Ho’oponopono Mantra and It’s Hidden Power

Ho'oponopono

Jun 30

The Ho’oponopono mantra is a powerful technique that allows us to cleanse and purify our mind stream, cleanse and purify the emotions, and the memories of past experiences that cause us to have negative reactions to people and circumstances. Through this cleansing we reawaken to the true nature of our being, to the radiance of Love that exists within us.

Ho’oponopono (pronounced HO-oh-Po-no-Po-no) is about taking responsibility for everything in our life, and that means taking responsibility for the way we react to everything that is going on around us and inside of us. This is the fundamental principle; we have to take responsibility for our own reactions. No one else can do it.

I would like to share with you now some thoughts and ideas that may help you to understand more fully the power potential that is available in simply sounding the four lines of the Ho’oponopono prayer (mantra):

“I’m sorry, please forgive me, I love you, thank you.”

Here is a quote that really encapsulates for me the Ho’oponopono technique:

‘Ho’oponopono is a profound gift that allows one to develop a working relationship with the Divinity within and learn to ask that in each moment, our errors in thought, word, deed or action be cleansed. The process is essentially about freedom, complete freedom from the past.’

Morrnah Nalamaku Simeona,
Founder of the modern Ho’oponopono

Freeing Ourselves from the Past with Ho’oponopono Mantra

So, what does that mean to you, freedom from the past? What are we trying to free ourselves from? When we say freedom from the past, we are not in the past anymore, yet we say we are seeking freedom from the past. The past is past. We cannot change what happened even 5 minutes ago. So, what are we setting ourselves free from?

What we are attempting to free ourselves from is the reactions that are borne out of the memories of the past which are impacting us in the present. These memories, whether they are so-called good memories or so-called bad memories colour our experience of what is occurring in the present moment.

The fundamental principle of the Ho’oponopono approach is to recognize that everything that is out picturing around us, our relationship to whatever situation we are in and how we interpret our experiences, is coming from our own mind. And our mind is coloured by our memories from the past.

We learn to accept that we’ve been programmed from an early age and that we very often blame everyone else around us for our unhappiness. We blame the government, we blame world circumstance, we are so good at pointing outwards to our world in general for the reason we are feeling unhappy, the reason that we are unwell, the reason that nothing is working for us. Always blaming something, “it’s the way we were brought up”, we blame our parents, we blame our siblings, we blame our children. We are so good at doing this.

Ho’oponopono causes us to turn around and look inside ourselves and recognise that we are responsible for our own happiness, we are responsible for our own wellbeing, our own peace. And so, in order to create this peace, we have to clean, to cleanse and purify all of that which is within us that is out-of-sync, that is blurring our perspective of ourselves and our world.

Ho'oponopono Mantra heals the past — What we are attempting to free ourselves from is the reactions that are borne out of the memories of the past which are impacting us in the present.

Ho’oponopono Mantra Explained

Now, lets take a look at the meaning and intention behind each line of the Ho’oponopono mantra.

I’m Sorry

The first step in this is to say, “I’m sorry”. And the questions that naturally arise from this are, “…well what am I sorry for? Who is it that I am asking forgiveness from?”

We are seeking forgiveness from ourselves. And the teachings around Ho’oponopono suggest that we are asking for forgiveness from our own divinity, our basic goodness, that most sacred part of our self that is so pure, so perfect, it is actually the essence our being.

There is a part of us that feels so guilty, so bad about ourselves, so filled with shame. Even though it may not be something that’s tangible to us right now, it’s there deep inside of us, in some teachings it is referred to as the “core of self-hatred”. Every person that walks upon this earth has this little seed of self-hatred. It is that part of us that thinks, “If only I didn’t have this to deal with.” Or that part of us that feels so ashamed of actions we have taken in the past. Some of us are so filled with guilt and shame for even having been born. That is going to a very deep level but that is where this core resides. It is beneficial for us to stop and look deep inside ourselves and contemplate “Where is my shame?”, “What is that part of myself that is feeling this sense of self-hatred, guilt, judgement and self-criticism?”

Ho'oponopono Mantra - I'm Sorry — The first line of the Ho’oponopono mantra is: “I’m sorry”.

Look Inside and shine the light of Ho'oponopono

Have the courage to look inside and open up that little bit of dark space where it’s hidden, not to relive the experience or jump right into the darkness, but to shine the light of the Ho’oponopono mantra into that dark space. The first step is to say, “I’m sorry”. Or you may be moved to say more in addressing this part of yourself. For example, “I am sorry that I have hidden this part of me away for so long,” “for having locked it away in a box, deep within my subconscious.” This core of self-hatred has, without our knowledge, given rise to our guilt, fears, frustrations, and anger and although it has caused us pain, it has also served us in many ways. It is important to come to terms with it and make peace with it.

These self-limiting beliefs have been pushed down deep into our subconscious, beliefs about ourselves have been tucked away, and we are not even aware that they are affecting us in our day-to-day life. They rise up as little messages, that little ego voice that says things like, “See I told you, you can’t do anything right.” or “I told you, you can’t commit to a meditation practice.” Perhaps it’s a message like, “I told you that you are not worthy of love.” “You are going to spend the rest of your life all alone.” or “You can’t get a good job.” “Who are you to think you can be happy?” It is that little nagging voice of self-doubt and criticism, and I am sure that we are all very familiar with it.

However, it is important to start to listen for that voice. It is to this voice that we are applying the Ho’oponopono technique. First, we say, “I’m sorry.” “I’m sorry that I took on those beliefs, believing them to be true.” “I’m sorry that I have lived my life in a way that has caused me to be angry, lonely, separative, or sad”. Whatever the experience has been, express your thoughts and feelings in your own words. With these words we acknowledge that we have not been living life as the radiant spiritual being we are in truth.

Please Forgive Me

As we become aware of and observe our negative ego, it is also important that we not judge ourselves, but rather to truly accept all that we are. Yes, we have healing to do and growth to make but there is also more love, more joy, more freedom available to us in this moment and we are choosing to embrace it all. The transformative power of Ho’oponopono is through forgiving ourselves for having lived our life in this little prison that we have created for our self.

We are seeking forgiveness from ourselves, that part of our being that’s here within our heart that is so precious and so pure. We stand before this part of our being and say “I’m sorry, please forgive me, please forgive me for living my life as if all of these beliefs are true. Please forgive me for believing that I thought that the cause of all of my happiness was outside of myself.”

We work with this mantra energetically and as we say the words, we feel the energy of the words spiralling through the heart and outwardly through the whole of our being. The whole of our being is enveloped within the energy of this mantra. The words continue to spiral, not only outward but also deep within, through the subconscious, cleansing and purifying all those parts of ourselves that we have been criticising, judging, hating, and pretending they don’t exist.

I Love You

We then persist, shining light into those dark crevices and with all of this energy we generated we begin to say, “I love you”. Now, as we are saying “I love you” to ourselves and allowing this love to penetrate, we can see it, visualize it like a most beautiful lotus flower in the heart and see the petals of the lotus beginning to open.

“I love you, I love you, I love you”, seeing the sun, the spiritual sun, shine upon this lotus and the lotus flower opening and receiving the love of ourselves. “I love you, I love you, I love you”, and this love overflows outwardly into the whole of our world.

It is so important to do the forgiveness first, because if we have not forgiven ourselves, there is no way we will let the love in, why? Because it is most likely we will feel unworthy. If we cannot forgive ourselves for whatever we think we have done, we will hold ourselves separate from love. Therefore, the first step is forgiveness, and then we let the love in. We open our heart and allow ourselves to truly experience love. The love of our own divine self. A love that is beyond thought and words. A love that is infinite and unconditional. You see, the divinity that is deep within you loves you so much, regardless of anything you have ever done and anything you have not done. Even though you may have turned your back on this divine part of your being it has still been there loving you unconditionally all the time. Knowing this love, we can then express our gratitude.

Ho'oponopon Mantra - I love you — The 3rd line of the Ho’oponopono mantra is: “I love you”.

Thank You

We have spent so much of our lives looking for happiness, looking for fulfilment outside of ourselves. “If only I could just get that new car I would be happy.” “If only I could attract the right partner I would be happy.” “If only I could lose 10 kgs I would be happy.” “If only I didn’t have all of this negativity in my life I would be happy.” And with all of life’s disappointments we may have trouble finding that which we can be grateful for! Our freedom comes when we realise that the true cause of our happiness is in the turning around in the deepest seat of our being to our divinity. So ever so slowly we are making that turn around, turning towards the true source of happiness that is within us.

We are freeing ourselves from the hooks of all of these patterns of the past. These hooks have been holding us, causing us to face outwardly, and now we are saying “that’s not who I am.” We then turn deep inside the heart of our being to that most radiant light, and we let ourselves be drawn into that light where we receive this eternal love that is so infinite, and in that space we experience true gratitude, and we say, “thank you.” “Thank you for all that I am.” “Thank you for this amazing body that has caried me through this life.” “Thank you for all of the experiences I have moved through to get me to this point at this moment.” We express gratitude for all that we are and all that we are a part of. And then we move out into our life as a true radiant being.

Gratitude is transformational. It changes our lives completely. It completes the cycle in the healing process.

Ho'oponopon Mantra - Thank you — The last line of the Ho’oponopono mantra is: “Thank you”.

How Does Ho’oponopono Mantra Work?

The Ho’oponopono prayer is mantric in nature, as we sound the words continuously, the energy of the words penetrate deep into our subconscious, cleansing and purifying all of those memories, all of those beliefs that have caused pain and suffering within our lives, all of the pent-up emotional energy that we have been holding onto so tightly. Paving the way for the energy of Divine Love and complete self-acceptance to penetrate deep within our heart and permeate every cell of our being in order that we can release our self-limiting beliefs born out of the past and move into a new awareness of who we are in the present.

How Sound Creates Healing

A good example that illustrates the power of sound is found in the work of Dr Emoto. He was a Japanese scholar who wanted to prove that certain words and sounds influence the physical environment. His experiments included measuring how certain words and sounds impacted water. Dr. Emoto started playing different kinds of music next to jars of water, then froze the water and observed the ice crystal formations that resulted from the types of music the water was exposed to. He repeated the experiment using words, such as “I love you”, “thank you” and “I hate you”. Then examining the crystals, he was able to demonstrate the effect that the music or words produced.

Here is a quote from Dr. Emoto’s book, “The Hidden Messages in Water”.

“All the classical music that we exposed the water to resulted in well-formed crystals with distinct characteristics. In contrast, the water exposed to violent heavy metal music resulted in fragmented and malformed crystals at best…The vibration of good words has a positive effect on our world, whereas the vibration from negative words has the power to destroy.”

We can see that sound has a remarkable impact upon the world around us and given that our body is made up of about 70% water, if we continue to say words such as “I’m sorry, please forgive me, I love you, thank you” to ourselves, we are changing the molecular structure of the whole of our being.

Whether you repeat the mantra silently or audibly it is really very powerful, repeated either way creates an echo, a vibration through the whole of our being. This echo is going through our mind nature, our emotional nature, our physical etheric body and then outwardly into the whole of our field, our auric field.

For example, if we are at a shopping centre, we are radiating, “I’m sorry, please forgive me, I love you, thank you” and others who are feeling a little bit down may just catch that wave of love and gratitude and forgiveness and be uplifted simply by being in our presence. How impactful is that? What a way to serve our world.

Ho’oponopono Mantra and Meditation

A powerful way to work with Ho’oponopono is through meditation. We have a number of Guided Ho’oponopono meditations on our site, just click on the link to see the ever-growing list. We also have quite an array of recorded classes that delve deeply into some of the most common issues we face in day-to-day life. You are also most welcome to participate in the weekly live Ho’oponopono class on Zoom.

It is also important to sound the Ho’oponopono mantra as you move through your everyday life, for example, when washing the dishes, “I’m sorry, please forgive me, I love you, thank you”. Driving the car, or while vacuuming, whatever you’re doing just let this mantra be something that you bring into your life.

Having shared the Ho’oponopono teachings over many years I have witnessed many people move through incredibly miraculous healing whilst working with this technique.

May you also realise the profound benefits of the transformational healing practice of the Ho’oponopono mantra.

Recommended Ho’oponopono Meditations and Classes

Ho’oponpono Mantra - Awakening the Heart Essence - during this guided meditation we utilise the Ho’oponopono Mantra to transform all that keeps us separate from being the full expression of our divinity in this life.

Introduction to Ho’oponopono Meditation - An introductory meditation to Ho'oponopono, where the Ho’oponopono mantra is used to cleanse, purify and heal past memories and habitual patterns that are creating obstacles to living a life of mindfulness.

How to Meditate with Ho’oponopono - this recorded class covers several key topics for becoming successful in your meditation practice. Topics include: motivation, purpose, posture, creating a meditation space and time and using the Ho’oponpono mantra.