 in Waikiki. Today, I would like you to meet a friend. Her name is Leilani Akinu. She prefers to go by Lani from Hawaiian, I guess. Lani resides in San Pedro, California. I met Lani via Zoom. So we met so many people during the last few years with Zoom. But I recently had a chance to finally meet her in person. And I was able to meet her fun loving family and Ohana and help them to take their health back. So let's meet Lani. Aloha Lani. Hi, Wendy and to Wendy. Thank you for having me here. Thank you. Oh, you're welcome. I knew it would be kind of interesting because, you know, my talk is taking your health back. And I know your passion is massage therapy. But before we get into that, I would like you to just tell us a little bit about your Ohana and your background. Oh my goodness. Well, I was born and raised in Hawaii. This photo here is taken a few years ago with my immediate family there. Born and raised by my parents immigrated to Hawaii from the Philippines. You know, as you know, everybody, you know, that's the they want to have a new, new start, you know, more opportunities. So they started the family in Hawaii. So I'm the oldest of three. And, you know, I have very, very just happy memories growing up in Hawaii. And where did you grow up? Well, what part of Hawaii? Well, I was born in Honolulu, first part of my childhood. And then we moved to Waipahu, where my family still resides. So yeah, so it's just fun, just fun, being Filipino community, as you know, Wendy. Yeah, I mean, that's where I was. I was born in Miley. And then we relocated to Waipahu. And yeah, it's a large Filipino community there. In fact, they say that's like the first Manila. Yeah, maybe in Hawaii would be like second. But yeah, I met your family there and wow, what a neat, neat neighborhood and family that you have there. So tell me, was somebody involved with military? Yeah, you know, I always had a spirit of adventure, curiosity. So I was still a senior in high school, of all high school. And I ended up enlisting in the military. I was still a senior U.S. Air Force. Definitely was surprised to the parents, but one of those, you know, I was just adventurous and wanted to experience and explore outside from Hawaii. So that's that's what I did. I went to the military, jet engine mechanic, train and working on fighter engines. So it was a great, great experience for sure. Congratulations and Mahalo for making the decision at a young age. I'm following you with it. Kudos to you. I mean, my daughter came home and she wanted to join the Air Force. And I was so excited. But of course, her dad said, No, you're not going. I said, Yes, you are. I even wrote to Senator Akaka and Senator Inouye, a Congressman Inouye. And I wanted to see how hard it would be to get a congressional appointment for my daughter. And I was so behind it, was so excited. But her daddy said, Absolutely not. So anyways, I'm congratulating you for taking that step. You had a desire and a passion to learn something of discipline, love of country, whatever it was to drive you. I just want to say Mahalo for following through with it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. How long did you serve there? You know, I was active duty for almost five years and did it. And then I did a few years of Air National Guard in Utah. And I finished up my career doing eight years in active reserve. So yeah. So you have a good number of years behind you? Yes. Yes. Yeah. Great. Like I said, it was a great experience because you meet so many different people, right? You get exposed to different cultures. You know, just just talk about culture shock, right? So right. But it was good because you get different, you know, types of people come from all over the country. There was a great exposure to that too. So yeah. And you know, you're not even from a military family. So that's even a little more challenging because it's not like you grew up in that, you know, military family environment, traveling about, you were the first one to go. And wow, I'm just amazed. I just, I wish somebody would have encouraged me as well, because I really admire you and the people that make that decision to go. But thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. And so in this next photo, I think it's the Christmas photo. So I know you want to share a little bit more about your extended family and your family there. Yeah. You know, this photo was from last Christmas, you know, with my nieces and nephews and my mom there. My boyfriend Nemo, he goes by Nemo's first time in Hawaii. So he wanted to, you know, he was really, really happy. You can tell by that photo. You know, just being around family, you know. But yeah, Christmas time is always special to the whole family because, you know, my dad passed in 2019, January. And so Christmas Eve was his birthday. So it's like, it's special, you know. It's special meaning. It's hard and it's always a good feeling, always good memories come through. So it's always special, always go home for Christmas. So you're retired out now out of the military? Yeah. Yes, I'm done. You're done. Yeah. I did my obligation. Yes, you did. You spent and you trained and you got discipline and only good things come of it. So again, and take all of that experience and knowledge that you got from our government and of course the love of our country. So thank you for defending. Thank you. So I know that after you got out or maybe when you were still in, you got involved with massage and being a massage therapist. So tell us a little bit about that. Oh my gosh. So I didn't actually, I got into massage therapy just not really like, it wasn't like, oh, I'm going to be a massage therapist. It wasn't anything like that, you know, because I was with the airlines, I was working for the airlines at the time years after I got out of the military. And you know, you get to a point, I think, you know, a lot of people can probably relate to me is when you, you know, you had a job and you like it, good company, but you always have this thing that something's missing, some things like you're not really feeling fulfilled. Like, there's supposed to be more you're supposed to be doing, you know? So then internet wasn't how it is now, but you know, get on the internet, say, well, maybe, you know, I can look for something that can interest me, maybe, you know, I want to learn something, but always the, you know, the little ads used to pop up on your screen was always like massage therapy schools. I was like, massage therapy schools, like what would I want to, you know, keep coming, keep coming. I was like, you know what, let me click on one of these. So it was like reading about it. And I'm like, well, you know, it doesn't hurt to just maybe I'll go and visit a school, you know, in Florence, turns California. So I went, I heard the whole, you know, the reference, the rep, walked me through the school, told me all the awesome things that you can do with it, noticed and all that. And I was like, Oh, I'll sign up. I signed up for school on the same visit. Like, who does that? Well, it was a calling. Somebody was talking to you and you took the message and to Pete and yeah, you took action. So that's great. I did. I did. And it was like the best decision I made. Because, you know, when you go when I went through the schooling and getting the information, I felt like, wow, like I get it, you know, I get this information and I enjoyed it a whole lot. So it was a great experience, you know, learning about the art of massage therapy. And what he can do is such a huge healing tool, you know, so. But yeah, massage therapy. That's why I got into it. So you know, when you were looking into this, well, how was your help? Where were you at with your help? You know, I was, I was, you know, I was always active. I was always active as a child. As I got older, I tried to keep that lifestyle. But, you know, kind of went sideways, you know, I think for a lot of us busy, not able to manage stress a whole lot, not or not great. And what happened with me, my personal story with this stress was there was a time where, you know, I lost my hair, like, I lost my hair, had hair loss, and it was like difficult because I was working for the airline. And you know, you're like front and center. Right. That was like, traumatic to go through. And so, you know, that's, it made me, you know, started to like research what can I do besides, you know, taking prescription drugs. And it did a lot of tests. So what they found out was just stress, stress management, those like, okay, then I got to try to figure out a way right to do to get a handle on it, because I don't want it to, you know, take over and can stress and really, you know, do a lot of damage to your body, you know. So yeah, that's, that's what I had to deal with in the past. And I'm doing so much better with that. You know, thank God with that. But yeah, like massage therapy can definitely help with stress management. So that was, yeah, it's a shock, right? Because Wow, yeah, a lot of women go through that, you know, they're either going to be diagnosed with something or, you know, the main corporate corporate is the stress is stress. And then maybe the diet, they're lacking something in their diet, but a lot of it is due to stress or combination of the both, which many not just women and men as well experience, right? So it's good that you continue to research and that you actually found something that made you happy and guided you to want to take your health back, right? Because you knew you didn't want to be medicated for the rest of your life because it would only probably cause more hair loss with certain medications in your body because you didn't deal with the problem. You were just masking it with the medication that they would give you, right? So you became a massage therapist in 2008? 2008, 2008. And then even still, like, okay, I have this. So what do I do with it? You know, which gives so much information. And I sat on it for a good year, probably. And then I'm like, you know what, I got to do something with this because it keeps pulling me keeps pulling me because I don't want to go out of your comfort zone, right? A lot of people don't pursue a lot of their goals and dreams because they get uncomfortable. So so I put myself in very uncomfortable situation, left a stable job to pursue this, you know, this this type of work. So what I did was I got to work at a spa. And at the same time, I got work at chiropractor office because I wanted to learn like the different environments, you know, spa, medical massage. And then on my off time, I would say, Oh, I'm gonna like, just build my clientele. So I would pack up my table, and I'll go to people's houses. So I did that. So it was like on like good for two years. I did that two years until I came to a point, say, Okay, I can work. I can like leave the jobs and like, you know, just do my own thing. I just work for myself. So that's pretty much, you know, how I got into working for myself since 2011. 2011. Yeah. Yeah. So you really hustle then. I mean, you learned that the your craft, your specialty, you got good at it, you continue to train in different offices. So you understood what is needed to run a successful business as well, as well as what are the needs of your clients and your potential clients. So that's that's really amazing that you did all that research and and you built the business that way. So I also know that you're really big on self care. What is self care? You know, self care, I'm a huge advocate for for quite a few years now, self care is, you know, a practice of taking action to preserve or improve one's health. And then, you know, and that in that definition, like the main word is take action, better take action, right? We all can think it or we can say, Oh, yeah, I want to do this. So I want to do that. But if you don't actually do it, how can you improve your your your self care? So self care, no, it's so important, especially the last couple years, we all went through a lot with the COVID. And I think the the social distancing that really made a huge impact on a lot of us. And I think especially the kids too, yeah, the socializing because we like to be social, right? So but yeah, self care, my thing is, we need to take care of ourselves so we can give more of ourselves, we have to prepare ourselves to to give our 100% like all the time, you know, my own personal health slash life pillar is build a strong spiritual foundation, take care of your health that that means you nutrition, you got to add movement slash exercise, you got to move your body, we're made to move, right? You have to definitely have positive nurturing relationships. Who do you surround yourself with? Who are you around? You know, giving you some good energy, you know, and you know, and you got to and find your purpose, like what is your purpose? And that's ongoing work for all of us, I think, because it can change. You have your purpose can change, right? As you live life. So I think, yeah, self development is is big. So you try to get all those going at the same time. Okay, so I guess I'm I got an A plus on my self care. Because yeah, I mean, right, I look at what I eat nutritionally. Yeah, I watch I made a change in my lifestyle about 20 years ago. Eating more plant strong. I'm very active or as I could be more active. But I serve as much as I can. My walk as much as I can. And I sure have a busy lifestyle. So I got big pillars. I got big pillars of health in my life. And you know, I and that's why I wanted you to come but on so you could inspire others as well. Because we have to take our health back right and like you learned you're on it, you're understanding what you need to do. And the best thing about the key point, what you said is, you need to take action. You can't just learn about it and just hope that it'll just happen. But you've got to take action. And so you can't stress that more Lonnie. And I'm glad you brought that up. Because taking action is that's the half the battle right there, right? Right, right. You're right to take action. You know, and then, you know, always have good influences around you. Make sure you get the right information too. There's just so much to to read, right? Social media online. But yeah, make sure you get the right information. And then just pursue it, you know, if it's that important to you, you're gonna you're gonna do something about it, right? Because we get limited time. And exactly that, because like you and I, we just met on a zoom call. And we kind of like resonated with the same direction and same goals. So we continue to build a relationship and make friends and understand that our goals are pretty much the same. And so that's why I thought you better come on to this show and talk about the benefits of self care and taking your health back. So how does massage therapy play a part in self care? You know, massage therapy has been practiced for thousands of years documented, right? East West cultures. And it's like the first tool that they use for pain relief. You know, it's documented. So it's, you know, what massage therapy is, is your manipulating soft tissue, which is like your muscles, your tendons, and which encourage like circulation, oxygen, blood flow to the muscles, right? It helps lower your blood pressure, right? That's the physical benefits. It also improves like your joint mobility, which is great for anyone suffering from arthritis. That's like key movement, because everyone's like, you find if it's painful, nobody wants to move, right? Right. You move because the nutrients are in your blood. So you got to keep moving. You know, and it's a great way to like recover if you're, you know, playing sports, sitting down too long, standing too long. So you want to, you know, encourage some blood flow in the tense muscles. So but yeah. And then also there's also mental benefits. You know, it massage therapy is great to help, you know, relieve symptoms of depression and anxiety. You know, increase the serotonin and the dopamine to feel good hormones. You know, it definitely helps. As I've mentioned before, it lowers your stress. You know, it can help reduce the cortisol, which is the stress hormone for about at least 30%. You know, a lot of clinical research is on massage therapy helping with stress reduction. You know, and you know, and also, you know, with COVID, a lot of people, and this is a thing that people don't think realize it's called touch deprivation, touch starvation, you know, meaning you don't have, people don't have enough human touch skin to skin contact. And that's just like a hug, a handshake, right? A pat on the back. That's like, I don't think people know how important it is to have that type of human connection, because it does plays a big role in everyone's development. You know, as we're born into this world, that's the first thing you crave for is skin to skin contact. So it does help with children, their development physically, emotionally, and mentally. You know, they've done like so many different studies, you know, in other countries on orphanage, and they actually kept track of, you know, the children, they have no human contact, right? They just kind of kept in a place and compared them to children who would have daily contact with parents or, you know, other individuals, adults, and just their growth, learning abilities was such a big gap, and that they've done so many different research on that. So, but yeah, and it's just how we communicate as humans, if you think about it, you know, so yeah. Humans are such social animals, I mean, and in different stages of our lives, you can just see it so obvious. So I know that the last two years has done a lot of havoc in a lot of people's lives and mostly are cakey because they were not able to socialize, and they didn't understand, so they were confused, they weren't loved, they weren't, I mean, not loved, they weren't touched, they weren't hugged, they needed, we do too, we, but we have a little bit of understanding what was going on, so not that we accepted it, but it is not as confusing for us adults as it is or was for those kids. So there's going to be a need for a lot of damage control that just occurred in the last couple of years, and you know, a long time ago, we used to think massage, oh, I'm going to have a massage, so it was like only for the rich people or is a luxury item because, oh, yes, they need a facial, I need a massage, but actually, when you want to look at it, it's the health benefits that we should look at it and not just a gem of luxury, but everyone should be massaged, have massage, and enjoy it, and because your body is crying out and just feeling so good because of the touch, because of the opening of the circulation, the stimulation of all your glands and your muscles and your fascia, so it's just what our body needs besides good health and nutrition, right? Right, you hit it right on the head, and Wendy, you know, that's why it's so important to have a self-care program, if you don't have one, you can start one with massage, and if you already have one, why don't you upgrade it with massage, you know, and good nutrition, that's so important because it's what you put in your body is what's going to come out. Yeah, you are what you eat, right? So, yeah, the better you eat, the better quality of food you eat, I mean, that's what this is all about, so if you're going to take the time to have a massage and stimulate all your internal organs and circulation systems, et cetera, you better be putting the right food in your body, so it just goes hand in hand, right? So it seems like you found your purpose in life, and I'm so excited that you did find it at an early age that you could build on it, learn and continue to take action to guide people to take action because it's so key of what you're doing, and maybe when you think about it, you should really approach families like when you massage parents that maybe if they have kids that they should bring the kids in, you should have like a cakey special because those kids, if you want to think about it, those kids need it more ever now, and if the parents and parents love their kids, how we can get them caught up, bring them in for a massage, stimulate their bodies where it should be, and help them to get back on track, so maybe you should encourage this program into your system and your program. I'll take 10%. So I know that you're on a personal mission to help many communities to live a healthier lifestyle, so what are you doing while you're out there when you go out to the field? You know what I do, I do represent like having a self-care program, but you know what I do is I love to connect and expand my business and network with like-minded health and wellness professionals. You know, our values line up, you know, and I've been starting to do that, and I've been meeting some really great, great people, great professionals are really good at what they do, you know, and the thing is like customer care, like that's so important to me, customer care, how they treat clients slash customers, because you want to make sure that the clients receive what they need from us, and they say they come to me and I don't provide what they need, but guess what? I know somebody I trust that I can send them to, you know, and that's that, I mean, you know, it's been such a great journey to be on. I'm still going. I love what I do. I'm very grateful I'm able to do it, and I'm going to keep going and see how far I can go, and I would love to expand what I do, and go back home to Hawaii, and you know, and expand, and then that teach is really educate people and teach and talk and just let them know because some people just don't, they don't know, sometimes people don't know, you know, and they just need to learn, that's all. You're good at it, you proved it to me, I mean we were only Zoom buddies, and I knew you were coming to Hawaii, and you invited me to your home, your family home in Waipahua, and there were like 14 or 16 of your family members, and you were so excited about getting the message out about health and nutrition, and so you invited them, you invited me, and we all finally met in person. Technology is so great, but I was able to share your heart and your message with your family, and you know what, you started them on their health journey. We together woke them up, we told them about all the fruits and vegetables and all the complete smoothies that they need to be drinking, growing their own plans, and they were very excited, and I know that they were very grateful for you to take that time to invest in them. So congratulations again to you for that, and sharing that opportunity of eating whole food nutrition in capsules and truables, and with the juice plus that you were sharing with them, so, and anytime you need a sister in the same message, just call me Lani, okay? Yeah, yeah, thank you so much, and to many for your time, for your time. You're welcome, you're welcome. It was a joy. We're on the same mission, girl, you know, getting our health back, but right now we've run out of time for today, so I wanted to say mahalo to Lani Aquino for educating all of us on self-care and how essential it is to taking your health back. We'll be back in two weeks on taking your health back with Wendy. Aloha, Lani, and say hi to your buddies in San Pedro, California. Aloha. Please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and donate to us at thinktecawaii.com. Mahalo.