Ku Project with Daniel Aipa

“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.”

― Joseph Campbell

Joseph Campbell coined the term, “Follow your bliss.”

So what is bliss? Why is it so important to find your bliss?

The simple connection for finding bliss is to find true happiness. You get a deep satisfaction of knowing you found meaning and value in life. When you find your bliss, you get to live a strong and Ku life. You become that symbol of strength and your mana becomes contagious. You make strength contagious.

Now, Why is it so important to find your bliss? Because bliss is the pathway to happiness.

You bliss gives you a sense of purpose, belonging, and self-awareness. But just knowing your bliss isn’t enough.

For me, some of the activities that bring me bliss are training my body, writing, and being creative through design. You know you are in your bliss when time seems to not exist because you are so immersed an this activity that brings you bliss. But you have to take action.

First how do you find your bliss? Some people know right away, some of us have to spend time searching within ourselves.

It could be a dream that we had since childhood, a burning desire or calling. It’s something that may scare you, in my past interview with Ku Athlete, Kamaehu Naipo he said, “If you are looking at something that scares you, but you know it’ll be good for you – jump right in.”

That’s why it’s important to build a ku body because it gives us courage to follow our bliss. You need courage, because there is danger in knowing your bliss, and of knowing what truly makes you happy. But the real danger is not following your bliss.

Mark Twain said, “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear.”

Finding your bliss is a journey and building a Ku body helps you along the way. It’s the journey, not the destination

What can help you find your bliss is to find your sacred place or what Hawaiians call - our wahi pana.

Joseph Campbell calls this the need for a “bliss station” - we see it as a need to create or reconnect with our wahi pana.

Campbell said, “[Sacred space] is an absolute necessity for anybody today. You must have a room, or a certain hour or so a day, where you don’t know what was in the newspapers that morning, you don’t know who your friends are, you don’t know what you owe anybody, you don’t know what anybody owes to you. This is a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be. This is the place of creative incubation. At first you may find that nothing happens there. But if you have a sacred place and use it, something eventually will happen.”

Remember its about the journey. Its about building a ku body to live a ku life, but you can’t sit there thinking about things. you have to take action.

As James Allen wrote, “Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound.”

If you are not happy with where you are today, then it is your kuleana to take action to find you bliss and be courageous enough to go for it.

Mahalo for listening in to Single Tasking on this Aloha Friday, where we focus on one thing and one thing only to end the week strong and kick the weekend off stronger.

I would love to hear what you thought about this episode and if it empowered to take a stand, to be ku and follow your bliss. You can reach out to me on twitter @thekuproject.

And if you enjoyed this episode and you believe it brought strength to you, then please share this with your friends and ohana and help make strength contagious.

Until next time, that’s pau ka papa, aloha, and a hui hou. Keep it Ku and make strength contagious.

In this episode I sit down with Kamaehu Naipo who is a project engineer, lua, the Ancient Hawaiian Martial Arts, practitioner, musician, and athlete of The Kū Project. If you’ve been following The Ku Project on social media, particularly Instagram, you may have seen some images and videos of Kama tossing weight around, he’s a pretty big braddah.

Kama said, "If you are looking at something that scares you, but you know it'll be good for you - jump right in.”

And that seemed to be the underlying theme in our conversation. Kama talks about the importance of strengthening yourself first with the aim of helping your family and community and how he overcome his own inferiority complex of being Native Hawaiian and a big guy.

We dive into his experience of joining Pa Kui a Holo and how it changed his approach to life, along with his experience of learning how to make pa’i’ai out of kalo. The biggest take away from our conversation is that Kama understands the meaning of becoming that symbol of strength and that it’s a conintuous effort and process in doing so.

I hope you guys enjoy this interview with Kamaehu Naipo and what it means to be Ku.

For this Single Tasking Friday, Aipa shares thoughts how finding ways to strengthen your character by creating an environment that allows you to succeed. He shares the teachings of great coaches and thinkers like Vince Lombard, John Wooden, and Buckminster Fuller.

He shares how the environment you surround yourself in is a direct correlation to how you live your life. If you aren't happy with where you are in your life and expect more, you must change your circumstances and strengthen your character.

James Allen said, "Circumstances do not make the man, they reveal him."

“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.” - Sean Fitzpatrick, Former All Blacks Captain

I stood on an open grassy field in nuuanu valley along with other students during a course in lua, The ancient Hawaiian martial art. No one was there except for our olohe and a few members of the group.

We were learning a haʻa where we transformed ourselves and took on the characteristics of Kamapuaʻa, the boar demigod. Over and over, we practiced, pounding our chests, hitting are arms, stomping the ground. Over and over, but still our olohe and the rest of senior members were not satisfied.

As we stood in the middle of that field dripping in sweat and feeling the lingering sting on our bodies, one of the leaders walked up to us and told, “Look forward, what do you see?”

I looked forward and saw the same group of guys who were telling me that what we were doing wasn’t good enough and I was beginning to get frustrated.

The leader continued, “In front of you are your ancestors who have led you to be here today. The ones who have paved the way for you to be the man you are today. And it is your kuleana to uphold their name and our culture.”

He mentioned that we were not looking for their approval, but instead we were looking for the approval of our ancestors.

We were showing them who we are and wanted to make them feel proud for what they did for us and the legacy they left behind.

I began to think of all the people who have passed onto the other side that had made an impact on me and I felt my heart start to race.

Then another leader came out, “Not only are they in front of you, but they are behind you. They are even right next to you. So when you perform this ha’a, they are right there with you.”

Finally, the olohe called out, “Do it again.”

One of the senior members commanded, “E tu!” and we did the ha’a telling our ancestors who were there that we will not let them down.

Philosopher, Albert Schweitzer said, “Example is not the main thing in influencing others, it’s is the only thing.”

In the 1940s and 50s, polio reached epidemic proportions and became a haunting worry for every parent. It paralyzed over 500,000 people around the world every year. People reacted saw it as a plague.

Then on April 12, 1955, Jonas salk announced the Salk Vaccine which combatted polio and was considered a miracle. He became one of the most celebrated man in America and refused to patent his new vaccine. Instead, he donated it to the human race instead and used his fame as a platform to argue that it was time for the human race needed to change, and it was “our responsibility to find solutions to the key issues facing the human race”.

In his book, Survival of the Wisest, he wrote, “What is my job on the planet? What is it that needs doing, that I know something about, that probably won’t happen unless I take responsibility for it?’

The way we live our life has a direct impact on the lives of others, especially our loved ones and our community.

It starts with character and the commitment to our life’s purpose.

Muhammad Ali said, “Service to others, is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.”

Sometimes you may be unsure of your purpose or what to do with your time in this world. This doesn’t mean you have to go out and change the world. No. Although it possible.

But in order to become a good ancestor, you must strengthen yourself by building a strong body and a sound mind. Your actions today will echo beyond your time.

An Old Greek Proverb tells us, “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they will never see.”

We are the caretaker of our own lineage. Our biggest responsibility is to honor those who came before us and those who will come after. To leave Hawaii a stronger place.

It’s starts with you. What are you doing today to make yourself a good ancestor? What happens with your character when you are placed under pressure? What sort of example are you to those you influence?

Part of building a Ku body and living a Ku life, is building up the strength to answer life’s most deepest questions and putting those answers into action.

I've been enjoying sitting down the my athletes and students to hear their stories. Kū Athlete and Student, Landen Paikai, shared with me his empowering story of taking a step into the unknown and out of his comfort zone.

His journey of building Kū body and living a Kū life will inspire you to embark on your own journey. Landen has been with The Kū Project for close to 2 years and he symbolizes the epitome of patience, consistency, and enjoying the process.

I learned a lot from Landen about answering your calling and taking action, finding balance, that your voice matters, and what it means to leave behind a positive legacy.

I'm stoked to share his story in episode 42.

I believe strength in contagious. Some of us may feel like we don't matter very much or what we do in life isn't very important. I was never the confident type that wanted to put myself out there and share my thoughts and stories. But I knew I wanted to help others and make a difference. This is when I realized that I had to strengthen myself and approach obstacles and overcome my fears. Doing so, I was able to break down barriers and limitations I placed on myself. In this Single Tasking Friday Episode 41, I want to empower you to take responsibility and be that symbol of strength and inspires and empower, to ultimately be Ku. This weekend I'm inviting you to make strength contagious by focusing on yourself.

Did you enjoy the podcast? What makes you feel stronger?

Contact me and let me know what you thought about today's show. You can reach me at [email protected] with your feedback and questions.

Also, connect with me at: www.twitter.com/thekuproject www.facebook.com/theaipaproject www.instagram.com/thekuproject

SNAPCHAT: @danielaipa

I sat down with Kū Athlete and Student of The Kū Project, Kapono Kiakona, and talked about his view strength and his experience of becoming stronger.

Kapono is a lawyer which is a job known for its long hours of work and time away from family. We talk about how he balances work, family, and health to ensure he lives a life full of joy and strength while enjoying a great bottle of wine.

I was definitely fascinated by his strength of looking for help when he knew he needed it and how he was able to question himself about how his behavior not only affected him but also the people he loves.

Contact me and let me know what you thought about today's show. You can reach me at [email protected] with your feedback and questions.

Also, connect with me at:www.twitter.com/thekuprojectwww.facebook.com/theaipaprojectwww.instagram.com/thekuproject

SNAPCHAT: @danielaipa

In this episode, Aipa talks about that true moment of Aloha and what Aloha means to him. Today, the word Aloha itself has been watered down overtime and has been used as candy to tempt consumers into transactions. People throw the word Aloha around without truly understanding the depth of what it means.

Contact us to tell Aipa what you thought about today's show. You can reach us at [email protected] with your feedback and questions.

Also, connect with Aipa at:www.twitter.com/thekuprojectwww.facebook.com/theaipaprojectwww.instagram.com/thekuproject

Daniel Aipa sits down with Ryan Moody, 9-Time World Record Holder and owner of The XWOD, and shares his story of overcoming a huge injury setback into becoming a world renowned coach who travels around the world coaching athletes and giving seminars on explosiveness and mental focus.

We talk about Crossift, misinformation in the fitness industry, Louie Simmons and Westside Barbell, becoming explosive, and always striving to push the envelope of your human potential.

Are you mindful of your actions and behaviors every day? The more mana you have the more influence you have on others.

When you are given mana you have the decision to use it for good or bad. Do you practice what your preach? Mana is a powerful tool that you must know how to access and use. You should also check your account on a daily basis to hold yourself accountable for your actions and behavior.

If you actions and behaviors go against what you want to stand for, then your mana goes down.

But that's okay. There will be setbacks, but it's what you do after those setbacks to rebuild your mana that makes your all the more influential.

Build up your mana to be Kū.