Sweat lodge
A sweat lodge is a heated, dome-shaped structure used by Indigenous peoples of North America for purification ceremonies and as a way of supporting healthy living. Steam, usually made by pouring water onto heated rocks, is meant to help participants sweat out the toxins and negative energy that, in this understanding, create disorder and imbalance in life, cleansing body, mind and soul.[1] It is led by a trained keeper within a living tradition, and because the heat can be dangerous, Australian health authorities have published guidance on its risks.[1][2]
Description
A sacred ceremony
According to The Canadian Encyclopedia, each sweat lodge differs with the community or person who runs it and the purpose it is used for. Some ceremonies are limited to men, women, children or members of particular clans, and others are open to all. What they share is that the lodge is a sacred place, compared to "the womb of Mother Earth". Because it is sacred, who leads it matters. Lodges are run by a keeper, often an Elder or healer, who is trained in traditional healing and sweat lodge practice and knows how to conduct sweats safely. Most conductors don't charge a fee, although participants customarily give them an offering of cloth or tobacco.[1]
The course of a ceremony
Most lodges today are wooden frames covered with tarpaulins and blankets, with rocks heated in a fire outside and brought into a pit in the centre. Participants are usually told to avoid alcohol and drugs beforehand, and make offerings before entering. Inside, they sit in a circle for a time set by the conductor, often a few hours, while music is played and prayers are said. Participants are invited to speak about themselves and their reasons for attending. At the end the conductor gives thanks, and the fire keeper opens the door.[1]
The encyclopaedia notes that the heat and darkness can be physically and mentally demanding, which is one reason a trained conductor is essential, and that the heat, together with the spiritual experience, has been known to cause hallucinations.[1]
Scope
What it includes
- Ceremonies conducted in a heated lodge by a trained keeper, with prayer, music and offerings[1]
What it is not
- It is not a sauna session or a tourist experience. Elders caution against treating sweats as tourist attractions, although many say ceremonies are open to all who understand and respect them.[1]
- Its effects have had little research. A Canadian pilot study published in 2006 noted that there was almost no research on the effects of traditional healing practices, and reported that participants' spiritual and emotional wellbeing increased after a sweat lodge ceremony.[3]
Traditions and lineage
Two kinds of sweat
Historically there were two kinds of sweat. Indigenous peoples in Alaska, California and parts of Central America sat in small, often partly underground structures heated directly by fire. The more common method, used by most Indigenous peoples in what is now Canada, was to heat stones in a fire, place them in a small domed lodge covered with hides, and pour water over them to make steam.[1]
Meaning, suppression and renewal
For Indigenous peoples, the encyclopaedia says, the sweat lodge has spiritual, cultural and practical purposes, and is a place to connect with the Creator, with nature and with Indigenous heritage. Canada's Indian Act banned the sweat lodge until 1951, and the lodge is now seen as a symbol of cultural resilience and renewal.[1]
Lodges run outside the tradition
Elders strongly caution against people who present themselves as healers without training in the sacred teachings, and the encyclopaedia warns that sweats run outside the tradition can be dangerous. In 2009, three participants died in a sweat lodge at a New Age retreat near Sedona, Arizona.[1]
Context
Within Spiritualism
Spiritfold has found no source that treats the sweat lodge as part of Spiritualism. The one documented overlap is among individual Spiritualists. In a study of a Spiritualist congregation in Montreal, Canada, the anthropologist Deirdre Meintel reported that a few members, who had taken up what they called Indigenous spirituality (which she glosses as neo-shamanism), took part in sweat lodges and other rituals they regarded as Native in origin, usually under the supervision of Native shamans.[4] She describes such members as exploring other spiritual approaches alongside Spiritualism.[5]
In Australian Spiritualism
Spiritfold has found no published source linking sweat lodges with Spiritualism in Australia.
A Spiritualist perspective
The sweat lodge is a sacred ceremony of Indigenous peoples of North America, and a Spiritualist would respect it as theirs. It has no place in Spiritualism, and no Spiritualist church, centre or teacher should run, host or promote one. As the history above shows, Elders caution against people who present themselves as conductors without training in the sacred teachings, and lodges run outside the tradition have cost lives, including in Australia.
Where an individual Spiritualist is drawn to Indigenous spirituality, as some in the Montreal study were, that is a personal matter, and the decision to welcome them, and the ceremony itself, belongs entirely to the Indigenous keepers. A teacher's counsel would be simple: honour other peoples' sacred ways without taking them over, and never put anyone's health at risk in the name of spiritual experience.
Sweat lodges in Australia
The Australian sources cited here are health warnings, and they show why the cautions on this page are not a formality. SA Health, the South Australian Government's health department, describes a sweat lodge as essentially a ceremonial sauna, generally based on a Native American tradition, and warns that long exposure to high temperatures in a confined space can be dangerous. Ceremonies held in remote areas may also be far from communications and medical help.[2]
In 2005, Adelaide forensic pathologists reported the death of a 37-year-old man from dehydration and heat exposure after a sweat lodge ceremony in outback Australia. They described a pattern they called "sweat lodge syndrome": long exposure to heat in a poorly controlled setting, not making sure people drank enough, not recognising that losing consciousness was serious, using ineffective alternative treatments, and delay in getting medical care. The authors noted that taking up the rituals of other cultures may not be entirely safe.[6]
Safety and good practice
The main physical danger is heat illness. SA Health says severe or untreated heat illness can cause death, and advises that:[2]
- the conductor should understand the risks and plan to protect everyone's health and wellbeing[2]
- participants should be trained in first aid and able to recognise heat-related illness[2]
- arrangements should be in place for urgent, medically supervised treatment[2]
- participants should have their health and fitness checked by a GP beforehand, be well fed and well hydrated, avoid alcohol and drugs in the days before, and rest from the heat when needed[2]
- jewellery, contact lenses and synthetic clothing shouldn't be worn, because the heat can make them melt or burn[2]
- rocks that contain air or are damp shouldn't be heated, as they can crack and explode[2]
- there should be a communication and evacuation plan for a medical emergency, with a mobile phone, CB radio or GPS device and checked coverage[2]
- participants should look carefully into the background and beliefs of anyone running a sweat lodge[2]
If someone shows signs of heat illness, SA Health advises moving them somewhere cool, removing clothing and fanning them (not dousing them in water or ice), giving fluids as they can tolerate them, and getting first aid and medical help straight away.[2]
The Adelaide pathologists advised that people with significant heart disease, people taking certain medicines that make overheating more likely, and people who have drunk heavily should stay out of sweat lodges.[6]
Related modalities
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Gadacz, René R. (updated by Michelle Filice). "Sweat Lodge". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Published 7 February 2006; last edited 22 February 2017 (accessed 12 October 2026).
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 SA Health. "Sweat lodges". Government of South Australia (no date shown; accessed 12 October 2026).
- ↑ Schiff, J. W. and K. Moore. "The impact of the sweat lodge ceremony on dimensions of well-being". American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research 13, no. 3 (2006): 48–69. doi:10.5820/aian.1303.2006.48. Abstract read via Europe PMC (accessed 12 October 2026).
- ↑ Meintel, Deirdre. "When There Is No Conversion: Spiritualists and Personal Religious Change". Anthropologica 49 (2007): 149–162, pp. 156–157. PDF (accessed 12 October 2026).
- ↑ Meintel, Deirdre. "When There Is No Conversion: Spiritualists and Personal Religious Change". Anthropologica 49 (2007): 149–162, p. 155. PDF (accessed 12 October 2026).
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Byard, R. W. and K. J. Riches. "Dehydration and heat-related death: sweat lodge syndrome". American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology 26, no. 3 (2005): 236–239. doi:10.1097/01.paf.0000163838.92053.fb. Abstract read via Europe PMC (accessed 12 October 2026).
Further reading
- Gadacz, René R. "Sweat Lodge". The Canadian Encyclopedia, Historica Canada.
- SA Health. "Sweat lodges". Government of South Australia.