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🇺🇸 Hawaiʻi · Traditional

Lomi Lomi (Hawaiian Massage)ロミロミ（ハワイ伝統マッサージ）Lomilomi

A name for manual practices carried forward through families and communities in Hawaiʻi. Some use hands and forearms, with accounts emphasising aloha, place and relationships. Practice, including prayer and sequence, varies; a single spa form cannot stand for the whole tradition.

Traditional healing systemTraditional massageIn-depth article

Fact sheet

Origin
🇺🇸 Hawaiʻi — The Hawaiian Islands (Hawaiʻi Island, Kauaʻi and others)
Era
Since Polynesian settlement (over 1,000 years)（Traditional）
Classification
Traditional healing system / Traditional massage
Words encountered in cultural learning
Aloha (love, respect), mana (life force), pono (rightness, harmony), hā (breath)
Traditional practitioners
Family and community practitioners and teachers, with relationships to plants and prayer understood within each practice.
Modern turning point
Aunty Margaret Machado (Hawaiʻi Island, 1916–2009) becomes the first state-certified lomilomi teacher in 1965 and begins teaching non-Hawaiians in 1973
Legal status
Hawaiʻi licenses massage, and separately recognises Native Hawaiian traditional healers through a distinct certification
Techniques
Oil / Breath / Stone / Abdomen
Practitioner body parts
Forearm / Palm
Medium
Oil
Clothing
Skin contact, draped
Setting
Table
Typical duration
60–120 min
Also known as
Lomilomi · Hawaiian massage · ハワイアンマッサージ

History: from community healing through suppression to revival

Lomi lomi has been handed down as part of the Hawaiian healing system since Polynesians settled the islands around the 10th to 13th centuries. In traditional Hawaiian society, lāʻau lapaʻau (herbal medicine), hoʻoponopono (the mending of relationships) and lomi lomi (bodywork) were one system of care, practised both by kahuna (experts) and within families from grandparents to grandchildren. Lomi lomi conditioned warriors, assisted birth, aided digestion and comforted the old; it was a skill of everyday life.

When American missionaries arrived in 1820, traditional Hawaiian religion and healing were suppressed as heathen, and lomi lomi disappeared from public life along with hula. The technique withdrew into the home and was passed quietly among family members. When the Territory of Hawaiʻi introduced massage licensing in 1947, traditional practitioners were left outside the system.

The turning point came with the Hawaiian renaissance of the 1970s. Hula, the Hawaiian language and voyaging were revalued, and so was lomi lomi. Margaret Machado (Aunty Margaret, 1916–2009) of Kealakekua on Hawaiʻi Island became the first state-certified lomilomi teacher in 1965 and, from 1973, began teaching what had been restricted to families to non-Hawaiians. Her words, 'lomi lomi is praying work', became the phrase that carried the essence of the practice to the world. In 1998 the State of Hawaiʻi amended its medical practice law (HRS chapter 453, Act 162) to exempt traditional healers certified by kupuna councils convened by Papa Ola Lōkahi, the Native Hawaiian health organisation, from licensing; the massage licensing law later gained a matching exemption, giving the tradition a legal home.

Culture and philosophy: aloha, mana, pono

Kōkua Kalihi Valley, a Hawaiian community health organisation, describes lomi as a practice passed down in families. ʻAhahui Lomilomi Hawaiʻi likewise places cultural knowledge and protocols shared by elders and teachers at the foundation of learning.

Aloha, prayer and relationships with family and place are contexts encountered in this learning. A particular word-origin story or ritual should not become the definition of all lomilomi. Explanations should identify the family, teacher or school they come from.

Styles known for long forearm strokes and forms passed on within families each have a context. Visible movement alone cannot explain the whole culture; practitioners’ and recipients’ voices matter.

Development: from family tradition to the world's spas

People teaching lomilomi may share practices inherited within families and communities or organise their own school curricula. ʻAhahui Lomilomi Hawaiʻi emphasises cultural knowledge and protocols learned from elders and teachers.

Names encountered internationally include lomilomi nui, temple style and Kahuna bodywork. A name alone does not establish identical content or lineage; ask whose teaching the school is presenting. Family practices and school systems should not be reduced to just two paths or placed in a hierarchy.

Lomi lomi today

Kōkua Kalihi Valley presents lomi as one form of community care. Spa and salon formats also vary; oils, use of hands or forearms, and duration are not universal.

When teachings about prayer or breathing are included, ask about their meaning and respect the recipient’s preferences and beliefs. Abdominal contact, movements beneath the body and stone work are not mandatory steps across every lineage.

Discuss contact boundaries, draping, position and products in advance. Strong pressure or heated tools require safety assessment appropriate to those methods. Respect for culture goes together with respect for the recipient’s consent and choices.

Signature moves

Descriptions introduce ways of touch, not instructions to reproduce them. Practice varies by lineage, practitioner and recipient.

  • Long forearm strokes (style dependent)

    Some styles use broad forearm contact and long gliding movements. This is not the single movement that represents all lomilomi.

  • Strokes passing beneath the body (style dependent)

    Some styles use these strokes. Areas of contact and draping require agreement; the movement is not required in every lineage.

  • Synchrony with hā (breath)

    Some teachings attend to breathing in movement, without requiring everyone to synchronise or vocalise the breath.

  • Abdominal work (ʻōpū)

    Some practice includes abdominal contact. Health circumstances and consent must be considered; it is not a required part of receiving lomilomi.

  • Joint rotation

    Gentle rotation of shoulders, hips and ankles woven into the flow.

  • Lomi ʻiliʻili (related stone work)

    Presented as a practice using stones. Ask about its teaching context; heated stones require attention to burns and other risks.

One possible session

An example centred on conversation and consent—not a prescribed sequence, duration or self-treatment guide.

  1. Discuss preferences and cultural context

    Ask about the work, boundaries and the meaning of prayer if included.

  2. Agree draping and position

    Discuss products and areas where contact is not wanted.

  3. Continue with feedback about touch

    Combine hand or forearm contact in accordance with the practice and recipient’s wishes.

  4. Allow time to close

    Closing differs between settings; allow time to describe sensations or discomfort.

Related competition categories

Competition scores assess a performance under that event’s rules—not the value of a technique or culture. Consult the official rules for eligibility and judging criteria.

Freestyle Western

Rules and judging criteria for this category →Practices related to this category →Explore official competition records →Meet the judges →View seminar information →

Related forms and lineages

Frequently asked questions

Q.Are 'lomi lomi nui' and 'temple style' traditional lomi lomi?

A label alone does not establish lineage or content. Ask a school using lomi lomi nui or temple style about its teachers and system. Differences in background, including family practices in Hawaiʻi, are not treated as a hierarchy.

Q.Is the prayer religious?

Pule has religious and cultural contexts. Whether and how it is included depends on the practitioner. Ask about its meaning and discuss participation and any considerations concerning your beliefs.

Q.Why the forearms?

The forearm provides a broad surface for contact. This does not make all lomilomi forearm-based; hand use varies among families and schools.

Q.How can I receive lomi lomi in Hawaiʻi?

From a Hawaiʻi-licensed massage therapist or from a Native Hawaiian traditional healer certified by the state. Traditional healers often work within family and community relationships, which differs in character from tourist spas.

Glossary

アロハAloha
A Hawaiian word used in contexts of affection, care and greeting; its meaning is not limited to a single word-origin interpretation.
マナMana
Life force, spiritual power.
ポノPono
A Hawaiian word associated with rightness or appropriateness, understood in practice through the people who teach it.
プレPule
Prayer; its role and occasions in lomilomi vary with the teaching concerned.
ホオポノポノHoʻoponopono
The ritual of resolving discord through talk.
カフナKahuna
A term for an expert or specialist, not an automatic title for every practitioner.

Sources & references

This article draws on the following primary sources, official bodies, scholarship and organisations.

  1. [1]Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes §453-2 — exemption for Native Hawaiian traditional healers (Papa Ola Lōkahi certification)Official body
  2. [2]Papa Ola Lōkahi — Native Hawaiian Health BoardOrganisation
  3. [3]Chai, R. Makana Risser. Nā Moʻolelo Lomilomi: The Traditions of Hawaiian Massage and Healing. Bishop Museum Press, 2005.Book
  4. [4]Pukui, Mary Kawena & Elbert, Samuel H. Hawaiian Dictionary. University of Hawaiʻi Press.Academic
  5. [5]Kōkua Kalihi Valley — Lomi: A Journey of Healing(opens in a new tab)Organisation
  6. [6]ʻAhahui Lomilomi Hawaiʻi — Mission and cultural learning(opens in a new tab)Organisation

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