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Natural arts get
drug users on path
to healing
Sen. Daniel Akaka supports
the program, which he sees as
affecting families, too
Steve Souza got clean in a traditional drug treatment program -- but that did not end his cravings for crystal methamphetamine.
So he turned to a new natural healing treatment center, stationed on a remote ridge in the Koolau Mountains.
The week-old pilot program is aimed at getting addicts off drugs with special exercises, a healthy diet and hefty doses of positive thinking.
"We don't know 100 percent what the results are going to be," Hong Liu, the nonprofit's founder and master teacher, said through a translator.
"The idea behind it, in terms of the first stage, is detoxification."
Family members gathered at the Qi Gong Natural Healing Foundation's camp yesterday afternoon -- along with Sen. Daniel Akaka, a supporter of the program -- to see the progress of their loved ones' treatment and hear teachers talk about the center's natural-healing approach to ending drug addiction.
Seven days into his treatment, Souza, who has craved crystal meth off and on for 10 years, says he has lost his longing for the drug and is dedicated to a new, drug-free lifestyle.
"It's all about changing behaviors," Souza said. "I see it as revolutionary."
Enrollees also showed off their newly learned therapeutic exercises, called qi gong.
"It's very different from Western drug treatments," said 23-year-old Daniel Graner, who abused prescription drugs and alcohol for nearly a decade before getting sober earlier this year.
"I think what other drug treatments miss is ... they don't fill the inner void that comes up when you've stopped using drugs," he said. "But this program is doing that. It's filling the emptiness."
Akaka (D-Hawaii) told attendees at yesterday's "family day" that he met Liu in late September and immediately embraced his natural-healing center as an innovative approach to drug treatment.
Liu, who got his medical degree from China's Army Medical Hospital University, said he decided to start the qi gong center after learning about the magnitude of Hawaii's crystal meth epidemic.
The center uses techniques that Liu estimates are more than 5,000 years old. The qi gong exercises and diet regimen are designed to clear toxins from drug addicts.
The program also concentrates on replacing a client's negative outlook with a more positive one, he said.
"Probably there's no other program like this in the world," said Lynn Muramoto, the center's coordinator. "Not only is this about drugs, it is about creating a new life."
Liu stressed he is not encouraging anyone to abandon Western medicine. An ideal treatment program, he said, would combine traditional healing and modern techniques.
The unique approach has raised interest from University of Hawaii researchers, but the biggest hurdle is funding. Hawaii and mainland residents donated about $31,000 to start the program, but it is not enough to keep it going.
For more information about the program or to donate, contact Muramoto at 639-4300.
