Each time with Ayahuasca was unique. This story came from my second and eighth times in ceremony with this medicine.
My first two experiences were back-to-back. So on this second night, I was feeling ready to go deeper. The nerves of the first night were not there, and I wanted to see and experience more.
It appeared that Ayahuasca had a lesson for me before going any deeper.
My breath.
For whatever was to come my way, I was to use my breath to move me through it.
It showed me the power of my breath through various experiences of my life.
I was breathed into this world.
My life began (here) with my first breath.
I breathed my children into this world.
I witnessed my grandfather’s last breaths.
As long as I’m here, my breath will be a tool that I have available to me.
I have long known the power of the breath through a deep interest in yoga during my 20s and how I could regulate my experience through my breath when I used to run.
However, I hadn’t consciously used my breath to move energy and release trauma. Ayahuasca was making sure I was aware of the importance of this tool that I always have available to me.
Through that second journey with Ayahuasca, I held this lesson in my awareness. It allowed me to go much deeper beyond where I went in the first night. I was able to face and move through much more difficult issues.
I was shown my resilience. I was shown the power within me to dissolve and heal the uncomfortable.
Within a month’s time, John had begun doing Wim Hof-style breathwork. I joined him on occasion.
This became a greater part of his daily practice, and through his healing facilitation training and work with Training Camp for the Soul, he began supporting others in healing through working with their breath.
Through our co-evolution, I, too, incorporated much more regular meditation and breathwork in my life over this time.
When I went into retreat for the third time this past June, I began my eighth time journeying with Ayahuasca with a profound reflection.
I was shown the state of my brain back during my first two times in ceremony, just 8 months prior. I lived in my mind. There was so much chatter and worry… Even though I had done a lot of growth work before then.
I felt the difference in my experience in that moment. All was still. The analytic and judgmental mind had quieted. I could surrender and receive. The following three ceremonies were profound because I could surrender so deeply.
The medicine had shown me the power of the breath in that initial lesson. I took that lesson and used it in my life on a regular basis.
I couldn’t quite see the effects over the day-to-day, as it was a gradual progression. However, the setting of ritual showed me my progress.
It showed me how much had changed through adopting this practice – something that is so easy to take for granted – the breath – has life-changing power.
When we allow ourselves to feel uncomfortable emotions and breathe through it, we allow that energy to move out of us.
Through doing healing work, we can come to know that the pain and trauma is stored energy that we held onto in our physical form… AND, we have tools and practices that can allow us to liberate those wounds.
Curious about breathwork? John is offering free breathwork sessions beginning next Tuesday and all through October. If you’re interested, sign up. You’ll get the recording if you can’t make it.