From Nurse to Holistic Healer: My Path to Balance and Wellness – An Interview with Dina Marie Kaniho

What happens when a seasoned nurse transforms into a spiritual healer?

Drawing from her Hawaiian roots and natural connection with the land, Dina Kaniho shares her personal journey of spiritual awakening, which began in her thirties following a series of personal and professional challenges including a severe health crisis. Her story offers an inspiring look into how these experiences can catalyze reflection, growth, and ultimately a shift in identity and career. 

In this conversation, you’ll learn all about the creation of her business In Balance With(In)Sight and how modalities like Reiki and Clinical Hypnotherapy are used to help clients find balance and self-awareness. Plus, you’ll hear about Dina’s spiritual migration from Hawaii to Tennessee, offering a unique perspective on aligning with the Universe and finding a sense of belonging. Ready to dive in?

With all that is going on in our world, what suggestion or encouragement would you give to someone who might be feeling a little out of balance these days?

Dina Kaniho:  I always tell people who say they’re feeling off or imbalanced that the most important thing we can do is breathe and come back to ourselves. I know it sounds simple, maybe even a little cliché, but it’s true. Our breath is our reset button.

Just breathe, and that allows us to reset. Of course, there’s more to it, but if I had to choose the simplest tip, it would be to breathe and come back to yourself. When things get crazy and the mind starts going berserk, the breath is magic.

Talk to us about your own story of awakening to consciousness and spirituality. Was that part of your life growing up or did it unfold later in life?

Dina Kaniho: That’s a loaded question. I could go in many directions with that, but to keep it simple, I would say I have always been very connected. I’m from Hawaii, and in our culture, we’re very connected to the land, to Mother Nature, and to each other.

I wasn’t really taught about collective consciousness or awakening in the way we talk about it today. Like many kids, I was brought up in a very Western-focused environment. But we still had that cultural aspect that always brought me back to the land.

As a kid, my mom used to call me “nature girl” because I was always outside without shoes, or slippers, as we say in Hawaii. You know, nothing on—like, the less clothes the better, the more in nature, the better—and that was just really my natural way. I wasn’t explicitly taught it, but intuitively, I knew it and was drawn to it.

It wasn’t until much later in life that I had awakenings I could recognize. I believe we have a lot of awakenings throughout life, a lot of “deaths” and rebirths, so to speak, that we don’t fully understand or have a word for. It wasn’t until my thirties that I had an awakening I could label and recognize as such.

What happened at that moment?

Dina Kaniho:  Everything went wrong. It was literally a train wreck of things. But before everything came to a head and collided, there were many warnings that I ignored, like most of us do right before we have a huge, in-your-face awakening.

At that time, my oldest was a senior in high school, getting ready to graduate. We were looking at colleges. So, it was a transitional period for me—who am I going to be now that she’s becoming an adult? I was also at a crossroads with my career as a nurse. I was in management at one of the biggest hospitals in the Pacific and had a lot more responsibility.

From the outside looking in, I think people would say I had it all. But I wasn’t fulfilled. Everything collided. When I look back, it was like two trains colliding and derailing—my professional life and my personal life. Things just didn’t seem to fit anymore.

What pushed it over the edge was my body failing. My physical body started to fail, and no one could give me answers.

What kind of symptoms were you experiencing? What was going on?

Dina Kaniho: Oh, a variety of symptoms. I was surrounded by very brilliant doctors who basically told me to see a psychiatrist. They said there was nothing wrong with me. But it got to the point where I couldn’t get out of bed. I couldn’t walk, and I had extreme fatigue.

I had lost close to 20 pounds and was rapidly losing weight. I thought it was because I ate healthy, exercised, and did yoga. I did all the things that you would think keep us healthy. But the one thing I didn’t do and wasn’t tapped into was my emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being. We often dismiss these aspects when we only look at the physical side of ourselves or even our patients or clients.

I experienced crazy symptoms that mimicked a heart attack or stroke. I had shortness of breath and was having numerous panic attacks related to the physical symptoms. So, I was in a place where I had a lot of scientific knowledge but wasn’t really connected to myself.

All the things I did as a child that kept me in balance went right out the window. I didn’t ground myself; I didn’t go to the ocean, which was there for me 24/7. I didn’t have quiet time and didn’t invest in meaningful connections with people.

Basically, my physical body gave up. I truly believe it was my higher self saying, “Figure it out now, or it’s going to get worse.” To me, it was a life-or-death situation. I could not figure out what was happening, and when I couldn’t get out of bed, my husband had to physically carry me to the bathroom.

One night, in tears and deep despair, I had to make a choice. I was going to either submit and die or figure out what was happening to me and heal myself. That moment changed my whole trajectory and pushed me into what my soul always longed to do: help and empower people to take their health—mental, physical, emotional—into their own hands. There is no healing without the self. No one can do it for us.

How did you end up discovering or working with different modalities in order to find healing for yourself?

Dina Kaniho: Trial and error, along with a lot of research, played a significant role. I talked to people, connected with different individuals, and read stories that sounded hauntingly like my own, with a few variations. It all started with the intent to heal my physical body. I changed my diet, removing as many toxins as I could.

In the midst of this illness, I now understand it was a huge awakening—a kick in the butt, if you will—that I needed to take care of my physical body. From there, the whole spiritual, emotional, and mental aspects started to fall into place.

In the midst of all of that, I started a natural body care company. This was one way I healed myself—by getting rid of all the toxic products in our home, including GMOs. That’s really where it started.

I started this company in 2013, called Natural Aloha. I started making body care products, such as deodorant and laundry soap— things we use every day that harmful chemicals disrupting our endocrine system. Healing my physical self was the first step in my healing journey. Through that company, which I still have today, I participated in shows and farmers’ markets. There, I encountered more people with similar stories.

They had seen every specialist and doctor, but no one had answers. The common buzzword at the time was “autoimmune.” Whenever doctors couldn’t determine what was going on, it was labeled autoimmune. I started helping people figure out their physical issues, which led to deeper conversations about mindset, emotional connections, and how our energetic bodies affect our day-to-day physical functioning and interactions with others.

How did you make the shift from being a nurse in a management position  to starting your own practice? How did that unfold?

Dina Kaniho:  It really unfolded over many years. I use 2012 as kind of like that springboard date when my world came crashing down. What happened was I finally gave myself no choice. I was so stubborn and believed the social programming that the only way I could make a difference was to be that nurse, that Western medicine idea of what health is. I truly believe that’s why I got kicked in the butt and had to face my own health challenges where the Western world couldn’t help me.

That was the springboard and the transition. I was literally forced into it. I didn’t have a choice because I had been given the choice years before, and I chose fear over faith. The fear choice was, “If I step out of what I know, how will I make money? How am I going to feed myself? How am I going to help support my family?” In Hawaii, everything’s so expensive. You have to have mom and dad both working, if not one job more than one.

So it was all this fear programming and tactics, if you will, that just kept coming at me. When I made that decision, I had to consider whether I was going to submit. Was I ready to die and give up, or was I going to fight for myself and my family? I felt I was really blessed. Now I can look at it as a blessing. At the time, it wasn’t a blessing at all.

I really do feel that was the turning point in the transition. I had a lot of stereotypes and fears that I had to break down. What are people going to think about me? What are my colleagues going to think? I’ve had people come up to me over the years and say, “Wow, you’re a nurse, and you’re very good at your job. You were very successful; you had a successful career, and you gave all of that up to do this.”

It wasn’t an easy transition by any means. It really took a lot of diving into the self, understanding myself, and becoming accepting of who I am. Now I can say loud and proud that I love what I do. What I do is more of an inspiration to those naysayers because some of them are my clients now.

The name of your business is In Balance With(IN)Sight. Why did you name your business that?

Dina Kaniho: So, again, it was something that I didn’t just say, “Oh, that’s a cool name.” It really was a transition. Originally, when I started seeing clients, I used the business name Aloha Reiki because I started off with more of a Reiki-type practice and something called pure energy healing. As I started to expand and incorporate my long love of hypnotherapy, clinical hypnotherapy, into my practice, that name no longer fit. It didn’t encompass what I did.

When I decided that I needed to make a change, it involved a lot of meditation and introspection. I journaled about what it was. If I had to be succinct about it and really get to the core of what I do, what I really love to do is to always find balance in life. Everything, to me, is really about balance. That’s where all goodness intersects—when we find balance in everything.

The balance part came naturally. But it wasn’t just about finding the balance, because I can help people in every session find their balance. How can I help them help themselves when we’re out of session? I’ve been a yoga practitioner for a long time. It was one of the modalities I included while I was still a nurse to help me find my balance.

In yoga, we say that we practice on the mat so we can take our practice off the mat. That’s what I was striving to relay through the name of my practice. How can I help people find their balance when I’m not guiding them? That’s where the insight part came in. The reason why it’s with (IN)Sight is that I wanted people to understand that everything comes from within us.

That’s where the “within” came from. But also, insight. If I can help gift people insight as to why they do the things they do, or the fact that the things that happen in our universe actually affect them—like solar flares and astrology being real—then I can help them gain that insight, which will also help them come back into balance.

It’s sort of a play on words because it’s about what you can find within, but it’s also about having that insight, that intuitive insight, to continue that practice off the mat, so to speak.

How were you introduced to energy healing and come to believe in its power?

Dina Kaniho:  Personal experience. It really was my personal experience when I was struggling with all of those health issues. It took me many years to get my body balanced. Eventually, I came to understand that bringing my body back into balance wasn’t only about what I put in and on my body, but also what I was putting into my mind and the things that I needed to release.

I had this vessel that collected all these different energies while working in the hospital as a physical and emotional empath, which I didn’t even understand at the time. I didn’t realize that I was picking up all this energy. When I was able to see it for myself and learn how to empty my vessel of all the energies I was carrying for people, that’s when everything changed.

That’s why I was so good at my job—because people felt great when they walked away from me. I was a sponge; I just absorbed it. I was going to make you feel better, no matter what it took. I would do all of those Western medicine things, but I really believe now that it was all of my energetic gifts that helped people feel better.

So how I transitioned—it’s not even a transition; it’s more of a transmutation, if you will—really comes down to my personal experience. I sought these different modalities when I didn’t have any other choice. Nothing else was working. I sought Reiki, body work, massage, and chiropractic care. I built a magnificent team of wellness practitioners around me that helped me get better each and every day.

The one last thing that held on was that connection to the self that I wasn’t plugged into 100% at the time. Once I did that, my second awakening came. I realized there was no more playing it safe. I completely stepped away from the Western medicine practice that kept me on the hamster wheel and prevented me from realizing my full potential as a holistic practitioner.

Talk to me about distance energy sessions. What is it? How does it work? Who would benefit from it? 

Dina Kaniho: Okay, so it’s hard to explain, but I’ll try my best. The distance energy session I offer is actually not in person; it’s a no-contact session. What that means is the less I know and the less contact I have with a person before this session, the more magical it is. It’s more mind-blowing for them as well as me. I always tell people, once this type of session stops exciting me, then I’ll probably walk away and start doing something else. Every single time I connect with someone in that type of session, I walk away with my mind blown, and they do too.

Basically, prior to the session, I send my client music that we will use during the session. They are in their own safe space, and I am in my safe space. This is a beautiful way for me to assess their energy and allow their energy to speak without their ego getting in the way.

When I meet someone face to face for the first time, there’s always that awkward place where you have to build trust. It can be a waste of time. If they really want to find out what is at the core of their problem and where they are blocked, I can listen to what they think it is. However, it’s really their conscious mind telling them what it is, versus allowing the energy to speak for itself.

During the distance session, I send them music. I listen to the music on my side while they listen wherever they are—whether that’s in their bedroom, at a park with headphones on, or laying on the beach. All they need to do is be as open as possible in a meditative state. If people don’t know how to meditate, that’s not a problem. I just tell them to lie there and enjoy the music. If people are a little more connected, I tell them that if they can surrender, then they should do that. It really depends on who I’m talking to because everything is so specialized.

For the next hour, with their permission, I tap into their energy and feel it within my body. I allow it to tell me the story of what’s happening with them. In Hawaii, storytelling is natural for us, so I let their energy tell me their story. If I can clear it, I use some techniques to do that. If it is not in the cards for me to clear it at that moment, I make a note of it and share it later. The whole time, I audio record the session.

These clients are essentially getting two sessions in one. Many of them text me at the end of the session, before I send them their recording, and say, “I cried the whole time,” or “That was amazing; I felt a release in my heart space,” or “My feet were tingling the whole time.” Various experiences happen during the session. When I send them the tools I used via email and the audio, they are able to put everything together.

Now, are you watching them? Are they watching you on Zoom while this is happening, or…?

Dina Kaniho:  No contact. The only connection we have is through that musicality. It’s through that energy of sound.

So you agree on a Tuesday at 2 o’clock to play the music in separate locations?

Dina Kaniho: Well, I’ll say, “Okay, David, we have an appointment on this day.” I connect with them via text prior, send them the music, and a small paragraph with instructions. The instructions are simple: turn on the music, allow yourself to relax, and if any thoughts come up, let them pass like a cloud. Just allow yourself to experience anything that happens.

That’s the extent of it. I ask them if they’re ready, they say they’re ready, and we begin. I disconnect from communication, turn on my audio recorder, and do what I do.

What do you do at the end of the hour?

Dina Kaniho: At the end, I text them and say, “Okay, we’re done. Check your email.” I send over the recording and any tools or messages that came in via email. I also ask them to let me know their experience when they have a minute, and that’s it.

Typically, I would say 99% of the people who experience that distance session come back to work with me because it’s that powerful. It’s really not about what I’m doing. It’s about what they’re ready to share and experience.

The other 1% that doesn’t come back—I just know they weren’t ready to connect to that deeper part of themselves in that moment. I might see them a year or two down the road.

Talk to me about some of the misconceptions people have about hypnotherapy. 

Dina Kaniho: The most popular misconceptions are that it’s hocus pocus, it’s hokey, or people are just acting. They’ll ask, “Are you going to make me quack like a duck?” Another misconception is that people should be afraid because someone is taking control over their mind. None of those things are true.

Now, those stage shows you see in Vegas, where people quack like a duck or become less inhibited, are actually part of hypnosis. But what I do is clinical hypnotherapy. My goal isn’t to make people do things. That’s another misconception—people think a hypnotherapist can make someone do something they don’t want to do. That’s completely untrue. I can only help people change their mind and reset it if they already have the want and desire to do it.

So, if you told me you were a smoker but didn’t really want to quit, and you were only seeing me because your wife wanted you to quit, I’d tell you it’s not going to work because you don’t have the desire for yourself.

As for how hypnosis works, you have two main parts of your mind: the conscious mind and the subconscious mind. Imagine an iceberg—everything above the water is your conscious mind. That’s the thinking mind, where our ego lives, and the “monkey mind” that makes lists and gets things done. There’s nothing wrong with that part of the mind. The subconscious mind, though, is everything below the iceberg. So, the conscious mind is the tip, and the subconscious mind is deep, really deep. That’s where our emotions and habits lie.

The subconscious mind records everything we’ve experienced, said, or done, whether we’re aware of it or not, from birth—or some say, from conception—all the way to the present moment. It’s a vast library of resources for us. That can be good and bad. If we experience trauma, it lives there. Our conscious mind might say, “I’m over that,” but it can trick us into thinking we’re completely over it—until something with similar energy happens, and we react in a way that’s out of character. That reaction comes from unresolved trauma.

So, that’s the short answer. I usually spend about half an hour with my clients explaining what hypnosis is, so they feel comfortable before we even get into a trance state.

What are some of the things that you commonly help people with, outside of stopping smoking? 

Dina Kaniho: I do clinical hypnotherapy by itself, but I also integrate it with all of my other modalities. I can use it for a variety of things, but what’s very common is seeing people with anxiety. We work on anxiety and panic, and it’s really about resetting the nervous system and finding the root cause of the problem, right?

It varies why people have panic attacks and other issues. It doesn’t help that we live in a society that’s always on the go. But really, it’s about finding that root cause—maybe it’s trauma, so we do a trauma reversal. It could be something very small that you don’t even remember, but in the trance state, you recall that a little boy teased you, and that’s where your lack of confidence comes from.

Hypnotherapy is very near and dear to my heart because it’s one of the modalities that helped me heal after my 2012 awakening, with all the crazy physical symptoms. It was really understanding that the mind is the key. The mind is the key. When I could stop mentally beating up my body for not doing what I wanted it to do and become friends with it, I allowed it to heal naturally. Our bodies are made to heal naturally. We just need to put the right things in and let go of what’s no longer right for us.

One of the programs that you offer is the Ascension Program, which seems like a really robust opportunity to work with you. Who would this benefit? What does it include? How would someone’s life be changed because of it?

Dina Kaniho: It includes pretty much everything that I do. It’s a package that I offer to many, but it’s really for those who are ready to do a deep dive into self-understanding and are ready to transition. It’s for those who feel like they’re stuck in that cocoon and are ready to be that butterfly, but don’t know how to get there. It encompasses everything I do and gives us the freedom to work very clinically in one session, and then very spiritually or emotionally based in another.

I also have something in that Ascension Program that I do offer separately, though it’s not on the list, called the Physical Frequency Healing Program. In that, I guide people to tap into what’s happening physically, and then extrapolate the energetic, emotional, or spiritual messages from what they’re experiencing—whether it’s pain, an injury, or something like that. That’s built into the Ascension Program.

So, it really is for those who want to ascend into a higher version of themselves.

One of the things that’s also included in that program is called the Insight Yearly Report. What is that?

Dina Kaniho: It’s one of my favorite things to do. It’s something I’ve been doing for several years for myself, and it’s a report that uses playing cards as a forecasting tool. A lot of people don’t know that playing cards were originally designed for forecasting, hidden in plain sight. Now, everybody plays poker or gambles with them, but really, every number and suit has a meaning.

What I do is use some resources, and based on your birth date and the year you want the report for—because I can do it for when you’re 80 or go back to when you were five—people generally want to know about the upcoming year. Typically, I do it right before someone’s birthday, and it covers from one birthday to the next. You can use it as a guide and tool to help you make decisions throughout the year. It talks about things like when to travel, business decisions, and if any legal issues may arise. It’s very in-depth and takes me about three weeks to complete a report.

There are different planetary periods, and for example, during one period it might say not to travel. It’ll even specify things like business travel or warn against making business deals during a certain 52-day period based on planetary alignment. It’s kind of like if astrology and Tarot had a baby, and I call it the Insight Report because it offers so much insight into the year ahead.

Everything I do for others is something I’ve done for myself. I firmly believe in walking the walk. If something doesn’t work for me, I won’t share it with others. This is my journal—she’s been around the block! Inside, I keep a folded-up version of my own 30-page insight report, with all kinds of notes. It’s an amazing tool to help people find balance.

If I’m feeling off and can’t explain why, I’ll consult my report and realize, “Oh, this is what’s happening.” I also look at other things, like solar flares or what month we’re in, but yeah, there’s so much magic out there. There are so many tools and people who can help us, and we don’t know until we do.

Talk to me about this move from Hawaii to Tennessee. How long have you been in Tennessee now? How has your life changed? How are people different? 

Dina Kaniho:  Well, it’s funny. I hear that all the time: “You moved from Hawaii to Tennessee?” People from Hawaii don’t typically move to Tennessee. Although, I’ve found many Hawaiians here. I just found one the other day; she walked into my yoga class, and it was a beautiful connection. Tennessee is beautiful. A lot of people who don’t know just don’t know. But it wasn’t something that we woke up one day and said we were going to move to Tennessee.

There’s been a move in our timeline for my husband and me since we got married. I remember when we got married; I like to tease him that I was a child bride, and he doesn’t like when I tell him that. But we were young and didn’t have a lot of money. I was in nursing school, and he was a new police officer. We went to the Big Island of Oahu for our honeymoon, and while there, we knew we weren’t going to stay in Hawaii. We raised our family there and had many opportunities to move, but out of fear, we didn’t until we did.

So I’ve been in Tennessee for two years. It was very much spiritually motivated. I got to a point in my life where I finally allowed divine will to replace my will. I’m still trying to figure out why, particularly here, but it’s slowly starting to trickle in.

I’m in a small lake town in East Tennessee. I found that immediately my wellness team fell into place, so I knew I belonged here. It feels like it’s a lot about education, and it’s also a big breather for me.

Growing up in Hawaii, I felt a lot physically and emotionally. I’m just like the ultimate empath; I pick up things. Hawaii was like an antenna for me, and I absorbed it all. It was often too much, and I couldn’t do the work I was meant to do.

Now, here, I think you had a chance to see my surroundings when we were setting up. I’m in the middle of the woods. I have five acres, and the lake is right here. It’s everything we always wanted. We knew we would end up in a place like this, but for many reasons, we couldn’t make that happen in Hawaii.

Some of it was energetic, some was divine will, and some was physical. Hawaii is expensive. There aren’t many people who can afford to live on the water unless they are independently wealthy.

One of my goals has always been to open a wellness space where people can feel safe. This space I’m in now wasn’t the first place we ended up in, but it found us, like everything else. Now it’s kind of like the field of dreams: if you build it, they will come. They’re starting to show up, and it’s just magic. When we allow divine will to show us what’s there for us without getting in the way, magic happens.

That’s kind of the long story. I don’t usually tell people that when they ask why we moved. I just say, “Oh, cost of living.” That’s what people can understand.

But I’ve been finding that Tennessee has a lot of magic of its own. There’s a strong underlying native culture that was here before the Americas moved in.

There’s also a lot of interesting Civil War energy around here. So I’m just trying to learn and immerse myself. I’ve been here for two years, and it took me at least a year and a half to feel safe and connected to this land. I came from as far west as you can get, and now I’m in the southeast. It was a little jarring for my energetic system. I had to recalibrate, and it took me a while to do so.

What’s the best way for people to connect with you and follow your work?

Dina Kaniho: I am on Instagram, and I’m also on Facebook. Those are pretty much the only two social platforms that I’m really connected to because most of the time I’m working, so it’s hard for me to keep up with everything. My email is dk@inbalancewithinsight.com. They can reach me there or message me on either of the social platforms. My website is the name of my business, which is inbalancewithinsight.com. You can also check out naturalalohahi.com, where I share my body care products and some of my crystal-infused essential oils and things of that nature.