Be Aloha: 14 Ways

“Aloha has become a very universal word, heard all around the world. But what does this word mean beyond the greeting we so often hear?” asks Lahela Chandler Correa, co-founder of Aloha Movement Kauai in her book “Aloha: What it Means to My ‘Ohana.”

Based on Correa’s life lessons of Aloha and written for elementary school children by Aloha Movement co-founder Ann Hettinger, the book has been used for curriculum in local public schools and expanded into three editions for lower-elementary, upper-elementary and adult audiences. It outlines 14 different meanings of Aloha and how these lessons can be applied in everyday life. “It doesn’t matter if you are white, black, blue or green, I believe we all have Aloha,” Correa writes. “Aloha is considered the gift of the Hawaiian people to the world.”

Hokuala Kauai is proud to partner with Aloha Movement to share this insight into local tradition and culture with our residents, guests, and friends.

Aloha is Mana

The meaning of mana: feeling and understanding the good or positive energy that can come from a person, place or thing.

Mana as expressed in everyday life: When you are passing someone on the road, a hallway or the sidewalk, offer a smile and an “Aloha”. The warmth of sharing positive energy can make you feel maika‘I (good) inside.

What aloha means to you: “Aloha is mana. It can be whatever energy you feel around you. For me, mana is always positive. It is what you express to someone who comes to visit you, or someone you haven’t seen for a long time or someone you’ve met for the first time.

It’s the mana that you exchange. So when I see you for the first time, the first thing I’m going to do to exchange my mana of aloha to you. I know the mana of aloha it goes out to you and has no choice but to come back to me in goodness.

Nothing negative. All good. That is aloha. Aloha is my mana to you.”
– Hualani Duncan, Golf Sales Manager at the Ocean Course at Hokuala