When I sat down with Hilda for the second half of our conversation, I expected more stories from her travels. I got those. I also got a reminder of something I learned the hard way more than twenty years ago: how you see yourself shapes everything else.
Get up with the sun
Hilda used to call herself a certified night owl. She was a mom of four kids born within five years. She stayed up late working after bedtime and dreaded anything close to sunrise. Then she tried something simple. For two weeks she went outside within 30 to 45 minutes of sunrise and stood in the morning light for 10 or 15 minutes. Her husband laughed and said they’d see how long that lasted.
It stuck. Her energy came back, her mood lifted, and her sleep fell into rhythm with nature. She said something I loved: we’ve become astronauts. Our feet don’t touch the ground, and we spend all day in an artificial environment. Then we wonder why our bodies push back.
When she was with the Kogi people in Colombia, they were already on the beach before her each morning. They see the day as a wave. They rise with the sun, work while it’s up, and wind down when it sets. Most of us do the opposite and gear up once it’s dark.
Your cells are listening
Hilda’s father is 94, and she says he does “everything wrong.” He’s also unstoppable. At museums he’s right up front with the guide asking questions, and after a concert he wants to go dancing. Hilda believes his secret is that he never stopped learning. He’s young at heart.
My grandmother lived to 103 and my mom to 100. I don’t think that was luck alone. Mindset counts for a lot. When someone tells me they’re having a midlife crisis, I ask if they’re planning to die at double their current age. I feel like I’m 21. Hilda put it perfectly: if you say you’re old, you will be, because your cells are listening.
The body is holy
In Ecuador, Hilda met a midwife and healer named Mamá Rosita Colta, who had brought many babies into her Quechua community. In their conversation, Rosita kept repeating one line: “Nuestro cuerpo es sagrado.” Our body is sacred.
To me that’s about respect. If I don’t respect myself, I won’t respect you. When I got sick at 46, with seven children and my youngest only six, I wanted to blame everyone and everything around me. Then I realized blame was poison, and blaming myself wasn’t any better. The only way forward was to take responsibility, own it and fix it.
Today I tell people I’m perfectly healthy. Some push back and say nobody can be perfectly healthy. But I’m not trying to achieve perfect health. I’m receiving it. Once you claim it, the people, wisdom, tools and nourishment you need start showing up.
Start small
Hilda’s advice through all of this is to start with one thing. Catch the morning sun for two weeks. Take a walk. Put your bare feet on the ground. Say something kind to yourself in the morning, even if you don’t believe it yet. As she said, you can learn new truths about yourself the same way you learn a commercial jingle.
Hilda hosted the Wise Traditions podcast for ten years before stepping away this spring to focus on moms. Her book The Ancestral Mother Code comes out in February. If you get a chance to meet her at one of her events, take it.
You are infinitely valuable. Treat your body that way.
— Ian
Ancestral Health Secrets from Indigenous Elders: What Keeps Them Strong at 100 | Hilda Labrada Gore