Wellbeing and My Hua

When I started to dabble in wellbeing-type-things in 2000, taking my first Yoga class to celebrate the new year, I had no idea how central this idea would be to my life’s journey and hua (purpose, seed)! After experiencing some “big-T Traumas,” I knew it was time to focus on healing, spirituality, and wellbeing. If you know me at all, you know I’m not a fiercely decisive person (more of a diplomat, really), so when I look back on this assuredness, I have to give props to my y0unger self! I spent a long time practicing, sharing, and reading about healing, philosophy, and wellbeing practices from both Yogic and Buddhist perspectives. In India, Thailand, the U.A.E., and NYC I not only put myself back together again, but I transmuted my pain. Turned the shite into fertilizer, so to speak. The subsequent growth I felt from those sojourns felt like a kind of evolution - so of course I wanted to share these powerful tools! I stewarded healing spaces in government subsidized housing facilities and half-way homes, focusing on some of our most vulnerable community members. This sharing chapter took me to ashrams, workplaces, schools, and a Native reservation. Although I eventually co-owned an equity-focused wellbeing center and got published in the NYT, I also started to read about decolonialism around this time and felt I should do my part to make more space for Desi Yoga teachers. I stopped teaching Yoga and Buddhist practices for money but my curiosity for wellbeing kept growing …

It was right around this time a slew of Western academic opportunities for studying wellbeing became more accessible. In 2008, I took as many courses on the science of wellbeing as I could, through UC Berkeley and UNC Chapel Hill’s MOOCs, Health Psychology, and Mindfulness and Meditation in Psychology at the New School. Although I knew I wanted to study wellbeing, its relationship to wisdom traditions, trauma, and socioeconomic determinants of health, it was around this time I got the kāhea from my naʻau to move home and attend to family. (Don’t worry, I get back to that PhD dream later ;))

So moving home is when Indigenous wellbeing came to the fore for me, reconnecting with my Kanaka ʻŌiwi and Ainu lineages. Working in an Institute of Education Sciences-funded nonprofit, I contributed to Kanaka ʻŌiwi education and wellbeing efforts such as Mana Lāhui Kānaka and a project in support of kaiapuni (immersion) school assessments. While co-leading a project exploring Nā Hopena Aʻo (HĀ), I met some incredibly inspiring ʻŌiwi leaders, dedicated to transforming systems and uplifting wellbeing in Hawaiʻi.

These days, I’m honored to be a National Institutes of Health-funded research fellow at the trailblazing UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Health. There, I’m learning the ropes from some of the most equity-focused, brilliant, and kind individuals in research, and publish on wellbeing, contemplative practices like mindfulness and Yoga, and decolonialism. I designed and taught an undergraduate course in the Psychology Department at UHM, The Science of Wellbeing, and continue to share aspects of the course with mentees and clients.

The Kānaka ʻŌiwi wellbeing work outlined above is evolving through continued development of theory, measurement, and practice resources. This work is informed by a two-year scoping review of Indigenous wellbeing models that I am leading with a team of Indigenous scholars, with publication on the horizon!

In addition to clinical approaches, I share Yoga (teacher training through Hawaii Yoga Institute), evidence-based relaxation techniques, and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. The learning journey with Kumus Mālia Ko`iulaokawaolehua Bird Helelā, Kanoelani Davis (Ho’aka Mana), and Kekuhi Kealiʻikanakaole continues - haumana for life!

I love sharing about wellbeing in multiple forms, so if you’re a part of a community or org working toward collective ea (liberation), check the Pilina Center and let’s be in touch!