Sweat lodge
First sweat lodge survivor speaks out - Yahoo! News
I've sort of been following this story, because I helped to build and participated in a sweat lodge ceremony in 2006. I've seen photos of the deadly lodge and I have to question the use of a large, plastic tarp over the top. When I was building the lodge I was going to sit in, I recall only cloth blankets were used to cover the dome--nothing plastic, only 'breathable' stuff (OK--I just looked at a pic of the lodge I helped to build. Some plastic was used, but the size was considerably smaller than the lodge of death). Further, you can't expect people to fast in the desert and not also become dehydrated or suffer heat stroke. Maintaining correct body temperature in the desert requires caloric intake; being starved, probably dehydrated, then sitting in an oven-like environment is a terrible error in judgment.
None of us had to endure fasting, and none of us would have been chided if we wanted to leave during the sweat. No pressure. Several participants in the sweat helped to build the lodge under guidance from a woman who had done it for decades. She was a delight, and I'm sure if anyone had felt ill, she would have encouraged them to leave the sweat.
And this James Arthur Ray character that was in charge...*sigh* How is it that a goofball like this is a millionaire and I am not?
I'm just saying.
I've sort of been following this story, because I helped to build and participated in a sweat lodge ceremony in 2006. I've seen photos of the deadly lodge and I have to question the use of a large, plastic tarp over the top. When I was building the lodge I was going to sit in, I recall only cloth blankets were used to cover the dome--nothing plastic, only 'breathable' stuff (OK--I just looked at a pic of the lodge I helped to build. Some plastic was used, but the size was considerably smaller than the lodge of death). Further, you can't expect people to fast in the desert and not also become dehydrated or suffer heat stroke. Maintaining correct body temperature in the desert requires caloric intake; being starved, probably dehydrated, then sitting in an oven-like environment is a terrible error in judgment.
None of us had to endure fasting, and none of us would have been chided if we wanted to leave during the sweat. No pressure. Several participants in the sweat helped to build the lodge under guidance from a woman who had done it for decades. She was a delight, and I'm sure if anyone had felt ill, she would have encouraged them to leave the sweat.
And this James Arthur Ray character that was in charge...*sigh* How is it that a goofball like this is a millionaire and I am not?
I'm just saying.
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