The Wisdom of the Bones is a Hawaiian system to describe the spiritual-emotional aspects of illness that contribute to what we experience in our physical bodies. 

Ancient Hawaiians understood the bones and the stories within the bones teach us how to activate healing for body, mind and spirit.

Each bone in the body corresponds to a different spiritual or emotional mis-alignment. We cover this topic in-depth during the Spring/Fall Advanced Lomi Lomi retreat.

Today, I want to share how the wrist is explained within the context of this ancient knowledge system, The Wisdom of the Bones.

Wisdom of the Bones

Hawaiians believe that your mana, your life force, is held within your bones. Your soul’s journey, your DNA, and your ancestral stories are all stored there.

If you want to access what might be going on emotionally and spiritually in the body, look to the Wisdom of the Bones.

The wrist articulates with the forearm above and the hand below.

I had a gentleman that came to me complaining of pain in his forearm and wrist. One aspect of the wisdom of the bones for that area of the body has to do with hanging on or letting go.

Perhaps we are being controlling, not allowing people in our lives to continue on their journey. Maybe we’re trying to carry them along on ours. At the end of the day, we may be  hanging onto something that is due to be released.

So, this man came and told me the story… he had started working out with a personal trainer at the local gym.

One day, he was doing  supination and pronation rolling the forearm up and down with 30 pound dumbbells. (I know…why on earth would you need to do that over and over with 30 pounds??!)

Over time, this workout aggravated the tissues around his forearm and he was diagnosed with a tendonitis called lateral epicondylitis or tennis elbow.

When I see that type of complaint, especially when it is severe with radiating symptoms down the arm, there may be nerve involvement.

The radial nerve goes through that area underneath a little muscle called supinator. This man was having symptoms all the way to the back of the hand.

Get the Full Story

I started to ask him about what was going on in his life when the injury happened and he shared that he started going to the gym after a divorce.

His wife had wanted to leave the relationship, but he wasn’t quite ready to release her. He allowed this to go on for years.

Finally, he signed off and gave her the divorce that she was asking for but in his heart he hadn’t really let her go.

He delayed signing paperwork and missed important deadlines, all in the hope she would change her mind.

She never did.

In the end, he surrendered and signed the paperwork but he really hadn’t let her go.

Going to the gym was his way of getting back to himself. He was trying to figure out how to feel himself in his body. And when he got there, obviously, he pushed too hard.

It had been more than a year of pain and discomfort that gotten so bad that it was affecting his activities of daily living.

Even something as simple as buttoning his pants became a painful action.

This man was a gentleman, definitely NOT someone you’d see running around in sweat pants or surf shorts. Collared-shirts and pants or slacks were his uniform.

Having to pull up the elastic waistbands was just not in his fashion vocabulary and a serious frustration for him.

Start the Work

I began to Lomi him. I worked with hot stones to open up the shoulder, the elbow, the wrist hand and forearm.

The breakthrough happened when we started talking about the wisdom of the bones for that area and I shared the knowledge about what that area signified.

I didn’t have to go into the details about being willing to let his wife go or how he was hanging on to her.

I just simply shared with him what some of the possible spiritual-emotional aspects can be when someone has disharmony in this area.

He heard my explanation and realized exactly what he needed to do.

I shared with him our Bowl of Light Meditation and how to release the things that you’re carrying that weigh you down and can diminish your energy.

We talked about letting go so that you can free yourself to attract your desired outcome. He was so inspired, he began to do this as he was lying on the table.

By the time our session was complete, everything had shifted.

His arm was flexible, his joints were open. We’d done some work to release the radial nerve as it passes under the supinator.

Everything just worked. He was doing movements that he hadn’t done in years…even buttoning up his pants!

The Real Work

My client was amazed.

He just couldn’t believe that his hand, wrist and forearm were able to do things he couldn’t do when he first walked in the door.

I know the real story is NOT that I did every single massage technique right, or that it was just the Lomi that worked on him.

We listened to the Wisdom of the Bones. They were telling us the real source of the issue – being willing to let go and willing to trust in love once again.

The spiritual and emotional symptoms were addressed and true healing could begin.

Another teaching of the Wisdom of the Bones has to do with the arms. They are an extension of your heart. When the arms are in alignment, you can open your heart to love.

After that experience on my table, he was able to open his heart to receiving and giving love once again. He let go of where he’d been and opened himself to moving forward on his love path in life.

I’m happy to say that I’ve seen him many times since that point, without the pain in his arm and with his heart wide open to love.

Use This Wisdom to Heal Yourself

The bones and the stories within the bones can teach us how to activate healing on all levels.

You can activate remembering of what it feels like to be in spiritual-emotional-physical alignment. Use this knowledge as practitioners to support people.

We can even use these teachings to further OURSELVES on our life path, on our love path  on our journeys to heal ourselves.

Now, it’s your turn: what stories, relationships, or ways of being are you ready to release?

I read every post and comment, so please share below:

With aloha,