What is Ho’oponopono Healing?

What is Ho’oponopono? Ho’oponopono is a Hawaiian healing and reconciliation practice that helps you make things right, clear emotional energy, release old cords, and return to peace.

Have you ever carried a conversation, a person, a mistake, or a painful memory for years, even though the other person may not think about it at all?

That is where Ho’oponopono healing can become so powerful.

You may have seen Ho’oponopono online as four simple phrases:

• I’m sorry.
• Please forgive me.
• Thank you.
• I love you.

At first glance, it can look like a pretty quote or a spiritual mantra on a graphic. Yet when you understand what is happening underneath those words, the practice becomes much deeper.

So, what is Ho’oponopono?

Ho’oponopono is a Hawaiian healing and reconciliation practice that helps you make things right, clear emotional energy, release old cords, and return to peace. It can be used for relationships, childhood wounds, money blocks, self-forgiveness, trauma, resentment, guilt, old versions of yourself, and situations that still feel active in your body.

In this episode of Spiritual Awakening with Shaz, I share how Ho’oponopono changed the way I understand forgiveness, responsibility, cord cutting, soul-level love, and the stories we carry from very small moments in life.

This is not about pretending nothing happened.

Nor is it about excusing bad behaviour.

Ho’oponopono healing is about clearing what you are still carrying, so you can stop being tied to pain that no longer needs to live inside your body.

What is Ho’oponopono?

The word Ho’oponopono can be broken down beautifully.

Ho’o means to make.

Pono means right.

To make right twice.

That gives us the deeper meaning of making right, making right.

Making it right with me.

Making it right with you.

This is not always done face to face. In fact, most of the time I use this practice energetically, metaphysically, through meditation, visualisation, cord cutting, prayer, or journalling.

You do not need to sit across from the person who hurt you.

Their permission is not required.

They do not even need to know you are doing it.

Ho’oponopono healing is about clearing your side of the energy. It helps you release the cords, ties, hooks, stories, memories, trauma, resentment, judgement, guilt, and emotional charge that keep you connected to old pain.

Sometimes we say we have moved on, but our body has not.

A person’s name comes up and your stomach drops.

You remember a situation and your chest tightens.

A memory appears, and suddenly you are back there again.

That is a sign something is still active in your system.

Ho’oponopono gives you a simple way to start cleaning that energy, so your body, heart, mind, and soul can return to peace.

What Ho’oponopono Healing Is Really For

Ho’oponopono healing is about returning to right relationship.

That includes your relationship with:

• yourself
• another person
• a memory
• a mistake
• a situation
• your body
• money
• your inner child
• your family patterns
• your soul
• God, Spirit, or your higher self

When something is unresolved, it can sit in the body for years. You may feel it as tightness, heaviness, anger, sadness, anxiety, resentment, shame, or a constant looping thought you cannot seem to shake.

The other person may have no idea how often it plays in your mind.

That part matters.

So many people wait for someone else to apologise before they allow themselves peace. They wait for the other person to understand, take accountability, or finally admit what happened.

Sometimes that happens.

Plenty of times, it does not.

Ho’oponopono healing gives you a way to stop waiting for someone else to set you free.

You can begin clearing your own energy now.

My Training With Joe Vitale

I have been studying Ho’oponopono with Dr Joe Vitale for certification, and every time I do another lesson or practise this process more deeply, it shifts my perspective again.

The simplicity of it is what makes it so powerful.

Simple does not mean shallow.

Some of the deepest healing tools are not complicated. They work because they bring awareness to what has been hidden, clear what has been looping in the unconscious mind, and help you return to a cleaner state within yourself.

I use Ho’oponopono personally, and I also teach it inside my programs and coaching work because it helps people clear old relationship energy, reset their emotional state, release trauma, and find peace without needing the other person to participate.

That is one of the most freeing parts.

You can do this work for yourself.

The Four Ho’oponopono Phrases

The four Ho’oponopono phrases are simple:

• I’m sorry.
• Please forgive me.
• Thank you.
• I love you.

When you say them with intention, feeling, and honesty, they begin to clear energy through the body. You may feel the shift physically first, then emotionally, mentally, energetically, or spiritually.

Some people repeat the Ho’oponopono mantra 108 times. You can find versions of the Ho’oponopono mantra on YouTube and use them as a guided repetition practice.

Repetition helps because it gives your body time to soften, breathe, and release the old charge.

You do not have to force it.

Let the words move through you.

“I’m Sorry” Does Not Always Mean You Were Wrong

This is where many people get stuck.

When you say “I’m sorry” in Ho’oponopono, it does not always mean you did something wrong.

Sometimes it means:

• I am sorry this pain exists between us.
• I am sorry I have carried this for so long.
• I am sorry I blamed you for something my soul needed to learn.
• I am sorry I abandoned myself in this situation.
• I am sorry I did not understand the lesson at the time.

Other times, the words may bring you face to face with your own behaviour.

That is important too.

You are not perfect.

None of us are.

You have probably hurt people, dismissed people, judged people, reacted from pain, spoken harshly, pulled away, made mistakes, or caused harm without realising the impact at the time.

Maybe it was not intentional.

Perhaps fear, scarcity, defensiveness, immaturity, selfishness, or shutdown were running the show.

Impact still matters.

Ho’oponopono is not only about forgiving everyone else. It also asks you to look honestly at the places where you need forgiveness too.

That is not shame.

That is accountability.

“Please Forgive Me” and the Inner War

The second phrase is “Please forgive me.”

This can be directed towards yourself, your body, your soul, God, Spirit, the memory, or the soul of the other person.

Sometimes I also work with the opposite phrase, “I forgive you,” depending on what needs to be cleared.

For example, you might say:

I forgive you for crossing my boundary.

Then the deeper clearing may be:

Please forgive me for allowing that boundary to be crossed before I knew how to protect myself.

This does not mean you caused someone else’s behaviour.

It means you are cleaning your side of the energy.

You cannot learn a boundary until something shows you where the boundary needs to be. Often, the person who pushes too far becomes the one who helps you finally see what you will no longer tolerate.

That does not make their behaviour okay.

Still, the lesson can become powerful when you stop only hating the person and start understanding what the situation came to teach you.

“Thank You” Can Be the Hardest Part

Saying thank you to a painful situation can feel almost impossible.

Let’s be clear.

You are not saying, “Thank you for hurting me. I loved that.”

No.

The energy is different.

You are saying:

• Thank you for the lesson.
• Thank you for showing me where I needed a boundary.
• Thank you for revealing a wound I did not know was there.
• Thank you for helping me see where I gave away my power.
• Thank you for showing me what I now need to heal, strengthen, or release.

Some of the souls who teach us the harshest lessons receive the most hate, blame, shame, grief, and anger from us. On the human level, that makes sense. Pain hurts.

From a soul level, though, the picture can begin to change.

That person may have played a role in your awakening.

They may have shown you what abandonment felt like so you could stop abandoning yourself.

A betrayal may have taught you discernment.

Control may have forced you to discover boundaries.

Someone taking too much may have helped you realise where you were over-giving.

That does not excuse the behaviour.

It helps you release the grip.

“I Love You” at a Soul Level

The final phrase is “I love you,” and this is often the hardest one for people to understand.

In Ho’oponopono healing, “I love you” does not mean you approve of what someone did.

You are not saying the behaviour was okay.

The words do not mean the person gets access to your life again.

This is soul-level love.

That distinction changes everything.

At a human level, someone may have betrayed you, hurt you, abandoned you, manipulated you, disappointed you, or treated you badly.

From a soul level, you may eventually recognise that they played a role in your growth, your lessons, your awakening, or your ability to choose differently.

You can love the soul and still have a boundary with the person.

A soul-level perspective does not remove accountability.

Walking away can still be necessary.

Blocking someone can still be healing.

No contact can still be sacred.

You can forgive, release, and make peace without handing someone a key back into your life.

That is where real freedom lives.

The Soul-Level Perspective

This part can feel hard to understand at first, so take what resonates and leave what does not.

From a soul perspective, people may enter our lives to help us experience, learn, heal, and transform. Some play beautiful roles. Others bring lessons we would never have consciously chosen from the human mind.

Someone has to play the hard role in the soul lesson.

That does not make them the villain forever.

Nor does it make their human behaviour acceptable.

Think of it like a role play. One soul agrees to bring forward a scenario, while another soul learns through the experience. The human part of us then gets stuck in the pain, anger, blame, or trauma of it.

The soul may understand the lesson.

The human self still has to process the hurt.

Ho’oponopono helps you bridge that gap.

It gives you a way to release the story, clear the charge, and reclaim the lesson without staying energetically tied to the person who played the role.

Their soul has its work.

Your soul has yours.

Ho’oponopono Healing Does Not Remove Boundaries

A soul-level view does not mean you become a punching bag.

You are not here to keep tolerating harm because your soul is learning something.

No thank you.

Human reality still requires boundaries, safety, action, and wisdom.

If someone is hurting you, manipulating you, abusing you, lying to you, draining you, or treating you badly, you are allowed to leave.

You can love someone at a soul level and not give them access anymore.

That is not bitterness.

It is discernment.

Ho’oponopono healing helps you clear the energetic hook, but it does not replace real-world decisions.

Sometimes the most loving thing you can do is walk away with peace.

Cord Cutting With Ho’oponopono

One of my favourite ways to use Ho’oponopono is with cord cutting.

Start by choosing a person, memory, relationship, family wound, money issue, old version of yourself, or situation that still feels active in your body.

Sit quietly and notice where you feel it.

The cord may feel attached to your:

• heart
• throat
• solar plexus
• stomach
• back
• shoulders
• womb space
• head or mind

Imagine the person or situation sitting in front of you.

This is not a courtroom.

You are not there to fight, defend, explain, or win.

This is a clearing.

See or sense the cord between you. Notice what it is made of. It may feel like guilt, resentment, fear, obligation, grief, anger, control, unfinished business, or old pain.

Then cut the cord.

You might imagine scissors, light, a sword, flame, water, prayer, or whatever image naturally comes to you.

After that, repeat the Ho’oponopono phrases:

I’m sorry.

Please forgive me.

Thank you.

I love you.

Let the words move through the cord as it softens, releases, dissolves, or returns to where it belongs.

You can also say:

• I release you.
• I release me.
• I return my energy back to me.
• I return your energy back to you.
• I choose peace now.

Take a deep breath into your belly and let out an audible sigh.

That sound can release more than you realise.

Do the Four Phrases Have to Be in Order?

No.

The four phrases do not always need to be said in the same order.

Sometimes I start with “I love you.”

Other times, “Thank you” comes first.

A situation may need “Please forgive me” before anything else can soften.

Let your body guide you.

The order matters less than the sincerity.

You are cleaning the energy, not performing a perfect ritual.

Journalling With Ho’oponopono

Journalling is a beautiful way to use Ho’oponopono healing because it helps you dig beneath the surface.

Write the person, memory, situation, or pattern at the top of the page.

Then ask yourself:

• What am I still carrying here?
• What about this situation still triggers me?
• Which part of me wants to be witnessed?
• Did I abandon myself?
• What lesson is ready to be received?
• Where do I need to call my energy back?

Once you have answered those questions, use the four phrases as prompts.

I’m sorry for…

Please forgive me for…

Thank you for…

I love you because…

This gives your unconscious mind a place to release what has been looping silently in the background.

Those loops can create blocks, restraint, self-sabotage, relationship problems, money issues, body tension, and repeated lessons.

When the words come out, let them.

You may be surprised by what your body and mind have been holding.

Using Ho’oponopono for Self-Love

Self-love is one of the most powerful places to begin.

You can write:

I’m sorry for judging myself so harshly.

Please forgive me for ignoring my own needs.

Thank you for carrying me through every season of my life.

I love you, and I am learning to treat myself with more kindness.

You may also need to forgive yourself for not standing up sooner, not saying no, staying too long, abandoning your needs, fading into the background, or not knowing how to love yourself at the time.

That younger version of you did the best she could with what she knew.

Now you get to bring her forward with more wisdom, love, and safety.

Using Ho’oponopono for Relationships

Relationship clearing can be deeply powerful.

You might write:

I’m sorry for the pain I brought from old relationships into this connection.

Please forgive me for not giving this situation the honesty, peace, or attention it deserved.

Thank you for showing me what boundaries were needed.

I love you at a soul level, and I release the energetic hold this has had over me.

If the relationship has ended, this practice can help you release the charge without needing to reopen contact.

A reset does not always mean reunion.

Sometimes the relationship ends, but your peace returns.

That is still healing.

Using Ho’oponopono for Childhood Wounds

Childhood memories can create powerful adult patterns.

In this episode, I shared how a simple memory around being told no as a child created a much bigger story around receiving, abundance, worthiness, and asking for what I wanted.

A young mind does not always understand context.

A child may not know that money was tight, time was short, or the adult simply could not say yes in that moment. Instead, the child may decide, “I am not worthy,” “I do not get what I want,” or “I should never ask again.”

That story can sit in the unconscious mind for years.

Using Ho’oponopono, you can go back to the younger version of yourself and say:

I’m sorry you felt alone.

Please forgive me for blaming you for what you did not understand.

Thank you for surviving and getting through it.

I love you, and I am here with you now.

This practice can help bring the younger part of you forward, clear the old meaning, and release the timeline where that pain was still active.

Using Ho’oponopono for Money and Receiving

Ho’oponopono can also be used for money, receiving, abundance blocks, and guilt around wanting more.

You might write:

I’m sorry for the fear I have attached to money.

Please forgive me for seeing bills only as problems instead of energy exchanged.

Thank you for the services, support, and resources I have received.

I love you, and I choose to create a safer relationship with receiving.

Money can carry so many old stories.

Receiving can feel unsafe if part of you learned that asking leads to rejection, disappointment, shame, or being told no.

When you clean the energy around those memories, money and support can begin to feel less charged.

Using Ho’oponopono for the Body

Your body carries the stories you did not know how to process.

You can use this practice with pain, tension, illness, exhaustion, old judgement, or frustration towards your physical self.

Try writing to your body:

I’m sorry for judging you.

Please forgive me for ignoring what you needed.

Thank you for carrying me through everything.

I love you, and I am learning how to support you better.

Say it slowly.

Let your body hear you.

The physical self often feels the shift before the mind understands what has changed.

The Hairdresser Example: Resetting Energy Quickly

In the episode, I shared a simple everyday example of using Ho’oponopono during a hair appointment.

The hairdresser was frustrated from an argument, and that energy came through while blow-drying my hair. Every brush pull felt rough and painful because I have a sensitive head.

In that moment, I cut the cord between us and repeated:

I’m sorry.

Please forgive me.

Thank you.

I love you.

I kept going until the energy settled.

Then I opened my heart chakra and reconnected the cord through love.

The gentleness came back.

At the end of the session, the hairdresser said I had peaceful energy and that she felt calm.

That is the power of clearing your side.

You are not controlling another person.

The energy shifts because you stop feeding the old pattern.

Why Ho’oponopono Can Feel Hard

Ho’oponopono can feel difficult because it asks you to stop only pointing the finger.

The human mind wants someone to blame.

They hurt me.

They failed me.

That person should apologise.

Someone else needs to fix this.

Sometimes that is true on a human level. Other people may have behaved badly.

Still, if you want freedom, you also need to look at your own side of the energy.

Where did you react from pain?

Which words came out harshly?

When did you judge someone?

Have you dismissed another person’s feelings because you were stuck in your own loop?

Has there been a time when you asked for forgiveness, but the other person was not willing to give it?

That last one can hurt deeply.

When someone refuses to forgive you, the pain often sits in the heart chakra. It can feel heavy, sharp, and hard to shift.

The truth is, the most important forgiveness may need to come from you.

Stop giving your power away to someone else’s willingness to release you.

You can set yourself free.

Personal Responsibility Speeds Up Healing

Ho’oponopono healing asks for personal responsibility.

Not blame.

Responsibility.

There is a big difference.

Blame says, “This is all my fault.”

Responsibility says, “This is what I am carrying, and I am willing to clean it.”

When you take responsibility for your own healing, you stop waiting for everyone else to change before you can find peace.

That does not make what happened okay.

It means you are no longer letting the past control your body, energy, choices, and relationships.

A Simple Ho’oponopono Practice

Choose one person, memory, situation, or pattern that still carries a charge.

Place one hand on your heart and one hand on your belly.

Take a slow breath in.

Picture the person or situation in front of you.

Notice where the energy sits in your body.

Cut the cord in whatever way feels right to you.

Then repeat:

I’m sorry.

Please forgive me.

Thank you.

I love you.

Breathe into your belly.

Sigh it out.

Repeat the phrases until something softens.

You may feel warmth, tears, heaviness, peace, tingling, a deeper breath, or simply a sense that the charge has shifted.

Let whatever happens be enough.

What is Ho’oponopono Healing Really Giving You?

Ho’oponopono healing gives you a way to make things right inside yourself.

It helps you clear old stories, release trauma, forgive yourself, return energy, call your power back, and stop carrying burdens that were never meant to stay with you forever.

This practice can help with:

• relationship pain
• family wounds
• childhood memories
• abundance blocks
• receiving issues
• guilt and shame
• self-sabotage
• resentment
• body tension
• energetic cords
• forgiveness
• inner child healing
• old versions of yourself
• situations that still replay in your mind

The practice is simple, but the shift can be deep.

Final Thoughts

So, what is Ho’oponopono?

Ho’oponopono is a healing practice of making right, making right.

Making right with me.

Making right with you.

This work does not require the other person to change. It does not force reconciliation, remove boundaries, or excuse harmful behaviour.

Instead, it helps you clear what is still living inside you.

Use Ho’oponopono gently.

Use it honestly.

Bring discernment with you.

Cut the cords.

Release the charge.

Return to soul-level love.

Call your energy back.

Let yourself breathe again.

You deserve freedom, peace and clarity.

And remember, you are not broken.

Everything you need is inside of you.

Listen to the Full Episode

Listen to Episode 87 of Spiritual Awakening with Shaz: Ho’oponopono Healing: How to Make Things Right, Cut Cords and Find Peace.

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FAQ

What is Ho’oponopono?

Ho’oponopono is a Hawaiian healing and reconciliation practice based on making things right, restoring peace, clearing emotional energy, and returning to balance. The modern practice often uses four phrases: I’m sorry, please forgive me, thank you, and I love you.

What does Ho’oponopono mean?

Ho’o means to make. Pono means right. With pono repeated twice, Ho’oponopono can be understood as making right, making right. In this episode, Shaz explains it as making it right with me and making it right with you.

Do I need to say Ho’oponopono to someone in person?

No. Ho’oponopono can be used privately as an energetic, metaphysical, journalling, meditative, or visualisation practice. The other person does not need to be present.

Does Ho’oponopono mean I have to forgive harmful behaviour?

No. Ho’oponopono does not excuse harm, remove accountability, or mean someone gets access to your life again. It helps you clear your side of the emotional and energetic charge while keeping discernment and boundaries.

Can Ho’oponopono help with cord cutting?

Yes. Ho’oponopono can be used with cord cutting by visualising the person or situation, cutting the energetic cord, returning energy, and repeating the four phrases to release the charge and come back to peace.