The Social NetWorker

Sweat Lodges and Social Work

(This is a guest post by Megan Elizabeth Morris.)

This week I discovered that one of the primary sweat lodge participants -- a warm, friendly dude I'd met before at Flipside -- is a student of social work. Of course, I thought. That makes perfect sense. The sweat lodge ceremony is about spiritual healing and positive connections; social work is about psychological healing and positive connections. Why not?

When I went bouncing around in Google, I found a lot more information along those lines. Sweat lodge opportunities that count towards continuing education credits, an article in the Journal of Religion & Spirituality in Social Work, a presentation comparing social work students and sweat lodge participants at St. Thomas University. It never occured to me that there might be an overlap between these two parts of my life, though the moment I felt the impact of the experience I thought, Well, I'd better write something about this.

And really, it makes perfect sense. Perhaps my greatest relief inside the sweat lodge was the feeling of being completely accepted, welcomed and part of the ceremony as it proceeded. (On Saturday I got to shake a rattle. It was awesome. But that's not quite what I mean.) It was a permeating atmosphere; though actual words were said -- "All beliefs and no beliefs are welcome here" -- it was more in the attitude of the people, the vibration. This is a safe place is what I felt in that vibration.

This is an atmosphere that is surely sought out in social work, especially in counseling. And indeed, I felt counseled by the sweat lodge, by the people inside who were so freely sharing their thoughts and hopes in the dark, by the care and compassion of the individual people involved. I've never participated in a group counseling session, but in that lodge I wonder if that's not exactly what I experienced, after its own fashion. It was such a soothing, healing place -- extremely challenging heat, yes, but that isn't all of it. There's a generosity to it, and yes, a connection.

I find myself wondering where else sweat lodge ceremonies may intersect with social work, and whether I might stumble upon them accidentally as I did here. Have you ever encountered this in your work?

Megan Elizabeth Morris (email)
Ms. Morris writes at Personal Revelations of the Magnificent Megan M. Megan Elizabeth Morris, or The Magnificent Megan M., [proper noun]: Superhuman font of knowledge, skill, determination & resourcefulness. Exudes enzymes that cause others to surpass their potential. Master thinker; writes, designs, manages, ideastorms, markets, inspires, connects, grows, teaches, makes things happen, changes the world, and throws a mean right hook. (Okay. Not the last one. Well! Not literally.)