Kala came to me during a desert summer while I was still in school.
One of the Hawaiian translations of Kala means to free, release, unburden, and let go.
It spoke directly to what healing means to me—that it all begins and ends with the unburdening.

To me, healing is about releasing control. Letting go of who we think we are so we can remember who we truly are. That’s the path to liberation.

Kala reminds us that health goes far beyond the “perfect” wellness ritual. True healing is a remembering of our wholeness. And in any moment, we can choose to reorient ourselves toward forgiveness, toward letting go. This is the inner work. The polish-the-mirror kind of forgiveness.

Kala stayed with me because it rewrote my understanding of forgiveness.
It’s about Love. And what is Love without forgiveness? Without compassion?

I’ve come to believe that real Love unburdens us.
It untangles the mental and emotional knots.
It sets us free.
And it roots us in a peace that actually lasts.

Kala is my prayer—for you, for me, for all of us—to know and live in our freedom.
And because I’m an acupuncturist, I’ll let the needles do their work.
In my experience, they’re very good at this kind of thing.