By Ka’ānohiokalā Pe’a | NIU Hawaiʻi (Nurturing Is Universal)
Some businesses are built from opportunity. NIU Hawaiʻi was built from something far deeper — a century of healing hands, ancestral wisdom, and one enduring belief: that the power to restore another person is one of the most sacred gifts you can carry.
“I ka wā ma mua, ka wā ma hope.” The future is found in the past.
This ʻŌlelo Noʻeau — a proverb passed down by our kūpuna — is not just a saying at NIU
Hawaiʻi. It is the foundation we stand on.
A Legacy That Begins With Royalty
My name is Ka’ānohiokalā Pe’a. I am a third-generation licensed massage therapist (MAT9551), and before I tell you about my work, I need to tell you about the people who made it possible.
My grand uncle, William Kawahalama Manuia — “Willie” — was the son of a Master of Lua and a personal bodyguard to Queen Liliʻuokalani during the Hawaiian Monarchy. That sacred role demanded an intimate knowledge of the human body — how it moves, how it endures, and how it heals. Uncle Willie carried that ancestral wisdom throughout his life and formalized it with a massage therapy license — not for recognition, but for the continuation of something greater than himself.
From that foundation, his nephew Uncle Una — John Lonomakahainua Peʻa Jr. — became a legend. In 1965, he became the first licensed massage therapist at the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel and the Grand Master and founder of Paʻola Science, the specialized art of “Quick Healing.” He didn’t just practice healing. He defined it for Hawaiʻi.
Our kūpuna taught us: “Ka naʻauao o nā kūpuna ka lama e hoʻomālamalama i ke ala no nā keiki.” The wisdom of the elders is the torch that enlightens the path of the children. Uncle Una’s torch was passed to my father, Keoki — George Leon ʻIolani Peʻa — who became the first licensed massage therapist at the Mauna Lani Hotel in 1983 and spent his life as a tireless advocate for Lomi Lomi in the modern world.
Like the Coconut Tree
Our ancestors had a word for our most sacred plant: Niu. The coconut palm — the tree of life.
Every part of the niu serves a purpose. Its water nourishes. Its meat restores. Its fiber protects. Its roots anchor. Its shade shelters. Nothing is wasted. Nothing is without meaning.
“Wahi ka niu” — break open the coconut — was not just an act of sustenance. It was an act of generosity, of sharing what you carry with those who need it.
This is the spirit behind NIU Hawaiʻi. Like the coconut tree, therapeutic touch covers every base of human restoration — the physical, the structural, the neurological, the spiritual. It nourishes depleted tissue, restores lost movement, shelters a body that has carried too much for too long, and revitalizes what fatigue and time have worn down. There is no part of a person that healing touch cannot reach.
That is why Nurturing Is Universal.
Where the Legacy Meets You
I grew up watching healing happen. I founded NIU Hawaiʻi to honor that legacy while meeting people exactly where they are — whether you’re an athlete pushing through pain, a professional whose body is paying the price of long days, or someone who simply wants to feel whole again.
Our work is clinical, performance-based, and rooted in over 100 years of inherited wisdom.
“E lawe i ke aʻo a mālama, a e ʻoi mau ka naʻauao.” He who takes his teachings and applies them increases his knowledge.
Every session at NIU Hawaiʻi is the living expression of that promise — ancestral knowledge
applied with clinical precision, in service of you.
“A power within one can impact others.”
Ready to begin your restoration? Book your session today.
— Ka’ānohiokalā Pe’a, Licensed Massage Therapist (MAT-9551) | NIU Hawaiʻ
