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Sweat Lodge

Sweat Part 2…

by Thought Provoken on October 7, 2009

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to take part in a very special ritual that has been practiced for thousands of years.  Although many of us do this ritual on many occasions, generations of cultural dilution has led to a certain disconnect where we know not what we are doing nor why we are doing it.  Through the experience, I was able to reconnect with myself, my dreams and my ancestors who continue to pave my path with blessings and light.

To put things into perspective, I wanted to take an excerpt from a great book called “The Shamanic Experience.”  This book outlines certain exercises and practices that can help to develop ones spiritual clarity and awareness.  Chapter 12 covers shamanic healing techniques and explains the purpose and benefits of the sweat lodge.  The excerpt is as follows:

“Indigenous peoples regarded purification as an essential requirement for the maintenance of good health.  The principal purification method used by American Indians was the sweat lodge, or sweat house, which provided a means of cleansing not only the physical body, but the mind and spirit as well.  It’s nearest modern-day equivalent is, perhaps the Scandinavian sauna or steam bath, though it is a rather poor alternative.”

As with my experience, most sweat lodges are performed by trained shamans who understand the ritual behind the lodge and the process that goes in to preparing for the sweat.  I will go into detail about the process in part 3 but for now, I want to express how life changing the journey to the sweat was (excerpts from my writings during the journey):

“Living in the city often causes one to have a singular or myopic train of thought. We awake often under stress and uncertainty… We eat food that we have limited connection to and become engulfed in technologies that separate us from the natural order of things. Essentially, we become partially dead to our environment.
As I type, I am in the car heading on 75 north towards the North Georgia Mountains and I can feel my body and mind transforming.  My lungs are sucking up the crisp mountain air and my body is gaining energy from the foliage and the sun… It’s like something is coming alive in me. It’s hard to explain but it’s compared to going through a book of old photos and remembering the things that contributed to who you are as a human being (by experiencing the memories).
We are all people of the earth and our physiological makeup reflects such. We contain all of the elements of the earth and universe and are directly and indirectly connected to it.  I’m just so grateful to be amongst the trees and such cleansing energy.

More to come as the journey evolves…

3E

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Sweat…

by Thought Provoken on October 3, 2009

This year has been quite difficult for us as a nation and as a people.  We have experienced financial crisis, political turmoil, and the collapse of a system that was build on greed and imbalance.  As a result, unemployment is at highs never seen in my generation and more and more people are facing the loss of much of what they worked to establish.

As we all know, the earth (our Mother) operates in cycles… as does the universe.  Many different cultures have their interpretation of the cycle, its timings and what to do but the foundation is the same:  That which gets dirty must be cleansed.  Many of us don’t realize how important this concept is (or many of us forget).  As the lion cleans his mane, the spider cleans her web, and yogi cleans his mind, we to must actively seek to wash that which has accumulated in our minds, bodies and spirits.

This concept has significant importance in today’s day and age.  From a financial perspective, we are witnessing the cleansing of our overly consumptive habits (debt, credit cards and the like).  From a spiritual perspective, we are all looking towards something that can give us comfort in these difficult times.  All of these concepts and systems are interrelated and there are certain things we can do to aid the cleansing process and help us become more balanced beings.

Today, I am about to experience my first sweat lodge.  The sweat as it is called knows no cultural boundaries in that many peoples of the earth have their own forms.  From the saunas in the West to the sweat gatherings in the East, all peoples spiritually bound to the earth have a ritual by which they give thanks to the ancestors, ritualistically sweat/cleanse themselves, and actively seek a re-birthing period.  After the lodge, I will write about my own experiences but for now I just want to set the stage…

3E

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