Lomi Lomi and Anxiety: 3 Hawaiian Tools to Reclaim Inner Peace
By Jeana Iwalani Naluai | Ho‘omana Spa Maui
Anxiety isn’t just a racing heart or a restless night. It’s not just an uneasy feeling or a fear of what’s to come. It can feel like tightness in the chest, restlessness in the body, and a mind that won’t stop spinning.
In Hawaiian tradition, we understand anxiety as a disruption to our inner and outer alignment. While we can’t always control external stressors, we can shift our internal state—our breath, our energy, and our focus. And in doing so, we return to a state of pono: balance, harmony, and peace.
At Ho‘omana Spa on the island of Maui, we teach Lomi Lomi not only as bodywork but as a spiritual and energetic practice. Our Hawaiian ancestors passed down healing tools for navigating fear, worry, and trauma—tools that are especially needed today.
In this post, I want to share three of those tools with you. Simple, sacred practices that I teach our students and clients to support mental clarity, emotional wellbeing, and spiritual grounding.
What You’ll Discover in This Post:
- A calming breath practice (HA breath) to regulate anxiety
- A guide to activating the 7 piko (energy centers)
- A heart-centered gratitude practice to interrupt anxiety and shift your perspective
- Why Lomi Lomi is more than massage—it’s a path to empowerment
- How you can study Lomi Lomi in Maui with a Native Hawaiian teacher
Tool 1: HA Breath – Reclaim Your Power Through Breath
The first tool is the HA breath. In Hawaiian, “HA” means breath—it’s the sacred essence of life. With each inhale and exhale, we carry the mana (life force) gifted to us by our Creator and ancestors.
When anxiety strikes, it’s common to hold our breath, shrink our energy, or disconnect from the body. HA breath brings us home. It’s a way to bring yourself back into your body, into your power, and into the present moment.
Try it now:
Breathe in deeply through your nose.
Exhale slowly with a soft “haaaaaaa…” through the mouth.
Let the exhale be audible. Repeat 3 times.
This is more than breathwork. It’s a prayer. A cleansing. An invitation to reconnect with your spirit.
It takes about two weeks to create a new practice. If you stick with it, I promise you will see an energetic shift very quickly.
Tool 2: Activate Your Energy Centers – the 7 Piko
Watch the video above to follow along as I guide you through the Hawaiian muscle activation practice for anxiety relief. Breathe with me, activate each energy center, and experience the shift for yourself.
This tool is a muscle activation technique to help you connect consciously with your energy centers—called piko in Hawaiian tradition. You’ll warm your hands, breathe aloha into them, and engage the body through breath and gentle contraction at each center.
1. Root – Ma‘i (Pelvis)
Connection to ʻāina and ancestors.
Warm your hands. Place them over your pelvis. Engage the pelvic floor.
Hold 5 seconds: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. And relax.
2. Navel – Piko (Lower Abdomen)
Center of creativity, emotion, and gut instinct.
Place hands over the lower belly. Contract the lower abdominal muscles.
Hold for 5 seconds. And relax.
3. Solar Plexus – Hopo (Diaphragm)
Your internal sun and personal radiance.
Place hands under the ribcage. Sit upright. Contract the diaphragm.
Hold 5 seconds. And relax.
4. Heart Center (Chest)
Space of love and compassion.
Place hands on chest. Contract the rib cage and wings.
Hold for 5 seconds. And release.
5. Third Eye – Ma‘a (Brow)
Seat of intuition.
Warm your hands. Place fingers between the brows. Lift brows and tighten facial muscles.
Hold 5 seconds. And relax.
6. Throat – Lale (Voice)
Your voice, truth, and song.
Place hand over throat. Swallow. Hold for 5 seconds while the hyoid bone lifts.
Then let it relax.
7. Crown – Manawa (Top of Head)
Connection to divine guidance.
Place hands over the head. Lift the brow, tighten scalp, elongate neck.
Hold for 5 seconds. Pour one last breath. Feel flow and alignment.
This complete sequence is a sacred energetic reset. It returns you to your body’s wisdom and anchors you in conscious relaxation.
Tool 3: Gratitude – Shift Fear Through the Heart
Anxiety pulls us into fear, doubt, and worst-case thinking. Gratitude is the antidote. It softens the heart and redirects the mind toward what is present, whole, and healing.
Ask yourself:
“What am I thankful for in this moment?”
It could be something simple: the breath, the warmth of the sun, your healing hands, or the wisdom of your ancestors. Gratitude creates an opening in the heart—an invitation for love to replace fear.
When we give thanks before a massage, before a conversation, or before a meal, we are weaving mahalo into every aspect of our life. And that frequency can transform even the most anxious moment into a sacred one.
Be gentle with yourself. Anxiety is a natural reaction to the stressors in life. However, you can use these 3 tools to empower yourself, restore balance and live in harmony.
Lomi Lomi is More Than Bodywork
Whether you are a massage therapist, a healer, or someone seeking relief from anxiety—these tools are for you. Lomi Lomi is ancestral medicine. It’s soul medicine. And it invites you to reclaim peace from the inside out.
You are not powerless. You are powerful. These practices are here to help you remember.
Come Learn With Us in Maui
If you feel called to go deeper, join us at Ho‘omana Spa in Makawao. We don’t just teach massage. We pass on teachings that are sacred, spiritual, and rooted in aloha.
Next workshop begins August
Ho‘omana Spa, Maui
www.LearnLomiLomi.com
Return to the root. Reclaim your peace. Come home to yourself.
