The Practice of Non-Possessiveness

Letting go of material attachments is one of those guidelines that seems to come up in every religious and spiritual text. When I was younger, this concept fell under the list of sins that my grandparents and their churches spoke of and my rebellious nature was filled with disdain. Later I came to understand that restraints are given in spiritual texts to lift up the individual when the pleasures and pains of life become overwhelming; having this structure helps one sustain their growth towards true happiness.

Aparigraha Non-possessiveness is one aspect of yama, or restraint, given by Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras to help the yogi to live in society without losing sight of the spiritual path. The sutra that describes aparigraha is translated by B.K.S. Iyengar as: “Knowledge of past and future lives unfolds when one is free from greed for possessions.”

In other words, we learn who we truly are when we let go of what we are clinging onto. When I ask myself “who am I?”, it is so hard to come up with an answer outside of the material world. At times, I have been a student, an engineer, a cook, a sister, a wife... but none of that will come with me when I leave this body.

A challenging aspect of this practice is recognizing what truly brings us happiness and what no longer serves us. Does your house, your car, your career, your relationship truly improve your life? What are you holding onto simply because it may be painful to break the attachment, even when peace is on the other side of the pain?

Spiritual Warfare When my spiritual path led me to explore shamanism, I was struck by a common issue healers of different cultures face in their community: sickness and even death are caused by spiritual attacks triggered by envy, jealousy, and resentment. People in the Amazon jungle fear attracting the envidia of their neighbors, in case it leads them to hire a sorcerer to take away their health and happiness. The Italian side of my family knocks wood to prevent sending malocchio, the evil eye, to those they admire. In their culture also, it is a dangerous thing to spend too much time looking at what others have.

It seems to me the best defense to an attack is an offensive one. That is, to avoid flaunting wealth, beauty, success, or whatever other gift one has. Another layer of this is to freely share wealth that goes beyond what we need to live so that our neighbors can also find happiness. This concept feels so opposite to how many people act in the society I live in. Here in the United States many seem to find great pleasure in inciting the envy of their neighbors with a green lawn, flashy car, or new shoes. I am not spending time worrying about a spiritual attack, but I have come to recognize that it gives me much more joy to share what I have with my community. How can we measure success without putting ourselves above and below those around us?

What does this mean in modern American society? I am finding it increasingly difficult to engage in American society while practicing non-possessiveness. When did so many people begin to admire the influencer? I am not above this. Although I would like to use social media as a tool for connecting to my community, it is challenging to avoid being sucked into the call for materialism and envy of our connections. Go onto Instagram or Facebook and one is flooded with posts advertising courses that will teach you to how to live a happy life, if only you have enough money to support the teacher and the companies they are partnered with.

The line between comfort and true happiness is hard to discern. I am grateful for the abundance I have which keeps me well-fed and stocked with tools that make my life easier. I choose to live in the material world and to keep up with the practice of non-possessiveness, I will need to keep asking what I really want and what I am chasing for a fleeting moment of gratification. Do you feel like you can find more peace by letting go?

The Green Light of Kambo

This is a quote from another Kambo Practitioner that explains the beauty of sitting with this medicine quite beautifully:

“Kambô circulates in the heart. Our shaman said that when we take Kambô it makes the heart move accurately, so that things flow, bringing good things to the person. It is as if there was a cloud on the person, preventing the good things to come, then, when it takes the Kambô; it comes a ‘green light’, which opens its ways, making things easier”

I’m still learning where earth medicines assist my spiritual path.

There was a period where I thought practicing yoga asanas and pranayama was everything. I imagined that using substances was a shortcut or a detriment to my practice.

My first Kambo ceremony led to one of the most dramatic shifts in my life. I went for months feeling burnt out, exhausted, achy, and depressed. The day after the ceremony I was excited to greet the day, filled with energy, literally seeing the world in more vibrant colors.

According the classic texts on Hatha Yoga, purification is the first step of our practice. I was not arriving to my mat in a healthy body when I felt the call to sit with Kambo. A healthy body is needed to support a healthy mind, and a healthy mind is needed to reached an enlightened state.

Kambo is the medicine taken from the giant monkey tree frog who resides in the Amazon jungle. Taking this secretion from another animal means that our body integrates the medicinal compounds (peptides) as our own.

This medicine helps us to recover the balance that has been disrupted by a toxic lifestyle. Kambo helps us to remember our natural state of being.

Monster waves captured by photographer Ben Hartley at Nazaré, Portugal.

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[🎞️ livevirtualguide]

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[📹lena.bostonn]