Lessons of Aloha: A Message From the Founder

“Aloha Spirit” is more than a greeting. It’s a gift and a lifestyle we are so excited to share with you! As the founder of “Aloha Spirit Therapy”, I feel very fortunate to be able to call Hawaii home AND to bring the spirit of Aloha to my therapy practice here in San Diego and all across California. Hawaii is a place unlike any other in the world! Prized for it’s beautiful beaches, amazing hikes, bio diversity, and rich tourist and military culture. The Hawaiian islands taught me lessons I wouldn’t otherwise have learned. The three main lessons I have adapted into my everyday way of life and am most excited to share with you throughout our work together is creating a lifestyle that celebrates : DIVERSITY, AUTHENTICITY, and PLEASURE. The Hawaiian islands is the most remote island chain in the world, which has made it a biological diversity hub. Not only do the islands display diversity through plants and animals that are native or introduced to Hawaii, but also the people and cultures who all live together on relatively small amounts of land in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

I had the opportunity of a lifetime to immerse myself in many different cultures as well as take several Hawaiian History courses, which encouraged me to understand intergenerational trauma, colonization, and my own privilege. Through experience and education, I gained knowledge about the complexity of working toward harmony within a changing eco-system. These lessons have inspired my implementation of increased empathy and compassion for all parts of people in my life and in my work with clients. It completely changed the way I see and interact with the world, and has helped me empathize, conceptualize, and guide clients from various cultural backgrounds.

As a therapist who works with gender and sex issues, one of the most inspiring messages I learned from the Hawaiian people was how they conceptualized trans individuals, or what they call the “Mahu”. Rather than seeing gender as a binary, there was room for even more diversity within the Hawaiian culture and it was conceptualized as a blessing. They were/are the creative teachers of Hawaii, acknowledged for their gifts and beauty, being one with both masculine and feminine energy. This is how I conceptualize all identities: as beautifully diverse and unique individuals with gifts to share. Authenticity is a birthplace for diversity. The reason Hawaii is so beautiful is because there’s SO much diversity. If all the plants, animals and even the people of Hawaii tried to be the same, it would not be as beautiful of a place to live and visit. It takes each of us being authentic to who we are as individuals to create a diversified environment. Our similarities connect us and help us build empathy, while our differences give us opportunities to learn and grow, in effort to cultivate beauty and harmony both within ourselves and our relationships to one another. One of the lessons I needed to learn was to slow down and to add more pleasure into my life! The Aloha State is notoriously known for the “laid back” lifestyle with phrases such as, “I’m not late, I’m on Hawaii Time” or “Hang Loose”. This is a life practice I continue to remind myself to Implement. I was raised to believe my worth was correlated with my productivity, and thus was taught to work hard, and that pleasure in life was something to earn. I was brought up with a mentality that life should be challenging and that value comes from proving you’re working as hard as possible!

Hawaii is a place that has been marketed to be that ultimate vacation or honeymoon getaway. It’s a paradise where you get to move a little slower and connect to yourself and your loved one in an intimate way that you otherwise don’t have the opportunity to do. Instead of living with a vacation mentality, where you only get an opportunity to add pleasure to your life on the weekend or a few weeks a year. Living with “aloha spirit” means adding pleasure to your life throughout each day by shifting the way we think about pleasure. Pleasure is not something we need to earn, but instead a vital part of our everyday balance and self-care practices.

We’re so excited to work with you toward your mental wellness goals! By working with Aloha Spirit Therapy you will feel the warmth and caring we have cultivated throughout the practice. You deserve to be your most authentic version of yourself, and we feel privileged to be on that journey with you.

Aloha,

Rachel Levinson, LMFT
Founder and Clinician
Aloha Spirit Therapy