“The world will turn to Hawaiʻi as they search for peace because Hawaiʻi has the key; and that key is ALOHA.”
Course Details
Formats –
- The live online classes of the course are currently closed. Add your name to the waitlist to be informed when they will reopen.
- Pre-recorded on-demand videos: available late Fall 2024 • Add your name to the waitlist to be informed when this is available.
- The instructional book: available late Fall 2025 • Add your name to the waitlist to be informed when this is available.
Two Videos Worth Watching:
- Introduction to the course (28 min): https://youtu.be/WZdThc3lQac
- How to succeed in the course (16 min): https://youtu.be/h0EqHw3pUZc
“This is a secular course that leads one to live with an awakened mind (living ALOHA) through the vehicle of mindfulness-awareness meditation. I highly encourage checking out this amazing program.
It’s difficult to put into words how life-changing it has been for me. Each week, we deal with different philosophical or self-awareness subjects then discuss each topic among our like-minded circle.
I am learning how to eliminate my suffering. You can, too, if you apply yourself – everyone can. Imagine moving through this world without experiencing struggle or anxiety or depression or emotional reactivity or suffering. This does not happen overnight, of course, but at some point all of a sudden, if you are doing the work, you will notice that you are living your life free of those experiences.
What’s Left? Peace, compassion, love, and wisdom. Then you can go about your normal everyday tasks grounded in those experiences – instead of struggle, anxiety, depression or emotional reactivity – and still access the conceptual/ego mind (your thinking mind) when needed.
For me, this course has been a golden nugget. Learning to live my life with compassion and love enables me to live in balance & peace. That brings me into a space of alignment with my True Nature: ALOHA (Consciousness). Join me in this journey. Together, we can make the world a better place – simply by living our lives from ALOHA.”
Why This Course is Important (67 min): https://hoikaha.org/why-this-course/
Participant Testimonies: https://hoikaha.org/testimonies/
If You Need Help Right Now, Watch This (13 min): https://youtu.be/NuhIzO57HVk?si=d7EBfyNjCGxQbZ2R
Aloha! My name is Kit Kanohoaloha Wynkoop and I’m the Lead Teacher and Curator of The Path of Meditation that Leads to Living ALOHA. Thank you for stopping by to check out the course!
This course is a profound, experiential journey that points the way toward living consciously, with an awakened mind. Today, we call that being mindful and aware. According to Aunty Pilahi Pakī and Aunty Morrnah Nālamakū Simeona, two of Hawaiʻi’s most beloved and respected wisdom keepers of the 20th century, it’s called living ALOHA.
“The perception of foundation is of great importance in our time, for we are coming to the end of a world cycle, and everything is beginning to unravel.
We cannot begin the next cycle of ages without a foundation on which to build. And that foundation will begin to take form with the reconsideration of the wisdom held by the ancestors.”
“We propose that [Buddhist] mindfulness meditation…facilitates the discovery, recovery, and uncovery of the Aloha response leading to the experiential awareness and embodiment of Aloha.”
The ancient form of meditation is arguably the most powerful expression of mindfulness and has been for over 2,500 years. Mindfulness has been found to be a valuable tool for promoting the well-being and overall health of anyone who finds themselves to be subjected to stress or under mental duress. And who doesn’t in today’s world? Mindfulness simply involves being fully present and aware without judgment.
“As a Shambhala Buddhist practitioner, I am grateful for this refreshing, experiential course which incorporates meditation practice, insightful talks, and thoughtful discussions. The content is well aligned with Shambhala principles while integrating wisdom from other traditions which helps to reinforce important Shambhala teachings. I highly recommend this course to anyone who feels ready to work with habitual patterns that are no longer serving them and to gain new perspectives that will help improve wellbeing.”
What is mindfulness good for?
According to dozens of research studies over the last 50 years, scientists say, if applied in daily life, mindfulness leads to:
- emotional regulation
- empathy & understanding
- reduced reactivity
- enhanced coping skills
- improved problem-solving
- acceptance of imperfections
- enhanced self-awareness
- better focus & concentration
- pain management
- stress reduction
- enhanced bonding & communication
- reduced anxiety & depression
- increased resilience, and
- overall well-being.
“I’ve tried meditation before — it never really stuck — but since I started this course in early 2022 I’ve noticed a new steadiness of my inner compass. I’m not as easily angered, hurt, or thrown by situations, toxic people or other storms that appear in my life. Without putting specific effort into doing so, I also discovered a few months into the course that I’d actually let go of past traumas and forgiven the people I’ve held long time grudges against, freeing myself from the mental merry-go-round that I used to ride on in my thoughts — what someone did, or said, how they made me feel and all their motives I attributed to them. I used to get caught up in this often which is mentally exhausting and creates so much unnecessary drama and suffering for everyone.
While I’m not at all suggesting that I’m perfect, because I’m still human, this course has allowed me to view people in a more compassionate manner. I used to stay in my thoughts more but now as I find I’m happier, I go about my day looking to see if others seem ok or if they seem to need a kind word, a smile, etc. There’s nothing like being shown a small kindness on a day we really needed it, right? I’m also more comfortable communicating with people because I’m coming more from a place of love, so even difficult conversations seem easier. I’m not cluttering my mind with what I think the other person’s motives are as we’re speaking, I’m simply wanting the best for everyone, speaking my truth, opening my heart and listening to them. Again — this is not 100% of my interactions, but a significantly higher amount than I had in my life before taking this course. The benefits are far ranging and as long as I continue to do the work and grow, these will stay with me for the rest of my life. Who wouldn’t want this gift?”
Everyone can benefit from mindfulness, including:
- Parents – to be fully present and engaged in their parenting journey and approach their children with patience, compassion, & understanding; thereby, creating a nurturing and supportive environment for their children to grow and thrive.
- Clients of therapy or support services – to reduce anxiety & depression and increase resilience.
Of course, mindfulness practices are not a substitute for professional medical or psychological treatment, but they can be a powerful complementary tool to support one’s overall health and well-being.
“This course is a valuable post-Sakyong offering that is solidly based in the Shambhala teachings but with an authentic Hawaiian cultural grounding. The Path offers more of a support system with weekly classes/discussions over a year and a quarter versus the five weekends of Levels trainings offered by Shambhala. It’s worth your consideration regardless of all the sincere testimony/marketing quotes in support of the course.”
I believe that, at this time in history, the planet needs strong leaders – leaders who possess an optimistic outlook, forge meaningful connections with others, have a clear understanding of their purpose and values, and possess the conviction that they can bring about meaningful, positive change in their lives, communities, cities, states, country, or the world.
I believe everyone is a leader in their own way.
But nothing can be truly done about the problems in our lives, communities, cities, states, country, or the world until we first change our way of thinking. If the prevailing way of thinking worked, we wouldn’t be experiencing our lives and the world as they are today.
“I am very grateful to have happened upon your course – it’s a gift from the Universe – and thankful that I took a chance on myself to see if I could sustain being in it for a year. Now, it’s my second go-around and I am still here!
As a result of being born human, we entered this world with a number of inherent and natural qualities: mindfulness, awareness, curiosity, humor, primordial confidence, feeling (an action verb), insight, imagination, and the ability to think using our original mind (our heart-mind, our un-conditioned mind).
Thinking from the conceptual/ego mind (our “logical” mind), on the other hand, didn’t start until later and wasn’t consistently used until around age 6 or 7. Full development of the conceptual/ego mind didn’t happen until age 25. By that time, we were socialized into being fully reliant on it.
Before losing our original way of thinking to the conceptual/ego mind, we actively utilized our inherent human qualities and our heart-mind.
Thanks to Western culture, over the last two centuries, we have become more and more conceptual/ego-mind driven. In fact, we seemingly can’t stop. As a result, according to indigenous cultures around the world, we, our country, and the world are experiencing struggle, anxiety, depression, and suffering in all areas of our lives.
“Thank you for creating The Path of Meditation that Leads to Living ALOHA as well as your wonderful teaching and interactive sharing approach. I never considered myself a fan of online group interaction, but this cohort is truly amazing. The depth of emotion, personal challenges, various insights, etc. is really such a critical part of the whole experience for me. It’s quite something.
And now that I am taking the course a second time, it doesn’t seem like I’m repeating it; the material is completely fresh with new perspectives. It feels more like a continuation of the course rather than a re-do. I am in awe.”
As we begin to remember, uncover, and utilize our inherent human qualities again, we become beacons of ALOHA. ALOHA then radiates out from us and positively affects those around us and beyond (proven by quantum mechanics). In other words, the energy of living ALOHA spreads out concentrically like ripples caused by dropping a stone in a pond.
When we live ALOHA, our thoughts, feelings, words, and actions reflect that and, as a result, we experience peace and harmony. The more we each experience peace & harmony, the more we treat ourselves with kindness & compassion. The more we treat ourselves with kindness & compassion, the more we treat others and the planet with kindness & compassion. This forms the basis of working together cooperatively – free of ego – on any issue that is for the highest good of all sentient beings and the planet.
The 78+ participants who are in and have graduated my course are proving this works. Because they are consistently “thinking” primarily with their heart-minds, they are perceiving fresh, new solutions to age-old problems at work and in their private lives. And, perhaps best of all, they’re finding that living ALOHA is truly contagious. This has also been the experience of Buddhist teachers and practitioners around the world for the last 2,500 years.
My course is not the only path to learn how to live ALOHA but it is the only secular one that leads to fast, tangible, and reliable results.
“A’ohe pau ka ‘ike i ka hālau ho’okāhi.” “All knowledge is not taught in just one school.”
To point the way to living ALOHA, the structure of the course weighs heavily on the common touch-points of the 24 belief systems I studied over the past 49+ years, including: mindfulness-awareness meditation, the Shambhala teachings, Tibetan Buddhist psychology & philosophy, ALOHA & the Hawaiian culture, other indigenous wisdom traditions, quantum mechanics, and non-dualism. You can see a full list here.
The Shambhala teachings are secular in nature and embody the inner wisdom of warriorship which arose within the ancient Kingdom of Shambhala. These teachings are based on the belief that there is a natural source of basic goodness, wisdom, and courage that lies within each of us (ALOHA). When we tap into this source via true meditation (which can be done anywhere at anytime), we are able to bring more harmony, peace, and wellbeing into our own lives as well as into the world – true freedom.
“The Buddhist teachings are human knowledge. It’s something that belongs to the world. It’s not religious or even Buddhist. This is our common knowledge. Knowledge that lives for humanity. So the time has come for our knowledge – which we kept for over a thousand years – this should now be made available to everybody.”
My part in the course is to present what I have found through my studies. It is then up to each individual to do the research and investigation on their own to decide if what is presented each week in the course is true for them or not. The words of awakened masters across the ages have been passed down for millennia on this subject and are true for this course, “Don’t believe anything I say if it doesn’t, after rigorous self investigation & research, hold true for you.“
This course does not seek to make you a Buddhist, non-dualist, Taoist, or any other -ist. It exists to inform you that there is a secular path available to anyone who wishes to become a beacon of ALOHA in the world.
“The Path of Meditation that Leads to Living ALOHA is a unique approach to meditation that incorporates learning to live the premise of “Aloha” from Hawaiian culture. Although there are many excellent methods or initiation courses to guide one through the basics of meditation, I found Kit Kanohoaloha Wynkoop’s gentle and patient manner of teaching to be very encouraging and inclusive of all student levels.
His mélange of Tibetan and Hawaiian cultural values adds a rich and universal experience to the practice that transcends time and place. In the Hawaiian tradition our gratitude and willingness to flow with all that we encounter in life is an expression of Aloha. Joining other likeminded seekers in the calm and heartfelt atmosphere of The Path of Meditation that Leads to Living ALOHA helps one to maintain and live in accordance with the growing sense of awareness that is developed through meditation practice. This is living Aloha.”
In just the first 2 Levels, you will learn how to:
- become expert at the mindfulness and self-awareness techniques of Buddhist meditation and psychology;
- make a crack in your self-deception to see truth;
- become your own best friend;
- recognize when you are coming from your authentic being – ALOHA – or when you are stuck in your ego-based habitual patterns;
- eliminate ego-based habitual patterns that no longer serve you or anyone else;
- deal with strong emotions;
- deal with unconscious people;
- align anywhere at anytime with your authentic being: ALOHA.
In each class, we meditate together, I offer a talk, then there’s a dynamic discussion on the day’s topic from which everyone learns even more.
Following each class, you will receive recommended exercises that, if applied in your everyday life, become experiences that lead to profound realizations about yourself and others. As a result, you’ll feel inspired to actually apply the skills learned in your daily life which leads to extracting yourself from the cesspool of struggle, mental agitation, and suffering in which everyone else is drowning so you can help them transcend it, too – simply by your example.
“I want to share some notes about my experience I kept from the free trial period (Levels 1 and 2 of the live online version of the course). I noticed being in the present moment and acknowledging and accepting my present state without feeling the need to change anything – I termed this ‘The Portal of Now.’ I’m able to concentrate on sound, sight, feeling while tracking the continuum of how I am experiencing each of these facets and the totality. I find myself allowing this continuum to happen as a whole experience by listening and receiving. I understand this as ‘unfoldment’ and noting when I’m distracted by saying ‘My mind is thinking.’ I am enjoying the course and look forward to each gathering.”
Why This Course is Important (67 min): https://hoikaha.org/why-this-course/
Participant Testimonies: https://hoikaha.org/testimonies/
If You Need Help Right Now, Watch This (13 min): https://youtu.be/NuhIzO57HVk?si=d7EBfyNjCGxQbZ2R
Consider These Questions Before Proceeding
1. Who are you doing this for?
You are the only one who can answer the call to dis-cover the truth – the truth about life and who you truly are. This course is a commitment to bettering your life, healing the past, creating community, and finding purpose. You may be feeling apprehension or fear. That’s great because something powerful and unexpected awaits you.
2. Are you ready to challenge yourself?
The Path is a Hero’s Journey – an initiation. People on a Hero’s Journey face difficult truths about themselves. They choose to acknowledge them then move forward in the face of challenges rather than shrink back. It is an intense and challenging experience. It takes commitment and courage but the pay-off is huge: harmony, peace, and wellbeing becomes your experience instead of struggle, mental agitation, and suffering.
3. Are you committed for the long term?
This course lasts 64 weeks (21 weeks for the free trial period of the live online version of the course) and offers you incredible opportunities for long-term growth. Integrating this learning will take time and courage. Your growth back to your true nature is a life-long practice. If you commit to your evolution, we’ll be right by your side to support and encourage you.
Course Details
Formats & Cost –
- The live online classes of the course are currently closed. Add your name to the waitlist to be informed when they will reopen.
- Pre-recorded on-demand videos: available late Fall 2024 • Add your name to the waitlist to be informed when this is available.
- The instructional book: available late Fall 2025 • Add your name to the waitlist to be informed when this is available.
Two Videos Worth Watching:
- Introduction to the course (28 min): https://youtu.be/WZdThc3lQac
- How to succeed in the course (16 min): https://youtu.be/h0EqHw3pUZc
What you get in the full course –
- 6 Levels of training
- The teachings, trainings, skills, and knowledge required to fully live ALOHA
- Experiences that open you to profound realizations
- Deep friendships with your cohort mates that can last a lifetime
- Access to Kit for one-to-one guidance, help, and insight when needed
Optional –
- Once you graduate, you may repeat the course as many times as you wish at no cost.
- Any time during the course or after, a week-long meditation retreat is required to qualify for your black belt. (Additional cost.)
More Information – Descriptions of each of the levels.
About The Teacher & Support Team – Read about each team member.
Participant Agreement –
Participants understand that all programs hosted by Hoʻi ka Hā will be recorded for use by Hoʻi ka Hā, LLC and its registered participants. Hoʻi ka Hā makes no representations or warranties as to any benefit that may be received by attending a program.
Questions – kanohoaloha [at] gmail [dot] com