When I first experienced lomi lomi Hawaiian massage -- a form of body-centered, "hands-on" energywork sometimes referred to as "loving hands" massage -- it felt like coming home.

Flowing, loving, nurturing, dance-like -- it feels wonderful; nurtures body, mind, heart, and spirit; promotes physical healing; and has a powerful energetic impact as well.

My bodywork style is heavily influenced by lomi lomi.

Lomi lomi Hawaiian massage promotes physical healing by allowing your body a rest, time to reset and restore itself. The sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) is "turned off" and the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest) is "turned on." The body can better restore itself, and a person's energy systems can also better balance and clear themselves.

Style and Benefits
Often using the forearms instead of hands, the practitioner uses long, rhythmic, fluid, flowing strokes. On the physical level, lomi lomi relieves stress, relaxes muscles, speeds healing of soft-tissue injuries, relaxes the nervous system, and promotes blood and lymphatic flow. It can be deep, yet is extremely nurturing and relaxing.

However, there is much more to lomi lomi. Opening with stillness and a prayer, the practitioner focuses on staying completely present for their client, with an open and loving heart.

Rhythmic, fluid, nurturing strokes evoke a deep, healing state of relaxation and help the recipient release old beliefs, behaviors, and memories -- often stored in our muscles. Not just a physical experience, it facilitates energy flow, and brings about healing on mental, emotional, and spiritual planes as well.

There is no set sequence for a lomi lomi massage. The practitioner follows her/his intuition. The rhythmic, fluid, almost dance-like strokes often work to unify different parts of the body, such as a shoulder and the opposite hip, or to encompass the full length of the body. This promotes a feeling of balance and harmony.

Gentle stretches and joint rotations lubricate and increase range of motion in joints as well as releasing energy that can get blocked in the joint.

Hawaiian massage is truly bodywork for the whole person -- physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.