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Lomilomi massage


Lomilomi is the word used today to mean "massage therapist" or "Hawaiian massage." In the Hawaiian language, the word used traditionally, called lomi, means "to knead, to rub, or soothe; to work in and out, as the paws of a contented cat."

Lomilomi practitioners use the palms, forearms, fingers, knuckles, elbows, knees, feet, even sticks and stones. It may be performed with or without emollient. Lomilomi practices varied by family, Ahupuaʻa (traditional region) and island.

Traditionally in ancient Hawaii lomilomi was practiced in four contexts:

Although the term kahuna lomilomi is widely used in contemporary writings, traditionally the people who performed lomilomi were called ka poʻe lomilomi (the massage people) or kanaka lomi (massage person). A related term, kauka lomilomi, was coined in 1920 to describe osteopathic physicians. The word kauka is the Hawaiianized version of doctor.

Future practitioners were selected in childhood, around age 5, based on birth signs such as weather events, birthmarks (especially on the head), and kind behavior. After a decade or more of study, they would begin to practice but mastery was believed to take a lifetime.

Like all endeavors in old Hawaii, lomilomi was conducted with prayer and intention. Hawaiian kupuna (elder) Auntie Margaret Machado describes lomilomi as "praying" work. Emma Akana Olmstead, a kupuna of Hana, Maui, in the 1930s, said, "When a treatment is to be given, the one who gives the treatment first plucks the herbs to be used. He prays as he picks the herbs. No one should call him back or distract his attention, all should be as still as possible for they do not want the vibration broken. They knew the laws of vibration. They knew the power of the spoken word. They knew Nature. They gathered the vibration of the plentiful."

The early Polynesian settlers brought their own form of massage and it evolved to become something uniquely Hawaiian. It was practiced by everyone, from child to chief. As an indigenous practice that evolved over hundreds of years in isolated valleys throughout the island chain, there are many different "schools" of lomilomi with different approaches and techniques.

After American missionaries arrived in 1820 and converted many in the Kingdom of Hawaii to Christianity, various laws prohibited "heathen" worship and any related Native Hawaiian healing practices. Lomilomi as part of medical practice went underground. But lomilomi as restorative massage remained popular not only among the Hawaiians, but among foreign residents and visitors as well. Charles Wilkes describes it being offered after his ascent of Mokuaweoweo in 1841 on the United States Exploring Expedition. For Robert Louis Stevenson it was "disagreeable", but English adventurer Isabella Bird found it delightful. Not only did foreigners receive lomilomi, they also gave it. According to William Brigham the first Director of the Bishop Museum, writing in 1908, one of the most skilled practitioners was Sanford Dole, one of the leaders of the overthrow of the Kingdom.


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