Frequent Traveler writer Margie Goldsmith just returned from Arizona, and gave us this perspective on the recent sweat lodge tragedy.
In some Native American cultures, the sweat lodge is a place where sacred ceremonies take place. Often these rituals--which last about fifteen minutes--include drumming and prayers offered to the spirit world. The lodge is built with great care, respecting both the environment and the materials used. The opening, which always faces East, is covered with a woolen blanket to keep in the heat. The dome-like structure itself is constructed of adobe mud and bark, and the floor is earth. The sweat lodge experience consist of "rounds," after which a "fire keeper" brings more heated rocks inside the lodge. If the heat is too intense, participants can either curl up into a little ball close to the earth (where it is cooler), or leave the lodge until they have cooled off.
Last month, three people died from dehydration and kidney failure after spending two hours in a sweat lodge near Sedona, Arizona, led by an American facilitator, James Arthur Ray, who most often leads New Age seminars and mentoring services on wealth creation. Ray made his participants remain inside for over two hours and called the ceremony a "rebirthing experience." The participants in his "Spiritual Warrior" four-day retreat had just finished a 36-hour "vision quest" which included an experience in the desert with no food or water. No Native American would ever consider putting a dehydrated person into a sweat lodge, and certainly not 60 people, the number of participants Ray invited to the 24-foot-wide by 4.5-foot tall makeshift structure. The roof of the sweat lodge in which Ray conducted his ceremony was covered in non-breathing plastic.
The Native American sweat lodge experience has nothing to do with money, but Ray charged each participant $9,695 to attend his 4-day retreat. This was not surprising, because according to his website, Ray has spent the last 20 years "studying the thoughts, actions, and habits of those who create true wealth and mentoring individuals to create wealth in all areas of their lives." Last year, Ray's company made $9.4 million from seminars, books, and videos.
In some Native American cultures, the sweat lodge is a place where sacred ceremonies take place. Often these rituals--which last about fifteen minutes--include drumming and prayers offered to the spirit world. The lodge is built with great care, respecting both the environment and the materials used. The opening, which always faces East, is covered with a woolen blanket to keep in the heat. The dome-like structure itself is constructed of adobe mud and bark, and the floor is earth. The sweat lodge experience consist of "rounds," after which a "fire keeper" brings more heated rocks inside the lodge. If the heat is too intense, participants can either curl up into a little ball close to the earth (where it is cooler), or leave the lodge until they have cooled off.Last month, three people died from dehydration and kidney failure after spending two hours in a sweat lodge near Sedona, Arizona, led by an American facilitator, James Arthur Ray, who most often leads New Age seminars and mentoring services on wealth creation. Ray made his participants remain inside for over two hours and called the ceremony a "rebirthing experience." The participants in his "Spiritual Warrior" four-day retreat had just finished a 36-hour "vision quest" which included an experience in the desert with no food or water. No Native American would ever consider putting a dehydrated person into a sweat lodge, and certainly not 60 people, the number of participants Ray invited to the 24-foot-wide by 4.5-foot tall makeshift structure. The roof of the sweat lodge in which Ray conducted his ceremony was covered in non-breathing plastic.
The Native American sweat lodge experience has nothing to do with money, but Ray charged each participant $9,695 to attend his 4-day retreat. This was not surprising, because according to his website, Ray has spent the last 20 years "studying the thoughts, actions, and habits of those who create true wealth and mentoring individuals to create wealth in all areas of their lives." Last year, Ray's company made $9.4 million from seminars, books, and videos.
Ray assured the group that he had much experience in sweat lodges and that he held this Spiritual Warrior event every year. But during the two-hour ordeal inside, many participants were vomiting and wanted to leave. Ray urged them to stay, explaining that throwing up was good for them, and that they were purging what their bodies didn't need. The heat, according to participants who were part of the ceremony, became unbearable. After around 90 minutes, someone yelled that a woman had passed out, to which Ray replied, "We will deal with that after the next round." The woman as well as another person who participated, died that evening from heat exhaustion and kidney failure. A third went into a coma and died nine days later. In all, twenty-one participants were hospitalized, not surprising considering Ray's participants had just undergone 36 hours with no food or water.
After the tragedy, members of all the local Native American tribes were shocked. "What has happened in the news with the makeshift sauna called the sweat lodge is not our ceremonial way of life," said Lakota spiritual leader Arvol Looking Horse, Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle. "I am concerned for the deaths and illnesses of the many people that participated." Arvol Looking Horse explained that the lodge in Sedona does not represent their ceremonial way of life because of the way the rituals were conducted. "The Native American ceremonies are about life and healing," he added. "Never has death been a part of our inikag'a (life within) when conducted properly." Said Arvol Looking Horse, "When you do ceremony, you cannot have money on your mind." The Native Americans, he said, deal with energy to create healing which comes from everyone in the circle. He added, "When you involve money, it changes the energy of healing."
"The leader defied the greater powers of nature and spirit; and for that his consequences are eternal," said Donovan Hanley, Director of the Navajo Interactive Museum in Tuba City. "My deepest sympathies go out to the families who are at a loss. I hope the leader of this 'function' has learned and will go back and find balance."
I too, would like Ray to find balance for the rest of his life--in jail.
Margie Goldsmith is an award-winning essayist and novelist, who has written for the New York Times and National Geographic Traveler, among other publications. You can follow her on Twittter at @margiegoldsmith.
Photo: cybertoad via Flickr
After the tragedy, members of all the local Native American tribes were shocked. "What has happened in the news with the makeshift sauna called the sweat lodge is not our ceremonial way of life," said Lakota spiritual leader Arvol Looking Horse, Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle. "I am concerned for the deaths and illnesses of the many people that participated." Arvol Looking Horse explained that the lodge in Sedona does not represent their ceremonial way of life because of the way the rituals were conducted. "The Native American ceremonies are about life and healing," he added. "Never has death been a part of our inikag'a (life within) when conducted properly." Said Arvol Looking Horse, "When you do ceremony, you cannot have money on your mind." The Native Americans, he said, deal with energy to create healing which comes from everyone in the circle. He added, "When you involve money, it changes the energy of healing."
"The leader defied the greater powers of nature and spirit; and for that his consequences are eternal," said Donovan Hanley, Director of the Navajo Interactive Museum in Tuba City. "My deepest sympathies go out to the families who are at a loss. I hope the leader of this 'function' has learned and will go back and find balance."
I too, would like Ray to find balance for the rest of his life--in jail.
Margie Goldsmith is an award-winning essayist and novelist, who has written for the New York Times and National Geographic Traveler, among other publications. You can follow her on Twittter at @margiegoldsmith.
Photo: cybertoad via Flickr
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Thanks for such a timely commentary!
The gullible are everywhere, having money doesn't make you immune.
Great article Margie. As always, it was well written and reported.
Fascinating -- although most unfortunate -- story. Thanks for reporting it, and let's hope this kind of thing doesn't happen again.
Wow, this writer really nailed this terrible event. I had read about it in newspapers, heard about it on TV news but I never got the true details and particularly, the Indians' reactions as clearly as I have from Margie Goldsmith's article. Excellent reporting. Excellent writing.
Great article not to mention the beautiful picturs. I will most likely be heading back weekly. This site has Hotwire, One travel, Enterprise and a ton more travel discounts. http://docketdirectories.com/Travel_airlinereservations.html
Wow, this is a tragic and upsetting story. Beatifully written, though.
Great insights to a terrible tragedy that I hadn't read elsewhere. This story needed Native American commentary and I finally found some!
What a tragic story. Thank you for sharing it with us, Margie.
Yes, as others have said, great background into a national news story -- and the editorializing is very welcome. Ray *should* spend the rest of his days in jail... perhaps in an overheated cell. I wish I could say Ray was alone. As an Arizona resident, it infuriates me how people continue to distort and exploit Native American principles to line their pockets.
This is a much-welcomed commentary on the needless tragedy. Excellent reporting.
Thanks for this thoughtful report. If I had $9,600 to spend, not sure I'd drop it on the chance to starve, thirst and sweat.
This is a beautifully written piece, and so interesting to bring in the Native American point of view and allow those who practice traditional sweat lodges to speak and distance themselves from this tragedy. I was in Arizona (at TCW) when this happened and read all the local reporting, and I'm concerned that no one seems to be putting this event in the larger context of looking at all these "spiritual" seminars and their dangerous approach of setting people up to "test" themselves. The thing about Ray is that he's HUGE; he gotten an enormous amount of mileage out of being featured in The Secret and he has an incredible number of followers out here in California where I live, including many friends of mine who are people whose opinions I normally respect. This tragedy was actually not the first time (by any means) that Ray has done this type of event; months ago a friend of mine described attending a seminar in Nevada where participants had to walk barefoot across hot coals. I felt very concerned at the time hearing this, but figured some kind of safety precautions must be in place; then this happened and I realized that of course there were no checks and balances at all.
Thanks for tackling this!
It would be terrible for the public to turn against the sweat lodge as a legitimate and valuable spiritual experience because of the tragedy at Sedona. Thanks for pointing out the travesty of how the sweat lodge was misused for what sounds like greed rather than spiritual purposes. What a badly conceived spiritual program for unsuspecting consumers trying to improve their lives.
Great, educational article. As a person who practices and respects religion(s), I cringe. How can anyone think that testing people like this has a benefit? Or that you can develop your spirituality in the pursuit of financial success? Nothing wrong with being productive and secure, but this is a whole other bag.
I feel so sad - what senseless deaths.
Especially loved the author's last line:
'I too, would like Ray to find balance for the rest of his life--in jail.'
AMEN!