Most of us are familiar with the Huna concepts of the 3 minds- the subconscious, conscious and higher self but not much has been mentioned thus far about the 4 bodies that encompass the Huna philosophy. The idea of bodies outside the physical range are not unfamiliar if you have looked into the eastern arts. Almost all of them have some concept of how the bodies connect from the physical to the mental, emotional and spiritual and some inbetween.

In the Huna system, the means of a person's individual spiritual growth is to integrate fully the developed functioning of each body as they mature. And because everyone developes and matures at different rates, not all the bodies are available for development at the same time.

We all know people who think and are only functioning on the physical plane with only material interests. We would say this person is not very spiritually evolved because they leave out the development of the emotional, mental and spiritual bodies. Other people have developed the emotional and physical bodies and are in touch with their emotions but are not very intellectually developed. Yet while others may leave out the emotional aspect and therefor are disassociated with their feelings and the understanding of emotions in others. Many combinations are possible. All the great thinkers and healers of our time would have all four bodies functioning and developing at the same time.

The physical body is, of course, made up of flesh and blood and starts development at the moment of conception and continues to develope through puberty to when it has grown to its adult stage.

The emotional body exists in the psychic or astral plane. Ths body encompasses the desires, instincts, and passions. The development of this body starts when a person is born and reaches its half way point during puberty, the age at which we see increased emotions and the beginning stages of consciousness. Maturity of this body usually happens in late teenage years but can extend far beyond that in a person who has not developed.

The mental body is located on the mental plane and starts to develope when concrete thought begins. This person will begin to develope focused thought and understanding and sets boundries and limits. The mental body reaches its halfway mature point by the mid to late 20's. The developmental process begins to mature when abstract thinking with both deductive and inductive thinking processes are worked with. Full maturity usually happens in the mid 30's. The usual process is that halfway through maturity of the mental maturity, the spiritual nature of the individual will speed up and the person may feel some urgent sense that something is pressing. The maturity of this body can bring about a spiritual awakening where one's path in life is reevaluated and defined.

The spiritual body completes man's evolutionary process as the person returns to his beginnings of the spirit. Although many people are never aware of their spiritual body, an individual who is developing all their bodies and integrating them in maturity around the age of the late 40's and completed during the 50's. Halfway through the maturity of this stage, a person's true spiritual nature will assert itself

It's important to remember that the various bodies can develope at different times and at different speeds. Some one may develope spiritually very early in their 20's while others may never develope spiritually. In the Huna system, it is extremely important to balance through each stage of development. Balance is achieves with various techniques like Ho'opono and practicing Ha breathing.