A Hawaiian Temple Bodywork session begins, ends, and is infused with ritual and prayer,
setting the space as sacred, and calling in the support of the lineage of healers. Preparation is simply being opening to receive the work. In temple style lomilomi this is assisted by means of rituals before and after the
hands-on massage portion of the work. They are integral and essential to the healing process. It is intimate work. These rituals, the prayers, music, chant and symbolism are all essential safeguards and help to maintain the creation of sacred space. Sacred space provides for opening and surrender to trust and receiving the complete unconditional love of the practitioner. This spirit of Aloha and focused intent for the good of the recipient becomes the immanent manifestation of the love and grace of God. Emotions are released. Crying is not uncommon, nor is laughter. The physical sensations as the mana is raised and directed throughout the body, are intense and sometimes overwhelming, often more than we are accustomed to.
So allow plenty of time to process after your session ends. Emotional release is not a goal, but it is common. The only goal is to create and maintain a place of complete safety where you can release anything and everything that no longer serves you.
Anointing
The recipient undresses and dons a sarong. The practitioner is also clothed in a
sarong. The recipient stands near the table, eyes closed. The practitioner
stands in front of the recipient, and begins by anointing his own hands with
oils, reaching skyward and praying. He then, without touching, embraces the
recipient drawing his hands down, over and around the recipient from head to
foot. This process is repeated, moving closer and closer to the recipient, until
the lightly oiled fingertips make contact, stroking downward, like raindrops.
Oils are then copiously applied to the practitioner's hands, and as the hands
make full contact, the oil is applied to the exposed areas of the skin,
acclimating the recipient to the practitioner's touch and the sensation of being
richly bathed in nourishing oils. After many such passes, from crown to toe, the
sarong is untied and held in place by the practitioner, the recipient is
instructed to breathe in deeply, and when ready, to exhale, releasing anything
they no longer serves them. On the exhale, the sarong is dropped and the
recipient stands while the anointing continues with full strokes over almost the
entire body. The sarong is re-draped over the shoulders and the recipient is
guided to the table.
On the Table
There are no sheets on the table for lomilomi. The recipient lies down, face up or
down as instructed, with the sarong covering them. Once the recipient is on the
table, the practitioner reverently fans the sarong in wavelike motions, bringing
it off the body and into the air. In this way, the past is metaphorically
removed from the recipient, bringing the session out of Chronos and into
vertical time, the Now. As the sarong settles back onto the recipient, it is
folded inward until it is like a cloth rope, and drawn downward until it barely
covers the pubis or gluteal crease. For some recipients, this symbolic covering
of the most vulnerable areas assists them to open to an experience that may be
beyond their current capacity to trust.
Then, assisted by the music, and in the flow of the hula, the practitioner again and
again delivers flowing and caressing strokes over and around the recipient like
waves of the ocean. The practitioner moves intuitively, not performing a set
routine. The complete focus of the practitioner is on the recipient’s highest
good manifested as waves upon waves of unconditional love. It is inconceivably
intense, overwhelmingly nurturing, the sense of perfection and well being is
like nothing in ordinary experience.
Closing the Session
Because of the profound, intense experience of Lomilomi and because of the
sacred space and boundless trust required, closing the session is as important
as opening it. Allow plenty of time for your Lomilomi session. The rituals for
closing the session are similar to those for opening it, but in reverse order,
disengaging gradually, ritually opening a new future, replacing the drape and
billowing the it upward several times, allowing it to rest on the body as the
recipient returns to ordinary reality, renewed, healed and refreshed.
