One of the highlights of our Mt. Shasta trip was the Sweat Lodge experience. Tina Sacchi, our facilitator, has a lot of experience leading sweat lodges and she prefers to run them in the Hawaiian Style. Apparently that means it is not as hot as the traditional Native American sweats, and she is very open about allowing participants to leave the circle if they feel they have to. 

The purpose of a Sweat Lodge is to release all our blocks and limitations and things we have been holding on to that are holding us back. With intention, we release on all levels: mind, body, spirit and emotional…an old tradition with different variations across different cultures.  Many times, the actual sweat lodge is a temporary structure that is constructed and covered by the participants as part of the ceremony. However, at the Gatehouse Retreat, the building is a permanent structure, much like a hogan on an Indian Reservation. And the fire is contained in a wood-burning stove with a flat container of lava rocks on the top where the leader pours water to build up the heat.

In all the experiences I have had over the past 25 years, I had never had the opportunity to be in a Sweat Lodge. Deep down, I was a little nervous about it from all the stories I had heard. But I was certainly willing to give it a try. 

The session consists of 3 “rounds,” where we spend some time inside in the heat and then come out to cool off and spend some time writing in our journals about our experience and the thoughts that have come up.  Then we would go back in and Tina would add some heat to the fire.  During the sessions, we were able to talk about things that were coming up or sing a song or say whatever we felt moved to say.  Tina would play her drum and keep adding herbs and oils to the lava rocks as she added water to create more steam heat. Each session was hotter than the last, and the 3rd round was REALLY hot–but, to my surprise, not TOO hot. The last round is meant to help us really move the energy and release whatever it is that we have been hanging on to that just is no longer serving us. 

I was amazed to see that I was literally dripping with sweat. I hardly ever sweat, and it was fun to see me sweating like a basketball player. All in all, I was very proud of myself and of everyone else because we were able to stick it out to the end, with no one breaking down and having to leave.  I truly did enjoy it and made some huge shifts in some issues I have been dealing with. Just before we started our first round, a raven flew right over our circle from west to east, and Tina said that that indicated New Beginnings and would bring clarity.  During one of the sessions, Annie St. John-Wilkins shared a song that she has recently written, and I was amazed that the words totally explained a previous message I had received from a very intuitive friend of mine–there was the clarity!

 I can’t wait to do another one!

 In my next article, I’ll talk about our experience of looking for UFOs!

 That’s it for now!   Heather