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Ki'ko'o Ocean Therapy Program- Wayfinding Towards Wellness
Navigating Life's Storms
It is with great pride, Aloha, a deep sense of Kuleana (responsibility) that we engage in this important healing work inspired HUGELY by my first job in Hawai'i nei for the Marimed Foundation. It is here that I deepened my relation to the ocean and Voyaging traditions, so many of my Teachers, Mentors, and MANY Elders throughout the Hawai'ian Islands, I learned from and have inspired my Life and the Way I choose to live, dream, vision, and carry forward the torch- connecting across the Islands, connection to Ocean, Forest, Mountain, Culture, Ancestors, All Living Beings & Resources that I worked tirelessly to assist in preserving for future Generations. I honor all of this and enter this work with humility and reverence for my Teachers and those Unseen guiding. As we weather Life's Storms, we come closer to realizing that We All indeed have a Gift to bring to our Communities and Island Earth. The ripples are felt across Oceans. A symbol in the Program at the Kailana Program (Marimed Foundation ocean-based Treatment Program for Hawai'ian adjudicated males) was the Ki'ko'o or in Sailors terms, the "Monkeys Fist". Salty heavy lines after a long voyage, the Ki'ko'o was thrown out to be caught, to bring the Ship's lines safe & secure at dock. In this spirit, we catch ki'ko'o that is thrown out to catch those in need of support.
A collaborative effort between Kruger Expeditions & SSV Oceanwatch, local counselors, therapists, and health practitioners to offer experiential therapeutic services to adolescent and adult populations to address and support:
• Trauma
• Domestic violence
• Technology addiction
• Substance and alcohol addiction
• Health issues
• Mental/emotional/spiritual challenges
An Uncle shared with Us that Tracking (and Polynesian Wayfinding) tradition share a same spirit. They are systems of awareness/skills that allow one to follow something (the track of an animal, a person, a memory, a concept, process of picking Islands out of vast Oceans, etc) with all of your senses as far as you can. It is a process of bonding your energy with the energy of something or someone that you are following. This can also be metaphorical to one’s Own personal journey to (re)discovering the course you will voyage in Life. The same principles apply to tracking our internal mental/spiritual/emotional conflicts, obstacles to health & wellness, addictions, past traumas, personal sense of purpose or meaning etc.
We believe in the deep power of reconnecting to the natural world and integrating the spirit of the teachings of the canoe and Oceanic Voyaging and Tracking/Wayfinding tradition to give future generations the tools necessary to navigate the future as Stewards for Mother Earth. To heal ourselves is to heal the external non human world that is in direct reciprocity with our suffering as humans.
Canoe as Peacemaker- The canoe has a spirit that transcends barriers of race, origin, tradition, status. When paddlers come together for the first time, they come to a place where all must be aligned in one mind, heart, breath, to paddle forward successfully and efficiently.
Paddling or Sailing and connecting to a sense of place, honoring our waterways, speaking to spirit, engaging our senses, engaging in physical fitness, we navigate towards effective ways to make peace within ourselves as flawed humans and thus creating community thru recognition of the interconnected-ness of the web of life and honoring our sacred wounds that give us strength to voyage forward.
Program Sessions:
Programs can be custom tailored to meet needs of clients and personal individual, family, or group goals. We can program workshops, weekly or monthly sessions, as well as program multi-day culminating experiences.
We teach/facilitate:
Polynesian paddling traditions/voyaging/sailing, survival/bushcraft, traditional knowledge systems, maritime education, ocean safety, martial arts/movement, Tai Chi (Yang Style) herbal medicine, nutrition for optimal health, outdoor leadership, rites of passage, foraging/wildcrafting, peacemaking and thanksgiving/gratitude practices.
We are also one of first pilot program for Project Wayfinder, a SEL (social emotional learning) curriculum developed at Stanford University and we integrate portions of the Wayfinder toolkit into our programs. (Ages K-12 and Adult SEL)