There are many schools of thought which serve as theoretical foundations for practitioners of PLT. One which is perhaps less well-known in Western societies is the ancient Polynesian tradition of Huna. The author has found within its principles important guidelines which she has incorporated into her practice.
A paradigm shift is a major change in the way a person or a group views their reality. Once that shift point is established, nothing is the same, and a whole new range of possibilities exist. Many such shifts have occurred; some by the work of a single person, some by an event or an emerging philosophy and others by the arising of the collective unconscious of man. Einstein created such a shift, Freud and Jung another, and the Renaissance was yet a further example. Each of us individually will experience shifts that drastically change the quality as well as the context of our life experiences. Working within and experiencing the possibilities of Huna has been such a shift for me.
Huna is a living philosophy of spiritual growth and development native to the Hawaiian Islands and Polynesia. It has been passed down as an oral tradition over the centuries, its simplicity and power retained with the language, hidden deep under the layers of meanings of the words. Because of this, the philosophy has not been diluted, lost in translation, or made rigid by structure or restrictions. From a western perspective, it is a very non-traditional belief system. While it contains many of our western psycho-analytical constructs, the analytical framework is merely an aspect of the whole. Huna is not a way of analyzing, but a powerful perspective from which to view life. For its user, it is a living, breathing, experiential way of dealing with life. In Huna, we identify and access a source of knowledge and power that is beyond the thinking self, and learn to use it to heal ourselves and others.