Almost a month ago, I was at a friend's birthday party up at a pub in Kings Cross - ciao Roberto! We were dancing to Balkan dance music played by Dj Penny Metal. What fun it was. There was even some people doing Cossack dancing. I later got talking to a geezer by the name of Steve and he mentioned he was going to a North American Ojibwa sweat lodge and I was welcome to come along. I did know a little about sweat lodges being Canadian. I thought, this is something I want to do. I called Steve up a few weeks later and got the details.
Below are some blurry photos from Roberto's birthday.
We did in Farham, Surrey just outside London. It involved sitting in complete darkness in a tent and wearing towels while cherry red hot rocks were covered with water to release steam. It got so so hot in there but then that is the point. There was 10 of us in there; it was filled to capacity. There was 4 or was it 5 rounds to it; one round involved a smoking a pipe with the flap to the tent open so we could see what we were doing. Every round 6 rocks are added to the pile. The rocks were heated on a fire near the lodge; so before every round, the rocks where shovelled in.
There was a hole in the ground in the lodge in which the rocks were piled. There was 3 people there who had been doing it for years on and off. There was Steve, of course, and Justin and Nigel. Nigel explained to us novices the ritual behind it and talked about the significance of it. Steve went by the name "White Eagle" during the ceremony. You can see the frame for the lodge before we covered it with blankets and then traps to block the light; also it served to trap the heat. Steve also talked about the ritual behind it with Nigel.
And it turns out I was in one of the hottest part of the sweat lodge. My ego was yelling at me at times , "I want to get out of here" and I thought would I try to force my way out of the tent if it got to be too much. I am not used to sitting still like this. It did not get to that fortunately.
I felt a bit sick after it which I am told is typical with all the heat; some water and cups of tea later and I felt much better. We did drink water continuously in-between the rounds.
These guys do it about every 2 months. I think I will go again. What a unique experience.