Nā Kumu
Moʻomeheu Lapaʻau
Kumu Leinaʻala
I am grateful to be a part of ʻĒwekea Piʻi Moʻo Lāʻau,” says Bright. “As the program progresses, an exciting next step for our Cultural Health Program will be to provide a preceptorship here at Waimānalo Health Center…
– Kumu Leinaʻala
“As a Cultural Health practitioner I believe there is a connection between our mind, body, and spirit. In order for our physical body to be healthy our mind and spirit must be healthy also. As I work and teach, my prayerful intention is to encourage this balance, this being the foundation for good health and longevity.”
– Kumu Leinaʻala
Leinaʻala Bright is a mother, grandmother, educator, and practitioner of lomilomi and lā‘au lapa‘au. She began her journey as a healer over 32 years ago. Bright has trained under Kahuna Lāʻau Lapaʻau Levon Ohai, Kumu Lomilomi Alva Andrews, Nā ‘Olohe Lua, Mitchell Eli, Dennis Eli and Jerry Walker. Bright took an educational pathway to deepen her knowledge of culture earning a master’s degree in Hawaiian Studies from Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa with a focus in Mālama ‘Āina: Hawaiian Perspectives on Resource Management. She also conducted aquaponics research at the University’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources.
Bright’s most extensive work is with ‘ōlena (turmeric), which is valued in many cultures for its healing properties. “‘Ōlena supports the immune system and is used for its anti-inflammatory benefits” says Bright. “I believe food is our medicine and certain lā’au can be incorporated in our daily lives to feed the mind, body, and spirit. ‘Ōlena is the perfect lā’au to start with.” she explains.
As Director of the Cultural Health Program, Maʻiola Services, at Waimānalo Health Center, Bright integrates Hawaiian healing traditions with allopathic medicine. Bright states, “It is empowering to have traditional health care as part of our regular services, helping kānaka ‘ōiwi to remember and reclaim our ways of healing.” The program offers lāʻau lapaʻau and lomilomi as complimentary holistic healthcare treating patients with chronic pain, various illnesses, and conditions. Maʻiola Services has grown to include a cultural health hui of practitioners: lomi lomi kāko’o, Minden Taketa and Kaipo Dudoit, lā’au lapa’au kāko’o, Konane Brumblay and Loea Lapa’au Keoki Baclayon.
Kahu Keoki Baclayon
If the challenges that we face are mountains, then they are the waypoints for life that touch our space of heaven and give us hōʻailona that guide is into our future.
– Kahu Keoki
Keoki Kīkaha Pai Baclayon is the author of “E kū makani: a “life history” story of kahuna lāʻau lapaʻau Levon Ohai,” a thesis about the late Kahuna from Kapaʻa, Kauaʻi. Since 2009, he’s taught and expanded on the teachings of lāʻau lapaʻau at Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
As a kumu he is passionate about the preservation and innovation of Hawaiian medicinal practices through teaching and believes in providing learning experiences that will empower the exponential learning of lāʻau lapaʻau.
He is a strong advocate of personal health and individual well-being which translates to a healthier pilina to one’s own ʻohana, kaiāulu and lāhui. Aside from teaching in the university, he is a Kahu, Kumu and friend to many students. He practices lāʻau lapaʻau as a cultural health practitioner at Waimānalo Health Center.
In the Andrew’s Dictionary the literal meaning is as follows:
lāʻau lapaʻau – Laau, medicine, and lapaau, to heal, cure, (Medicine, i. e., herbs, roots or other compounds for the relief of diseases. Ier. 46:11).
“Lāʻau Lapaʻau is a spiritual healing practice, one that is blessed with Akua‘s guidance,
experienced through the waiwai of our ‘āina.” – Kumu Leina‘ala