Aging Well: Healing Garden helps cancer survivors grow and thrive

By Diane Ako

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    HONOLULU, Hawaii (KITV) — An Oahu woman who survived cancer says the secret to Aging Well is in the garden.

KITV4’s Diane Ako went to ‘Iwalani’s Healing Garden in Ewa.

“I always say, ‘When the kukai hits the kahili, what you going do but imua?'” quipped ‘Iwalani Tseu, a charming and vivacious woman sitting in the middle of her massive garden.

Imua, or go forward, is just what ‘Iwalani did after life threw her a curveball in 2006. That was the year she was undergoing radiation for breast cancer.

“I’ve been through it all. Divorces, health, got robbed, inherited a dump. All of that, dear Lord, I’m going to do a garden,” she recalled.

‘Iwalani’s Healing Garden, run by her nonprofit ‘Iwalani Foundation, has 350 varieties of plants and some animals for therapy. ‘Iwalani says she didn’t even know her dad left her this property. She found it, cleaned it up, and she found herself in the process.

“That’s what made me come to this garden and throw away 500 yards at the dump. That was cleansing me to say, things happen in your life,” she said.

The garden took shape, as did her life.

“It adds to much peace. You can hear the birds, feel the fresh air, the serenity it gives me is very therapeutic. I just see now the richness of life and nature. It’s the simple things in life,” she decided.

‘Iwalani shares the space selectively as a way to help others, as well as herself. Her philosophy: “You live a healthy life, surround yourself with positive people. Cry, it’s cleansing. laugh a lot. To me, that’s what is going to keep you young at heart.”

For her, it’s been a spiritual experience to “bloom” from within.

“It’s inevitable we are all going to pass. But we can choose how to pass,” she said.

‘Iwalani says what she is cultivating is an attitude of gratitude.

For more information on ‘Iwalani’s Healing Garden and foundation, visit: iwalanifoundation.org/about

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