Written by Dr. Serge Kahili King, an ex-marine who was taught the Huna ways of theory and metaphysics at 14, this book has changed me forever. Not because of the amazing way that Dr. King presents teachings that would otherwise sound farcical, but because of what happened when I got to the end.

He opens with a little history about what Huna is and how different forms of it can be seen in almost every major religion and explains the theory a bit. Dr. King writes that, “the most fundamental idea in Huna philosophy is that we each create our own personal experience of reality, by our beliefs, interpretations, actions and reactions, thoughts and feelings,” that, “we are creators, and cocreators with the Universe itself,” and that, “in Huna, God and the Universe are one and the same.” He then states that the main principles (while they are taught in various different ways by various different teachers) are:

The world is what you think it is There are no limits Energy flows where attention goes Now is the moment of power To love is to be happy with All power comes from within Effectiveness is the measure of truth

Heavy shit, right? I hope you’re still with me because it gets heavier.

In the next chapter he presents the Huna idea that all human beings have three selves: a subconscious self, a conscious self, and a superconscious self. I’m going to focus on the subconscious mostly in this post, but here is a quick definition of each term:

The Subconscious: a self that can set up or establish things (like habits), that can change into something else or move from one state of experience into another, that likes to feel in control of situations, that may act spontaneously without regard for others, that can have positive or negative complexes, and that seeks peace, freedom, and relaxation. In Huna, the proper term would be ku or unihipili, with the root containing meanings such as acting as a servant, acting secretly or in a hidden way, and of becoming very attached to people, places and certain ways of doing things.

a self that can set up or establish things (like habits), that can change into something else or move from one state of experience into another, that likes to feel in control of situations, that may act spontaneously without regard for others, that can have positive or negative complexes, and that seeks peace, freedom, and relaxation. In Huna, the proper term would be ku or unihipili, with the root containing meanings such as acting as a servant, acting secretly or in a hidden way, and of becoming very attached to people, places and certain ways of doing things. The Conscious: the Hawaiian word for the conscious self is lono which contains meanings of awareness, communication, thought, desire and achievement; it is the idea of giving life and spirit, or direction and purpose. One of the most important functions of the conscious mind is that of giving direction to the subconscious. If no direction is forthcoming the subconscious will act out of habit or according to someone else’s direction. The conscious mind was intended to be the master, but seldom is and an important part of the Huna practice is to regain this natural order.

the Hawaiian word for the conscious self is lono which contains meanings of awareness, communication, thought, desire and achievement; it is the idea of giving life and spirit, or direction and purpose. One of the most important functions of the conscious mind is that of giving direction to the subconscious. If no direction is forthcoming the subconscious will act out of habit or according to someone else’s direction. The conscious mind was intended to be the master, but seldom is and an important part of the Huna practice is to regain this natural order. The Superconscious: aumakua is the word for the superconscious, or High Self, and carries with it meanings of “parental spirit” and “guardian.” It can also be called the “Source Self” since it is the source of individual life, purpose and expression. In that sense it is the God Within, and the Kahunas treat it as an inner being rather than as a spirit that lives in the sky someplace. For the individual it gives guidance, information, and inspiration, but does not give orders. It is sad to see someone waiting for his Higher Self to tell him what to do, because it just won’t happen. Once the person decides for himself what to do, however, the superconscious makes available an abundance of ideas, knowledge, and energy to carry it out.

The natural reaction of most readers would be to call bullshit at this point, and King spends a significant amount of time addressing this — as well as the commonalities between modern psychology and Huna. Especially when it comes to the subconscious, the ideas King presents aren’t that hard to grasp; western psychology embraced the relationship between the self and the subconscious long ago, so these lessons are easily digestible.

The rest of the book cracks open each of our three different selves and how you can get in touch with and direct energy to them. It’s a fascinating book, and I highly recommend you pick up a copy.

At the end of the book Dr. Kahili includes an entire chapter on different meditation techniques that allow you to interact with your subconscious and superconscious self. The exercise that completely transformed the way I think about my self — conscious or otherwise — and psychology is what he calls “The Garden Meditation.”

You bring yourself into a state of relaxation using white light and present centered awareness meditation techniques, and imagine a garden. This can be a representation of your present state of mind or your subconscious. You can then navigate through your garden, and do just about anything.

One of the ways in which you might use your garden is for resolution, Dr. Kahili explains, that, “everything in your life is reflected in your garden, if you have a problem of some kind in your outer life — physical, mental, social, vocational, spiritual, or whatever — go to your garden and ask to see this problem as it is represented there.”

And so, after I centered my awareness using a body scan meditation as well as a white light meditation, I entered my garden.

Enter my crazy individual experience.

Immediately upon passing through the entrance, all sunlight disappeared, and a long line of dead, potted trees off to my left looked as if they were physically shaking from their bottoms; dirt flew everywhere and it seemed as if the roots were trying to escape.

Everywhere I looked all I saw was dead plants and remnants of something that once might have been alive.

At this point I — my conscious self — was terrified. I began to feel myself slipping away, but I pushed through, and walked up to one of the rumbling trees. I placed my hand on the dirt gently as if to console a frightened animal.

The rumbling stopped.

There was a hose laying next to the pot of the tree, which I grabbed and placed into the pot as it started spewing out water as if it had been waiting to do so forever.

A sense of relaxation came over me and then (as Dr. Kahili suggested might happen) two beings appeared. A small dwarf-like man, dressed in typical garden gnome garb walked forward, grabbed my hand, looked up and smiled. Maybe he said something, I don’t know but he communicated through his smile that everything was going to be ok.

Standing in the midst of my daydream on crack, I watched as my gnome-like-garden-aid began to water the rest of trees, which had scaled back to about 10 or so from a line of what seemed infinite.

Then the mood shifted, and it was clear that my energy and attention were being directed towards the larger, more human-like being. My conscious self — maintaining the centered awareness by breathing in… 2… 3… 4… out… 2… 3… 4… — was undoubtedly becoming more relaxed as I was letting go and allowing my mind to take the lead.

He was tall, and his facial features were what any representation of Socrates or God might be, balding at the top, with the remaining hair on the outskirts of his head flowing, falling out onto the beard on his face.

There was one problem, though: his image was only half-formed, with the other half, pixelated, flickering on and off like a glitchy hologram.

Following Dr. King’s instruction to speak to the guide and ask for assistance, I spoke.

“My garden is dead — why is my garden dead? Why can’t I see a complete image of you?” I asked.

He smiled and responded, “This is the first time you have visited me or your garden, you haven’t kept it up.”

A response.

The excitement hit me like a bolt of energy; was I in fact speaking to my subconscious self? I was so excited that I blurted out the question I had locked up in my brain.

“What do I need to do in order to be healthy, happy, and successful?”

He shook his head.

“Do what you’re doing now and take care of the roots first; everything will follow from there.”

While he flickered in and out of his pixelated form, he pointed at the line of trees. My garden-aid, now joined by three others, was tending to the row of trees which finally sat calm and motionless.

I stood there stunned; I couldn’t believe this was real.

I was making this up, there was no way I had reached my subconscious just by reading this book and trying the first exercise that seemed interesting.

It was as if he sensed the doubt that the guide brought my attention back to him.

The sun came back out, and birds started to chirp

He was smiling, he very calmly said to me “you’re going to be okay Michael, you deserve love, just let go and trust yourself.”

Then, as if the weight of the universe couldn’t weigh on me any more heavily, the bell on my Calm meditation app rang, I opened my eyes and gasped for breath; it was as if I had lived 5 years within that twenty minute session.