Sweat Lodges In Addiction Treatment
Posted by LoveCause on Friday, 9 May, 2008 @ 5:00 am
Addiction is a disease and it doesn’t only affect our bodies and brains, but it affects our spirit as well. There is a movement in the addiction industry toward a more holistic approach to treatment where the whole person is treated rather than just physiological symptoms or superficial emotional anxieties. Spiritual therapy is an integral part of recovery and is increasing borrowing from other traditions.
Sweat Lodges in Addiction Treatment
Sweat lodges or medicine lodges have a long history of use by Native American peoples, mostly in North America. It is a ceremonial sauna where a stones heated in a fire are brought into a tent or hut that is pitch black inside. Then water is poured on the stones creating steam that is sealed in. This creates very hot temperatures inside and the sweating begins.
Mother Earth
Traditionally, the sweat lodge was seen as the womb of Mother Earth and it was a means to spiritual rebirth and rejuvenation. Now in the hyper-hectic and fast-faced world, sweat lodges are returning as vehicles for spiritual cleansing and communion once again. The sweat lodge is a means to clean the body, heart, mind and spirit. The experience has a healing power that is often reinforced by chanting, prays or special rituals that often involve special herbs or grasses that are burned on the stones.
Purification
The body is purified through perspiration and contemplation and encourages camaraderie among the people who participate. After sweating together in the darkness and connecting with oneself, each other and the universe, it can be a powerful spiritual experience. Sweat lodge sessions are often followed by Healing Circles that bring people together to share their stories and support each other.
Many treatment programs, especially wilderness programs incorporate some form of the sweat lodge. Salt Lake City’s Veteran’s Affair Medical Center is also adding this age old tradition to its repertoire of tools to fight addiction and conducts them twice a month all year round now. In a ceremony lasting 4 hours with Native Americans and non-Native alike, veterans experience spiritual cleansing and a spiritual high. One veteran who had been clean for 115 days explained that the high was like doing “an eight-ball of cocaine.”
Regardless of your spiritual orientation, sweat lodges can be a transformative experience that boosts your spiritual morale against your fight with addiction.
Find out more about alternative addiction therapies http://www.choosehelp.com/drug-treatment
Or read the daily blog entry at http://www.troubleblog.com/recovery-from-addicition/2008208/
Tags: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug rehab, Native American, Recovery.Drugs, Sauna, Sweat Lodges