About Kanalani
A Journey Toward Healing
I didn't begin this journey with the intention to become a healer. I set out looking for answers. Like many people, there were times in my life when I felt lost, uncertain, and hungry for something deeper. What began as a search for healing gradually became a lifelong path of discovery.
A Lifetime of Learning
For more than three decades, I have studied and practiced a wide range of healing traditions, including Hawaiian healing arts, Lomilomi, hula, breathwork, shamanic journey work, soul retrieval, meditation, and embodied approaches to transformation and well-being.
Along the way, I earned a Bachelor of Science in Health Education from Kent State University and became a licensed massage therapist in both Hawaiʻi and Washington State. Yet some of the greatest teachings have come not from classrooms, but from rivers, mountains, elders, teachers, clients, and the living wisdom of the natural world.
Healing as a Living Current
What continues to inspire me most is the realization that healing is not a destination.
It is an unfolding.
-
Like a river, it teaches up to navigate life's changing currents.
-
It is a return to our deeper nature.
Walking Beside Others
After all these years, I remain humbled by the courage of the people I have the honor to work with. Again and again, I witness the resilience of the human spirit, the intelligence of the body, and the remarkable capacity we all possess to heal, grow, and transform. I believe that beneath our wounds, our stories, and our struggles lives an essential wholeness waiting to be remembered. Helping people reconnect with that wholeness is both my calling and my greatest joy. For this privilege, I remain deeply grateful.
A Foundation of Gratitude
The Hawaiian teachings I share have been generously passed through teachers (kumu), elders, and wisdom keepers who dedicated their lives to preserving and sharing these traditions. In Hawaiian culture, lineage matters. To acknowledge our teachers is not only an act of gratitude, but also an expression of integrity. It provides context for where our learning began and honors those who carried the wisdoms before us.
Teachers & Mentors
My journey in Hawaiian healing has been shaped through years of study, mentorship, personal practice, and direct training with respected kumu and elders, including:
-
Kumu Shawn LaSale Kimmel
-
Aunty Margaret Machado
-
Kahuna Harry Uhane Jim
-
Papa K
-
Aunty Maile Shaw
-
Aunty Mahealani Kuʻu Moʻo-Henry
-
Aunty Mary Fragas
-
Kumu Hula Momi Palmieri
Continuing the Tradition
Each teacher (kumu) has contributed unique wisdom, helping shape not only my understanding of healing, but also my relationship with aloha, breath, prayer, nature, community, and service. I offer these teachings with deep gratitude and humility, recognizing that I remain both student and steward of the wisdom entrusted to me. The healing offered through Aloha Healing Arts is not my creation alone. It is the result of many hands, many hearts, many prayers, and many generations.