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Halau I Ka Pono - The Hula School of Chicago just turned four years old in September. We are a growing Light of Aloha in Chicago!
Halau I Ka Pono means School that Cultivates the Goodness. Here we learn and practice the Hawaiian dance of hula. Maiki Aiu Lake, the great Kumu Hula (Hula master) and our great, great hula grandmother said that, "Hula is Life." So we know that hula cultivates the goodness in our lives.
We practice hula at the Zen Life & Meditation Center where I am a co-founder with my husband. Meditation is a foundational practice of my spirituality. While hula especially helps the body be fit, meditation helps the mind be fit. Both require ho'omanawanui (patience), an expectation that I ask my advanced students to practice in their lives. And meditation, especially, cultivates patience.
Hula and meditation enable us to dance with grace in the Sea of our Life. Sometimes the sea is rough and sometimes it is smooth. Sometimes there are very high tides and sometimes very low tides. Can we dance no matter what? Can we be grateful for our precious and sacred life - no matter the circumstance?
Just as hula opens our eyes to appreciate the beauty around us, meditation helps to open our inner eyes to appreciate the beauty within us. This is a major aspect of the word pono, to be right with ourselves and our god.
 | So excited for my first tuberose growing next to the Oak Park Hula Mound!
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Here in the Midwest, we have to look harder to connect with the healing essence of Nature, but if we really open our eyes and hearts, it is present. This is what we do at Halau I Ka Pono - awaken to a hula-inspired life and malama (take care of) ourselves, our 'ohana (family) and our 'aina (land).
Will you help us to keep cultivating the goodness? I hope so. Please support Halau i Ka Pono with a contribution this year. It will help us with these upcoming projects and more:
- In November I will attend an annual gathering of Papa Henry Auwae's haumana (students) joining my la'au lapa'au (the study of healing with native plants and spirituality) 'ohana (family) on the Big Island of Hawaii. Papa Auwae was the foremost la'au lapa'au healer in Hawaii until his death in 2000. I was fortunate to spend 5 years learning from him. It has been twenty years since he began teaching.
- While there, I plan to connect with my blood 'ohana and hula 'ohana as well as the mana (healing energy) of the 'aina. You can travel with me as I write about Hawaii in my monthly Dancing in the Sea of Life newsletters.
- We are collaborating with DePaul University to bring my Kumu Hula, Michael Pili Pang, to share his deep knowledge of the dynamic Hawaiian culture and dance with us next May.
Please keep our Light of Aloha shining in Chicago through a gift to Halau I Ka Pono - the Hula School of Chicago. Click here to contribute today.
I thought you might enjoy an eight minute slide show that I put together of highlights of our past year. The photos are accompanied by original songs by Big Islander Keoki Carter singing "Is There a Feeling" from his CD called "Red Wine and Blue Skies" and New York City and Halawa Valley's Jason Poole singing his original "Healing Waters." For mobile users click here.
Mahalo nui loa (thank you very much) for your aloha and kokua (help)!!!
Malama pono, (take good care of body, mind and heart)
June Kaililani Tanoue
Kumu Hula
P.S. Here are archives of my past e-newsletters.
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