I had been exploring mindfulness for a long time before I discovered Ho’oponopono.
I had been to so many different therapies and workshops, but I had never heard of Ho’oponopono until one day a friend asked me, “Do you know Ho’oponopono?
The day my friend asked me about Ho’oponopono, I went home and immediately searched Ho’oponopono on the Internet. There I found a video by Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len.
As soon as I saw the short video, I heard a crackling sound inside. I knew exactly what I was looking for. It was the piece of the puzzle I had been looking for so long that I could not find despite all I had learned.

At the time, I was a single mother of three children and always short of money. However, I was convinced that Ho’oponopono was exactly what I was looking for, so I did everything I could to raise the money and signed up for the upcoming class. The class was held in Brno, Czech Republic, in 2008.

On the morning of the first day of the class, I went to the venue and found a coordinator, an interpreter, and Ihaleakala standing at the reception desk.
When the coordinator called my name and I nervously approached him, Ihaleakala, whom I had never met before, smiled and asked me, 

“Mahayana, why are you here now?

I did not know whether he meant that I was actually there that day or whether he was asking me about the meaning of my existence in this life, but Ihaleakala laughed when he saw me, and I naturally laughed too. The conversation we had at that time was so lighthearted and amusing that it still leaves a strong impression on me today.

At the end of the second day of the class, I had an experience of “becoming clear. It went far beyond thought or understanding, it just became clear to me.
The idea that everything was caused by memories that had been replaying in my mind for a long time fell through the storm of thoughts that had been going on inside me, and everything seemed to settle down.
I had the feeling that this was it.

After that, I started practicing cleaning in my life and applying it to my work, which naturally led me to become an instructor at IZI LLC.

Throughout my association with Ihaleakala, I have always taken to heart his humorous, yet essential advice in the practice of Ho’oponopono problem solving.

“No BS (bullshit). Just get to the cleaning.”

It’s English slang, but I loved Ihaleakala when he said it.
When we are driven by our thoughts, no matter how serious they are, they are bullshit.
Ihaleakala would tell us with a slightly mischievous smile that the only way to solve the problem was to get out of it and get on with the cleaning, but that was the heart of the cleaning.

Ihaleakala reminds us that we spend so much time thinking and worrying about the practice of Ho’oponopono that it takes us a long time to actually get started.
We are usually not really solving problems while we are trying to solve them with our minds.
Whenever I get stuck or stopped, I remember Ihaleakala’s voice and remind myself to get on with the cleaning.

I give thanks to Ihaleakala forever.
At this moment, the path given to us by Ihaleakala’s cleaning is now ours to clean and move forward.