Mana Maintenance

Caring for Your Life Force as a Spiritual Hawaiian Lomilomi Massage Practitioner

In Hawaiian wisdom, mana is the vital life force that flows through all things. It is not something we “have” in isolation, but something that moves, grows, diminishes, and renews itself through relationship — with ourselves, with others, with the land, and with Spirit.

For those who walk the path of giving Spiritual Hawaiian Lomilomi Massage, maintaining one’s mana is not optional. It is foundational. Our presence, our touch, our intuition, and our capacity to hold space are all directly influenced by the state of our mana.

Mana Is Lived, Not Stored

Mana is strengthened through integrity, alignment, and right relationship. It flows when we live in a way that is pono — balanced, honest, and true. It weakens when we over give, bypass our own needs, or ignore the signals of our body, heart, and naʻau.

As practitioners, we often focus on caring deeply for others. Yet Lomilomi reminds us that we must also mālama ourselves — take care of, tend to, and actively nurture our own life force.

Without mālama, mana becomes depleted. And when mana is depleted, our work can begin to feel heavy, effortful, or disconnected from its spiritual roots.

Mana Lives in the Bones

In Hawaiian understanding, mana lives in the bones. Our iwi (bones) carry far more than structure — they hold the journey of our soul, our DNA, and the stories of our ancestors. Our lineage, lived experiences, and spiritual learnings are remembered and stored within them.

This is why touch, movement, and intention are so important in Lomilomi. 

When these are offered through aloha—unconditional love and presence—we create a space where true healing can occur. As we work with the body, we are not only addressing muscles and fascia; we are communicating with the deeper layers of being, where memory, ancestry, and spirit reside. 

Aloha is what allows the body to feel safe enough to remember, to release, and to restore the natural flow of mana.

When our bodies die, our mana returns to the ʻāina (the earth), completing the cycle and feeding life once more. In this way, mana is never lost — it is continually exchanged between people, land, and Spirit.

For practitioners, this understanding calls us into humility and care. What we carry in our bones matters. How we live, how we heal, and how we mālama ourselves shapes the mana we bring into the world.

The Responsibility of the Practitioner

To offer Lomilomi is to offer more than technique. It is to offer presence, intention, and an energetic field shaped by our inner state. Our mana flows through our hands, our breath, our awareness, and our listening.

Maintaining our mana is therefore an ethical responsibility. It ensures that what we give is clean, grounded, and guided by Spirit rather than driven by exhaustion, obligation, or ego.

This care includes:

• Rest and spaciousness

• Clear boundaries

• Emotional and spiritual reflection

• Connection to ʻāina (land/nature)

• Ongoing learning and supervision

• And crucially — receiving Lomilomi ourselves

Receiving Lomilomi: A Sacred Act of Mālama

Receiving Lomilomi is not a luxury for practitioners — it is an essential practice of maintenance and renewal.

When we receive Lomilomi, our own mana is invited to move freely again. Old holding patterns soften. Energetic stagnation clears. Our nervous system remembers safety and flow. We are brought back into relationship with our own body and spirit, not as the giver, but as the one being held.

Receiving allows us to:

• Release what we have been carrying

• Restore balance between giving and receiving

• Support the bones and deeper energetic layers where mana resides

• Stay humble and embodied in the lineage

• Reconnect with the lived experience of Lomilomi as healing, not output

In this way, receiving Lomilomi becomes a profound act of mālama i kou mana — caring for your life force so it may continue to flow with clarity and integrity.

Flow, Not Force

Lomilomi teaches us that healing does not come from force, but from flow. The same is true for our lives as practitioners. When mana is flowing and strong, our work feels spacious, responsive, and alive. When it is blocked or depleted, even the most skilled hands can feel tired.

To mālama your mana is to listen. To slow down. To receive support. To allow yourself to be nourished by the very medicine you offer others.

Walking the Path with Care

As Spiritual Hawaiian Lomilomi Practitioners, we are not meant to burn ourselves out in service. We are meant to walk this path with reverence — for the practice, for the lineage, for the ancestors carried in our bones, and for ourselves.

By tending to our mana with intention and humility, we ensure that Lomilomi continues to flow through us as a living, breathing expression of Aloha.

E mālama i kou mana

Care for your life force — in your body, your bones, and your being — and it will care for the work you are here to do.

Artist: Kiki.Mora