The Sweat Lodge is both ancient and modern, and it is global as well. Almost all indigenous cultures around the globe have utilized some type of ceremonial sweating, either in baths or enclosures, for cleansing, healing, prayer, and clearing for vision quests. This photo above is of an ancient sweat house in Ireland. Most prevalent on our continent today are the Native American Sweat Lodges (photo below).
I have had the honor of participating in several Sweat Lodge Ceremonies over the years. My first experience was in Minnesota with Lakota Elders. It was an all night ceremony during the middle of the winter. A large group was gathered and the temperature was well below zero. This was a very profound experience for me.
The Elders instructed us before we entered the lodge, and lead the ceremony inside the lodge with others tending the fire outside. There were many rounds of prayers, singing, chanting, sharing and meditation as super heated rocks were ceremonially brought in from the fire outside at certain times. The sweat leader would chant prayers and pour water on the hot rocks at different times. With each round the lodge became hotter and hotter, and the energy more intense as we prayed, released and cleared. There were offerings of sage, cedar, sweetgrass and tobacco. If it got too hot, you could leave the lodge between rounds, but you could not reenter once you left.
I can remember at one point looking up into the blackness of the lodge, and I could see the night sky and all the stars! I felt the lodge and all the people disappearing around me, and suddenly I was weightless and flying. I did not know how that could be, but somehow I knew I would be okay. I stayed in the lodge until early morning. When I said my final prayers and exited the lodge, I felt like a totally different person. The sun was just rising and even though it was well below zero, I felt no cold at all. I was renewed, cleansed, and healed on so many levels. I am very grateful for that experience and I thank the Elders.
I have continued to make a practice of sweating. I am always amazed at how much better I feel after a sweat. If I can't get to a formal ceremonial sweat, I utilize the modern facilities of dry cedar saunas. I go with the spirit of the ancient ceremony with me. I say my prayers and meditate in silence. Sometimes there are others in there who are receptive to learning about the spirit of the sweat lodge. If I feel a little sick or tired, with a sweat I can release toxins from my body and clear the symptoms rapidly. Recently I have been learning about the benefits of infra-red saunas.
I have only touched on some simple teachings about the sweat lodge. Below are several very great sights where you can learn more about this subject, and about Native American teachings as well. I hope to see you in a sweat sometime!
If you are a woman and you wish to experience the teachings of the Native Americans, and participate in a sweat lodge ceremony, please visit the post on the "Sister's of the Dance" Ceremony.
More Information:
- A Sweat Lodge
- The Native American Sweat Lodge: A Spiritual Tradition
- History of Sweat Lodges
- Sweat Lodge Etiquette
- Chief Arvol Looking Horse
- Black Elk Speaks
- Ed McGaa - Eagle Man
- Barefoot's World
- Gathering of Nations
- World Council of Elders
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"In 1851 Seattle, chief of the Suquamish and other Indian tribes around Washington's Puget Sound, delivered what is considered to be one of the most beautiful and profound environmental statements ever made. The city of Seattle is named for the chief, whose speech was in response to a proposed treaty under which the Indians were persuaded to sell two million acres of land for $150,000."
-- Buckminster Fuller in "Critical Path"
Chief Seattle's Letter
Every part of the earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my people.
We know the sap which courses through the trees as we know the blood that courses through our veins. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the dew in the meadow, the body heat of the pony, and man all belong to the same family.
The shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water, but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you our land, you must remember that it is sacred. Each glossy reflection in the clear waters of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The water's murmur is the voice of my father's father.
The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our canoes and feed our children. So you must give the rivers the kindness that you would give any brother.
If we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life that it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also received his last sigh. The wind also gives our children the spirit of life. So if we sell our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow flowers.
Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth.
This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.
One thing we know: our God is also your God. The earth is precious to him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator.
Your destiny is a mystery to us. What will happen when the buffalo are all slaughtered? The wild horses tamed? What will happen when the secret corners of the forest are heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the ripe hills is blotted with talking wires? Where will the thicket be? Gone! Where will the eagle be? Gone! And what is to say goodbye to the swift pony and then hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival.
When the last red man has vanished with this wilderness, and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, will these shores and forests still be here? Will there be any of the spirit of my people left?
We love this earth as a newborn loves its mother's heartbeat. So, if we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it. Care for it, as we have cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you receive it. Preserve the land for all children, and love it, as God loves us.
As we are part of the land, you too are part of the land. This earth is precious to us. It is also precious to you.
One thing we know - there is only one God. No man, be he Red man or White man, can be apart. We ARE all brothers after all."
(click here to read both translations of Chief Seattle's Letter)
"In 1851 Seattle, chief of the Suquamish and other Indian tribes around Washington's Puget Sound, delivered what is considered to be one of the most beautiful and profound environmental statements ever made. The city of Seattle is named for the chief, whose speech was in response to a proposed treaty under which the Indians were persuaded to sell two million acres of land for $150,000."
-- Buckminster Fuller in "Critical Path"
Chief Seattle's Letter
"The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky? the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?
Every part of the earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my people.
We know the sap which courses through the trees as we know the blood that courses through our veins. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the dew in the meadow, the body heat of the pony, and man all belong to the same family.
The shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water, but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you our land, you must remember that it is sacred. Each glossy reflection in the clear waters of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The water's murmur is the voice of my father's father.
The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our canoes and feed our children. So you must give the rivers the kindness that you would give any brother.
If we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life that it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also received his last sigh. The wind also gives our children the spirit of life. So if we sell our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow flowers.
Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth.
This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.
One thing we know: our God is also your God. The earth is precious to him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator.
Your destiny is a mystery to us. What will happen when the buffalo are all slaughtered? The wild horses tamed? What will happen when the secret corners of the forest are heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the ripe hills is blotted with talking wires? Where will the thicket be? Gone! Where will the eagle be? Gone! And what is to say goodbye to the swift pony and then hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival.
When the last red man has vanished with this wilderness, and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, will these shores and forests still be here? Will there be any of the spirit of my people left?
We love this earth as a newborn loves its mother's heartbeat. So, if we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it. Care for it, as we have cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you receive it. Preserve the land for all children, and love it, as God loves us.
As we are part of the land, you too are part of the land. This earth is precious to us. It is also precious to you.
One thing we know - there is only one God. No man, be he Red man or White man, can be apart. We ARE all brothers after all."
- Chief Seattle, 1854
(click here to read both translations of Chief Seattle's Letter)
