For those of you who do not know what one of these is, the sweat lodge consists of an open domed structure made of bamboo tied with red bands, with a space for a door. Thick woollen blankets are thrown over it in a certain way and large and smaller stones are baked in an adjacent fire of willow branches until red hot then put in a hole in the middle of the structure.
Obviously the thick blankets keep the heat in, and you sit in it, stark naked whilst the steam from the stones after the Shaman has chucked water on them hits your bare body. As once of our tribe says “It kinda bakes the Ayahauasca in”
The ceremony is conducted by the Shaman and his assistant, who chant and sing and it is a very beautiful ceremony. Each time the water is thrown on the fire it creates steam hotter than a sauna and the ceremony is actually a re-birthing process whereas you are in the dark as you would be in your mother’s womb and you emerge a new person. It is a ritual which was performed by the Lakota tribes from centuries ago.
At intervals the door is opened and the steam is let out.
I entered the lodge with my towel round me and once in my spot sat there in the buff. Another woman was with me, as well as the Shaman and his female assistant. The door was covered after the stones were put into the hole from the adjacent fire with a pitch fork brought especially from America by one of our group. Apparently they do not have them in Colombia, maybe because they do not have hay.
As the ceremony started I felt the nastiest energy in the lodge. My heart began to bang really hard in my chest and I could hear it pounding. I could not breathe despite breathing through my mouth as I was told to do so. I started to panic really bad and really tried to keep myself under control. The Shaman was trying to help me calm down but it was no use. I was wrapped in some form of bad energy which would not let me relax. You may think that this was just maybe some form of panic attack, but it was not just the panic symptoms, it was like there was something bad inside the pit of my tummy that would not come out. It even stopped me from crying out.
I began to quietly ask if I could leave, but they just kept telling me to try to relax which I really tried to. After two openings of the door the Shaman said I could leave if I wanted to. I crawled to the door like a rag doll with a purple face, asked one of our tribe manning the door blankets to take my hand to help me stand as I could not move and staggered to my feet.
I sat down and started to cry and I could not stop myself, I felt so sick I almost threw up. The heavy brick in my tummy sank back down. The heat was nothing to what my other feelings were. The Shaman came to me afterwards and said that there was a very bad energy inside me, but he said that having two door openings from the ceremony would have helped it nearer the surface. I explained that as a child I was put in our dark cellar as punishment and he said the bad energy from those experiences did not want to come out as it was too deep inside. It wanted to stay put but it had to be out of me as it was no good.
On reflection, I think I now know why he randomly selected me for healing the second time we drank as he knew I had some baggage that I had to be rid of.
I did feel a bit of a wimp for not being able to stay throughout the whole Inipi ceremony but it was if I was possessed by something that wanted me to get out of it as if something did not want me to be cleansed.
Obviously the thick blankets keep the heat in, and you sit in it, stark naked whilst the steam from the stones after the Shaman has chucked water on them hits your bare body. As once of our tribe says “It kinda bakes the Ayahauasca in”
The ceremony is conducted by the Shaman and his assistant, who chant and sing and it is a very beautiful ceremony. Each time the water is thrown on the fire it creates steam hotter than a sauna and the ceremony is actually a re-birthing process whereas you are in the dark as you would be in your mother’s womb and you emerge a new person. It is a ritual which was performed by the Lakota tribes from centuries ago.
At intervals the door is opened and the steam is let out.
I entered the lodge with my towel round me and once in my spot sat there in the buff. Another woman was with me, as well as the Shaman and his female assistant. The door was covered after the stones were put into the hole from the adjacent fire with a pitch fork brought especially from America by one of our group. Apparently they do not have them in Colombia, maybe because they do not have hay.
As the ceremony started I felt the nastiest energy in the lodge. My heart began to bang really hard in my chest and I could hear it pounding. I could not breathe despite breathing through my mouth as I was told to do so. I started to panic really bad and really tried to keep myself under control. The Shaman was trying to help me calm down but it was no use. I was wrapped in some form of bad energy which would not let me relax. You may think that this was just maybe some form of panic attack, but it was not just the panic symptoms, it was like there was something bad inside the pit of my tummy that would not come out. It even stopped me from crying out.
I began to quietly ask if I could leave, but they just kept telling me to try to relax which I really tried to. After two openings of the door the Shaman said I could leave if I wanted to. I crawled to the door like a rag doll with a purple face, asked one of our tribe manning the door blankets to take my hand to help me stand as I could not move and staggered to my feet.
I sat down and started to cry and I could not stop myself, I felt so sick I almost threw up. The heavy brick in my tummy sank back down. The heat was nothing to what my other feelings were. The Shaman came to me afterwards and said that there was a very bad energy inside me, but he said that having two door openings from the ceremony would have helped it nearer the surface. I explained that as a child I was put in our dark cellar as punishment and he said the bad energy from those experiences did not want to come out as it was too deep inside. It wanted to stay put but it had to be out of me as it was no good.
On reflection, I think I now know why he randomly selected me for healing the second time we drank as he knew I had some baggage that I had to be rid of.
I did feel a bit of a wimp for not being able to stay throughout the whole Inipi ceremony but it was if I was possessed by something that wanted me to get out of it as if something did not want me to be cleansed.
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