#labyrinth walking

What Are You Weaving? S.T.E.P. INTO The LABYRINTH: A VIRTUAL WORKSHOP FOR NAVIGATING LIFE’S JOURNEY WITH DR.ROBIN B. DILLEY October 18, 9:00 AM-3:00 PM Sign Up Today at Veriditas The labyrinth is a powerful metaphor for life’s journey, a tool for finding your way when the path isn’t clear. This workshop will guide you on a transformative journey, both metaphorically and, using the wisdom of…

The Labyrinth explained. The article posted here I wrote in 2019. I reposted on FB and it received quite a few shares. I thought I would publish it here. If you are new to Labyrinths or just curious, take a moment to read this. Ancient and Archetypal Labyrinths Are Popping up Everywhere! What seems normal to a Labyrinth lover may seem like a new phenomenon to people who have never been…

DECEMBER 8, 2024 The Two Together Are a Powerful Tool! “The labyrinth, with its single, winding path, can be a powerful metaphor for the Advent journey. Just as we wind our way towards the center of the labyrinth, we also journey towards the heart of the Christmas story.” – Unknown The Labyrinth is A Great Way to Embrace Advent! This Advent season, consider incorporating labyrinth walking…

Walk a Labyrinth for Your Mom on Mother’s Day Walking Through Grief: A Mother’s Day Labyrinth Journey Honor Who You Are! Mother’s Day can be a bittersweet time, especially for those who have lost their mothers or whose relationships were complex. This year, why not consider a unique way to honor your mother’s memory and navigate unresolved emotions – by walking a labyrinth. Labyrinths, with…

Douglas Quenqua, The Atlantic, Apr 30, 2015

When Nelson Aponte, a 37-year-old prisoner serving 10 to 12 years for larceny in Hampshire County Jail, in Massachusetts, registered for a class on labyrinths three years ago, he was skeptical, to say the least.

“When it was time to walk the indoor labyrinth for the first time, I thought it was a joke,” he said in a handwritten letter. “Grown men walking in circles, criminals at that.”

The instructor explained the history and theory of labyrinths, how they are based on ancient patterns thought to hold meditative powers. Walking a labyrinth promotes healing and mindfulness, some believe. But Aponte “was not convinced, nor impressed,” he said.

“But since I signed up, I had to attend.”

Then came the fourth class. The day’s lesson was about breathing techniques, and Aponte arrived feeling stressed. As he walked the labyrinth, he felt his breathing loosen and his mind start to settle. “I was just thinking about my family, those I harmed, and what my life has become,” Aponte wrote. “I can honestly say that on my fourth visit, I had a sense of freedom.”

Now, Aponte says the time he spent walking that labyrinth--and building a second, permanent one in a prison garden--has helped him grow into a more self-controlled adult. “The labyrinth has taught me to be mindful of my emotions,” he wrote. “It’s shown me how to work on patience.”

Some people do yoga. Others meditate. These days, there are those who walk labyrinths, swearing by its emotional and spiritual benefits. Labyrinth devotees are an odd mix of new-age enthusiasts and clinicians, even doctors. Riding such endorsements, labyrinths have made their way into prisons, spas, wellness centers, and hospitals in recent years. Last year, Riley Hospital for Children in downtown Indianapolis became the second hospital in town to build a permanent on-site labyrinth. A pamphlet at Colorado Children’s Hospital informs patients that “walking a labyrinth can often calm people in the midst of crisis.” At Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center in Clackamas, Oregon, patients who can’t make it outside to the paved labyrinth can have a paper “finger labyrinth” brought to their bed. Even Ben Bradlee, legendary executive editor of the Washington Post, had a 50-foot labyrinth built for his wife, Sally Quinn, on their Maryland estate.

A labyrinth is not a maze. There is nothing to be solved, no dead ends meant to entrap the walker. Labyrinths have a clear way in and out. Yet the small amount of concentration required to stay on the path, combined with the repetitive nature of following the pattern, is said to produce a calming effect that can do everything from reduce anxiety to combat chemotherapy-induced nausea.

The science behind this theory is sketchy, at best. “I would have a lot of difficulty trying to prove this as a research-based, double-blinded study,” said Thomas Ferrara, an Indianapolis-based physician who has referred several patients to local labyrinths. But dozens of small studies have hinted that labyrinth walking may hold some real benefits. One 2001 study found that walking a labyrinth provided “short-term calming, relaxation, and relief from agitation and anxiety” for Alzheimer’s patients. Others show that everyone from pediatric cancer patients to nurses feel happier and less stressed after a good labyrinth walk.

When people talk about meditation, they’re often referring to the kind that involves sitting in silence and/or visualizing. Over the years, I've seen a lot of people who have a very hard time with this sort of meditation, whether it’s the sitting still or the visualization. If this is something you've had a problem with, you might want to consider looking into physical and movement-based forms of meditation instead. 

Walking meditation is the type of physical meditation I use. In walking meditation, you pay close attention to each step as you take it. Focusing on the movement of your body helps take your mind off mental activity. It helps to clear your mind in a more concrete way than trying to visualize a white light may. When you focus on a physical motion, you have sensory input to pull you away from your mind and into the activity of the moment.

You can use any pattern or path that appeals to you. I tend to spiral in and then back out again. You can do walking meditation anywhere that works for you. I like to be outside but inside works just as well. The important thing is that you’re comfortable. After all, if you have horrible allergic reactions or phobias revolving around wildlife, you won’t be able to focus on meditation. You don’t even need a lot of room. Walking meditation can be as simple as pacing. 

Labyrinth walking is a specific type of walking meditation that uses....well, labyrinths. Labyrinths have only one path that leads to a center and back out again. Some labyrinth walkers will stop in the middle for seated meditation, prayer, or reflection before exiting the labyrinth. What you do when you reach the center - if anything - is entirely up to you. 

Like with any meditation, you can begin walking meditation with a general intention, a question to answer, or in search of enlightenment. You can also use walking meditation simply to clear your mind or calm yourself. These factors of meditation are always up to you as they’re the most important part of the act.

To find Labyrinths near you, you can use the Labyrinth Locator. There is also a Virtual Labyrinth Walk which might work best if you have a touch screen. Using the mouse is a bit cumbersome.

If you can’t walk or that simply doesn’t work for you, you can do tracing instead. Choose an image of a labyrinth or some other pattern and let your finger follow it in the same manner you would if you were walking it. Focusing on this motion is just as useful as focusing on walking. It may, in fact, be more useful to those who use their hands more than their feet. Below you can find a few images you can use.

Labyrinths: [x] [x] [x] 

Spirals: [x] [x] [x] 

Others: [x] [x] [x] [x] 

(You’ll want to start on the inside for the sburb logo.)

Honestly, quite a lot of repetitive physical movements can be meditative. Swaying or rocking may work for you. Squeezing a stress ball, boading balls (gif), baton twirling, basic beginner steps to dances; there are plenty of motions that can help clear your mind. The only limitation on physical meditation is what you can do easily without thinking about it too much once you clear your mind and drift off. 

In addition to motion, you may also benefit from exploring texture based meditation. Some people are more in tune with how things feel than the movement of their body. If there is a particular texture that you can practically lose yourself in, petting or rubbing something of this texture against your skin repeatedly could help you enter a trance or clear your mind. You may want to be careful with using rough textures like sandpaper, however. Getting into a trance and sandpapering your skin too hard is usually not a fun time. 

Combining texture and motion may be even more useful to some than either on their own. To an outside viewer, I’m sure rubbing a cloth against your face while you rock can look creepy, but it shouldn’t be a shameful experience if this is what helps you. When I was younger, rocking was very soothing to me. Don’t be afraid to let yourself have that because of what other people might think. 

I know I’m talking about calming motions a lot in this post, but calming yourself is the first step to meditating if you have extreme anxiety. This is also something I don’t see a lot of people talking about, though I hope it’s just because I’m missing the posts that do. If there is something that you frequently do to help calm your anxiety, it may be worth while to add it to your meditation routine. If you’re having a hard time with your anxiety, it may be why you aren’t having any luck meditating no matter the method you try.

Here's the thing: labyrinth-walking is kind of weird. You have to put on someone else's (clean) athletic socks (if you're not smart enough to bring your own, which I was not), and wander around very slowly on this kind of carpet-maze until you reach the middle, at which point you spend some time thinking about how you're in the middle of the labyrinth and what it means, then do the whole thing over again, but in reverse order. And all around you (if you're lucky, at least) are fifty people doing the exact same thing in total silence.

So it's kind of weird. I sat next to a woman at the post-labyrinth-walking 'mindfulness meditation' session (thanks to the National Cathedral's 'Cathedral Crossroads' monthly programming!) who asked me, "What's the point of walking in the labyrinth?"

"I don't really know." I said.

"Is there like, a certain type of feeling you get from it?"

"I don't really know." I said. And it's not just because I'm bad at making conversation with strangers about deep spiritual practices. It's really true! I have no idea what I'm supposed to get out of labyrinth-walking, or really any kind of meditation. (The general best-case scenario is that it helps me physically relax, and then I start twitching because I fell asleep in the middle of the meditation, and then I start the whole cycle over again.) I'm pretty terrible at listening for God and the still, small voice & c and just silent discernment in general. 

But here is one thing that I learned today in mindfulness meditation class: Mindfulness is about understanding where you are (bodily, emotionally, physically, spiritually, mentally, sensorially) and accepting it, letting it wash over and through and (maybe, if you're lucky) right out past you on a shining tide. I thought of it as maybe being like the sensation of putting a foreign film on the television, then forgetting to read the subtitles.

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