Lomilomi the loving touch of Hawaiian healing.
Lomilomi is one of the oldest healing arts in the world. It has been practised in the Hawaiian islands for centuries, passed down through family lineages and healers who understood that the body, mind, and spirit are not three separate things but one living whole. To practise lomilomi is to hold that understanding in your hands.
What is lomilomi?
The word lomi means to knead, to rub, to soften and when repeated as lomilomi, it speaks to the depth and continuity of the work. Not a single movement but a sustained one. Not a technique but a way of being in relationship with another person's body.
At its heart, lomilomi is rooted in the Hawaiian principle of aloha love, compassion, and the breath of life. A lomilomi practitioner does not work on you. They work with you. The hands follow what the body is communicating, not what a protocol prescribes.
When tension, stress, or emotional pain is held in the body, it creates patterns in the muscles, in the fascia, in the nervous system, in the way you carry yourself through the world. Lomilomi works to gently dissolve these patterns, not by force, but by bringing sustained, loving attention to places that have been waiting for it.
Like being moved by gentle ocean waves.
A lomilomi session is unlike any other massage you may have experienced.
The practitioner uses long, continuous, flowing strokes often with the forearms as well as the hands that move rhythmically across the whole body. Many people describe the sensation as being moved by gentle ocean waves: the same returning rhythm, the same deep continuity, the same sense of being carried rather than worked upon.
There is no rigid protocol. The practitioner listens to your body and responds intuitively, working with the areas that call for attention. Some moments will feel deeply nurturing and gentle. Others will work more directly into places of held tension. Throughout it all, there is a sense of being held completely cared for, safe, and unhurried.
It is entirely normal during a lomilomi session to experience emotional release: tears, deep sighs, unexpected memories, or a simple feeling of letting go of something you have been carrying without realising it. This is welcomed and honoured as part of the healing process. You do not need to understand it. You do not need to explain it. It is enough to let it move.
Voice & touch, together.
At Anam Aloha, lomilomi carries something additional.
I am a singer, and I have been for most of my life. When I began practising lomilomi, I discovered that the two practices share the same root: both ask the practitioner to listen before acting, to follow rather than impose, to offer presence as the primary medicine.
During some sessions, I sing. Not as performance, not as background music, but as a second form of the same presence my hands are already offering. Sound moves through tissue the same way touch does through resonance, through trust. In the Hawaiian tradition, healers have always known this. In the Irish tradition, we have always known it too.
Lomilomi supports healing on many levels.
Those who receive it regularly often notice changes that extend well beyond the session itself.
Physical release
Relief from muscle tension and chronic pain. Improved circulation and lymphatic flow. Greater ease and range of movement. Deeper, more restorative sleep. A felt sense of physical release that can last for days.
Inner quiet
The release of stored feelings and old patterns held in the tissue. A deep sense of calm and inner quiet. Reduced anxiety and emotional overwhelm. A feeling of lightness of having put something down that you did not realise you were still carrying.
Return to yourself
A restoration of energy flow throughout the body. A renewed sense of vitality and clarity. The feeling, difficult to name precisely, of being more fully yourself.
Lomilomi is for anyone.
You do not need to be familiar with Hawaiian culture or have any previous experience of massage or bodywork. It is particularly well-suited for people who:
- Are experiencing stress, anxiety, or burnout and need deep restoration.
- Carry chronic tension in the body from demanding work or the accumulated weight of life.
- Are moving through a significant transition, a loss, a change, a new beginning and need support and grounding.
- Feel emotionally held or stuck, and are open to a holistic path toward release.
- Have tried other forms of massage and sensed that something was missing that the work stayed at the surface.
Lomilomi meets you where you are. It does not require you to be ready, or open, or certain.
Authentic lomilomi
At Anam Aloha in Zoetermeer, I am committed to practising lomilomi with integrity. I name my teachers. I honour the tradition this work comes from. And I bring to it the full weight of my own history as an Irish singer, as someone who has spent years learning what it means to truly listen to another person.
Sessions are available in English and Dutch. Expats and international residents are warmly welcome.
Experience lomilomi. Tar abhaile.
One person at a time, by appointment only.