Huna World Convention draws kindred spirits to Cape

~ Eighty people have registered for the event that starts today.

When you meet someone who practices huna, Greg Boyd said, you'll notice something different about them.

"Their lives work," Boyd said. "You'll feel it when you walk into the room. I don't know what it's about, but I've been exploring it for years."

Huna is the name that spiritualist Max Freedom Long gave his version of Hawaiian spiritualism, which he claimed to have learned from Hawaiian friends while working as a teacher in Hawaii.

Boyd has been a huna practitioner for some time and he hopes others will learn more about it -- and themselves -- at the 2006 Huna World Convention, which begins today in Cape Girardeau.

"We want to get people together to study and learn," said Boyd, the master of ceremonies for the five-day event. "It's kind of an eclectic group."

The theme for huna, which helps focus and direct healing energies, is "ho'oponopono," which basically means to make things right, Boyd said. Registration begins today at 1 p.m. at the Masonic Temple at 2307 Broadway.

Speakers include a huna author from California, a Buddhist monk and a huna scholar from Switzerland. Eighty people have registered for the event so far, he said. Topics range from uplifting the spirit, meditation, healing with Oriental medicine and huna rituals.

Jennifer Martin will be traveling from California. Author of "Huna Warrior," Martin will be talking about a person's three selves and how those selves can't communicate correctly unless the inner self is healthy.

"It's about getting to your God source," Boyd said. "You get a feeling for it."

The Venerable Bhante Vimalaramsi, a Buddhist monk, will speak Thursday about meditation. Henry Krotoschin, a Biblical scholar from Switzerland, is head of the European Huna Organization and will speak Friday.

Crystal Jones, a yoga instructor at Yoga East in Cape Girardeau, doesn't know much about huna, but she knows she wanted to see if Vimalaramsi would speak to her yoga class. She met him once before.

So she contacted him.

"He's just a really wise person to listen to," she said. "So I wanted to take advantage of him being in Cape Girardeau."

smoyers@semissourian.com

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