Sweat Lodges Part II: No, you can't. Here's why.

AK note: This is Part II in discussing sweat lodges and non-Natives. For Part I and background,click here.

After that long lead in, lets break it down into some of the major issues at play here. I feel like I'm treading in a bit of dangerous water here, because admittedly sweats have not been a part of my spiritual tradition. If anyone has corrections or comments, please let me know, and know that it is not my intention to generalize, stereotype, or offend.

Sweat lodges are sacred. plain and simple. Not every tribe in the Americas has a tradition of sweat lodges, but many do. Each tribe has different origin stories surrounding the ceremonies and songs--hear that? songs, not chants!(one of my pet peeves)--that go along with them, so it is impossible for me to write a concise history. But realize that these ceremonies, when performed in their traditional cultural contexts, are religious practices. Equivalent to something, like, say, the act of receiving communion for Catholics (not an exact comparison, but work with me). Even non-Catholics respect the role of a priest and his position, and would never wander around selling "communion ceremonies" out of a backyard or garage, and moreover, people wouldn't think that participating in one of these ceremonies was a replacement for the real thing.

Why, again, is it ok to appropriate sacred traditions from Native peoples?



There are many directions I could go with this discussion--the commodification of cultural practices (ie there are many "legit" Natives who sell their services as medicine men and women or lead sweats for money) , the fact that these men (and jezebel women) are participating in dangerous practices that when not understood or performed correctly can result in death and injury (see this case from Arizona last year where 4 people died in a sweat run by a white new-ager), or the fact that these non-Native "shamans" are making $500 an hour on an appropriated (well, stolen, really) practice while Natives live in some of the poorest communities in the US. All valid issues. But, for sake of space, I'll focus on the Macho Man/oppressed women narrative.

Assumption One: Participating in a sweat is a way to "prove" your manliness, push yourself to the limit, put on a show of bravado

No. Again, I can't speak for all tribes, but from my understanding, it is the exact opposite. A sweat is a time to be humble, not assert your strength. This description from a book written by a non-Native, called "The Lakota Ritual of the Sweat" (you can read part of it online here) shows just how unimportant machismo is to the process--though I hesitate to post it because I can't vouch for the accuracy or if the community is ok with the publication:

(I hope I'm not violating like 1200 copyright laws with that). Note the lines "This was not an endurance contest", "insisted he was not worthy", "repeatedly stated that he was poor, humble, and nothing". Does this sound like the description from Details? not so much.


Assumption Two: Not allowing women who are menstruating into the sweat is a sign of patriarchy and sexism and is rooted in a deep disrespect of women.

No. Again, it is completely the opposite. Barbara Omaha, White Earth Ojibwe, says of the practice:

During her Moon time, a woman is going through her own natural purification process. While her body is going through this natural purification, she is also recharging her own body's powers and energies, so it is a cleansing and restorative time for her. Because a woman's power is being renewed during this process, she must stay away from all sacred ceremonies...A woman's power during her moon time is so strong that it can draw the power away from the sacred Sweat Lodge, Sundance, and Pipe ceremonies. Her power during this time can interfere with the power in the Sacred Pipe, Eagle Feathers, and the food offered for the feasts following ceremony.

Women cannot participate not because they are "unclean" or as a sign of male power, it is because women have so much inherent power that they can interfere with the ceremony. Omaha also notes:

Men do not have their own natural purification and renewal process, therefore they must come to the Sweat Lodge ceremony for purification.

So, Jezebel women, it's not a sign of disrespect, it's a sign of ultimate respect. That's the case with many practices outsiders deem sexist towards women in Native communities--standing outside the drum circle, for example--come out of a place of a deep understanding of the power and role of women in our communities.

In sum, cultural sensitivity: ur doin it rong.

For a great documentary on the subject, check out "White Shamans and Plastic Medicine Men", which is actually on youtube, in three parts (but it appears part 3 is missing). Watch it. Inform yourself. Part 1 below:



(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCLmT_M-qtk)

Article on deaths in Arizona sweat lodges:  http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/religionandtheology/1906/new_age_tragedy_in_sedona:_non-indians_in_the_sweat_lodge__/

Earlier: http://nativeappropriations.blogspot.com/2010/04/sweat-lodges-bro-therapy-part-i-summary.html

Details article: http://www.details.com/style-advice/grooming-and-health/201005/sweat-lodges-enlightenment-health-detox?currentPage=1

Jezebel article: http://jezebel.com/5517139/sweat-lodges-the-therapy-of-choice-for-bros

Sweat Lodges: "Bro" Therapy? (Part I, the summary)

AK note: Thank you all so much for the love and positive feedback I've gotten in the last few days. It's so exciting and humbling that this project I thought wouldn't go outside of my family and a few friends has taken really taken off. I'm so appreciative of the support and so glad these issues are getting out there!

So, I had another post all ready to go for today, but then logged onto Jezebel this morning and saw this post entitled: "Sweat Lodges: The Therapy of Choice for Bros", and decided that after the comment thread on the post about tribal fashion yesterday (here) I should say something.



The Jez post is based on an article in Details concerning a new "trend" towards successful, macho, business men participating in "sweat lodge" ceremonies for renewal and cleansing purposes. The Details article is pretty bad overall, though I feel like the tone is a little mocking towards these "bros", so that's good (?). First of all, the title of the post is "The Hottest (and Most Dangerous) New Trend in Therapy". They then describe Durek Verret, a former model and self-described "healer" who looks "more like a hipster than a healer":

Verrett works out of a converted garage next to the laundry room in his home. Between chants, you can hear the dryer churning. On a makeshift altar on the wall behind him, he has placed a beeswax statue of a rotund woman he calls Mama, a cylinder of sea salt, an empty wine bottle, and a dried pomegranate...Verrett charges $500 an hour for these sessions and sees about 25 clients a week.

 and describe a "healing session":

Verrett—the son of a Norwegian medicine woman and the grandson of a Haitian shaman—starts by summoning Hale's spirit guides, asking them to enter the young man's body, which is reclined on a massage table. "We now begin to unprogram all of the fears he has in his relationships," he says. "He's running from love. He uses these fears to block him from experiencing women the way he needs to." Verrett moves his hand in the air above Hale's body like a magician set on making something vanish. As Hale shakes and flops, the healer yells, "Now, spirits! More, spirits!"

This reads like a parody of a new-age healer. Working out of a garage? makeshift altar? summoning "spirit guides"? but it gets worse:

In the garage in Silver Lake, after some chanting in Greek and Italian, he closes the session by rubbing lemongrass on Hale's chest to clear his mind and sprinkling sea salt on him for protection.

Chanting in Greek and Italian? rubbing him with lemongrass and sea salt?  a Jezebel commenter pointed out that it sounds more like he was preparing him for dinner than summoning spirits.

The second half of the article describes a group of men who participate in "sweat lodges," which are described by the author as "macho bonding experiences":

A fixture in Native American culture, sweat lodges were embraced by men's groups in the sixties and again in the nineties as macho bonding experiences, hearty cures for the emasculating upheaval of the women's-liberation and political-correctness movements. Today they're mostly seen as dangerous.

These men in the article sit in a sweat lodge in a backyard that is adorned with elk antlers and a disco ball "just for fun" and participate in primal screams during the final round of the sweat. One man mentions he found his "spirit animal" during a sweat in Alaska--he now calls himself "Summer Fox" in his prayers to the "Great Spirit". gag me.

Anna, the author of the Jezebel post, had this to say as her closing:

And before I rag on the middle-aged white dudes in Schaefer's article for appropriating Native American traditions to solve their decidedly white-dude problems, I should confess that I too once signed up for a sweat. But I couldn't go. Because I was menstruating. True story.

She had an opportunity to address the inherent issues with the idea of white bros and white "shamans" appropriating spiritual practices, but instead the comments turned to swapping stories of sweat lodge experiences and disdain over the fact that menstruating women weren't allowed into Anna's sweat.

Some of the Jezebel comments:

"I used to do a sweatlodge with my all female feminist women's group in my hometown, all were welcome, no matter the time of the month. It was actually amazing. We'd sweat and meditate and then run out buck naked and jump in the river. Young, old, skinny, fat, and we'd just dance or howl or sit quietly. It was great. And we always called the sweat lodge "the womb" so take that Macho Man!"

and

Sweat Lodge culture is very weird place for women. I once had to do a sweat lodge ceremony when I was dating the future Mr. Tusk (his godfather was WAY into it) and I was asked in front of a large group of strangers (and my boyfriends parents!) if I was menstruating!! I was told that if I was, I had to go and sit in the other tent by myself and I couldn't participate. Needless to say, I'm a bit jaded on sweat lodges and their lodgers.

 and

I did a sweat lodge once. My friend was doing a rotation in holistic-style medicine and one of her teaches had a lodge in her backyard. A Native American man led the experience with the appropriate chanting and so on. I have to say, it was an incredible experience. I did not expect to be affected the way I was.  

All I have to say is: YOU'VE GOT IT ALL WRONG!! There are so many assumptions and inaccuracies in this discussion, I don't even know where to start. This is already the longest post ever, so I'm splitting it into two. Part II immediately to follow.

Part II can be found here. 

Jezebel Post: http://jezebel.com/5517139/sweat-lodges-the-therapy-of-choice-for-bros

Details Article: http://www.details.com/style-advice/grooming-and-health/201005/sweat-lodges-enlightenment-health-detox?currentPage=1