Criminally insane killers and rapists were sent to Hawaii State Hospital and were healed without ever meeting Ihaleakala Hew Len, Ph.D. It’s a remarkable tale. In the past, I’ve written about The Maharishi Effect where groups meditating together were able to lower crime in the surrounding area. But in this case, it was one individual, and he was performing the Hawaiian mindful practice Ho’oponopono. Dr. Hew Len asked himself, “What is going on with me, that I am experiencing this?” By practicing Ho’oponopono, He took 100% accountability for their mental health problems and healed them.
Taking Responsibility Frees You
The majority of people today reject the idea of personal responsibility. The whole idea of the drama triangle is finding someone else to blame for why something in someone’s life happened. As I’ve discussed before, when you say the responsibility for something is in someone else’s hands, then you become powerless. The drama triangle breeds the feeling of powerlessness.
Conversely, taking personal responsibility makes you feel empowered. But, Dr. Hew Len wasn’t just taking personal responsibility, he was taking responsibility for people outside of himself. He was taking them in, as a part of himself, viewing them as reflections of his inner world. He would experience patients being violent and even staff going crazy. And rather than talk with them, he would ask himself, “What is going on with me that I am creating this experience?”
Why Would You Take Responsibility For Others?
Memories / Data / Samskaras
The general idea of the Ho’oponopono belief is that we have “data” or “memories” inside of us, in our subconscious. And those “memories” are causing us to experience them as a reflection (through other people or situations that we find ourselves in). The “memory” or “data” (he uses both of these terms), could also be called “samskaras” from the Hindu belief system. These memories/data/samskaras exist as imprints on our subconscious. These imprints then cause us to keep perceiving them over and over in new situations. In a more Western view, they could be considered traumatic events that we’ve gone through that we “replay” in life, in order to heal from them.
Consider Dream Characters
If you have a dream where your family members are acting crazy, when you wake up you do not blame them for what your dream characters did, right? You know that, inside your dream, people are controlled by your “memories,” or thoughts about people.
So every single dream character that you meet is really a reflection of yourself, and they often stand for specific events or feelings from your past. If you are always angry or paranoid in your waking life, then your dreams will likely be that way too. If you’ve been running from responsibility in your waking life, then you may have a nightmare where someone is chasing you. You wouldn’t attempt to try to “fix” that waking-life someone (who was chasing you in your dream), you would attempt to deal with your own responsibility issues.
When you have resolved that issue in your waking life, then you will no longer have nightmares about it. Consider that life is like a dream, that our higher selves are having, where everyone in this dream is really a reflection of a single dreamer. If that’s the case, when we heal ourselves, it heals everyone else too.
Cleaning “Memories” & Finding Zero
When we “clean” the data or old memories up, then we become clear. The state of being clear is also called the “space of void” or what Shakespeare called the state of “blank.” I feel as if when Dr. Joe Dispenza refers to the state of “Space” he may be referring to this blankness. Dr. Len and Dr. Joe Vitale call it “Zero” also. When we are in this state of emptiness, zero, void, or blank state, that is when we can be divinely inspired. “Memories” or “Data” can be seen as dirt on our glasses. When you wipe them away you start to see the world as it really is.
Our “memories” are shared with others in this world, in a sort of collective subconscious. When we clean these “memories” we are also clearing those “memories” for others. So when we heal ourselves, we heal the world.
Dr. Hew Len Teaches Ho’oponopono
Dr. Len discusses Ho’oponopono and his work healing the criminally insane in the video below. If you want to learn more you can also take his certification course (with Dr. Joe Vitale author of Zero Limits: The Secret Hawaiian System for Wealth, Health, Peace, and More).
Law of Attraction Beliefs
The law of attraction belief is that we are attracting people and situations into our life based on our beliefs. They are all reflecting to us these beliefs that we hold. So if you believe that it’s easy for you to make money then you will attract many ways for you to make money. If you believe all cops are evil, whenever you meet a cop, that cop will behave badly. What you believe, you will perceive.
Limiting & Positive Beliefs
In these situations, I would say any limiting belief (such as specific people are evil) is like the “Data” or “Memory” that you hold in your subconscious. You will keep attracting those situations until you heal from that limiting belief. In this example, you hold a similar “memory” that “bad cops” do. You two will attract each other. But when you heal the “memory” you hold in common, then you will no longer see cops as being “bad.”
Any positive beliefs (such as money-making is easy) would align with what God-Source (or your higher self) feels on the subject. So in those cases you are at “Zero,” seeing your limitless possibilities for how to make money.
Your emotions tell you what is a limiting belief versus something that God-Source feels. If you feel positively, then it’s aligning with God-Source (or your higher-dimensional self). if you’re feeling negative emotions, then it’s a limiting belief.
We attract these negative situations in our life because of these “memories” or “samskaras.” When we heal those, we become clear and start to attract limitless possibilities and an abundance of love, wealth, etc.
How to Clean With Ho’oponopono
Dr. Hew Len teaches how to clean and it’s beyond easy. When facing any situation or person that you would consider negative, say (out loud or in your head): “I love you. I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you.” It’s a sort of mantra. It is meant to be said over and over because there is much cleaning to do.
“I love you. I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you.”
In the course, he does say that the order in which you say these does not matter. He also says that if you don’t feel like saying, “sorry,” or asking for forgiveness, then don’t. You don’t need to. If that part doesn’t resonate with you, feel free to just use, “I love you. Thank you.”
How I View the Mantra
Personally, I view it as saying I love this memory (or samskara) that came up, for one thing, it has given me an opportunity to clean it. So you can thank this memory for showing up because you know that when you clean it your life is going to get better (you’ll stop attracting things related to this memory/samskara, and start attracting more divine situations). I also think of saying I’m sorry for rejecting it in the past. The reason trauma stays with us is that we haven’t dealt with it. Trauma is like an open wound and sometimes we just put a bandage on it and ignore it, but we don’t actually treat it, so it festers. So I ask for forgiveness for not accepting it and dealing with it when it happened.
Older Versions of Ho’oponopono
Dr. Hew Len took an older view of Ho’oponopono and changed it up. There is an older version in the video below. I read the prayer where you can input your own issues you want cleaning on.
The Ho’oponopono Prayer By Morrnah Nalamaku Simeona:
Spirit, Superconscious, please locate the origin of my feelings, thoughts of ________ (fill in the blank with whatever negative emotion or situation you're thinking of cleaning). Take each and every level, layer, area and aspect of my being to this origin. Analyze it and resolve it perfectly with God’s truth. Come through all generations of time and eternity, healing every incident and its appendages based on the origin. Please do it according to God’s will until I am at the present filled with light and truth, God’s peace and love, forgiveness of myself for my incorrect perceptions, forgiveness of every person, place, circumstances and events which contributed to this: these feelings and thoughts.
Group Healing Method
Dr. Hew Len also said that, in the past, the practice of Ho’oponopono was a group healing method. It makes sense that communities would come together and “clean” on all of their in-common memories/data/samskaras together. If you believe in this cleaning method you could start your own local groups. But, in this day and age where it may be difficult to meet up, it is helpful to do this yourself solo with Dr. Len’s newer method.
Other Methods of Cleaning
He also discusses other ways to “clean” memories in his certification course. I’m not going to explain every single way. But one of the more interesting ways is to get a blue-glass bottle, fill it with water, and let it soak in the sunlight for an hour. He said to use a plastic top, not metal. You can use any blue glass bottle you like, but I personally use a few from Blue Bottle Love. Full disclosure, I have an affiliate account with them. But I do, because I love their work. I have 5 bottles, 4 of the smaller ones with the beautiful designs on them, and one plain 5 litre. It can be cloudy for stretches of days at a time and I like to have some stored for use during those times. I offer a Ho’oponopono Cleaning Service and always want some around for that besides my personal use.
Cleansing Water
Dr. Hew Len explains that when you drink the blue bottle sun water, it does the cleaning for you. You can also say the mantra at the same time as drinking it. Also, check out my Affirmations article for affirmations specifically for water that you can embody when you drink it.
You don’t need to do any of these extra steps, but it is nice to come at this “cleaning” in multiple ways. Also, spending time focusing your attention on healing, cleaning, and being thankful keeps your mind off complaints. And drinking extra water is always beneficial because most people are dehydrated today. It’s a win-win-win.
Is It Too Easy?
For some people, this may sound like it’s way too easy. It’s such a simple mantra. You might ask, “Does it really work?” Well, I’ve been a certified Ho’oponopono practitioner for almost 3 years now and I’m not stopping. What you believe you perceive. So if you believe it’s working and then you perceive your life getting better, why wouldn’t you continue on with it? For me, it’s working.
And it’s always a good thing to focus in on what you appreciate and savor those things. And we all see evidence to back up our beliefs. If your beliefs are negative, then I would suggest changing them. But if your beliefs are positive, then that’s great news that you’ll find evidence to prove you’re right, right?
So, what do you have to lose? Why not try it out for a while, looking to see what, in your life, is getting better? When you look for evidence that your life is getting better, you will find it. That’s actually how our brains work. Just try to not look for evidence that it’s not working for you because what you believe, you will perceive.
