Inipi - The History And Meaning Of The Sweatlodge

Most people do not even realize the arrogance that they portray when they speak of a "sweatlodge" or a "sweat". Today's seekers often turn to the vast and deep spirituality of the Native Americans and rush to adopt any and all spiritual practices and rituals so that they can fool themselves into thinking that they are spiritual, wise and knowledgeable. The sad truth is that the majority of these people are desperate and impatient, and this condition has caused a widespread aura of misconception surrounding Native American "sweatlodges", their purpose and meaning. "Sweatlodge" and "sweats" have become mainstream spiritual buzzwords, and most who claim to be "spiritual, not religious" have at least heard of what they call a sweatlodge and doing a "sweat" for spiritual purity. Sweatlodge services have become more of a mainstream activity, and one can find many places on the internet that offer to perform a sweat for one or more people. Horrifically, those who are offering these services have distorted the purpose, meaning and tradition of the ancient practice so much that the modern, mainstream, "White" concept and practice of a sweatlodge ceremony resembles the traditional practices very little, if at all. What was once (and still remains) a holy and sacred practice is nowadays processed, packaged and served as a McSpirituality experience and is followed by a group outing to a Chinese restaurant for dinner (as advertised on one "sweatlodge" website)! This distortion and blasphemy of the traditional ceremony is disgusting and shameful.