Kūkulu Kumuhana Contemplative Sessions

Welcome to the informational page for the Kūkulu Kumuhana Contemplative Sessions!

You have been invited to attend six 45-minute wellbeing sessions on Zoom. Your respective organization will share a flyer and Zoom link via email.

The sessions are based on Kūkulu Kumuhana, a Native Hawaiian framework for wellbeing. The framework has 6 dimensions, and 4 levels - each session we will review the framework and how it relates to your work and life.

You can expect gentle movement (similar to yoga asana), breathing exercises, and meditation. These experiential techniques will help us to embody the dimensions of Kūkulu Kumuhana. They are also designed to support your physical and emotional wellbeing in the good work you do for our community.

These sessions are offered by the Pilina Center for Wellbeing as part of a pilot project in collaboration with the Kūkulu Kumuhana Working Group (Liliʻuokalani Trust, Kamehameha Schools, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the Consuelo Foundation, Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment Hawaiʻi, the Department of Native Hawaiian Health-John A. Burns School of Medicine, and the Kualoa-Heʻeia Ecumenical Youth (KEY) Project).

Participating Organizations

  • Hawai‘i State Coalition Against Domestic Violence: Catholic Charities Hawaiʻi, Child & Family Service, Children’s Law Project of Hawaiʻi, Domestic Violence Action Center, Family Promise of Hawaiʻi, Hawaiʻi Health & Harm Reduction Center, Hawaiʻi Rise Foundation, Island of Hawaiʻi YMCA Family Visitation Center, Legal Aid Society of Hawaiʻi, Lо̄kahi Treatment Centers, Neighborhood Place of Kona, Parents and Children Together, PAU Violence, Salvation Army of Hawaiʻi Family Treatment Services, Victim/Witness Kо̄kua Services, Women Helping Women, Women in Need, YWCA Kauaʻi

  • ‘Ewalu Industries with host partners, County of Hawai'i Planning/Research & Development and The Kohala Center

  • Reimagining Public Safety Coalition: Representatives from the ACLU Policy Team, Hawai'i Health & Harm Reduction Center, Ceeds of Peace, Faith Action Hawaii, Parents And Children Together (PACT), 'Ekolu Mea Nui, Chinn Strategies

  • UH Mānoa/UH Mānoa Aloha 'Āina Fridays Series hosted by the Native Hawaiian Place of Learning Advancement Office. Sign up at tinyurl.com/AlohaAinaFridays

Your KKCP Facilitator

Welina mai! I’m Jo and I can’t wait to meet you for our KKCP sessions. If you’ve never done contemplative practices before, don’t worry, the exercises are simple, trauma-informed, and we go at the group’s pace.

I’ve been leading sessions like these for 15 years all around the world, so it’s very special to be able to bring these sessions to community leaders and providers like yourselves in my homelands.

Mahalo piha for being open to participating and for providing your important thoughts on the pilot program afterward. If you want to read more about me, please see my bio below.

See you soon!

Founder and Director, Pilina Center for Wellbeing

Jo 'Okika Shigeko Qina'au, MA, EYT-750

Jo was born and raised in ‘Ewa Beach and Honolulu on O‘ahu, with ancestral roots on the Big Island, in Japan, Ainu land, Portugal, and Ireland. Jo is an educator, researcher, consultant, writer, and advocate. Currently wrapping up a PhD in clinical psychology, they are specializing in issues related to wellbeing (theories and measures, decolonial approaches, integrative medicine, contemplative science, mind-body connection), stress and trauma (historical, interpersonal, transdiagnostic), and DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging).

They have been developing culturally conscious trauma-informed wellbeing programming and contemplative practices (mindfulness, Yoga, breathwork, meditation, lovingkindess and compassion) for 15 years, primarily to members of underserved communities, including young female victims of abuse in halfway homes, government subsidized housing, women at a Native American reservation, a low-income neighborhood preschool in Dublin, schools in India and Thailand, and community centers and studios in California, Thailand, the UAE, Hawai'i, and New York. As an adjunct professor, Jo instructs semester-long undergraduate classes - Psychology of Emotions, Health Psychology, and The Psychology of Wellbeing at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.

Prior to consulting, Jo was co-owner of a collective health equity community center in New York and founder of Project Surya, an award-winning service organization which brought free Yoga and wellbeing programming to communities internationally. For these efforts she has received awards from the Yoga Service Council and Yoga Journal.

Jo has provided services for organizations in health (Tripler Army Medical Center, VA Pacific Islands Healthcare), education, wellness (Sensei, Anjali Yoga, Project Koa Yoga), as well as state agencies, entertainment companies (Warp Records, Rough Trade Records, United International Pictures, Sony), and political and social justice organizations (Lead for America, Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest). As an education consultant, she had the honor of co-leading and contributing to projects focused on Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) thriving with OHA, NHEC, OHE, and other Kanaka-serving institutions.

They hold a BA from Tufts University, an MA in clinical psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University, and is currently a PhD student in clinical psychology at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Jo also has certifications in The Science of Happiness, Traumatic Stress Studies, Psychological First Aid, Resilience in the Classroom, Yoga (Experienced Yoga Teacher; EYT-750), Tibetan Buddhist Meditation and the Modern World, Contemplative Psychotherapy (Compassion), and Integrative Health and Medicine (ongoing).

Jo is published in the edited books:

·       Beyond White Mindfulness: Critical Perspectives on Racism, Well-being, and Liberation

·       Cognitive and Behavioral Interventions with Ethnoracial Groups: Clinical Strategies and Techniques (forthcoming)

·       The Oxford Handbook of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

·       Prejudice, Stigma, Privilege, and Oppression: A Behavioral Health Handbook

·       Cultural Factors in Behavioral Health: A Guide for the Helping Professional

 …and in the peer-reviewed journals: Mindfulness; the European Journal of Trauma & Dissociation; and the Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science.

Jo goes by the pronouns she or they.

(Please note, Jo is not a licensed therapist.)