Ho’oponopono

The Power of Ho’oponopono

Ho’oponopono is a powerful prayer that heals and transmutes karma from this lifetime and previous existences. As a result, it helps us to solve our problems and achieve our goals. It is an ancient Hawaiian healing technique.

How Ho’oponopono Became Known in Modern Times

Dr Hew Len is responsible for bringing Ho’oponopono into mainstream awareness in modern times. He used it to heal mentally ill patients. Dr Len was asked to work at a psychiatric hospital. The patients at the hospital had such severe mental health problems that a lot of them were considered to be dangerous. The staff hated going to work and were even scared of going to work.

Dr Len never met the patients, instead he looked at their files and performed the Ho’oponopono prayer. In time the patients healed, the staff started to enjoy going to work and in the end the patients were all discharged, and eventually, the hospital closed.

How to perform the Ho’oponopono prayer

Before you say the prayer use the technique mentioned in the previous blog post, The Power of The Unconscious Mind. Ask your unconscious mind,

“Unconscious mind, what is it in me that’s causing this situation? Bearing in mind there’s a positive intention behind every behaviour, please help me to find another way to achieve the intention behind this behaviour. Thank you unconscious mind.”

Then, say the prayer as follows:

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

Why it works

Everything that happens to us is a result of cause and effect. This means a situation might arise as a consequence of a past mistake, either in this life or a previous existence, or it might be something we need to experience to learn a lesson.

We apologise to ourselves and everyone involved, forgive ourselves and everyone involved, we say thank you for the learning experience and send love to the situation and the people involved.

Even when it’s someone else’s problem or illness, it is still something in us that has caused it. We create our reality. As such this is a great prayer for healers to use to aid patients’ recovery.

My experience of using this technique

My most memorable experience of using this technique was when I was travelling home on the train from Glastonbury. I was lucky to get on an earlier connecting train at Bath station. The only problem was that it was not the train I had booked on. When the conductor came around and asked to look at my ticket, she noticed that I was on the wrong train. We had a heated exchange and she said I would have to get off at the next station and wait for the next train.

As she walked away I took responsibility and said the prayer. As we pulled into the next station, I gathered my things to get off the train, where I would have to wait for some time in the cold. The conductor came back and apologised. She said she’d spoken to her supervisor, and they had agreed I could stay on the train.

My other memorable experience of using this technique was also on a train. I was on my commute home from London. Again, the conductor came around to look at our tickets. He got angry when he looked at my ticket because it was an off-peak ticket, and I was travelling at peak time. I explained that I had made an honest mistake. The conductor wasn’t having a bar of it though and he tried to fine me, but I refused to pay. He angrily told me that he was going to have me arrested when I got to Ipswich Station. Again I took responsibility and said the prayer. Before the end of the journey, he came back. He was still angry but he said that he radioed through to Ipswich and everyone had left for the evening so there was no one there to arrest me.

Resources

I hope you found this post interesting. There are lots of resources online to help you learn more about this technique.

In particular, I recommend reading Zero Limits by Dr Len and Joe Vitale. Dr Hew Len also has an Ho’oponopono Inner Child Guided Meditation that I like to use.

I am a Ho’oponopono practitioner and I use the technique with clients during Happiness Coaching, Tapping, and Angel Card reading sessions. Find out more about Happiness Coaching.

I’m Samantha Brook.

I’m a Happiness blogger and coach.

I am the Amazon #1 bestselling author of Happiness Club: Learn to Be Happy and Get What You Want.

I empower people who are fed up with feeling fed up to take action to feel Happier and Get What They Want.

If you’d like to work with me there are a few ways you can do that including 1. Subscribe to Happiness Club on Substack. 2. Buy the book – Happiness Club: Learn to Be Happy and Get What You Want!  3. Join the waiting list for the Happiness Club membership programme.  4. Contact me for details of the Happiness Club workplace wellbeing programme.

This post was originally written for Happiness-Club.co.uk in 2018 and updated in 2025.