Our Relationship With Aina – The Land

I’m camping up in the Yosemite Valley with friends. And I thought I’d do a really short video about the land. Because coming here it’s made me really aware of how different this land here is from Hawai’i. And how they both are different from the UK.

The Hawai’ians always believe that you must respect the land and it wasn’t just a “respect the land” because by respecting the land it’ll grow better for you, it was a very spiritual thing.

The late John Kaimikaua who was a Hula master and a spiritual leader in Hawai’i used to say that if we want to be completely born or completely at peace and centered with ourselves then we must be at peace with the land ke Akua which is God or the divine spirit. Whatever you see as that and yourself.

Hula master Kumu Etua Lopes, when he goes anywhere,  as soon as he steps off the plane he’ll spend time connecting with the land of the place. And it doesn’t matter whether that land is urban land, Tokyo or somewhere like that, or whether it’s a rural community. He always takes the time to connect with the land.

Because when you connect with the land it’s your foundation, it’s your stability. It’s your connection to the earth element.

One of the interesting things here, in terms of the land, are the animals that are on the land. Now, in the UK if I go camping I don’t have to worry about too much.

We have the odd midge, and if you’re in Scotland lots of midges. They can be a bit vicious. Mosquito type things, gnats that bite. We have wasps and we have in some places we have adders. But even if a child were bitten by an adder it wouldn’t be the end of the world. And certainly, humans don’t die from adder bites. And adders, they’re snakes, they’re getting much rarer in the UK anyway. So we don’t have a lot to worry about when we go camping or when we’re out and about.

Hawai’i, similarly, there are no snakes in Hawai’i. There are millipedes that can give you a nasty sting and there are certain plants that can give you a bit of a hick. And, if you go into the sea you have sea serpents which have tiny little mouths so the only place that they’re likely to bite you is the webs of your fingers or the webs of your toes. They can be fatal. Stingrays, they can be fatal. And sharks.

Although when I was studying with Auntie Margaret, when I was studying Lomi Lomi with Auntie Margaret Machado, she used to tell us the story of a shark, a female shark, a mother shark, that protected the mouth of the Napoopoo Bay from the young, male, aggressive sharks. And she was there to protect the bay and everyone and everything that lived in and used the bay.

That’s a wasp flying near my head. Here in California, it’s a bit different. Here in California you have to take account of what they call meat bees which are flesh eating wasps which can actually come and eat your live flesh as you’re sitting there. Which is why I was a bit frisky with that wasp that went past!

There are scorpions, there are snakes, there’s a type of rattlesnake up here in Yosemite Valley. There are mountain lions, there are coyotes, there are poisonous types of vegetation and there is the bear.

I have been quite surprised by how much care you really do have to take for a bear. I always thought it was a joke. But no, you have to respect the bear. And let’s face it, this is the bear’s place. It’s not ours.

So respecting the land and being in touch with the land is so important.

Being in touch with the land that you came from, knowing where you came from, having that connection with the land. And also having a connection with the land in the place where you are.

Even if you’re only in a little apartment with a small balcony, have some plants, have something that connects you, connects you back to the physicality of the earth, the nourishment and the sustainment that the earth gives us.

So that’s a little video about the land. And it’s my last day up here in Yosemite Valley, so this beautiful, beautiful place. Look around, see the heights of the trees. They’re amazing. Time to say goodbye.

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