Tiara L Catey LMT @ Center for Balance

Aloha!!!

Lomilomi is a very powerful form of bodywork and it is for people who seek to experience deeper levels of healing by attending to their spirit.

For millennia, lomilomi had been practiced by the kahunas and family elders of Hawai’i. Lomilomi is a form of massage that nurtures the spirit. Lomilomi is regarded by the Hawaiians as a sacred ritual which brings the spirit back into the body. Lomilomi cleanses the body by clearing the psychic debris - both emotional and physical toxins. The body is recognized as a temple for the soul and therefore is reverentially regarded as holy. The lomilomi is performed with prayerful intentions, blessings, breathwork and visualization, on the massage table which is thought of as an altar. By addressing the body with this focused intention, deeper levels of healing can occur, clearing the physical space so that one can find their joy and usher in momentum for the next phase of their journey.

Throughout all indigenous cultures, dance and music have been ways of connecting to Source. It is the same with lomilomi, as the practitioner performs her prayerful dance upon your body through the artful use of her tools - forearms, hands, and elbows, reminiscent of the movement of the rhythm of an undulating ocean and tropical breezes.

As an active participant in one’s own healing, the recipient breathes with intention, allowing visions, thoughts and emotions to move through them -
letting energy flow and further clearing the space of their interior.

The lomilomi that I practice is in the lineage of Aunty Margaret Machado, the first Hawaiian to share the craft of lomilomi to peoples outside of her heritage. I was taught by one of her students and a kumu in her own right, master spiritual healer, Aunty Cuky Choquette Harvey. In Aunty Cuky’s words, Lomilomi is an “ancient dance of spiritual, emotional, physical and psychic healing.” The form that I’ve been taught and practice is considered “Traditional” lomilomi.

I offer three different ways of experiencing lomilomi.
All are completed with Talkstory - an opportunity to share one’s feelings, impressions, and visions received during the lomilomi - and release their energetic hold.

One-hour Lomilomi
This one-hour lomilomi introduces you to the benefits of this sacred work. Lomilomi is always performed with prayer and concentration on breathwork.
1-hour Lomilomi plus Talkstory   $90
Add-on 1 hour of ili ili (hot stones) - $90.00 extra

Two-hour Lomilomi
Two-hour lomilomi session expands the experience reaching for even greater depth and cleansing.

2-hour Lomilomi plus Talkstory $180
Add-on a 1 hour of ili ili (hot stones) - $90.00 extra

Transformational Lomilomi
a personal retreat of reflection and self-love

In days of old, lomilomi would be performed for hours or even days at a time. In that tradition, for more transformational work to occur, three consecutive days of lomilomi are suggested. This three-day experience of 2 hours of bodywork each day is a thoroughly nurturing experience for anyone who wants to create space for deep introspection, to explore how their physical bodies relate to their story. These three days should be regarded as a retreat, and would be best to be treated as sacred. It is a time for reflection into your own experience and an exploration of yourself.

Transformational Lomilomi
3 consecutive days of 2 hour of bodywork each day (including 1 hour of ili ili)
plus Talkstory             $540

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Receiving lomilomi is an act of self-love. It is suggested that after you have received the lomilomi that you take that day (or those days) as a time for deep inner reflection and nurturing self-care including eating well, meditating, journaling, contemplating, bathing, resting, even singing, dancing, and being creative in whatever way that makes you joyful.

Respecting the Hawaiian tradition, lomilomi is only performed during daylight hours. The evening hours are for rest for both the lomilomi dancer (the practitioner) and the one receiving the dance (the seeker of healing).