Huna Article

Huna International

Troubles with Techniques
by Graeme Kapono Urlich

No single technique works for everyone all of the time for every problem they want to solve.

Sometimes people learn a technique that they get some good results from in an area of life and then expect it to have similarly good results in other areas as well, or to work as well for everyone else as it did for them. Humans have a tendency to keep doing what they know, even when it doesn’t work anymore.

Eventually stress builds up to such a degree that they are forced to change in some way to relieve it. The change is not necessarily a beneficial one and they will keep applying their “magical” technique more and more, with growing frustration that it isn’t working except for a temporary release of tension.

In Huna we learn many, many techniques so that even in times of high stress we have something to do to release some tension. For me this is often “The One Inch Belief” or something else that will bring my attention back into the “here and now” so I can assess the source of the stress and apply a more focussed technique to deal with it.

Dynamind Technique is an incredibly versatile technique for addressing physical symptoms of stress and any underlying emotional sources but it does not work well if attempted in a state of high stress or panic. In helping someone through an anxiety attack I will help them get to a more relaxed state and then use Dynamind Technique or another appropriate technique to address the underlying beliefs.

When someone is working to manifest something they can often get into a stress state because it’s not happening fast enough or they are running into conflicting beliefs about deserving it or fear that they might lose it once they have it so they sabotage the process fearing the pain of loss. They may also fear being rejected out of jealousy because they will be frowned upon by those who don’t have it and thought of as selfish.

With all of these things there may be techniques that work better than others and the ones that work for us may not automatically work as well for others. As a shaman I may ask questions intuitively to test a person’s belief base and select or even create a technique, usually a modified version of something I already know, that will work within ideas they already accept.

Another thing I notice is that people tend to focus on problem solving rather than solution creation. I tend to talk in terms of creating beneficial change rather than fixing something that is wrong. Judging something to be “wrong”, which is a value judgement, tends to create a level of tension that makes changing it more challenging. Some people have even learned the only way to create growth is to wait for or create a crisis but there are techniques we can use to improve what we have now and move in a good direction without having to identify a problem to solve or wait for one to appear.

Few people know how to test the effectiveness of the techniques they use. The purpose of any technique is to encourage a change of behaviour in some beneficial way whether that be to move from a panic state to one that is calmer or to improve health and prosperity or be more effective in an area of life. Various techniques may work better in some areas than others so adaptability is useful.

In my article Reading Signs I talk about how you can learn to read your physical body in a way that gives feedback. The effectiveness of any technique depends on it being able to convince your own subconscious mind, Ku, that the change is beneficial. Significant repetition is usually involved because it has to hold your focus on the goal and the benefits long enough for the underlying patterns to change.

Some people still get frustrated that the techniques aren’t working fast enough, dismissing the real progress they have made, and convince themselves they just don’t work for them even though they have friends who have had great success with them. Others start to get good results but back off because the change brings up fears that need to be resolved and give up. Still more get impatient and hop from one technique to another before they have given them a chance to show beneficial effects.

Something to remember about creating change in your life, changing your diet for example, is that it may temporarily create unpleasant effects for a time before the beneficial effects are seen. Having a massage to release physical tension can release toxins that feel uncomfortable as they clear from your system. Doing some exercise to get fit for the first time in a while is usually quite painful for a few days. Changing your thinking causes physical changes as well.

An analogy that is often used is turning a corner in a car. Momentum wants to keep us moving in the old direction. We can turn the car back to the old direction to relieve the tension or we can complete the turn and head in the new direction to relieve it. This brings up questions about confidence and motivation that are worthwhile examining when making life changes. Turning the car back to the old direction could involve driving over some rough ground to get back onto the road.

There is nothing we do in life that does not involve other people and resources. Even if we sit at home watching TV, someone made the TV and the programs on it. In making life changes it is useful to get some feedback and suggestions from others. Some people always feel alone and without help but we are never really alone, even if the contact is through the TV or books and articles for now. It’s worth persevering. After a while, small beneficial changes begin to add up.

Graeme Kapono Urlich (Sept 2020)

Aloha New Zealand - School of Huna and Hawaiian Shamanism