by Beth Haley
How many times do we think of who we are by what we have?
I am my bank account.
I am my house.
I am my corvette (I’d be a corvette).
I am what I’m wearing.
I am my bills.
How about disabilities:
I am disabled, instead of: I have a disability.
I am a Social Phobic, instead of: I have social anxiety.
I am my loss, instead of: I have experienced loss.
I am what I lack, instead of: I am grateful for what I have.
Dr. Alberto Villoldo, who devoted 25 years to studying the healing practices of the Amazon and Andean shamans, starts his mornings with this ancient shamanic breathing practice:
Inhaling, he says, “I am”.
Exhaling, he says, “My breath.”
In, “I am.”
Out, “My breath.”
The concept is that we start our life in this world with a breath. And at our last moment, we will leave this world with a final breath.
Paraphrased:
… when you take your last breath, at the very end of your life, you’re not going to be saying, “I am my bank account, I am disabled, I am my body, I am my job, I am my family, I am my name… No, you can go, “I am my breath,” and you will follow that last breath out…
“This is my practice,” says Villoldo.
“Otherwise I wake up in the morning and I go, “I am my to-do list, I am my emails that I haven’t responded to, and I am this problem that is going on right now””… when none of those things are who I am, although they may be what I have… “you can cultivate that identification with that part of you that will continue beyond this moment, and it can be tremendously liberating.”
I may not have that Corvette, but I also wont be paying the insurance on it either!
I hear my father’s words whenever he would see something really expensive, “That’s some nice debt!” It was a way of teaching us that what we have, we also need to be willing to pay the price for. And sometimes the price isn’t worth it.
I’d still be a corvette.
So who are you really?
…
Inhale: “I am.”
Exhale: “Not a Corvette.”
Sigh. I digress.
Inhale: “I am.”
Exhale: “My Breath”
Inhale: “I am.”
Exhale: “My Breath”
Could I be a charger instead?
I listened to Dr. Villoldo speak on the podcast: My Seven Chakras, “How to Grow a New Body Using Shamanic Healing and Nutrition” with Dr. Alberto Villoldo
Corvette wish from angelic@pixabay
Charger dream from oktagon1@pixabay
Header Photo from johnhain@pixabay
Pilgrimage Studio 