To Sweat Is to Pray

I was chiding myself for having walked the labyrinth at Ghost Ranch during the hottest hour of the afternoon (just as I walked from Volterra out to one of the Etruscan tombs one hot Italian noon accompanied only by mad dogs and Englishmen—or not even those).  But after finding this quote I've decided it was after all appropriate, that spiritual walk in hot surroundings.

"To sweat is to pray, to make an offering of your innermost self. Sweat is holy water, prayer beads, pearls of liquid that release your past. Sweat is an ancient and universal form of self healing, whether done in the gym, the sauna, or the sweat lodge. I do it on the dance floor. The more you dance, the more you sweat. The more you sweat, the more you pray. The more you pray, the closer you come to ecstasy." (Gabrielle Roth)

I am reminded too of the pilgrimage in the Jeremy Irons film And Now…Ladies and Gentleman.  A walk in Morocco that was all sweat and prayer, looking for healing.

images:  Navajo Sweat Lodge

Christie B. Cochrell, Labyrinth