that time, no one that I know of was using hot stones for anything other than cooking in the imu or firewalking.

I don't know if Uncle Harry taught this to anyone else. I treated this information as a trade secret, from one la'au lapa'au to another. Uncle Harry said that la'au was used with hot stones for lomi. He didn't specify whether the stones were held in the hand and slid over the body during lomi. He did say that the stones were used to heat the la'au which were placed on the body. Like other kupuna la'au lapa'au, Uncle Harry did not micromanage the knowledge that he shared; rather, he allowed his haumana and colleagues the unique opportunity to explore the different possibilities of using that shared mana'o. Uncle Harry was a humble master of la'au, kilohoku, lawai'a, mahi'ai, and haku mele.

Prior to that information from Uncle Harry, I used hot stones in an umu. The umu is more shallow than an imu, but serves the same purpose. During the early '70s, we used the umu for cooking. After cooking, I covered the stones with sand. Then I covered the sand with a grass mat. Then we laid on the heated area to relax our back muscles. The heat lasts for hours. I remember one time in Punalu'u, Ka'u when Uncle Harry was cooking up some 'awa roots for the Makahiki Ceremony while I was preparing the umu on the black sand beach. The hot stones lasted through the night.

Around 1988, I began to use the stones in the East Hawai'i Clinic (formerly MAE 629) on various trigger points, with koli leaves or castor oli packs to treat TMJ, low back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, lateral and medial epicondylitis, plantar fasciitis, etc. Sometimes I used ti or 'awa leaves. Nowadays, I also use noni leaves, again based on personal information from Uncle Harry. The heated koli leaves made me feel sleepy and dizzy, so I performed that lomi on my last clients
of the day/night.

Today, I continue to use the stones with la'au on specific areas of the body, which I call stresspoints. These are not only trigger points, but places where stress causes a blockade (eg. injury, spasm, stagnation) of the normal flow of life force.

Hot stones release infra-red energy deep into the tissues of the body. This energy is useful for releasing stagnant life force.

During a training camp on Lanai with Papa Auwae and the kupuna la'au lapa'au o Hawai'i, about 15 years ago, I heated a hand stone in the fireplace. Sprinkling it with cold water to regulate the heat from the stone, I then applied it to the scar tissue of the shoulder of one of the MD's who accompanied our group. He moaned loudly as the heat penetrated the scar tissue. I used the hot stone to lomi and mold the knotted scar tissue, releasing the blocked energy. The next day, he was "good to go."

I believe that heated stones were used by North Americans and Europeans to keep their feet warm during the cold nights, back in the day. The use of stones and heated stones is a methodology that is useful for all healers, maoli or haole. The past is pau; the future is now.
Imua!

Dane Kaohelani Silva

Temple Bodywork, Lomilomi Nui, and Kahu Abraham

According to Nancy Kahalewai in her book, Hawaiian Lomilomi (2nd edition):

“Outside of the Hawaiian Islands, temple bodywork is the most common type of ‘Hawaiian massage’ being done in the world. Its founder is the late Abraham Kawai’i DeCambra, who lived on Kaua’i until he passed away in June of 2004.”

According to Kahalewai, various versions of this bodywork involve five specific practices: use of forearm strokes with oil, “dancing” foot movements, chanting by the practitioner, nudity of the patient, and in some cases “sacred sexual rituals.”

My husband and I met Ho’okahi, the widow of Abraham Kawai'i, and found her to be a sincere, warm-hearted and loving person. I interviewed her several times, and saw hours of videotape of Abraham. Ho'okahi said that he did teach a style that used forearms, oil, and movement. The movement was not "dancing" but rather fluid rhythm based on particular sequences of steps. He did not chant before or while giving lomilomi. He did not display nude bodies, but used top and bottom sheets and always draped appropriately. He never taught nor demonstrated sexual touching. He disavowed former students of his who taught it using his name. Several who are renown for teaching “his” method never studied with him. Ho’okahi may be contacted (www.napuaolohe.com) to find out who is authorized to teach his method.

Kahu Abraham called his method "romi kaparere" or "kahuna bodywork," and though he said he studied with 9 teachers, including family members, he declined to name them. He did not claim his style was passed down to him, but said he developed this work out of the depth of awareness of his own body.

I have apologized to Ho’okahi and Kahu Abraham for the mistakes in my book about him. It is a good lesson to remember to “nana i ke kumu” – look to the source. Auntie Margaret and Kahu Abraham both have been victims of people who claim to be their students who do not have their permission to teach, and in some cases who have not even taken classes from them. Auntie Margaret and Kahu Abraham have family members who perpetuate their teachings. Go to them to find out the truth.

Limitations of Traditional Lomilomi

Many lomilomi practitioners have studied the old ways and seek to duplicate them. It is good to learn what was known by the kupuna. At the same time, we need to be mindful of recent discoveries in the science of the body, so that we do no harm to our patients.

A kupuna lomi told me about one of her teachers, who had learned traditional lomilomi in his ohana. The teacher learned to stroke down the leg, from knee to toe. This is not recommended today for anyone, and especially for people with diabetes. And, in fact, after the teacher gave downward-stroking lomi to a diabetic, the patient’s leg had to be amputated.

Perhaps amputation was inevitable and not the fault of the teacher. But the fact is this teacher had no knowledge that this treatment was potentially dangerous. Having been taught only in traditional lomilomi, he did not learn this – because the people of old did not have diabetes. It is an illness of the modern age.

This teacher has brought healing to many patients who have come to him. He has had an almost miraculous effect in many people’s lives. There is much we can learn from him.

But we must also learn the science – anatomy, biology, chemistry, DNA, all of it – if we are to be practitioners in the Hawaiian tradition. As discussed in George Kanahele’s book, Ku Kanaka, the Hawaiians of old were great scientists. They were skilled in the science of their times. If we hope to achieve their level of skill, we must learn the science of today, and combine it with the physical, emotional and spiritual aspects of lomilomi.