Sweat baths and sweat lodge ceremonies have been around for thousands of years in many cultures around the globe. Although the Native American sweat lodge as a ceremony is best known to us today, similar traditions have been part and in some form are still part of our European heritage, like the Russian bania and the Finnish sauna.

All throughout the ages people have known the many benefits of sweat baths. It was Hippocrates, the ancient Greek physician, who wrote, "Give me a fever and I can cure any disease". A sweat bath provides such a 'fever' and helps our physical body to cleanse itself of toxins and pathogens mostly by excretion through our skin. By increasing the inner heat of our bodies our metabolic rate increases: the organs work harder to deposit waste materials and toxins in sweat, blood and urine. At the same time the splashing of water on the hot rocks creates an atmosphere filled with higher amounts of negative ions, which aids the body's immune system and induces a healthy and positive mental state. With its strong communal character, the sweat has also been a vessel for social interaction, creating and maintaining the bonds between the members of the tribe and forging unity in the community.

The sweat bath as a ceremony, incorporating ritual, prayer and song, takes the elements of purification and community into the transpersonal realm of cleansing and communion thus providing a doorway to the infinite in a very real way. This intense energetic movement is known for its deep healing benefits on all levels: physical, mental and spiritual. In ceremony the full spectrum of life comes into play, embracing the sacredness of it and giving everyone the opportunity to connect to their deepest self and cultivate a personal relationship with the divine.

All of this is the purpose of the lodge: we purify and empty and make room for Spirit and the goodness of life to fill us through offering, sharing, sweating, praying, talking, singing, surrendering and opening up to the experience of the unity of all life. And the beauty is that we get to do this together. As a sort of mini tribe we share all of it; our desires, our struggles, our laughter, our tears, and the ecstacy that comes with the invitation of the sacred, which is the sweat lodge.

My first experience of a Sweat Lodge ceremony was in the late 90's and during the intensive training program that I participated in for 10 years I then step by step developed the ability to hold the ceremony in its completeness.

From the very beginning I studied my own spiritual roots and that of the European people and am now reconnecting ceremonial sweat bath practice to the rituals and ceremonies of my ancestors, giving birth to what I've named the spirit lodge ceremony: a native European sweat lodge ceremony in harmony with our western spiritual heritage and connected to the roots of our lands.