There was a tragedy in Sedona near where I live where 2 people died in a sweat lodge. I share my experiences going through one myself, and how I endured the extreme heat – through focus, just as you can survive and overcome any life challenge with the right mindset.

A friend from Australia knew I call Sedona Arizona my home and he was concerned I may have been involved in the recent sweat lodge ceremony in Sedona that left 2 dead and a number of others ill.

If you’re unfamiliar with a sweat lodge, it’s a Native American tradition often used in shamanic circles.

The facilitator builds a small enclosure similar to a teepee or wigwam centered around a pit with hot rocks over a fire. In the sweat lodge I did shortly after moving to Sedona in 1999, there were maybe 16 of us in this small space, and it was “excruciatingly intense” – meaning the heat, the feeling of being baked, the discomfort.

I don’t know for sure what’s supposed to be going on when you do one, although I think it’s meant to purify a person, let the body “sweat it out” – sweat out the toxins, release negative energy… I believe it’s a purification ritual.

Who knows whether any of that happened. For me…. it was damn hot!!!!

(I didn’t enjoy the experience. Although I am glad I went through it – once.)

As I told my friend Tristan

in Australia, it was similar to fire-walking, where you do it not because it’s fun. You do it because it puts you in extreme physical conditions – to go through it and build character. Like running a marathon to overcome a difficult challenge.

For what it makes you.

The key to surviving being “roasted in the fire”, as the sweat lodge felt like to me, was focus.

I got through it with no scathing burns and probably just red skin and a lot of sweat, by putting all my attention (which I knew intuitively to do) on the image I “saw” before me in my mind of a red rose. By keeping that the focal point, I wasn’t giving my attention to the heat, the discomfort, the little voice that was screaming ‘Are you crazy, this is HOTTTT!”

And I endured through it until the leader said it was time to diminish the “torture” and let us out. (We could leave anytime we wanted, and a few people did exit early.

Can you relate to going through something extremely difficult that tested your limits – and seeing it through as a better person? I bet you can because that’s what going through any life challenge can and will do for you when you have that mindset that “I’m going to learn and grow and become a better person by having gone through this.

Warmly,

Dan Klatt,
“Think and Grow Rich Guy”
Founder of the Carnegie Centre,
President of the Internet Marketing Organization

….Serving as Your WealthSensei!

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Tags: focus, Key To 'Surviving' The Fire is Focus, life challenge, Surviving a Sweat Lodge through Focus, the key to survive