HB 077: Hawaii Travel Etiquette: 5 Ways to Show Respect for the Island’s Culture and People

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Hawaii Travel Etiquette: 5 Ways to Show Respect for the Island's Culture and People
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[00:00:00] Bryan Murphy: Are you planning to visit to Hawaii and want to make sure you're being respectful of the culture in land? Well, in this episode, our guests, Elijah Kahan, will share the top five ways to show respect in etiquette when traveling to Hawaii from learning about traditional customs to being mindful of your impact on the environment.

[00:00:21] Elijah will give us the advice we all need to have a responsible and respectful trip to. So sit back, grab a my tie, and let's get started on your Hawaiian adventure the right way. Starting with this episode,

[00:00:36] Hawaii's Best: Aloha. Welcome to Ho's Best Here. You'll learn what to know before traveling as we discover Hawaiian culture, local businesses.

[00:00:45] Elijah Kāla McShane: And the experiences that make hav Hawaii one of the most incredible places in the world. And now your host, Brian

[00:00:52] Bryan Murphy: Murphy Loha. And thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of Hav Hawaii's Best. So glad [00:01:00] that you are joining me today, and today is a special one. It's all about how to travel to Hawaii responsibly, and this is something we've talked about many times and, and in the description of this episode, I've linked.

[00:01:13] Quite a few different episodes over the past few years that we've covered about this topic of responsible travel. Of ye but today is different. Today we have someone who I've been watching on social media for a while and we've reached out and we've connected and, and have built a friendship together, and I can't wait for you to hear more about Elijah and his story and all about how to travel with aloha.

[00:01:38] Throughout this episode, he gives us five practical ways in which we can all travel with aloha. And throughout our conversation, he references a lot of resources and practical ways for you to make your next steps in planning a visit to Hawaii. I've linked all those in the episode description of [00:02:00] this episode, or you can go to Hawaii's best travel.com/episode 77.

[00:02:07] So let's go ahead and we're gonna talk story with Elijah Kahan from the Island of Oahu.

[00:02:16] Elijah Kāla McShane: Let's.

[00:02:23] Hello.

[00:02:32] am um, I currently live in, and I'm from Oahu in the, in the, of what is known as . And here in the there is an, that is a smaller piece of land that is considered now to be hak that, um, is, which I live in and it is a beautiful day in . It is an honor over here [00:03:00] who is actually almost in her hundreds now. Wow.

[00:03:03] She actually grew up in Hava and had to relocate because of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, because had internment camps on this half of the island and. She had to relocate Honolulu and I believe I'm the first one in our Han that has had the chance to live back in Hava. And you know, there ain't no better place to be, I think on the island.

[00:03:23] I love being over here. I am, um, I'm The people that I've come from have actually been in HA Hawaii since the beginning of the original inhabit. Of these islands. Mm. And have always had a chance to be in connection to Hawaii. He always had an inclination, um, of who I was, even in spite of, of all of the things that had taken place in Hawaii with Americanization and the coming of the western world.

[00:03:49] Um, a lot of Hawaiians have been disconnected and I was in that space as well and have the honor and just the aloha, the peace and gratitude [00:04:00] to , to spirit and to my ancestors for allowing me to rediscover. And to rekindle this really flame of being a person of J and what it can offer to the greater good.

[00:04:11] And so it is an honor to be with you guys today. It is an honor to always spread, uh, the true message of aloha to people around the planet who are called to come to

[00:04:19] Bryan Murphy: jni. You mentioned something you felt disconnected at a point and now you are reengaged. Was there a catalyst for that moment? Hmm. Of that switch?

[00:04:30] Elijah Kāla McShane: Oh, beautiful brother. Beautiful. Thank you so much. Historically, the people of Hawaii have really experienced a lot of pain, pain, justice, a lot of historical trauma. You can say that, um, exists within our story because of the coming of the Western world. But also specifically the really introduction of the occupation of the United States in hav Hawaii through its military and we all Hawaiian.

[00:04:59] Have, [00:05:00] have in its own degree, have experienced a lot of disconnection from not only our language, our stories, our culture, but our own identity really at its core root. And I was one of them. I, I, I had an experience in an ohana that although we were involved in things like ocean sports and getting involved, Just things that are usually of Veni.

[00:05:26] Mm-hmm. . But the deeper connection wasn't always there. The principles, the practices that were inherently within our had been heavily entrenched in the approach of the worldview of the Christian Church in j Hawaii, which there isn't anything wrong with it, but it eliminates the presence of any other thing that can coexist.

[00:05:49] And so I feel that that plays a huge role in why a lot of our people have a difficult time, uh, being able to walk in two worlds of being in connection when a lot [00:06:00] of the people in our family are still involved in the things of the Western world that detaches them from the root of who they are as a person of Hawaii.

[00:06:09] And so I believe it was a part of the call in my life to reinstate this, and I've always had this inclination. To really to, to actually seek wisdom and to seek truth and to seek principles In my path, I've been blessed to have good teachers and to have good people that have poured into me, that have aided in the reawakening of who I am as an offspring of ae and as a person that is able to still stay connected to my ancestors and perpetuate that in modern.

[00:06:44] Bryan Murphy: It's beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing that and your perspective, and there's this call, and with a call comes action. And what drew me into you and your world on social media is this action, [00:07:00] this response, and this educating. How did that all start? Was it TikTok or was it Instagram? Cause I came across you first on Instagram and then have really appreciated some of your TOS as well.

[00:07:11] How did that all. I

[00:07:13] Elijah Kāla McShane: was always asking a lot of questions in my life about who I was, the intention and the purpose that I had on the planet, how I'm called to give back, and, and it always led down to this really key question that opens up those actually spaces and gates of understanding and wisdom. And that was like, what is the gift that I have?

[00:07:33] Mm-hmm. You know, to offer because you can only give what you have. Right. I was always in that, that in between stage of. Kind of knowing what my gift is, but in that conflicting place that seeing how it is economically feasible in the Western world and if that works, especially leading into early adulthood, I began to really ask a lot of those [00:08:00] questions about like, okay, what is my gift?

[00:08:01] Because if I'm gonna take action in my life, I really gotta get clear. And like Spirit told me that, you know, Ever since you was young, I tell you. But you know, like, you know, listen, so, so you. I'm gonna ask you again, what is the one thing that people around you always seen in you that potentially you didn't really see in yourself, but people could see it inherently because adults, teachers, they are older, are developed, they have perception to see that in youth and at the foundation of it was always like, Hey, this boy, he get plenty aloha.

[00:08:36] He has a big. He has a call to give to people and, and he just inherently get . And so in my healing path that I kind of been on in our healing arts work to help people to come back to what the heart connection is to our ancestral principles, and the main principle that really exists in all cultures is this [00:09:00] understanding.

[00:09:02] of truth and connection and, and, uh, heart connection. Yet it seems to be an untapped field in the world of creative media today. It seems like an untapped field, and so as I began to really speak about the principles of Aloha, I haven't come across too much people that come from Hawaii that actually have a perspective and philosophy that I had been honored to carry and to be given.

[00:09:26] And I found it as this is where. I really speak the truth that is in the heart, that I carry, in a way that people can relate and understand that is non-abrasive, that is universal and applicable to all people. And eh, like the message is balanced and it's relatable. Yeah. And it doesn't offend, but it invites

[00:09:47] Bryan Murphy: right.

[00:09:48] What, if we go ahead and jump into the five ways to respectfully visit Hawaii, and someone who's listening to this right now is maybe someone who's just getting back from a visit [00:10:00] or is thinking about coming for a visit currently right now. As we jump into these five ways, how is the tourism, climate and environment currently from your perspective?

[00:10:14] Elijah Kāla McShane: That is a beautiful, a beautiful thing to kind of usher in this conversation because it is usually every color of the rainbow. I usually say it's twofold that you usually have the people that are of Hawaii that hate tourists. They are not interested in having anybody come. And that's oftentimes the folks, people that act as the voice of Hawaii on these different platforms.

[00:10:44] TikTok, Instagram and Facebook. You know, that, that are kind of speaking about how, just off the bat it is clear it is black and white people of Hawaii. We don't want tourist coming in. So that's one fold. The other fold. Well, maybe three [00:11:00] fold. So now in that middle one, you have that person that is only interested in the economics of tourism, and they only choose to see the importance of having this industry in hav Hawaii.

[00:11:15] And they take the stance that if we don't have tourism, then we don't have anything. And they're usually only speaking about the economic input that the actually tourism brings to the Hawaiian island. To all the funding of the state of Harvard lives. And then the last one, Is usually the Hawaiians, usually the person that is in the middle tier.

[00:11:41] Not always people that are hallway. It's usually people that come to Hawaii and they have business in Hawaii, but they're capitalists, they're opportunists, so they usually only see things out of the context of the western world. Which not always in connection The [00:12:00] third tier on the other side is he or she.

[00:12:03] That is like right in that that really space of seeing equanimity in economics. And ecological impact in Hawaii and understanding that being proactive on mowing, that the tourism industry provides a lot of resources, a lot of income to the state of Hawaii economically employing a lot of our people, specifically, if I'm not mistaken about that, is connected to tourism.

[00:12:31] Over a hundred thousand people who are employed by the tourism industry in Hawaii plus yet, Always knowing that there has to be a balance, that the lands have a threshold, the lands have a capacity. The waters in the oceans have a capacity to maintain the people that live at J Hawaii, as well as people that are coming through J Hawaii over.

[00:12:59] 8 [00:13:00] million people to 11 million people per year coming to Hawaii. And a majority of those people are not educated when they're coming. And we're dependent upon getting them educated when they come, but at that time it's almost too late. And so I appreciate having these platforms to give people the access to the resources when they come.

[00:13:18] And so the current climate is three tier. It's easy, it's a black and white of people staying. It's the black and white of people only being about economics, and then it's the one in between. And as Buddha said, the middle way is always the way that, that you can find peace and harmony between the conflict and the comfort.

[00:13:37] And seeing that being in that middle way is having the equal balance of people coming. And people being respectful and people understanding homes culture, and then acclimating to it instead of coming in to invade another person's home, even if it's unintentional. Would I be

[00:13:53] Bryan Murphy: okay to assume that you're in the middle way tier?

[00:13:56] I'm

[00:13:56] Elijah Kāla McShane: in the middle way, brother. Yeah. . I am in the [00:14:00] middle way. based.

[00:14:01] Bryan Murphy: Based on your content, your heart, I can definitely see that the first way you talked about and how to respectfully visit Hawaii is pre-education. Maybe unpack that a little bit.

[00:14:12] Elijah Kāla McShane: Yes. So pre-education is extremely important for all of you people, all the listeners who work, who hear this episode from.

[00:14:21] It's launch up until eight to 10 years from now. These are consistent pillars to experiencing hav Hawaii pre-education. As you already know, the people of Hawaii are storytellers, so I gonna tell you a little bit of a story and kind of explain its point in this or story is that he is a part of culture and you know, a part of every.

[00:14:46] That two guys who head into a house, and this house has an ancestor, an elder that has been in this area for a long time. They are respected in the [00:15:00] community. They're honored in the community. They have had their contributions in their community, and the first diet goes in, and he is not in a state of awareness of really understanding honor and respect of that person's space and.

[00:15:16] For lack of a better term, uneducated of what is the host culture in that house. And this is a great elder. He's kind, he's nice if he sees things that maybe are inappropriate. He's not really going to speak it out loud and have you feel uncomfortable. But this first visitor comes into the house and he walks into the house.

[00:15:38] He doesn't take his shoes off and he doesn't realize. On his shoes, has mud and dirt on it, and then he, he doesn't really ask or where the bathroom is, he actually goes throughout the house to look for where the bathroom is. The elders is a little bit confused because obviously etiquette had it been educated in this [00:16:00] first visitor, and the next visitor comes and he has the understanding of honor, of being in relationship, of understanding that this is the elder's home.

[00:16:11] And because it's the elder's home, there is proper etiquette that needs to be exemplifying and expressed as you walk into the elder's home. And because he was taught this in his culture, he comes, he takes off his slippers and his shoes before he goes into the house. He asks for permission, and as he looks around and.

[00:16:32] Observes the beauty of this house, and with all the pictures of his of his children, of all of his accomplishments in his life, he begins to get curious on the history and the story of this elder. And he comes almost as a student with humility and with honor. And I give this little bit of olelo because it explains a lot.

[00:16:59] The [00:17:00] tool expressions of the visitors that comes to J Hawaii and the personality types of people that come. One is pre-educated and it's because of either the culture that he was raised in or that she was raised in, the etiquette that existed within the household and all, although principles and the values that lay at the foundation of really all people and cultures had been instilled in him or in.

[00:17:26] But on the other hand, you also have the other visitor, the one that is abrasive. It doesn't really know about place. It comes and it almost is invasive and is literally due to a lack of education. But to be a student and to have education, it also takes humility and we understand that a majority of people that come that are not educated on how to experience, they don't mean to do it because they only do what they know.

[00:17:56] As they say. If you knew better, you would do better. . And so [00:18:00] pre-education is really understanding the host culture, being able to get curious as a student. So when you come to , it is not only an experience that you come to get away from wherever you're coming from, but you also know that you are coming into another elder's house.

[00:18:20] That elder is a metaphor for the Hawaiian people. Because the people of J Hawaii are elders. We have been here for almost de Hessian contact a thousand years, but we really say since BC are people that have been on this land for over 2000 years. And so because of that, there absolutely is an inherent existence of culture, of practice, of principle, of way of.

[00:18:47] That had allowed our people to thrive on this land for this long of time. And it's not like we are not interested in having people come, but we are interested in a [00:19:00] specific archetype of person that comes, person that is respectful, a person that is humble, a person that is a student of person that that has a lot of love in their hearts, understanding how to operate when they're in the elder's.

[00:19:13] And that's all. And we provide all of those resources in our work in our weekend. Aloha. So we'll give the links on this episode of the podcast for everybody to actually tune in. We actually have a playlist on YouTube that everybody has, has access to, that you can go on and you can click on. And he has over a hundred YouTube video.

[00:19:36] Out of education wide ranging from Music of J Hawaii historical painting trauma in J Hawaii. The current events of J Hawaii are political history of J Hawaii, so that at least if you can spend one to two months just trying your best to go to the videos, then you can have a proper holistic per. On [00:20:00] Hawaii in all of its colors, and instead of it just being tourism and going to Hama Bay to experience and hearing only the history of Hama Bay, but learning like even before

[00:20:12] Hama

[00:20:12] Elijah Kāla McShane: Bay was a tourist attraction, what was Hama Bay right?

[00:20:16] Bryan Murphy: So pre-education and, and that was gonna be one of the things I was gonna ask, but I, I assumed you'd cover it, but having those resources is something that will definitely link to anything that we put out there, so appreciate that. Yeah. Pre-education, it's so much more than traveling from California to Arizona, like traveling the state border.

[00:20:36] You're traveling into a whole other world, a whole other country, and having that. Mindset of if I was traveling into Japan, if I was traveling international like that, I, and I think the majority of people would do their due diligence of that pre-education because traveling into a [00:21:00] culture like that mindset on, on continental US is, that's international.

[00:21:07] Traveling to Hawaii is just. in a lot of people's minds. Another state .

[00:21:13] Elijah Kāla McShane: It's still domestic. Yeah. Right, right,

[00:21:15] Bryan Murphy: right. . So, uh, having these resources available is, is gonna be huge for anyone who, um, has that heart, like you mentioned, of learning and of humility. Yes. Number two kind of goes hand in hand. I think once pre-education happens, a lot of this stuff kind of falls into place.

[00:21:34] But number two, give back. What do you mean by that? Unpack that a little bit.

[00:21:39] Elijah Kāla McShane: I appreciate this point because it holds a close place in my heart of wherever I go to. And we come back to the first story. I didn't explain the first story, um, on this part, but on the first visitor, he didn't bring an offering.

[00:21:57] The other visitor that had the [00:22:00] etiquette, that was kind and humble to come into the elder's house, he brought an offering, he brought in. And this can come in all kind of different ways and forms that it could take, but this specific offering could definitely look like being able to see the Hawaiian organizations out there that you can give your time to, you can volunteer with.

[00:22:23] How we equalize things within J Hawaii, within the tourism industry is we're in the process of being able to move actually toward a more experience that is based on ecotourism. And so identifying organizations, which we also offer on top our website if, if, if you go onto a website to aloha iab, you will find on the bottom of the page a list of organizations that you can contact and you can reach out to, to actually give back if you are not able to be able to actually give.

[00:22:55] Your energy and the time to being at a specific place for an [00:23:00] entire day, how does that look like heading to the beach into an area that, you know, maybe there's a lot of plastics and trash that are on the beach in the smallest ways, knowing how to give back, that you can take a plastic bag. And hand onto the beach and pick up the trash that is in one particular reason, um, kind of space of that beach, and you see how to give back.

[00:23:24] It can begin with being able to just give a prayer to the land and to thank the land for having you. To actually speak to a person that is from Hawaii and you know, and, and to just extend like, Hey, I appreciate you for having us in your home. Yeah. Those small things that you can do immediately to give back.

[00:23:45] And then it goes to the larger scale of like spending a day in an organization who is hosting a community workday and being able to go there and to meet the community and to kind of keep away from, from. [00:24:00] Only seeing who you are as being a visitor, as being a tourist, that you don't belong in those spaces.

[00:24:07] The opposite is true. You belong in those spaces even before having a vacation. That should be the first thing on the list, is being able to get engaged in a community organization that is doing community work to feed the people, to feed the. To help our children to be a power and to give that as you're offering before getting invited in the house to eat the food that the elder is offering to you.

[00:24:35] Because you know, the elder already prepared the food. Hey, the food's already cooked at the table. Yeah, but the principle is, are you going into the elder's house to take or to. Before you give. And so even before thinking of going to the, all of these beautiful places in Hawaii to experience, why not consider the idea of the first activity that you have in Hav Hawaii is to [00:25:00] plan a community outreach there with a community organization that is directly helping Hawaiian communities.

[00:25:07] That is a great way to become an all. To the people of Hawaii so that your staying Hawaii is positive first because you're, you, you are giving an offering. I tell you right now, if you operate like that, you know this this elder, he gonna invite you back to his house so much times because he know that you are in the right space because you brought the offering cuz you already had the consciousness and the awareness to do that.

[00:25:35] That changes the game for every. It's

[00:25:38] Bryan Murphy: interesting you bring this up. There are so many thoughts and questions going through in mind, and one of the thoughts was we actually today as we are recording this, we release episode 70 and episode 70 is all about volunteering in Hawaii. We highlighted. Maui culture lands.

[00:25:55] We had Ilu Lindsay on the podcast and it was great [00:26:00] being able to hear how, if you're traveling to Maui, being able to connect with Maui culture lands and going into Hanukah Bay Valley and planting trees as simple as that, removing invasive species, simple as that, and hearing the history and story of a spot really makes that my tie even better.

[00:26:19] Back. Absolutely. Back at the Sheraton . .

[00:26:23] Elijah Kāla McShane: Agreed, agreed, agreed. Mahala Newey. Thank you for that .

[00:26:27] Bryan Murphy: So number three, we hear about support local, especially during the last couple years, no matter where you call home. Always support local in those local businesses, but 0.3 is support local Hawaiian businesses.

[00:26:39] Let's dive into that and how can people do.

[00:26:42] Elijah Kāla McShane: Okay. Yes. This is a good, a good thing to speak about, about the economic innovation of J Hawaii. And to preface, there is a difference between local and Hawaiian. There is a difference between a business that is local, I wanna repeat that. And a business that is Hawaiian.[00:27:00]

[00:27:00] Hawaiian business could also be considered to be local. But a local business is not always. And so we really speak about this. This is not to say that you cannot go eat at L N L and go and experience things at Zippy's and you know, cause that's, that's actually local business. It's an infusion. A whole lot of people that are actually listening to this, they may not know that hav.

[00:27:26] Was the first place to pass equal rights for all ethnic backgrounds legally in its constitution in the Hawaiian Kingdom. And this had opened up spaces for people from all around the planet to come to Hawaii. It opened up opportunities for all kind of different people that weren't in a good living condition in their home, in the Philippines, in Portugal, in Spain, in Puerto Rico.

[00:27:50] All of these places that they were. Too interested in continuing living there, and they had an opportunity to come to J Hawaii and to [00:28:00] work in J on the plantations and to bring their families to J Hawaii. This is what had led to the first place that's considered to be the melting pot of all places. And so I am.

[00:28:10] An advocate of actually being in alignment to experiencing the wide array of things that are offered in hav all the local businesses, all the different ethnicities and heritages that can be experienced. But to uplift the Hawaiian economy, you're really speaking about Hawaiian businesses that are not only high quality in, in their artwork, in their creativity, in their food quality, but also these Hawaiian business.

[00:28:41] Are culturally rooted. They are the ones that are in the ohana of the elder in that house and that he has raised his children to be economically independent and to know how to start business proud of these children because our people who, who are inherently Hawaiian in terms [00:29:00] of our heritage, culture and history, we, we have a lot to offer, but oftentimes, It gets kind of blurred when the, the smoke screen of all the marketing that takes place for the local businesses and it deters people from actually going into eating out of the food of the elder to really choosing to add, you know, uncle, I'm not really interested in eating your food.

[00:29:29] How about I go to across the street to Zippy's, I'm gonna grab food to bring over to. And then we can maybe eat that, you know, not that there's anything wrong with it, but it's not fully authentic and it's not always 100% the encapsulation of the spirit of hav Hawaii that you want to experience when you're coming to our island.

[00:29:48] So that's easy ways to be able to come to Hav Hawaii and to be in support of not only local businesses, but also being able to have your experiences with what is inherently. . [00:30:00]

[00:30:01] Bryan Murphy: Yeah, you definitely feel that, that spirit, you know, be it even in, in a conversation with somebody, even conversation at the front desk, you checking in, you, there's a, a spirit you feel when you're talking and it kind jumps into our next point of making friends

[00:30:19] How do you do that? You know, on, on vacation, you come on for a visit, how you make friends so fast.

[00:30:24] Elijah Kāla McShane: You know, people love good people, right? Yeah. They love good people, right? And so if you have love in your heart and are interested in connection, I understand because of different cultures and upbringings, like, you know, when I was 15, I had a chance to go to New York on a trip for about 11 days or in.

[00:30:47] It was, it was an outreach trip and so we had all had all kind of different activities to give back to the community and different things. But the one thing that I had seen and noticed is that a lot of [00:31:00] people were a little bit more just low heavy, not really interested in in, you only kind of interested in the self.

[00:31:09] There's no connection. Part of the spirit of Aloha has an action. Is being able to know that exchange, that exchange, that interpersonal exchange of energy is considered to be highly secret, is that once I acknowledge you and I see you, and I'm here in the front of you in your presence, that that's now a responsibility of mine to present all of my heart to you in a way that that is not invasive.

[00:31:41] It's not Lao, but it's there. Even if you're quiet and an introvert and you don't really like to speak and be too much expressive, your heart and your energy. How you connect. It doesn't have to be loud. It doesn't have to be expressive. Like, like me, I go to Starbucks [00:32:00] or going to a place to eat Hawaiian. A part of who I am is I come and I bring aha in the way that I'm speaking to you guys on this show right now.

[00:32:10] And so it seems expressive, it seems outward, but it's, it's still contained, it's maintained. But it's, it's only for the betterment and the uplifting of the person that is right in front of me and for the environment that I'm in. I'm here to bring the light. I'm not here to bring anything that if I'm having a difficult time in my life, I'll project that upon other people.

[00:32:33] If you wanna make friends, it's just like how you make friends anywhere is you'd be a good humor. The hard part about it is oftentimes is a lot of people that have had an upbringing in. A place, say like New York or a place say like LA that is stoked in a lot of business with stores hand in hand with actually having the experience of a lot of, for a lack of a better term, a lot of distrust that people [00:33:00] are afraid to be open and vulnerable and people, because they have come to that state of being afraid to be open and vulnerable, they actually see it as almost alien if people are.

[00:33:11] People have aloha. A lot of people think that if I go into America, who I am, that they can't believe that this is authentic. They, they can't believe that it's real. When you come to J Hawaii, a majority of Hawaiians are good people. And if you are a good person and are able to acknowledge place and people and spread, aloha are people that are gonna have no problem interacting with you.

[00:33:40] If you have aloha ha will give you aloha and you, you norm. If you don't have aloha, you also gonna experience that the people that ve are not gonna have any alaw for you. So that's how you do it, is if you wanna make friends, have the intention of being a good human, of having AOI and being open and being respectful.

[00:33:59] [00:34:00] Having the insight of where you are gains a lot of respect from our people about inviting you into their spaces. So that comes back to pre-education again,

[00:34:10] Bryan Murphy: and that leads, I think, beautifully into your fifth way and how to respectfully visit Hawaii is having aloha. We're all familiar. I'm sure anyone listening to this, whoever will listen to this, has heard of the word aloha.

[00:34:25] But how do you have aloha? How will we unpack that?

[00:34:30] Elijah Kāla McShane: Yes, yes, yes. Okay. First I'm gonna ask you a question, brother. How would you define aloha?

[00:34:37] Bryan Murphy: Loha has action, so it's an action of putting others before self. So there's a humility. There is a strength, when I hear the word and feel the word of the strength of aloha, where you.

[00:34:50] Stand with firmness, stand with love, stand with conviction, and it has everything else wrapped into it of love. And [00:35:00] hello and goodbye and affection.

[00:35:02] Elijah Kāla McShane: Awesome. Beautiful, beautiful. Yes. You know, in our spaces of education, I usually begin our conversations with that question. How do they define aloha? Because it's, it will create the, the place and the ground.

[00:35:18] To know how to connect to aloha. Oh, that's

[00:35:21] Bryan Murphy: well said.

[00:35:22] Elijah Kāla McShane: Yeah. And how to relate to aloha. And, you know, uh, oftentimes in the experience of the visitor, they usually define it as, of course, hi, goodbye. Loved a greeting. Yes. All of that is correct. If you define the kind of love that aloha is, the kind of love, what is the expression of love?

[00:35:51] I usually put it in comparison to what we know that maybe we had experiences in the church and we can learn [00:36:00] different expressions of love. And how in the Greek it states that the. Unconditional expression of love is agape. The kind of love that you can experience only from creator, it is infinite. It is unconditional, it's connected, it's understanding, it's compassionate, it's empathetic, it's authentic and transparent.

[00:36:28] Which means that it's, it's real. It's real, it's eternal. It's not a thing that, that is absent at any time, which means that the spirit of aloha has to be one with , with spirit and creator. And in, in hand, in hand with that it has to be one with . And so the spirit of aloha and how to live aloha is real, real simple, but it is both principled and practice.

[00:36:57] If people haven't ever experienced that kind of [00:37:00] overflowing, abounding love before in their life, they don't really have like a reference point of of, of what, what that is. So they usually see it and they question it first before inviting it because they don't really know if it's fully real. And that's unfortunate.

[00:37:18] And so, How to live Aloha. Appropriate way to experience hav Hawaii. We usually teach people three main ways of aloha that is interconnected to our ancient spiritual system in hav Hawaii, and it's connected to our three Picos. The concept of a pico. Is a place that gives life or gives energy, and so it's an energy point on the body.

[00:37:42] In the Indian philosophy, these three picos would be considered to be the root chakra, the crown chakra, and the plexus in this is actually known as the piko A, the root, the pico e, the crown, and the pico, the plex. And these are [00:38:00] connected to three main principles of Hawaiian spiritual philosophy in terms of the human experience on what we can maintain in our own lives.

[00:38:09] And I connect that to these three principles. And this is

[00:38:16] and these three principles in English. a deep honor, love and AK for the land, for the environment, for all that exists within the external experience in human existence. Everything that exists on our plain seen and unseen. That's the in, that's the A deep honor loving connection. to ak, to spirit, to creator.

[00:38:46] So you honoring kind of place goes hand in hand with, with actually honoring the spirits of the place. And then there is a deep honor and respect for [00:39:00] humans, for humanity, for our interpersonal relationships that exist around us. Have it be you and your partner, you and your children, you and the person that is.

[00:39:12] In the back of the counter at Starbucks or at Long's or at Costco or a person you haven't ever seen in your life, but they cut you off on the highway in the freeway. TOK is to not get offended, but to have understanding of where people are at and to give that honor, that respect, to give that that peace in return, even when the conflict is being experienced on your end, still being able to.

[00:39:41] And so all of these three ways are the practical, applicable ways that you can implement a law into your daily life, wherever you are. This isn't only an infrastructure and a philosophy that you have to learn through being inherently Hawaiian. No, at at the foundation of all of our peoples there existed a love for land, a love for spirit, and [00:40:00] source and ancestors that I love for everybody else around us.

[00:40:03] That's how we maintain harmony. That's how we maintain peace. That's how we maintain our relationships so that our. He's not chaotic because we can't face our pain of our relationships of how people treat us, or we can engage with it with that . So that's how you can experience aloha practical.

[00:40:24] Bryan Murphy: I think that's a great way to kinda frame the conversation and kind of wrap it up with going back to these five ways pre-education and like you mentioned earlier, Elijah, we'll, we'll definitely have those links available and being able to point people towards the YouTube and the websites and, and all that good stuff and ways to give.

[00:40:45] Volunteering your time or your resources even when you're on island and maybe even there's ways you can give back off Island as well. Look for those resources, look for those, those opportunities because they're there, and just find some ways to be able to give back [00:41:00] an afternoon, a morning, or what have you.

[00:41:01] The third way was support local Hawaiian businesses. I kind of wanna put a, maybe another subpoint under that. One of the questions I'd love to ask anyone who comes on the the podcast, Elijah is Best Eats, best place to eat, right? So we're on the North Shore. Oh yes. What's maybe one, two or three spots that you would love to shout out?

[00:41:22] How someone could tangibly support local Hawaiian businesses, but with their stomach.

[00:41:26] Elijah Kāla McShane: Oh, beautiful, beautiful. Hey everybody. Love for eat all the time. In terms of Hawaiian owned in the North Shore, there's really, really few. The one that I can think of that I encourage everybody to go eat at it is called a Farm to Barn.

[00:41:43] Pretty close mine. Her name is Michelle Ching. She, her and her partner are the owners of this particular place of Farm to Barn, and it's called Farm to Barn because right in the back of them are, is their entire farm where they get all of their produce to actually produce all of their food. It's a beautiful place to hang out.

[00:41:59] It's a good place [00:42:00] to really spend time. But for all the plant-based lovers out there who actually love a lot of vegan food, I do encourage the PE box. And the other one is Cosmic Kitchen. These are good places to really embrace love and good people and people that have Omaha and they may not be from J Hawaii inherently, but they definitely do have Omaha.

[00:42:21] And

[00:42:22] Bryan Murphy: the fourth one was Make Friends. And you go to a spot like that, it's gonna be easy to make friends in the fifth was to have aloha. I appreciate your time and I appreciate your aloha. Anything else that you would love to say before we head.

[00:42:36] Elijah Kāla McShane: We close everything, usually in either a prayer or a chant, um, a song.

[00:42:41] So in this time, I want to pay homage to in the history here in Hawaii. And her name is or Auntie, and is actually being featured on a US quarter [00:43:00] for her, for, for her contributions to and Auntie Edit KA and her line KA and all of their offspring, they, um, have been huge advocates and pioneers of the Hawaiian arts.

[00:43:16] And they are leaders of all things in Hawaiian consciousness, Hawaiian education. And so this isn't only a chant, a peace and gratitude for all the people that have had a chance to listen. I just encourage you guys to tune into this. Each time you hear please take a deep breath. It's gonna be three . These three are the expression and the reiteration of these principles of aloha.

[00:43:42] And then I'm gonna give this offering of Lene Maha. And we can go on our way and experience Hawaii in the most beautiful way possible. So

[00:43:58] Hall.[00:44:00]

[00:44:04] Hall. Oh.

[00:44:33] Main.[00:45:00]

[00:45:07] It was a honor and blessing being on the show, brother Free and reaches to the end. To all of the listeners out there to give aloha. Be . Give AK to love the paper that you. The love that people, that carefree, the love that people that go close because you don't ever know what could happen. you come through.

[00:45:37] for listening to this episode of Hawaii's Best to Stay Up to date on future episodes. Please subscribe and visit us at hav hawaii's best travel.com.[00:46:00]