Kamaehu Naipo on Overcoming Your Inferiority Complex and Being Accountable for Your Kuleana

“If you are looking at something that scares you, but you know it’ll be good for you – jump right in.” – Kamaehu Naipo

In this episode I sit down with Kamaehu Naipo who is a project engineer, lua, the Ancient Hawaiian Martial Arts, practitioner, musician, and athlete of The Kū Project. If you’ve been following The Ku Project on social media, particularly Instagram, you may have seen some images and videos of Kama tossing weight around, he’s a pretty big braddah.

Kama said, “If you are looking at something that scares you, but you know it’ll be good for you – jump right in.”

And that seemed to be the underlying theme in our conversation. Kama talks about the importance of strengthening yourself first with the aim of helping your family and community and how he overcome his own inferiority complex of being Native Hawaiian and a big guy.

We dive into his experience of joining Pa Kui a Holo and how it changed his approach to life, along with his experience of learning how to make pa’i’ai out of kalo. The biggest take away from our conversation is that Kama understands the meaning of becoming that symbol of strength and that it’s a conintuous effort and process in doing so.

I hope you guys enjoy this interview with Kamaehu Naipo and what it means to be Ku.

Download directly to your computer, right-click HERE, and ‘save as’

Questions Asked:

What is a quote that helps bring strength to you?
- “Your level of success will seldom exceed your level of self development” – Jim Rohn
What got you into working with kalo and making pa’i’ai?
What is the process of making kalo to pa’i’ai?
How did your experience with working with kalo help you connect with the Hawaiian culture and being a Native Hawaiian?
What was the biggest difference from training on your own to starting to train with The Kū Project?
How did you approach your nutrition and overconsumption of information?
What obstacles did you have to overcome in order to become stronger?

Kamaehu Naipo with Kahookahi Kanuha atop Mauna Kea

“I have this thought in my mind…that everybody has something to teach you”

What sort of advice would you give someone who is going through life looking down at the ground?
What sort of books help you to stay motivated and inspired?
What does it mean to be Kū?
How the beginning of your day look like? What is your ideal morning routine?
When did you get into music?
How do you find your outlet to use your energy in a positive way?
Where do you see Smooth Remedy going in the future?

“Never settle for mediocrity. If you can do better, do better.” – Mama Naipo

In This Episode, You Learn:

Developing yourself first with the aim of helping your family and community without strengthening yourself
How he rooted himself into the Hawaiian culture
His experience of going through the 48 hr workshop with Pa Kui a Holo
Pound 50lbs of kalo every Sunday
The process of how to make Kalo into Pa’i’ai
Learning what it means to find your kuleana, or responsibility
Kama doesn’t train as often but gets twice the results. Say what?
Understanding that your whole body is working as a whole system
How he began to become more conscious about how food affects your overall performance
Overcoming the inferiority complex from being Hawaiian and being from Hawaii
Don’t look down at the ground anymore – it’s time to look up.
His music roots started while singing in the Honolulu Boy’s Choir
The beginning of the band – Smooth Remedy. How they raised money for their first sound system.

“Life owes you nothing.”

“Everything is your fault”

Mahalo from The Kū Project

The Kū Project podcast is free and takes a lot of time in putting it together and keep it going. We’d really appreciate if you could take a moment to rate and write a review for the podcast, HERE

Grab your ‘BE KŪ’ sticker to make strength contagious and remind others around you to “BE YOU. BE KŪ.”

Mahalo for listening, Aloha, and Stay Kū!

Like? share it with your 'ohana

Daniel Aipa

Daniel Aipa is the founder of The KŪ Project. He is a writer, creative, fitness and health coach, and a community builder. He's on a mission to improve the overall health and well-being of his community and inspire people to stand taller and stronger within themselves. Aipa enjoys playing with his three kids, a good cup of coffee, time up in the mountains, and music that speaks to his soul in the moment.

Stay in Touch

We’re not a fan of emails filling up our inboxes. So we won’t take up space in your inbox but may drop in every once in awhile