The healing power of the sweat lodge

It may be small and unassuming at first glance, but there's a reason why the sweat lodge is known for being "one of the most powerful structures in the world."

Michael Looks Twice is a First Nations elder who is the keeper of a sweat lodge on a piece of land located near his home in western Quebec.

He has been a sweat lodge keeper for 20 years and works hard to keep the location of the lodge as secretive as possible.

"The sweat lodge is a very ancient and very sacred First Nations ceremony," Looks Twice stated. "Not many people know where it is and I like that way. I don't want people going up there and messing around. The place where the lodge is built is sacred ground and I don't want anyone putting any bad energy (on the site) or fooling around."

Looks Twice said he sweat lodge is a traditional ceremony that is still in practice among many North American Indian tribal nations.

The practice of sweating has historically been performed amongst many cultures including in Europe but the ceremonies and ritual practices have been forgotten and disappeared with time.

Looks Twice said he has heard many people say the sweat lodge is similar to a sauna, but he said there are not very many similarities between the sauna and the sweat lodge, other than the use of heat and steam for healing.

"That's about where the similarity ends and I find it somewhat ignorant when people describe it like that," he commented. "The sweat lodge is an intense healing ceremony and it is a very spiritual and sacred ceremony. It's not for everyone and it's not to be taken lightly. Amazing things can happen inside a sweat lodge ceremony if your heart, mind and spirit are open to it."

Looks Twice explained that the sweat lodge is constructed using willow branches that are arched and bent to create a dome-like shape. In the old days, he said, hides were used to cover the lodge. Today, most sweat lodger keepers used tarps and blankets draped over one another to cover the lodge and ensure the inside is bathed in total darkness.

"The atmosphere that is created like being in the womb of Mother Earth," he explained. "It is a place of safety, giving, sharing, receiving, releasing, cleansing and healing. Done with ceremony and ritual, it becomes a place where we connect with ourselves, each other, the spirits of our ancestors and Mother Earth. You go in to a lodge to get healing and it's warm and wet and dark, just like inside a woman's womb. You emerge from the lodge a new person, if you allow the healing to take place. It's like being reborn."

Through the ceremony, Looks Twice said, participants are able to come to a better understanding of their place in the universe and their relationship to all things.

"It is a place of awareness, of re-energizing, of re-focusing and a bunch of other dynamics experienced individually and collectively," he said.

"Traditionally, the sweat lodge is used for purification, cleansing and healing of mind, body, emotions and spirit."

The ceremony itself, Looks Twice explained, involves building a sacred fire into which stones (called grandmothers and grandfathers) are placed to be heated up. It can take up to two hours for the stones to become hot enough to use inside the lodge.

"The number of stones we use depends on the type of sweat we're having," he stated. "We use a certain number of stones for a healing sweat and a certain number of stones for a warrior sweat."

One the stones are heated, participants enter the lodge and sit in a circle. The stones are brought in one at a time and placed in the centre of the lodge in a pit.

"I've seen some of these new-agers going into the sweats naked and I can assure you, that's not traditional," Looks Twice said. "We ask participants to be modest and to cover themselves up. Being naked creates too much distraction and it takes away from the purpose of the lodge."

The lodge keeper is responsible for pouring buckets of water onto the scorching stones to create healing steam that participants breathe in. Looks Twice said it typically becomes very warm inside the sweat lodge and it can be very uncomfortable for participants.

"A good lodge keeper doesn't force anyone to stay in if it becomes too much to handle," he noted. "It's important to try to work through the heat and discomfort because that's where the healing comes in, but if someone is feeling ill or needs to get out, I let them out. The point isn't to hurt anyone; it's to help people heal."

Looks Twice said each lodge is different, as are the ceremonies and traditions that govern the sweat lodge. Inside his lodge, each participant is given an opportunity to pray while others sing, drum and rattle.

The lodge is four rounds to honour the four sacred directions - east, west, north and south. Often, prayers are given for the animals who represent each direction and stories about each animal are shared in an effort to teach lessons.

"The sweat lodge utilizes all powers of the universe: earth, and things that grow from the earth, water, fire and air," Looks Twice commented. "If your mind, heart and spirit are open, the ancestors will come in and help with your healing. The ancestors love to see us doing ceremony and keeping the old ways alive. They love to hear us drum and sing those sacred traditional songs. It makes them very, very happy and it brings them to us."

Looks Twice said the sweat lodge is not for everyone and only those who are meant to participate and be healed by its powers will be permitted to enter.
"If you're not supposed to be in the lodge, the spirits will kick you out," he said. "If you're not ready, you won't be able to handle it and you'll have to get out. Everything happens for a reason.

"If you have bad energy or bad medicine, spirits will keep you out so you don't hurt anyone else. Like I said, it's not a place for fooling around. It's a very serious ceremony that has tremendous healing power if you're ready for it and open to it."