Native Americans defend sacred sweat lodge tradition

They sit near the woods, behind a church in Minnetonka.

Two sacred domes.

"This is our church," said Bob Klanderud, who has been facilitating sweat lodge ceremonies for seven years.

"We go in there, humble, in that little doorway on our hands and knees as children into the womb of mother earth," Klanderud said.

The lodges have willow frames covered in blankets and a top layer of breathable canvas. They are about 12 feet in diameter.

Up to twenty people can gather inside the lodges facilitated by Klanderud, who is part Lakota. Participants sing, pray, make offerings to their ancestors, and connect to themselves and each other.

In the center of the lodge are hot rocks that have been warmed in a fire outside. They are brought in by deer antlers.

"We feed (the rocks) the water of life: that first medicine the Creator gave us. It creates an environment that the spirits come in," Klanderud explained.

It took Bob years to learn how to conduct a sweat lodge ceremony. His ceremonies are very different from the one that killed three people in Arizona in early October.

"I feel so sad for these individuals because there are people out there that are spiritually hungry," said Jackie Crowshoe, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa.

Crowshoe has attended more sweat lodge ceremonies than she can count.

"The way the prayers are held, the way the water is poured, it's so respectful," Crowshoe said. "And it's done in a way where everybody is safe. Everybody is secure."

Klanderud said if anyone inside the sweat lodge becomes uncomfortable, they simply "call for the door" and they can leave.

"We don't hurt anybody," he said. "We have compassion. That's what we go in there for is to learn how to be human beings."

Klanderurd and Crowshoe say the grieve for the victims in Arizona. And they say, they do not judge them.

"We pray for those people who went there with an open heart in a good way to (try) to understand these ways," Klanderud said.

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