Ho’oponopono Prayer for Forgiveness, Healing and Making Things Right

There are four forces at work in this prayer: repentance, forgiveness, gratitude, and love. These are reflected in the four phrases that make up the prayer.Show more

The phrases, which you can repeat in any order, silently to yourself or out loud, are:

I am sorry.
(Please) Forgive me.
Thank you.
I love you.

The Ho’oponopono prayer could be exactly what you're looking for in your relationships -- with others, with the earth, with yourself.

What Is Ho’oponopono?

Ho’oponopono is an ancient Hawaiian practice for forgiveness and reconciliation. It’s more than the prayer alone; it's a process of making things right in your relationships -- with others, ancestors, deities, the earth, yourself.

The family ritual focuses on working through problems together, openly expressing feelings, and releasing each other. It’s the act and intention of holding a space for reflection, repentance, forgiveness, and gratitude.

Special words are exchanged, emotions are revealed, and forgiveness flows both ways. A ceremonial feast might follow, symbolizing the release.

The philosophy behind this practice is that we’re each responsible for what shows up in our reality. We own our feelings and our experiences. So even if someone else has wronged us, we're the ones saying "I am sorry. Forgive me..."

The foundation of this practice is unity: an unbreakable bond connects you to everyone else, even though we seem so separate.

When errors are corrected externally, errors are corrected internally. When you “cleanse” your consciousness, you contribute to the cleansing of the “collective consciousness.” When you forgive others, you, too, are forgiven because...

As within, so without.

Loving each other and loving yourself is kind of the same thing.

When you focus on healing the past, you help heal your life right here, right now. When you right any wrongs in your thinking, you adjust and amend problems in the physical realm.

As above, so below.

The practice of Ho’oponopono helps you understand and heal the experiences in your life that you’ve “attracted” or participated in, or have been affected by.

“In common with other shamanic traditions, the Hawaiian tradition teaches that all life is connected. Ho’oponopono is, therefore, not only a way of healing ourselves, but others and our world as well.” – Timothy Freke, Shamanic Wisdomkeepers

While the Ho’oponopono Prayer is by no means a complete training in the Hawaiian practice, it can be profoundly healing for all you’ve gone through and are still trying to move through.

I recommend it!

It’s helped me identify underlying currents of resentment and self-loathing in my life (from childhood, school, and surrounding my brother’s suicide) so I can “give them up.” So I can be free, and move forward.

You're allowed to move forward. Small rituals like this one can help.