About Mana Piloow

I have been interested in Hawaiian culture since I first visited in Maui 1999.
I often heard and saw Hawaiian words from Hawaiian music and Hula in Hawaii. Then I started to be curious about Hawaiian words and language.

- To study Hawaiian language is to study Hawaiian culture, too -
Each Hawaiian word has an original vibration and deep meanings in it.
For example) ALOHA
it means "hello", it means "good-bye" and "I love you" etc...
"Ha" is breath in Hawaii and "Alo" is life in Hawaii, so "ALOHA" is breath of life. To have ALOHA means to share your life energy with others, including nature.
ALOHA is not only a greeting word but also it is wisely telling us how to live on this planet.

- KOTOBA (is "word" in Japanese) and KOTODAMA (is "spirit" in Japanese") -
In Japanese culture, we are really careful to use the correct word because words also have a spirit like humans and creatures.
We believe a mountain also is a alive and a rock also has intention in the world.The idea is very similar to Hawaiian culture. Also both languages use the vowels A - E - I - O -U.
I am pleased and proud to feel the two languages have so much in common.

- There is MANA ( spirit, power in Hawaiian) -
To borrow MANA from Hawaiian words and heal our body, mind and soul.
I feel very strong vibrations from Hawaiian words, so I wanted to have the power (MANA) closer to me. I appliqued Hawaiian words on Hawaiian fabric and made a small pillow.
It was small so I could bring it in my bag to the office or anywhere. Then when I was tired I could rest my head on it at lunch time and put it in a favorite place where I could see it.
It was made to be a talisman or a stuffed toy for adults.
I was thinking in modern times people need relaxation and something cheerful to have nearby. Also I wanted to share Hawaiian wisdom and spirituality with the world.

- For New Generation -
I had made the mana pillow for adults but my friends were starting to have their babies. I had also moved to Maui at that time. Here in Hawaii almost all babies have a Hawaiian middle name. So, I had started making the mana pillow for them with Hawaiian name. It was fun to make and I felt lots of love and hope for the newborn babies.

- Chance to study Hawaiian culture with the pillow -
My hula teacher, KUMU taught us Hula and Hawaiian words.
" How can we study the language?"
One day, he saw a Hawaiian family in a super market. The mother was teaching her son the Hawaiian name of different items. Kumu said we can study the Hawaiian language everywhere and every way if we want to.
I wish my pillow to be an interesting opportunity to learn Hawaiian words and culture in a friendly way for younger generations and tourists alike.
After the Hawaiian Kingdom was taken over by America, the Hawaiian language was suppressed. I believe the older generation still speaks Hawaiian but the younger generation not so much. If we study the language, we study the culture too.
So, to hand this down to younger generations is a very important and meaningful thing, I think.

Let me finish my pillows' story with this; my MANA pillow is small but has lots of hope and love in it.