Taos Sweat Lodge Not A Money Making Sedona Death Trap
by Jane Odin
In the late ‘90s I attended a Lakota sweat lodge at least once a week for several years. The experiences were memorable and I was saddened when they were no longer held. Given my positive experiences I can’t imagine circumstances like those described in the news regarding $9000 a person sweats resulting in the death of 2 people and hospitalization of many others. James Arthur Ray, one of the authors of the well known New Age book “The Secret”, was the leader of the group and in attendance at the sweat. It is reported online he constructed the lodge out of tarps and plastic. Why would anyone use off-gassing tarps and plastic to cover a tightly enclosed area that gets hot as fire. Sweat lodges are supposed to be healing environments; tarps off-gas BPA, phythalate and other toxins with gusto when heated.
I never paid dollars to attend a sweat. I brought food for the later-meal and tobacco for the Lakota leader. But James Arthur Ray didn’t get paid with choke cherries and watermelon - he cleaned up on this event ….$495,000 - given 55 attendants at $9,000 each. Is my math right? Imagine that – half a million and he couldn’t afford appropriate covering for the sweat lodge frame. Given my experiences with 12 in attendance I can’t imagine a lodge with 55 people stuffed inside. It was obviously a money maker and had nothing to do with physical healing and/or spiritual enlightenment. Not surprising in these days of New Age capitalism. The industry term for these New Age gatherings is “Large Group Awareness Trainings.” Never went to one. Not interested in large group consciousness raising.
To enter a sweat lodge one must bend down to walk through a flapped door and remain in the bent over position until seated. With 55 people in a circle around a pit of hot rocks it would be very difficult to climb over everyone to get out in case of an emergency. When a traditional Lakota ceremony is conducted the ritual goes through several distinct stages with more rocks brought in throughout from an outdoor fire. The fiery rocks are transported on pitchforks – it’s sometimes a little tricky moving them through the door. A person unfamiliar with the ritual might find it difficult to choose the appropriate moment to leave.
From time to time one is breathing fire. This happens when water is poured on the rocks and fiercely hot steam fills the lodge. Throughout my first experience I kept hoping my clothes wouldn’t catch on fire. But I never felt bad physically – during or after the ceremony - and I never saw anyone get sick in any fashion. Since so many folks were hospitalized at this recent event in Sedona I would imagine some kind of toxic fumes were released from the tarps or something else. There is something wrong with this picture.
To my knowledge and experience each sweat has a purpose and the temperature in the sweat is determined by the purpose. For example, if the focus-person has a life threatening illness the leader may use 50 to 70 rocks and the more the rocks the hotter the sweat. The rocks are increased throughout the sweat until the target number is reached. The circumstances don’t seem appropriate for a large number of rocks to have been used in the Sedona event.
The leader of the ceremonies in Taos was a Lakota speaking Sioux raised at Pine Ridge to follow a lineage of medicine men. The attendees were primarily Indians from different tribes from all over the southwest. The drum was passed around the circle and songs in the languages of the Ute, Comanche, Pueblo and Sioux singers were sprinkled throughout ceremonies that were not advertised and never attended by tourists or casual observers. Every week town folks could see smoke from a large, hidden fire rising in the middle of town and that was the extent of general knowledge. No one involved was in the money making business. I was deeply blessed and honored to be there.
Post Script
And now a third person has died and local law enforcement is said to be examining the materials covering the sweat lodge. Well it’s about time! They should also be interested in knowing the seating arrangements such as who was closer to the entrance to the lodge and who was seated at the back.
Tags: James Arthur Ray, Lakota sweat lodge, large group awareness training, New Age gatherings, plastic off-gasses, Sedona event, sweat lodge deaths
October 21st, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Trying to think positively, I assume Mr. Ray was ignorant of the potential for off-gassing, especially under the extreme temperatures experienced in a sweat lodge. This is not meant to be an excuse for Mr. Ray, who, had he conducted the sweat in a more traditional manner, would have also used traditional materials in construction of the lodge.
In the end, I hope he has learned and will avoid plastics and other chemically-infused materials in the construction of his next sweat.
I feel his extravatgent fees speak volumes about where he is coming from in conducting sweats and it does not appear to be spiritual in nature.
Wishing all beings well