A Movement Lab program
Kūpuna Warrior Project
Our kūpuna are warriors — the strength, wisdom, and foundation of our community.
The Kūpuna Warrior Project honors kūpuna as what they are — warriors, knowledge-holders, and the living foundation of Koʻolauloa — and helps them keep their strength, independence, and connection through gentle, healing-centered movement. Community Healing, Health & Happiness (CH³) built this program because when an elder can move freely and stay connected to ʻohana and community, the whole community is stronger for it. Movement is the entry point; relationship is the method; and a kūpuna's confident, independent daily life is the goal.
What It Is
The Kūpuna Warrior Project is a community health and relational wellness initiative — not a fitness class, a workout, or senior recreation. It uses gentle, healing-centered movement as a doorway to three things: functional independence (the strength and confidence for everyday life — rising from a chair, walking to the mailbox, moving through a kitchen), connection (belonging to a group and a community again), and dignity (being honored as a warrior, not treated as a patient).
How It Works — We Come to Kūpuna
Rather than asking elders to travel to a distant facility, the Kūpuna Warrior Project brings programming into familiar, comfortable indoor community spaces close to home across Koʻolauloa. The program is designed around a few core elements:
A warm welcome conversation
Each kūpuna begins with a friendly one-on-one conversation (not a medical exam) to understand their history, hopes, and any concerns, and to shape movement that fits them.
Healing-centered movement sessions
Gentle, guided sessions led by trusted local facilitators, such as Tai Chi, adaptive yoga, gentle strength and balance, and tension release — always with chair-based, standing, and supported options, so no one is asked to move beyond their ability.
Movement Partners(part of the growing model)
The program is designed to include caring, trained companions — including youth and community members — who move alongside kūpuna offering balance support and encouragement. Not aides — companions in the work.
Wellness woven in
Friendly, practical conversation about aging well and navigating community resources, shared as community talk, never a lecture.
Who It Serves
The Kūpuna Warrior Project serves kūpuna and older adults across the Koʻolauloa communities of Kahuku, Lāʻie, Hauʻula, Punaluʻu, and Kaʻaʻawa — with special care for those too often left out: kūpuna with reduced mobility, chronic pain, or a fear of moving; those who rely on a cane or walker and want to regain function; kūpuna who feel isolated and long for connection; and elders for whom getting to programming has been a barrier — which is exactly why we bring sessions close to home.
Safety and Dignity
Every kūpuna's safety and comfort come first. Sessions are fully adaptive — chair-based, standing, and supported versions of every movement — and facilitators meet each person exactly where they are. No kūpuna is ever asked to do more than feels right for them. Kūpuna with health concerns are encouraged to check with their healthcare provider before beginning new movement.
About the Name
The program was first imagined as "Kupuna Koa." With gratitude, CH³ renamed it the Kūpuna Warrior Project after a respected community elder advised that the original Hawaiian phrasing was grammatically incorrect — a small correction made out of deep respect for Hawaiian language. The name carries its full weight: a warrior is defined not by combat but by purpose, discipline, responsibility to community, and the will to protect what matters. Koʻolauloa's kūpuna are warriors in exactly that sense.
Free for Kūpuna and Families
The Kūpuna Warrior Project is free to the kūpuna and families it serves. CH³ welcomes grants, contracts, sponsorships, donations, and partner funding that make free programming possible.
Help Our Kūpuna Stay Strong
Whether you're a kūpuna, a family member, or a partner — a church, senior community, health provider, funder, or someone who'd like to walk alongside our elders as a Movement Partner — reach out and let's talk.