The Social NetWorker

Seeking the Sweat Lodge

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

The sweat lodges in the Hill Country happened at 9:30 in the morning, so when I walked back to camp -- whether I'd stopped for a swim in the creek or just come straight back, covered in dirt and sweat and mud -- people were awake and settling in for the hot part of the day.

My arrival was more apparent, I think, when I was filthy. I should tell you, I don't like being filthy -- I have a cleanliness thing. There are probably some fairly appropriate labels for the compulsions I have about bathing regularly and making sure my clothes are clean. After the sweat lodge, however, I was never worried about how clean I was. There's simply no avoiding earth inside the lodge; even if you sit on a towel, you eventually have to crawl around the pit to go outside in the end and when you're covered in sweat, everything sticks to you.

I suppose after you've passed a certain critical mass of dirt, it's senseless to keep fighting it. But I don't think that was why I didn't mind. I think it was connection, again -- I think it was that I felt connected to everything, friends with everything, the same. Me and the dirt, we're buddies. (Well, not so much today. But probably the next time I visit a sweat lodge.) And I admit that I think I'd prefer to have that feeling all the time. It's relaxing. With everything I (and you, and everybody else) deal with every day, it's a sort of relief.

I don't know if it was that my absense was significant, or that I seemed different, psychologically (very possible), or just that I returned covered in mud (that's certainly significant), but many people wanted to know what the sweat lodge was like over the course of the week I spent out there. Most people tended to ask once or twice and then let it go, not knowing the right questions -- and it was hard for me to answer, because my experience with the lodge hadn't been about the ceremony or the traditions or the culture as much as some kind of semi-conscious, creative, self-work process in me that was inspired, or driven forward, or opened up.

When people ask now, I have the same uncertainty -- but I'm starting to get some idea of where to go with it. For one thing, I can bring guests to the lodge in my area, and that's helpful. It doesn't have to be a difficult experience, and it's easy for someone to leave the lodge if the heat gets to be too much for them. The people involved are very caring, understanding people. But what can someone do if they don't know the right person, to get them connected?

Knowing what I know now, I would search Google for "sweat lodge ceremony" and my town, or the nearest big city. Even if I didn't find the perfect group for me off the bat, there's a good chance that I could find a friendly group willing to let me participate as a guest, which is obviously a great way to make a few friends in the community and start searching for options. In my experience, it seems that the sweat lodge community (like anyone else) is particularly helpful and friendly to those who are willing to help set up and take down the lodge (if it's not a permanent structure) and help around camp -- so after the first experience or two, that would be an excellent way to make friends and continue to attend, then branch out and discover more groups with more sweat lodge ceremonies throughout the year.

It's clear to me now that all communities are different, with different traditions and rules -- but I have also found the people involved to be very kind, forgiving of mistakes, and understanding in all cases. If I had moved to a new city, I would try to remember this as I searched for a sweat lodge to participate in. If you are looking for one yourself, will you keep us apprised of your progress? You can even email me, if you want to let me know what you found!

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.)