Kūha‘o Zane leads the Fellows in making an offering of lei to the ‘āina
A group of about twenty Fellows headed up to the Waiʻanae mountains for a two-day retreat that blended ancestral Hawaiian practices with evidence-based mindfulness practices. Lia Hunt shares her reflections from this experience where Fellows slowed down and reconnected with the self, the present, and the ʻāina.
By: Lia Hunt
The drive through the Waiʻanae forest of Pālehua was the closest I’d been to heaven in a long time. Every dip and curve in the road, every earthy scent of the flora, felt like a gentle reminder that I was slipping away from the weight of reality—if only for a moment. We immersed ourselves in the spiritual and cultural significance of something I can only summarize in my own words as, “‘Āina is awareness, awareness is ‘Āina.”
Uncovering this linguistic puzzle brought me to tears; we were decoding a living language—one deeply intertwined with genealogy, natural phenomena, life’s cyclical rhythms, and the frequencies that connect the self both inwardly and outwardly to others. Our discussions naturally wove through themes of water, land, and community—how they shape and sustain us, and how mindful exploration of these relationships is more critical than ever. Yet, even in the serenity of Pilihonua, the stark contrast to the political imbalance and emotional toll gripping the world outside was undeniable.
Each day’s agenda felt like shinrin-yoku (“forest bathing” or “taking in the forest atmosphere”), but of words, images, scents, touches, and tastes—true medicine for the soul. Omidyar Fellow Kūha‘o Zane and Noah Pomeroy guided us through ancestral and mindfulness practices, reconnecting us to our own stories, grounding us in traditional Hawaiian perspectives, layered meanings, oli, food and the intricate web of interconnectedness, hoʻokupu, that defines our existence.
The concept that resonated most deeply with me was makawalu—the practice of seeing through multiple lenses, embracing different perspectives when interpreting Hawaiian words, names, and places. Literally translating to “eight eyes,” it’s a way of thinking that urges us to observe, question, and understand the world from many angles, reinforcing the profound interconnectedness of humanity and nature.
Fellows gather for final preprations before embarking on their individual “mindfulness walk”
In many ways, this is Hawai‘i’s superpower—woven into the fabric of its cultures, yet experiencing it through the teachings of Kūha‘o and Noah revealed an even greater depth. It was both enlightening and, at times, otherworldly. It was ever present, yet unseen: the blending of food, the elasticity of tasting, the taste of a memory. It was in the farmer’s aloha and hardship. It was in the knowing of the rain, the honoring of the rays of sunlight, the harvesting and kitchen conversations—each carrying a resonance that extends beyond the moment. Every vibration—the words we speak, even those that go unspoken—exists as energy, imprinted in everything around us, shaping generations to come.
Yunji de Nies writes about Cohort IX’s exploration of feedback and gifts during their Midpoint Retreat in January.