NONI;
Indian mulberry;
morinda citrifolia:
Aloha, Kahala-Ann, here to “talk story” with
you. Noni
a miracle plant, has controversy and fun speculation about its origin;
healing properties and attributes; medicinal uses, beauty, taste and
smell.
Please see MYTH
and CULTURE for the great migration and the human intelligence
that intentionally transported Noni over thousands of
miles over thousands of years. Noni’s
awesome properties are legendary in India, Malaysia, Southeast Asia,
China, Australia, and Polynesia. Hawaiian cultural and traditional healers
used Noni fruit to treat respiratory; digestive; nervous and immune
systems; joint, skin and skeletal problems. The entire Noni plant is
used (see
picture); Noni leaves (for external inflammations, deep burses,
wounds and pain); roots (for yellow dye and blood pressure); bark (for
astringent properties), seeds (for purgative action); and flowers (for
eye inflammations).
I have seen this plant growing in Hawaii all my life; at sacred healing
places, at Heiau (churches or temples); at surfing and lava beaches.
Noni is landscaped on the roadway from Keahole Airport in Kona, Hawaii.
Beautiful evergreen Noni has bright green elliptical leaves, white tubular
flowers which mature into yellow lumpy fruit shaped like an oval-baseball
and reaches up 15 feet.
At Pu’u’ala Farm our Noni seeds are started in the nursery,
transferred into the rich volcanic soil above ocean cliffs soaking up
the sun, rain, ocean spray and whipped by Kamakani (the winds) of the Hamakua
coast. Matured fruits are harvested, processed into tea and bulk product.
We grow Noni at Pu’u’ala Farm because of an experience I had
in 1976, when I returned to live in my mother’s village in Hana,
Maui. Later I learned from my auntie that she was drinking Noni about
1 ounce each morning, for four days, and resting the remaining three
days, drinking lemon grass or mamaki tea and then returning to Noni.
She had been diagnosed with cancer but refused any surgery or western
medicine. She said the doctors told her “… she would die without
surgery…” but she refused because she had experienced the
death of two relatives after such surgeries. After a year she returned
to the Hana Medical Center and the surprised doctor said, “…you’re
suppose to be dead,…why are you here?” She said, “…for
my yearly physical.”
15 years later, Auntie is about 85 years old, and still drinking her
Noni juice. She walks three times a week to fish, pick limu (seaweed)
and opihi (abalone) from the lava rocks where the waves lap, grows all
her own food in her own yard and has toured to Las Vegas. She attributes
the cancer to living 14 years on Oahu (capital island of Hawai’i).
She said “I have never taken western medicine, not even an aspirin,…I
must now take noni for the rest of my life because …my body needs
it…”the smells not so bad, you get used to it…”
She said “the most important part of taking Noni for illness is
praying…Go where the plant is growing at the beach, where the wind
whips and the Noni struggles to live… pick noni and pray that it
will heal you,… be humble, be mindful, be grateful, …then
put in a jar on the kitchen counter…the fruit liquid will ooze
out in a few days…then pray again, with the same humble heart that
you may be healed and drink the liquid.” She told me “No matter
what you take it will not work unless you pray.”
Doctors from Honolulu, Oahu, have trekked to her home to study and record
her progress because she will not go to them. I asked her, how she knew
to take Noni. She said “…a long time ago a women came to my
home, calling for my sister who was not here”. The women said,
“…I am retuning to the mainland…I am retiring from nursing
in Guam… I came here to tell the Hawaiian people to drink Noni..
it will heal all their sicknesses…”
On the basis of this experience, we planted Noni on our Pu’u’ala
Farm and that is why every thing we grow is certified organic. Our humble
commitment to our keiki (children) and our mo’opuna (grandchildren)
is that we will malama ‘aina (love the land) with an open-heart
and the land will love and care for us in return. This is the raw juice,
which I drink four days on, three days off. Auntie said that Hawaiians
believe that a sort of toxicity builds up, and by resting/alternating,
the healing properties remain strong.
I know it sounds like a great leap of faith and hope but it IS simple.
The practice, I think, is more difficult. I have my auntie’s experience
and oral tradition, practiced for generations by my people, so this
keeps me fortified and focused. I have never been diagnosed with cancer
but I see no harm in drinking Noni and believe in preventative practice.
I am not making any claims for the treatment of cancer or any other
diseases. The cost and expense of running a certified organic enterprise
is also financially challenging but the world seems to be appreciating
this miracle herb as witnessed by data in journals, books, the Internet
and TV.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug
Administration. Our products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure,
or prevent any disease.
Pu'u'ala Inc. Toll-Free 888.315.4100 orders@puuala.com
