The Wisdom of the Bones has to do with the emotional and spiritual aspects of what might be going on beneath the surface when someone comes to lie on your table with physical symptoms. You might hear something like this:

“I have back pain because I got in a car accident,” 

“I fell and I have knee pain”

“I don’t know what happened, but my knee just started hurting, Can you massage this?”

Lomi Lomi is a holistic way of healing, so we believe when someone presents physically there may be more to examine.

The wisdom of the bones is like a template. It helps us as practitioners to hold a greater level of space for what someone might be dealing with emotionally, spiritually, or physically.

Wisdom of the Bones – Leg Numbness

One day, a woman came to me with numbness in her leg. She was a runner and had completed three marathons.

About six months into her training, she began to experience symptoms. First, numbness and tingling. Then, no tingling, just numbness.

She’d already received a nerve conduction study test, but the doctors couldn’t find any reason for her symptoms.

That was kind of a red flag.

“Why have you chosen to come to get Lomi?” I asked.

“Well, someone in the community told me that you were a spiritual person, and doing spiritual healing. They thought you might be able to help me.” she said.

I began to pray for her right then and there.

As I began to work on her, I started asking her about what was happening in her life at the time she began to lose sensation in her leg. I learned her mother had passed away around the same time.

Of course, I told her how sorry I was that she has lost her mother. “Were you close?”, I asked.

“Yes, my mother was my very best friend. I was so inspired by her every single day.” So I asked her to start telling me about her mom.

This woman’s mom had raised her from a wheelchair. In fact, her mother was an amputee who had lost her leg from the knee down.

(Side note: I’m sure it was not a coincidence my client was experiencing the numbness from the knee down in the exact same leg.)

“Wow,” I said, “if you were so close to your mom, you must have really taken that hard.”

She replied, ”Actually, I haven’t even been able to shed one tear.” And then she said it.

“In fact, it’s as if I’ve been completely numb.”

Wisdom Revealed

I didn’t have to tell her too much more to help her to find the connection or realization. However, I did share with her the Wisdom of the Bones for that part of the body as I was taught by my Kumu.

The knee connects the femur, or thighbone, above to the tibia and fibula, the bones of the lower leg.

The Wisdom of the Bones for the thighs is about standing strong on your own two feet. Standing in your truth. It has to do with the pillars that hold up the structure, the genealogy that is the spine, every vertebra being one generation of ancestral support that we stand upright upon.

The lower leg, the tibia, has to do with the trust that you have in each and every step on your journey.

My experience from losing different family members, patriarchs and matriarchs of the family, is that when those ones pass on, those of us who remain now have to take up the torch. We step into the shoes and the path that was set out before us by the elders.

Now, WE have to be the teacher. We become the matriarch or patriarch in the family, and that can be scary!

Without those people we’ve been leaning on, and relying on, throughout our journey here on earth the fear may even overwhelm us.

I think that was something my client didn’t want to think about. She just wanted to push off the idea of taking these steps forward in her life without that support.

We talked about what happens when the spirit moves on, how they, ua hala…the spirit flies. Even though they are no longer with us, it’s almost like they’re orchestrating from the next room.

It’s like a window pane into the next realm, where they’re still able to connect with us. Our loved ones are still able to speak to us and guide us on our path.

Spiritual Support

Together, we did some ceremony around releasing her mother into the next realm, so that she can do her work. And spiritually calling her mother in from the spirit side when her spirit is ready, to continue to be a source of wisdom and guidance for her daughter on her path.

Spiritual support is available in this time, but just from the other side, a different dimension than we are in this density of the third dimension that we’re living in.

Little by little, my client regained the feeling in her leg from that point on. After a few weeks, it fully was restored.

I really believe in the power of healing available in the connection to the realms. I believe in the wisdom of the bones.

If you feel called to learn Hawaiian Lomi Lomi massage and to continue to learn about the Wisdom of the Bones, join us in the Fall or in the Spring next year.

See the full training calendar here.

You can learn about these teachings and how you as a practitioner can hold a greater amount of sacred space for someone on their healing journey.

You have the opportunity to see all of their bodies coming together – emotional, spiritual, mental and physical transformation.

Then, you can use these teachings to support your family, your community, and bring about more unity and lokahi (peacemaking and harmony) for people.

Now, it’s your turn: Do you think you’ve seen a client with a physical ailment that has more going on than the reported injury? How would a protocol like the Wisdom of the Bones influence your bodywork?

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With aloha,