Hawaiian Stories For Sleep | GSP Ep 58

Welcome to the Grounded Sleep Podcast. Tonight, we’ll explore the energy of Hawaii. Let the soothing stories of the Big Island guide you into a restful slumber, leaving behind the stresses of the day. Aloha and sweet dreams!

Transcript

Aloha,

Good evening,

And welcome back to the Grounded Sleep Podcast.

And in tonight's journey,

We're gonna explore Hawaii.

So you can let yourself fall asleep as I tell you some stories about my time living in Hawaii,

The history of Hawaii,

The volcanoes,

Maybe a few Hawaiian words.

And let's just be in that amazing,

Beautiful energy of Hawaii.

So when you're ready,

You can go ahead and get into bed if you're not already there,

And turn off all the lights and get super comfortable.

And if you're already in Hawaii physically,

Well,

Welcome to you as well.

So I spent about seven years living on the big island of Hawaii.

And it's actually officially called Hawaii,

That island.

And it is the eastern most island.

So there's lava that spews out of the ocean.

And as the tectonic plates move,

The islands slowly are formed.

So there are many islands west of the current Hawaiian islands that are now under the ocean.

And there's an island to the east of the big island that is forming that in some thousands of years will rise above the water and will start to become a physical island.

And so these islands are dying and being born.

They have their own life cycles,

Their own ecosystems,

Their own energy.

The big island,

For example,

Has so many microclimates.

It has most of the microclimates of the planet all on one island.

You can drive through rainforest and desert.

You can go up Mauna Kea and play in the snow at almost 14,

000 feet.

And in two hours or less,

Be laying on Kua Bay with your feet in the sand on the beach at sea level.

It's a pretty special place.

So let's go there together tonight.

Relax your body and slow your breath down and just let go of your day and feel free to fall asleep at any time during my stories.

I will not be offended.

But I will say mahalo for being here.

And mahalo means thank you.

So they believe that Hawaii's been populated for about 1,

500 years.

I'm not sure if that's exactly correct,

But the Polynesians came over,

Very likely following the birds and the stars.

And they went thousands of miles,

An incredible journey over vast oceans without knowing what was in front of them.

To find Hawaii,

It is the most remote set of islands in the world in terms of being at a distance from a continent or other land mass.

And if you haven't been there,

It's pretty spectacular when you fly in.

It's just ocean for hours,

And then this little diamond out of nowhere,

This island just appears.

And the big island in particular is a little intimidating when you land because it's all volcanic on the west side of the island if you fly into Kona.

And on the west side of the island right there,

There's a volcano called Hualalai,

Which hasn't erupted in over a couple of hundred years,

But is overdue.

And that's where all the fancy houses have been built on the ocean.

On lava rock,

Some of it is only a few hundred years old,

And it could come back anytime.

And so when you land on the big island,

You can land in Kona,

Which is the dry side on the west side of the island.

Or you can land on the east side of the island in Hilo,

And that's the wet side.

It's one of the rainiest places in the United States.

And there's less than 200,

000 people,

I believe,

On the entire island.

At least there was when I lived there.

Maybe there's more now.

And it just has this very special energy.

And so the big island has five volcanoes.

And I know this,

Not just from living there,

But because many,

Many years ago,

I was a volcano tour guide on the big island.

And I would take my groups to Kilauea.

What a name,

Which is one of the most active volcanoes in the entire world.

And on most days,

You can go to the crater and see smoke billowing out of it,

Sometimes lava.

And for many years,

The lava was flowing down the east side of the island into the ocean.

There were times you could take a boat and actually get near the lava flowing into the ocean.

I was lucky enough to get to walk within a couple of feet of the lava,

Just stand next to it.

I could feel my eyebrows burning.

And Kilauea is governed by the goddess Pele.

So the Hawaiians have many gods and goddesses.

And Pele is,

I would say,

The most famous of all the deities.

She's the goddess of fire,

Lightning,

Wind,

And volcanoes.

And sometimes she's referred to as Madam Pele or Tutu Pele.

Tutu means grandmother.

So you have Kilauea,

Which is inside of Volcano National Park,

Which is a really cool place to visit.

And then you have Mauna Kea.

So Mauna Kea is almost 14,

000 feet high.

It has over a billion dollars of telescopes on top.

And it's one of the best places in the world to see the stars.

It's also a very sacred place for the Hawaiians.

And recently there's been some fighting and tension around building more telescopes on top of the mountain.

Not really sure where that's at at the moment.

But when you go up there,

It's very easy to get high.

Literally and figuratively,

You start to feel high from the altitude,

From going up so quickly.

And there's just something so magical about being up on that mountain.

I would say that is my favorite place on the Big Island,

Probably because I'm a Star Trek nerd and I love space.

And so Mauna Kea is governed by the goddess Paliahu.

And she's the goddess of snow.

And so Mauna Kea is the highest peak in Hawaii.

And sometimes they consider Paliahu Pele's rival or let's say opposite element.

So she's cold and Pele's hot.

And across from Mauna Kea,

We have another mountain,

Another volcano that actually started recently,

I believe erupting a bit,

Which is Mauna Loa,

Which is the biggest volcano in terms of land mass in the world.

There's many thousands of feet down below the ground.

And it's not as high as Mauna Kea,

It's just a little shorter,

But in sheer mass,

It's bigger.

And if Mauna Loa erupts in a big way,

It could destroy a substantial part of the island or cover it with lava.

And so you've got Kilauea,

Mauna Kea,

Mauna Loa,

Hualalai,

Which is the one on the West Coast where if you land in Kona,

And then the oldest of the five,

Kohala,

Which is an extinct volcano,

Hasn't erupted in over a hundred thousand years.

That's on the North part of the island,

Which is very lush.

And on the North part of the island,

There's a beautiful spot called Waipio Valley,

Just incredible forest and beach.

And then there are other valleys that you can hike into,

Which I've done.

Some of them take days to get to.

And there's another valley called Pololu Valley,

Which is absolutely stunning.

There are so many beautiful spots in Hawaii.

It's really special.

There aren't that many beaches on the big island.

If you go to the oldest or one of the oldest islands,

Kauai,

There is a little island West of Kauai,

But I believe Kauai may be the oldest.

Anyway,

It's been a long time.

Kauai is surrounded all by beach because it's old.

But if you come to the big island,

It's still forming.

So there's some beach and there's a lot of rock.

And there's something about that combination that just makes it really cool.

I wouldn't say it's the softest and most gentle island.

For example,

When you go to Maui,

In my experience,

You feel more of a softness.

But I would say the big island has a real deep spiritual energy,

A lot of adventure,

Really deep Hawaiian cultural roots.

It's quite a special,

Special place.

So let's be in the energy of Hawaii as we fall asleep tonight.

I remember when I was maybe eight or nine years old,

I wrote a story in school where I had a magic carpet.

I'm not embarrassed telling this story at all.

And I took my mom around the World Trade Center.

It was still standing at that time.

And flew her to Hawaii.

My grandfather saved this story.

He still physically has the paper.

And I took her to Hawaii because in my childhood,

In my mind,

Hawaii was the most beautiful place that existed.

And to this day,

It's always ranked as the best,

Most desired place to be visited.

And so I had that in my mind and I was living in India.

Very short version of this story is some healer woman,

Friend of a friend,

Gave me a energy healing reading thing.

I won't go into that woo-woo stuff tonight,

But it was really profound.

And that led me on a journey to Hawaii where she had studied.

I had nowhere to live.

And when I got there,

I think I was 24,

I hitchhiked out of the airport.

Hawaiian guy picked me up and dropped me off at a hostel and I made my way.

And the island kind of took me in.

I lived on a farm and worked on the land.

Not very well,

Not great with my hands in that way,

But I had fun.

I spent seven years there at a school for mysticism,

Energy work,

And meditation.

And so while I was doing that work,

I had jobs.

I was a kayak tour guide,

Worked in the surf shop,

And I became a guide at the volcano and around the island.

And I eventually became a local expert for Expedia.

So I got to do all the dolphin swims and ziplines and swimming with manta rays and whales,

Boats that went near the whales and so much cool stuff.

Up Mauna Kea to see the stars,

Helicopter rides over the lava.

It was unbelievable.

They actually paid me to do that.

And they allowed me to bring friends every time.

It was surreal.

And so I have been around the big island of Hawaii more than most people.

I would guide tour after tour around the entire island.

And I really got to know it.

Not every inch of the island,

But a fair amount.

And in my memory,

It would take five,

Six hours to drive around the entire island.

And there's a road that also grows across the middle.

And I just had this special connection with that island and the people of that island.

So if you're still with me,

Hi.

If you're drifting off into sleep,

Let the night take you and sprinkle some magic into your sleep.

This might be a good moment to learn a few Hawaiian words.

We all know the word aloha,

Which means hello.

It could also mean goodbye and even love.

We have mahalo,

That's thank you.

Ohana,

Which means family.

Ono,

O-N-O,

Which means really delicious or tasty.

And then there's a word kapu,

Which means taboo or forbidden.

And we have the word aina,

Which means land.

And in Hawaii,

They have deep,

Deep respect for the land and the gods and goddesses that govern the land.

And then we have mauka and makai.

So mauka is,

These are directions towards the mountain,

And makai,

Towards the sea.

Someone might say,

Live up,

Mauka,

Up the mountain.

And Hawaiian is a beautiful language.

I'll stop there.

When you see the dolphins,

For example,

The whales,

The manta rays,

The incredible wildlife that's there,

There's something so special about it.

I've lived in a lot of places,

But Hawaii is the only place I've lived where I could really feel how alive the place was,

The island.

You could just feel the energy of its awareness.

It's hard to describe,

But that's how I felt when I was there.

And of course,

The weather,

An incredible place for just laying on the beach and relaxing,

Having a coconut.

On most days,

It's 80,

85 degrees all year round.

And I lived in places along the West Coast,

Kona,

Keaho,

Captain Cook,

Kealakekua.

And there's one really special place where they say Captain Cook,

Who circumnavigated the planet twice,

Where he landed in Hawaii,

And actually where he ended up dying.

And that's Kealakekua Bay.

And so for a time,

I was a tour guide,

Taking people on kayaks,

Even though I had no idea what I was doing,

To the monument where there's incredible reef to snorkel at.

And I would share the stories of Captain Cook coming and the reason that he died.

He didn't know how to swim,

And they got in a fight with the Hawaiians.

The Hawaiians originally thought he was a god when he pulled up.

And then his ship was damaged in a storm and he came back and they were like,

Hey,

This isn't the season for you.

Maybe you're not this god.

And came back during a festival of war and that wasn't the best idea.

And so he died there and there's a monument.

It's interesting because it's a huge cliff face with these caves where the Hawaiians would bury bones of their kings,

Of their ali'i,

So no one could get to them.

And then you have this monument and you have this reef,

Just beautiful hiking and a very calm bay where the spinner dolphins come in all the time.

And I lived on the water in this bay for a while.

I would just walk out and just swim with the dolphins on any given day.

Could be 50,

100,

200,

And they would jump out of the water and just spin.

And they were so loving and playful.

It was magical to experience.

And then when whale season would come,

December through March,

Beautiful humpback whales would come down from Alaska.

And I would say two out of the top three of my life experiences with nature have been seeing lava and being with whales.

When they breach and come out of the water,

If you've never experienced it,

To me,

It felt like what it must feel like if we ever get to be in Jurassic Park to see a dinosaur,

Just this incredible size creature.

It's like time stops when you're near them.

And there's just a majesty to their energy.

And so Hawaii is filled with this energy of the dolphins and the whales,

With these beautiful beaches,

Volcanoes,

Rainforests,

And deserts.

Telescopes to see the furthest galaxies and life literally being born from the ocean,

Turning into an island that's growing.

So we have some of the newest land on earth being born.

And then you drive up to the top of the mountain and see into the farthest reaches of space.

All on one island,

All in one place.

There's yoga retreat centers,

Of course,

Some great restaurants,

Although not too many.

And so many secluded spots along the water.

You can find an isolated place and just be and meditate.

And what I learned living there was how to share.

The Hawaiian people know how to share.

They take care of each other and they understand family.

And if a friend calls you in the middle of the day and says,

Hey,

My car broke down.

Hey,

Brother,

My car broke down.

Can you come help me out?

You always go,

You go help.

Everyone looks out for each other.

That was my experience anyway.

And I really loved that deep heart connection that the people had.

So of course the people who've been there maybe for a few thousand years,

They have a special energy as well.

That's not to say they don't have their problems.

Of course they do.

But there's a lineage of energy that they have carried over time.

Let that energy of Hawaii just fill you up and send you off deep into sleep with magic.

As I was mentioning,

I lived near that Captain Cook Monument in Kealakekoa Bay.

And sometimes I would ride my bike almost through a lava field.

It's a road through lava down to another bay,

Which if I can still pronounce it,

Pua Onua o Honaunau or Honaunau Bay.

I might've said that wrong.

It's been a long time.

And there was some epic snorkeling there.

And the dolphins would also visit.

And then further south,

There was a black sand beach full of turtles.

And then you go all the way to South Point,

The southernmost tip of the United States.

You can find people jumping off the edge,

Pretty long drop into the ocean with a little ladder to get back up.

And right near there,

If you've got four-wheel drive or you can hike it out,

Go out to a green sand beach,

Which is just epic.

And you come up the east side of the island.

And on the east side of the island,

You have Puna and Pahoa.

There's an area where if the lava's flowing,

It's going into the ocean.

And there's just beautiful,

Beautiful jungle.

And in that area,

Just before you get to Pahoa,

There's Volcanoes National Park.

You can actually stay in a hotel overlooking the crater of Kilauea.

And you've got Hilo,

The city on the eastern side of the island,

One of the rainiest places in the United States.

And then as you travel up the northeast part of the island,

You go through Onoka'a.

You can stop in Waipio Valley.

If you've got time,

You can hike to Waimanu Valley if you've got a few days.

And you could drive through Waimea into Kohala up to the very north tip of the big island.

And then you could drive down the west side of the island through Waikoloa,

Where a lot of the fancy resorts and hotels happen to be,

Golf courses,

And then back down into Kona.

And it's a beautiful,

Beautiful journey around the island.

And so I just wanted to share some of my experience there,

What I know of the island.

And yes,

I spent most of my seven years there studying meditation,

Intuitive development,

Healing.

And to pay for that journey,

I took people around the island and showed it to them.

And I was so blessed,

So,

So blessed to get to do that.

And I'm honored to get to show you around a bit tonight.

So mahalo for being with me,

For being on this journey with me.

Let yourself fall asleep and let go of the day.

As you fall asleep tonight,

Maybe some of the Akua,

The gods,

Goddesses will guide you in sleep.

Maybe Pele or Paliahu will come say hello.

Thank you so much for being with me tonight.

Mahalo,

And have a beautiful deep sleep.

Reviews

Beautiful. Made me commit to booking a trip. Thankyou

A lovely depiction of your life in Hawaii, and reverence to it. This is very timely in a pivot point of life for me.

It was not what I anticipated, but I enjoyed it very much. Thank you.

Soothing voice and I learned about Hawaíi. Thank you!

I I was stationed at Pearl Harbor when I was in the Navy. 4 years in Hawaii.

Love the story telling done.
What an incredible life.

Such a soothing voice and the story was interesting but it too stimulating. Perfect

That was very good… I rapidly headed off to the land of nod and was at a retreat where David kindly took me under his wing. I needed that. Enlightening. Despite the slight risk elements that occurred. Thank you. 🙏🏼❤️

Excellent. I love this storyman’s easy abs comforting way!

Brought back my memories of visiting friends in Kauai and The Big Island. It brought me back to happier times. Thank you.

Love David’s humor and voice. Nice way to calm the mind and fall asleep.

That was brilliant, thank you so much! Hawaii is my favourite place on the planet, I have visited various islands within 2 trips and feel like I belong there. This was a beautiful visit and also has encouraged me to go back to the Big Island again and explore further….ahhhhh how did you ever leave?? Mahalo 🤙🏼✨🌊🌺☀️🏔️🫶🏼♥️🏖️

Really enjoyed this one. Didn’t fall asleep. That’s okay 🆗

I live on Oahu however the Big Island holds my heart. So alive and magnificent. Thank you for sharing your story.

I too love Hawai’i. The Big Island being also my favorite. Mahalo for the trip down memory lane. Stranded in a snowstorm at the observatory; swimming with the spinners at Manini Beach, standing with melting shoes at the edge of the lava flow, black sand beaches near Pahoa, warm ponds and lava tubes. It’s the best - Truly paradise. I didn’t fall asleep but oh did I dream.

Hello. Thank you so much for giving a mini tour of the big island. It was absolutely beautiful and full of energy. Thank you again. 🙏🕉

Thank you 🙏

this was just wonderful - peaceful, relaxing, and full of respect for such a beautiful place.

Aaaaahhh!!

Wonderful so humbling so appreciated your marvelous journey thoroughly enjoyed it thank you Namaste 🙏🏻