Huna is the word used by Max Freedom Long in 1936 to describe in his words the secret science behind the miracles that ancient Hawaiian kahuna experts performed on people. Huna organizations exist all over the world and are non-profit organizations. They are organizations that teach, research and practice the studies of Max Freedom Long. There is an annual World Huna conference held although there is no specific information on the Huna members available to the public.

The concept of Huna believes in the concept of three selves. These selves are the low self, the middle self and the higher self. They are also known as subconscious, conscious and super conscious states of being. These words in Hawaiian are unihipili, uhane and aumakua. The main principles of huna consist of seven main things: the world is what you think it is, there are not any limits, energy flows where people's attention goes, now is the moment of power, to love is to be happy with something or someone, all power comes from inside and truth is measured by effectiveness.

Long believed that the kahuna were not only found in Hawaii and were found in other civilizations such as in ancient Egypt, in India and certain cultures of Christ and Buddha accepted similar types of principles.

There lies some controversy in using a Hawaiian word to describe worldly principles used in different countries. The native Hawaiians find that their culture did not condone such significance and therefore criticise the use of the word. It is hard to pinpoint traditional views in Hawaii, as it has been a place with so many influences from different cultures. Some Hawaiians believe in huna traditions and some do not.

Long based his use of the word huna from a translation of English from a dictionary made in 1865 by a missionary when it was illegal to practice huna methods. Although it was used by Long, none of the Hawaiian sources used this term for the method he used for his approach to huna. In fact some of the Hawaiian terms used mean nothing of the three selves and mean something completely different.

In Hawaiian, kahuna refers to an educated or learned person. Kahunas can be experts in any field, not necessarily the medical field. They can be experts in canoe building, agriculture, temple building as well as being experts in diagnosing illnesses and herbal medicine.