Bear Heart  has shared a lifetime of training that includes ceremonies conducted in the sweat lodge, Native American Church tipi meetings, chanting and smoking the sacred pipe to teach us how to walk the Spirit Road. Bear Heart is available for individual counseling sessions and for group sweat lodges and Vision Quests. He also is available and is in great demand as a speaker. To learn more about these activities and the schedule for up-coming events, please click on the specific activities you are interested in and check the schedule. If you have questions about specific activities or wish to schedule a private session with Bear Heart, click on the contact button.

Sweat Lodges

Sweat lodges are found in many Native American tribal practices and steam or hot water baths have been used in most cultures around the world. Drawings of a Mandan sweat lodge were made in 1845 and Mayan sweat houses have been excavated that date back 1200 years, so the use of sweat lodges extends back before recorded history in North America.

The sweat lodge is designed to purify and cleanse the participant for the purpose of healing mind, body, emotions, and spirit. Although there certainly is a physical component to the sweat lodge because of the intense heat and totally dark environment, the psychological "work" done by the participant in his or her prayers may have an even greater impact on the participant. People in the sweat lodge are told that when they leave the lodge, they will be reborn since the lodge is seen as a womb of Mother Earth. However, the main purpose of the sweat lodge is for the participants to pray, to ask blessings for others, and to ask for healing for themselves or others.

Bear Heart's sweat lodges usually consist of four rounds, where each round represents one of the four directions of the medicine wheel. Bear Heart will announce the purpose of each round at the start of that round. The sweat lodge is a group activity and in some rounds everyone prays out loud simultaneously, while in other rounds participants pray aloud individually or everyone prays silently.

To participate in a sweat lodge led by Bear Heart, you should click on "Schedule" to see if a sweat lodge is already scheduled, then go to "Contact" to discuss the possibility of being invited  to participate in the sweat lodge. 

This page updated 05/09/2005.

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 please see  our web-site at  http://www.gatheringofcircles.com/