Shaman is a word anthropologists adopted from a Siberian tribe referring to people who look at life and interact with it in a particular way. A shaman is essentially a healer working with the powers of the mind and the forces of nature to create harmony. This was done especially for the purpose of healing relationships: between one's self and others, one's self and the environment or for healing the relationship between the aspects of the self.

The two main streams of shamanism in the world are the way of the warrior and the way of the adventurer. Polynesian shamans follow the way of the adventurer, which is a healing path based on love and cooperation.

The warrior way is a highly respected way, but it's more of an individual way. It is also a way which is based upon overcoming conflict. The warrior personifies fear, illness, disharmony, then develops powers and skills to combat and overcome them.

The adventurer way is a social way since it is based on achieving cooperation. The adventurer de-personifies conditions, treats everything as an effect and harmonizes the energies.

Aloha is one of the primary differences in the Hawaiian Shaman way. If we take the word aloha apart, we find that alo means 'to be with', oha means joy or happiness --to be with joyfully. It is understand within this teaching that to the degree that judgement decreases, love increases -- because judgement or criticism creates separation. By putting your attention on what is good, by blessing it and praising it, you strengthen it.

Pomaika'i -- (blessing, good fortune, prosperity), ho'opomaika'i -- to bless

Maka'i means good; Po refers to the inner world, so pomaikai means a blessing coming from within. The key thing is "ika" which means strength or to strengthen; "ma" is a state of; and po means coming out of that inner place. Pomaika'i means to bless which also means to strengthen. So you have a state of great strength whenever you are blessing.

In the Bible, when the fishes and loaves were blessed they increased; the oil when blessed increased to overflowing. A blessing increases whatever it is that you bless. It is a very powerful way of working with things. So, if you are going to bless a person, you bless something about that person that you want to increase. And when you are increasing the good in them, whatever is not good for them or in them will tend to diminish.

Also, when you bless for the benefit of others instead of directly for yourself, you tend to bypass any subconscious fears about what you want for yourself and the focus on the blessing increases the same good in your life.

When you do a blessing on yourself to increase your natural love, your loving and being loved, this increases your spiritual mana. It is just as important to be loved as it is to love. "It's better to give than to receive" is not in the Bible. You must have a two-way flow otherwise you are cutting off the person and you are diminishing yourself.