Rotary meeting features Healing Aloha techniques to address collective trauma

On May 14, 2025, the Rotary Club of Kīhei-Wailea will be hearing from Rosemarie Johnson representing Healing Aloha sharing the importance of addressing collective trauma.

Johnson will share Healing Aloha’s Breath Awareness initiative and the ability to de-escalate trauma by regulating the parasympathetic nervous system. Focused on healing collective trauma, it encourages self-care through conscious breath work.

Healing Aloha has supported the community not only in their day-to-day lives, but “breath-by-breath.” The initiative also offers additional resources, such as trauma-release workshops, an online symposium, and a youth program aimed at fostering emotional stability and well-being.

It emphasizes the significance of addressing collective trauma — whether from natural disasters, school shootings, pandemics, or other crises — through a simple yet profound practice: reconnecting with our breath, allowing individuals and communities to heal.

Healing Aloha | Breath of Life was conceived in response to the August 2023 wildfires when people were emotionally paralyzed — holding their breath — from the trauma. This Lahaina grassroots awareness Initiative Supporting Collective Trauma Through Self-Care has won an Humanitarian Action & Services Award for social impact.

Johnson is a strategist with over 30 years of experience. She holds a BSE, an MBA, and certifications as an EMDR Somatic Practitioner, Trauma-Informed Coach, and Mental Health Coordinator and also specializes in data collection and researching best practices in wellness, organizational behavior, neuroscience and collective trauma.

With over two decades of studying neuroscience and teaching meditation, breathwork, mindfulness, yoga, and quantum physics, she speaks nationally on Maintaining Self-Care and Balance and Mental Resilience for first responders.

Since the 2024 Maui wildfires, Johnson has been actively involved in Healing Aloha—supporting collective trauma through self-care.

The meeting begins at 11:45 a.m. on May 14 at the Kīhei Lutheran Church, located at 220 Moi Pl. in N. Kīhei. Contact Judy Gray at rckwJudy@gmail.com to RSVP.