Ho,oponopono for Cancer affected (from the archives)

Lotus Healing Seva group members Kamal Tolia and Monica Gokaldas conducted the Ho’oponopono Forgiveness workshop on Thursday June 16^th at Faraja Cancer Support Centre in Nairobi, Kenya. They were assisted by members Pratima, Shariffa, Niddhi and Laveena. The participants were mainly cancer patients, their care givers and a few staff of Faraja. This is the second time LHSG conducted this workshop, the last one having been done the year before.

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The day began early for some as they made an effort to reach Faraja Cancer Care by 9am. It was a cold but clear day which soon turned bright and sunny as if affected by the vibrancy of the workshop. Kamal, Pratima and I reached much ahead of time to organize for the workshop and to our pleasure we found Srinidhi and Laveena already present in their excitement to learn Ho’opono pono at the workshop.

We set up the highest Sacred Space and soon Shariffa was also with us to help out during the course of the day. After the brief introduction of the group and its members and other activities the workshop began with a discussion about Forgiveness. Kamal explained to the attendees who were mainly Cancer patients or survivors, their care givers and a few volunteers at Faraja that Ho’opono pono is a Hawaiian practice of forgiveness. She then went on to explain the necessity of taking the steps to asking for forgiveness and the art of forgiving those that may have hurt or harmed us in any way.

I took over from there to further talk about how our unforgiving behavior can lead to sickness and strained relationships and prevent our progress towards positivity in life. Although I had addressed bigger groups in the past, talking about Forgiveness and Reiki a few times at Faraja as well as other workshops with Kamal, this was my very first at partly conducting the workshop with her. Ho’opono pono is a subject very close to my heart after bearing positive effects on my health and relationships and of those who come to me for help. Hence, it was definitely the right topic for me to teach as I didn’t have to memorize from any manual and I spoke from my experience of it.

Kamal and I very comfortably filled in our teaching space alternately and conducted some exercises as well with the attendees who by end of the afternoon had numbered to a good 21. The participation from the new learners was very encouraging and they all had very valid questions to ask as well. To some extent, most of them had been wondering what one could learn in a forgiveness workshop because in lot of faiths Forgiveness is a practice commonly observed. Some of them revealed that they had been speaking the sentences of forgiveness as a mundane practice without actually feeling it or even understanding its essence and effects on our daily lives.

On the whole, the workshop went extremely well and everyone left very happy and lighter, giving us their energetic hugs and expressing gratitude which made us feel elated. Pratima was very helpful with registrations, organizing the refreshments at mid-morning, setting up and wrapping up the arrangement as well as with the sale of books and CDs. Shariffa Ji acted as our ambassador of the group by engaging in fruitful conversations and finding out how different situations with families needed Ho’opono pono to de-stress them. Srinidhi and Laveena though weren’t the volunteers of the day as they came to learn, were very helpful at various times by their timely input in arrangements and the break time assistance.

Finally, I express my immense gratitude to Kamal Tolia who gave me this opportunity to co-conduct the workshop with her. This workshop was very special in another way as it taught me a lesson of commitment and perseverance. Kamal who had had a fall the night before the workshop was injured and in acute pain and partly disoriented due to the pain and discomfort in movement and hadn’t been able to sleep the whole night insisted in going ahead with the teaching. I salute her determination at not letting any hindrance block her path to Seva.

Monica Gokaldas

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