Each of us perceives the world through our own filter, our own prism, and everyone who has ever learned Lomi Lomi had the opportunity to take away and see what was and is currently most important to them personally. We started learning from various Polish teachers, then we were lucky to learn from Susan Pa’iniu Floyd, who at that time was the closest link connecting us with Lomi Lomi and Hawaii. Despite the fact that we learned Lomi Lomi in the version of Lomi Lomi Nui from the same source, today you can observe significant differences in the quality that we carry with us, also in teaching or passing on Lomi Lomi to others.
What stuck with me the most, observing the message of Susan Floyd about Lomi Lomi Nui is shamanism in its purest form. And although Susan herself is not a native Hawaiian, and living in Hawaii she faces criticism from the native inhabitants, I fully admit that she is a Master of Lomi Lomi Nui – originating from the tradition of Abraham Kawai’i – which is hard to find in contemporary Hawaii.
Lomi Lomi Today
Currently, in Poland, there is a surge of Lomi Lomi teachers and masseurs. Lomi Lomi is so popular that it can be learned in many massage parlors across the country. Each of the masseurs and teachers carries with them different quality. However, there are a few prevailing common features that define the character and contemporary understanding of what Lomi Lomi is. These features place Lomi Lomi on the shelf with massage, more precisely with relaxation massage, and at the same time close many to the experience and learning of this multi-level Art of Touch. Very often you can come across descriptions that Lomi Lomi is: “the touch of a satisfied cat’s soft paw,” “the masseur’s dance movements to the rhythm of Hawaiian music,” “slow, gentle, and steady movement of the forearms over the body,” etc. It may seem that Lomi Lomi has become a massage ritual serving to comfort wounded people, where one must be very careful not to touch painful places. The common quality and scope of work is work on the so-called “surface” and “pleasure” limited to the body and technique, which significantly distances contemporary Lomi Lomi from its shamanic roots.
The Hidden Meaning of Abdominal Massage
The culture and language of Polynesians are full of symbols and hidden information. For example, one word can have many meanings, and the syllables that make up that word also have their own separate meanings. It is similar with working with voice, singing, breathing, dancing, or the way of preparing dishes. Almost everything that exists in Polynesian culture is interconnected and it often happens that it is cleverly hidden.
Lomi Lomi literally means “kneading.” Some sources say that it was an ancient Abdominal Kneading procedure that women performed on their partners so that they could digest food remnants or get rid of gases. I have the impression that this is a story for white people, and that there are many other meanings hidden in it. Polynesians keep a certain part of their knowledge secret for themselves, and this is justified by their extremely difficult relationships with the “white man.”
The inhabitants of Polynesia believe that Mana – Inner Power – is hidden in the abdomen. Therefore, the abdomen is the center of the body, a radar receiving and sending energetic impulses, and a bridge connecting the body with the essence of existence – the human soul, the material world with the spiritual and astral world. That is why working with the abdomen is also a very important element of Lomi Lomi, during which the energetic-emotional process of transformation begins.
What are the Roots of Lomi Lomi?
Over the years, Lomi Lomi has evolved and moved from the abdomen to working with the entire body. It also changed in different families and was passed on in different forms, having little to do with working on a massage table. It became a kind of sacred ritual performed in hidden caves by local Masters – Kahunas, and for many years maintained the status of a shamanic ritual until it was brought in a slightly altered form (on a massage table) to Europe, where due to the lack of connection of Western people with the native Hawaiian culture and partly due to the reluctance to discover something that cannot be tangibly touched and “scientifically” proven, its shamanic roots were almost ignored.
Is a Return to the Roots Possible Today?
Absorbed by immigrants and Western civilization, Hawaiian culture has hidden among a handful of natives and almost disappeared in the quality in which it was passed down from generation to generation. Currently, Polynesian traditions seem to be undergoing a kind of renaissance.
More and more events and schools are emerging that restore the memory of the old culture. However, part of the knowledge still remains in the realm of “taboo” and speculation, because the Hawaiians themselves do not fully want to share their culture with the white man, and from this perspective, a full return to what once was is not possible.
On the other hand, due to the contemporary trend of “Western civilization” towards awakening consciousness and curiosity about exploring how things were, thanks to various sources: information from books, teachers passing on knowledge from different traditions, travels to Hawaii, and native inhabitants migrating to Europe, we can learn a little more about Lomi Lomi and its inseparable connections with shamanism today.
Just as a full return of Lomi Lomi to its roots is impossible, so detaching it from the tradition, knowledge, and symbolism hidden within it makes the popular Hawaiian massage in most of Poland today a kind of classical, relaxation massage, stripped of the foundations and quality it carries, only resembling Lomi Lomi in appearance and technique. It’s a bit like separating the body from the human soul.
Lomi Lomi from My Perspective
Of course, each of us has the option to choose what we see and what in Lomi Lomi captivated us the most. Many years of practice in conducting sessions and teaching Lomi Lomi Nui have led me towards the spiritual and shamanic dimension of this bodywork, to a place of combining Polynesian traditions with my own experience. It provoked looking where emotions appear, where there is also pain and the human shadow, where in addition to working on the “superficial,” physical, and “pleasant” level, there is also room for working with what is uncomfortable, for “working with the abdomen,” for what is deeply hidden in the human body, so that this piece of human existence can also be seen and acknowledged. Just as the word Aloha has many meanings – those we know and those hidden – so Lomi Lomi has in it what is on the “surface” and what is beneath the surface, encompassing the entirety of human existence in each of us, in its various colors, levels, layers, and qualities, both physical and spiritual.
*For those interested in Lomi Lomi combined with shamanic qualities, I recommend Lomi Lomi Course by Piotr Blue inspired by what was at the beginning, combined with the qualities of Polynesian, shamanic art of touch, and a structure resulting from many years of personal experience in the field of bodywork with emotions.
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