Kit Kanohoaloha Wynkoop

Kit Kanohoaloha Wynkoop (Dutch, Scottish, Diné, Siksikáwa) is a lay-monastic practitioner of Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism; a keen Meditation Guidance Counselor; and a recognized teacher of World Religions, Indigenous Wisdom Traditions, and Buddhist Philosophy & Psychology.

Kit was born in Los Angeles, California and in 1967, when he was 10, his parents moved the family to Oʻahu. They landed in Kailua on Omaʻo Street. Having no friends, he was quickly adopted by Native Hawaiian kūpuna down the block whose adult children had moved away to the continent.

Over the course of several years, Tutu Kane and Tutu Lady taught Kit about Hawaiʻi, the Hawaiian culture and, most importantly, about ALOHA.

Since the age of nine, Kit sought Universal Truth. At 16, he started to seriously look for it. While at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Kit was inspired by  Reverend Dr. Mitsuo (Mits) Aoki to not limit his search in any way.

Kit moved from Oʻahu to San Francisco when he was 25 and, there, gained valuable business knowledge and skills. While in the Bay Area, Kit immersed himself in many philosophical, religious, and spiritual traditions on his continued path to find Truth.

Over his years in the Bay Area, he delved into, investigated, researched, studied, and often was initiated into many of the world’s belief systems, including:  Catholicism; Born Again Christianity; Hawaiian spirituality & Hoʻoponopono; the mystic beliefs of Christianity & Judaism; the magic philosophy of Aleister Crowley; the philosophies of Hermes, Rudolf Steiner, and Edgar Casey; the Koran; Hinduism; the shaman practices of the Ainu (Japan), Diné (Navajo), Siksikáwa (Blackfoot), and Afro-Caribbean Santaria; Metaphysics; New Age spiritualism; Wicca; Quantum Physics; Taoism; Sufism; Non-Dualism; Tibetan Buddhism, and Shambhala Buddhism.

Though he had always been labeled “Mr. Positive” while on the continent, Kit eventually found he had turned into “one of them;” a rarely-satisfied curmudgeon. 

He returned home to Hawaiʻi in 2007 in hopes the kinder, gentler interactions would rub off on him yet he couldn’t shake his anger – at everything – nor the high blood pressure that came as a result.

Kit felt there had to be a better way to live.

Based on a wise teacher’s recommendation, Kit traveled back-and-forth between Honolulu and Karmê Chöling in Northern Vermont for a year to learn a millenia-old Buddhist meditation technique; one that helps people live calm, centered, and focussed lives in the midst of chaos and helps them reconnect with and live from a place of compassion and kindness – in other words, ALOHA.

Realizing that Karmê Chöling was an oasis of deep Truth, he moved and lived a lay-monastic life there for five years to deepen his practice, continue his studies, serve the community of staff & visiting program participants, train how to teach the teachings, and learn the business-side of running a successful meditation retreat centre.

As his practice matured there, he sensed a clear connection between Awake Nature (our True Nature, the aim of meditation practice) and ALOHA.

Kit returned home to Hawaiʻi in Fall of 2019 and began researching and finding the deeper cosmic understanding of ALOHA within the words of Queen Liliʻuokalani, Aunty Pilahi Pakī, Aunty Nana Veary, Aunty Morrnah Simeona, Pono Shim, Ramsay Taum, as well as Hawaiian chants and other reliable Hawaiʻi cultural sources.

Equipped with all of his knowledge and experience, Kit now brings meditation as a path to reconnect with and live ALOHA, our True Nature.

Kit is currently enrolled in a Buddhist Chaplaincy Training Program which he aims to complete in 2025.

Kit’s Hawaiian name was given to him by his Kumu Hula of 15 years, Patrick Makuakāne. He was encouraged to actively use it by Kahu Roy Brooks in Waimānalo.