The Modern Sweat Lodge as a Method of Understanding Native American Religious Experience

THE MODERN SWEAT LODGE

AS A METHOD OF UNDERSTANDING NATIVE AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE

I first sought professional counseling for being sexually abused as a child in the fall of 1999. Repressed memories of these childhood events had slowly started to come to my conscious over the course of the preceding two years, and despite my every attempt to suppress them, either through alcohol, drugs, or denial, I had been completely unsuccessful. I was raised in a strict, orthodox Catholic family, but had long left the teachings of the Church by the time I reached adulthood. The few prayers I made were self-serving and unsatisfying, and my life had become progressively unmanageable. And thus I sought the help I desperately needed to provide healing and comfort.

The therapy I received in Memphis was intense and personal. Sessions, under the guidance of trauma counselors, were provided in a small group setting in which the survivors related their past, under the admonition to “feel your feelings, tell the truth.” We would sit in a circle of 6-8 people, of varying ages, sex and religious beliefs, and give our narratives of the horrors of our past. Different treatment modalities included music therapy, role-playing, inner child work, and EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) therapy. The goal was to (hopefully) free the mind, clear the body, and open the hearts of the participants.

For myself, the experience was both intensely cleansing as well as a spiritual awakening. Where there was once fear, now there was hope. I began to live the process of recovery, and made the decision to move out West and restart my life anew. With newfound friends and a sense of optimism, a coworker in Provo suggested I might be interested in experiencing a Lakota sweat lodge ceremony with her husband (UVSC/BYU Assistant Professor Stott Harston) and some of his Native American friends. Another coworker (and future wife) and I set out for the sweat lodge near...