Following the Pull: Holoholo

my experience philosophy Dec 01, 2020

Do you ever get that pull?

The one that yanks you off the main road onto the winding back one?

The one that gets you out of your rigid routine and into a walk in the woods?

The one that lifts you out of bed in the middle of the night to look at the moon?

The one that hits you midday on a Sunday to get in the car and drive off into the desert?

I used to think it was just me: adventure in my soul, mania in my blood. Turns out this pull isn’t so manic and it isn’t something to resist. This pull is a call that is meant to be answered.

Bear with me as I blend and share a few moments into this realizing. The magic is that it will all tie together.

During a spontaneous road trip with my friend, we ended our final night together talking about my desire for a spiritual teacher. A very specific one. One who shared my core values and spread aloha from sacred Hawaiian teachings.

“You have to call it in.” My friend said in classic new age jargon.

“Yeah, yeah.” I said in half-trust of it all.

“Just call it in.” My dad said the very next morning about something similar.

“Okay, okay!” I got the memo, universe.

Since my friend and I had followed so many intuitive pulls on this road trip journey, I got to thinking about how often I get these impulsive calls to get up and go. To drive. To run. To adventure. So much so it almost feels unbearable - and certainly impractical.

I thought to myself, “what if these cravings mean something? Where would they take me? What if I said ‘yes’ more than I said ‘no’?”

A few weeks later, I finished my reiki master training and on the last day, a curiosity about following my intuition crept over me. I ended up in a very serendipitous place.

Upon following my pull to further research intuition, I discovered a word I’d been looking for that I didn't even know existed. In Hawai’i, this aforementioned “pull” has a name: holoholo.

Holoholo is the Hawaiian word for “a journey led by spirit and intuition.” According to native Hawaiian cultural practitioner, Lani Kamauu Yamasaki, “Holoholo literally means to go for a walk, ride or sail simply for pleasure. The kaona or hidden meaning of holoholo means to follow your spirit and intuition – to free your mind and act from the awareness of Being.”

Holoholo doesn’t follow logic. It follows spirit.

Holoholo-ing (if you can make it a verb) brought me to the very concept of holoholo itself.

It also brought me to Lani. A teacher I had been calling in and searching for.

Holoholo. Practice it. Go with it. Answer those sometimes impractical calls to venture, to flow. I know you don’t know where they’ll take you - that’s the point. Something greater than you wants you to go.

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