Labyrinth Meditaion

Labyrinths have been around for over 4000 years and are found in almost every major culture and religious tradition around the world. Like the mandala, the labyrinth has been an integral tool used for both meditation and prayer. 

For example, in the Christian tradition, labyrinths were originally designed to provide a symbolic pilgrimage for believers to the Holy Land. The Native American Hopi tribe called the labyrinth the symbol for “mother earth” and equated it with the Kiva, a sacred place for holding spiritual ceremonies, symbolic of the womb.

Those who use this tool today continue to recognize the inherently powerful and healing quality of the labyrinth and to utilize this sacred space for meditation, prayer, contemplation, solving problems, connection, comfort, celebration, stress relief or simply clearing the mind and centering. It is a place where calming energy and reflection can bring spiritual balance to our earthly challenges.

 
There is a misconception among many who think that a labyrinth is a type of maze.  The truth is that a labyrinth is not a maze at all. A maze has many paths, intersections and dead ends and its sole purpose is to confuse you. With a labyrinth, there are no tricks, no choices and no dead ends. It has a single path that starts on the edge and leads dependable, although circuitously, to the center.  It’s only purpose it to bring you to the center and if you stay on the path, you will arrive at the intended destination. 

  
The Metaphor for Life’s Journey
The labyrinth is a metaphor for the journey of life. So as in life, the path is full of twists and turns, and each of us experience this journey’s is a distinct, unique, qualitative way. The labyrinth represents life’s journey inward to our own true selves and back out into the everyday world. Walking a labyrinth is in essence a compact, visceral experience representing walking the path of life.  We take each step, one at a time. In life we are moving in a direction, pausing, breathing, praying, observing, contemplating etc.  Ultimately the path of life like the path of the labyrinth can bring us into closer union with the Divine or with ourselves.  

Labyrinths are found in many sizes and shapes and are created from every imaginable material including sand, food, stones, carved into wood, cut into turf or crops, formed by mounds of earth, bricks, sticks and so on. There are even finger labyrinths that you can download online or I have seen them carved out of wood. It’s the same visceral experience to follow the  path with the finger as it is to walk it.

There are three basic design; seven circuit, eleven circuit, and twelve circuit. The most common design found around the country today is the seven circuit. These seven circuit designs were found on pottery from over 2000 years ago.

Chartres Cathedral at Chartres, France is a very famous example of an eleven circuit design. One of the most famous aspects of the cathedral in Chartres is the spectacular rose window over the great west doors. It has the same dimensions as the labyrinth and is exactly the same distance up the west wall as the labyrinth is laterally from the cathedral’s main entrance below the window. An imaginary cosmic hinge located where the doors and floor intersect would, if closed, place the rose window directly on top of the labyrinth, thus the sparkling, colored light of the window and the darkness of the labyrinth pilgrimage are combined.

Walking a Labyrinth
When walking a labyrinth, you meander back and forth, your body actually turning 180 degrees each time you enter a different circuit. As you shift your direction you also shift your awareness from right brain to left brain. In essence, you are effortlessly gaining access to the creative, intuitive, imaginative part of you and to the logical, analytical part of you. It is believed that this is one of the reasons the labyrinth can induce receptive states of consciousness. It can also help to balance the chakras.

Labyrinth walking is among the simplest forms of focused walking meditation and the demonstrated health benefits have led hundreds of hospitals, health care facilities, and spas to install labyrinths in recent years.

Research conducted at the Harvard Medical School’s Mind/Body Medical Institute by Dr. Herbert Benson has found that focused walking meditations are highly efficient at reducing anxiety and eliciting what Dr. Benson calls the ‘relaxation response’. This effect has significant long-term health benefits, including lower blood pressure and breathing rates, reduced incidents of chronic pain, reduction of insomnia, improved fertility, and many other benefits. Regular meditative practice leads to greater powers of concentration and a sense of control and efficiency in one’s life. 

Each person’s walk is a personal experience. How one walks and what one receives differs with each walk. As I have already mentioned some people use the walk for clearing the mind and centering. Others enter with a specific question or concern. The time in the center can be used for receiving, reflecting, meditating, or praying, as well as discovering your own sacred inner space. Whatever is received from the inward journey can be integrated on the outward journey or the walk out. Your walk can be a healing and sometimes a very profound experience or it can be just a pleasant walk. Each time is different.

The invitation is to approach this meditation as though you are entering a sacred space or embarking on a healing or spiritual journey. Be willing to play full out with your imagination, with an open mind and a conscious intention. 

Labyrinth Meditation
Find a comfortable position. You may choose to stand for this mediation to make it more of a visceral experience or be seated and let you imagination be completely free. Either way is fine. When you are ready, go ahead and close your eyes.

Begin by taking in a nice deep breath together and then slowly letting it out. Just letting the body and the mind come to rest with each deep breath.  Take another deep breath in, and releasing all stress and worry on the out breath. Good. Acknowledging that we are all on this sacred pilgrimage to our divine selves, take in one last deep breath and just feel yourself surrender to the path that is laid out before you as you exhale.

Imagine yourself in a beautiful place on the Earth. It can be anywhere or any place that you perceive to be beautiful. Perhaps in a serene mountain meadow with a meandering stream; perhaps an arid, sandy desert at sunset with the alpine glow colors reflecting off of each grain of sand. Maybe you are near the ocean seeing the vast, endless horizon spread out in front of you. Whatever you perceive as beautiful is perfect. If you don’t see it, just get a sense or knowing of it. Go ahead and add as much detail as you like using all of the senses. What does it smell like? What is the temperature? What are the colors? Can you hear any sounds? What would happen if you were to completely rest in this place?

Begin to let yourself feel love for this place and for all of the nature. For every being that lives in this ecosystem, every cell that makes up the beauty that is now surrounding you.  Continue to let the love grow into this space until your heart is beating with the warmth of this love.

The Inward Path
Resting in the peace and love that are here, imagine that in front of you a path begins to appear. This is unlike any path you have ever seen or been down before because it is a path that will take you right to the center of your own being.

Now just notice as the path starts to come into focus, it is actually a very large walking labyrinth.  You can see or get a sense of its size as you stand on the edge, looking in.  Notice what the path is made from. Maybe stones, or sticks, or it is carved into the earth. Maybe it has been cut out of grass or it has been painted. What ever is here is perfect.  Then notice how many circuits there are. Maybe 7, 11 or 12. Notice how the path eventually leads to the center and how clearly it is marked without any tricks or confusion. One way in, and one way out.    

As you step up to the entrance of the labyrinth, feel the invitation that is here for you. You may actually feel your body or your being pulled into the labyrinth as though there were some magnetic field in charge.  And before you take that first step in take just a moment to recognize what brought you here.  Is there a question that wants to be asked and answered? Is there an intention or prayer here?  Maybe there is just curiosity about what you will find along the way as you follow this path? Is there a problem that has been challenging your life recently that you would like to ask for a solution to? Maybe this path is simply a tool for centering, grounding balancing yourself.

Whatever is showing up for you as you stand at the entrance to this labyrinth, go ahead and place your intention on it and then just let it go as you take your first step into the labyrinth.
Begin by walking slowly. If you are standing, you can step in place. If you are sitting, just imagine yourself walking slowly, pausing after each step welcoming whatever thoughts or emotions that show up to come and go naturally as they always do. Notice how the ground feels underneath your feet as you walk down this first circuit. Without attaching to any one thought or emotion, just notice what shows up. And as you reach the end of this first circuit, make the 180 degree turn and begin walking slowly again. Notice the metaphors that might be showing up. How is this path similar to life’s path? How is this path similar to the problem or question you asked?

Really stay present with yourself as you continue walking, pausing, asking, turning. Notice if you are anxious or impatient about getting to the center. Maybe there is the desire to skip over the journey and to just have the experience of the center. Without judgement, just notice if this is here for you. And keep walking, staying on the path that has been laid out specifically for you. What would you have to face feeling if you couldn’t skip the journey to find the answers you have been seeking.

Begin to realize the uniqueness of this path that is the metaphor for your life. As you make your next 180 degree turn, notice that while you can see the path that you have walked in the past and the path that lies ahead of you, the only place where you are in form is exactly where your feet are touching the ground in this moment, in this step you take.
As you continue to walk, you may notice other people who are walking this path with you. Notice how there are times when you are walking in the same direction, on different circuits but still in unison and with synchronized steps. Then one of you makes the 180 degree turn and you pass each other moving in opposite directions yet still on the same path. How is this a metaphor for your relationships. Without judgement, just notice how it feels to be moving in the same direction, to pass one another going in opposite directions, and what it will be like to meet in the center.

As you continue making your way to the center, with all of the twists and turns, how does it feel to be heading a direction and then have that direction changed? Just notice, without judgement and being gentle with yourself. Ask yourself, how is this a metaphor for how you feel about changes in life?
And continuing along the path toward the center, making yet another 180 degree turn to follow the next circuit  laid out before you, notice how far you have traveled and all that you have learned along the way. Get a sense or know if there are any specific gifts you picked up along the way. Notice how the winding path at times felt like you were learning the same lessons over and over yet, each new circuit took you to a deeper awareness of the truth. Each circuit brought you closer to the center with a greater understanding of who you really are and your purpose for taking up form here on earth.

As you near the center of the labyrinth, you may notice a mentor or guide waiting there for you.  This is someone whose wisdom you trust completely. It may be someone of your imagination, a saint, a sage. Just know that they are here for your highest and best. So as you continue walking this path and prepare to step into the opening of the center of this labyrinth, go ahead bring to mind again that original question, prayer or intention. Now follow the path right into the center and when you arrive, be sure to greet your mentor or guide.
Just rest here in the center with your mentor or guide. Taking in some nice, deep, well deserved breaths, let yourself just relax in this place as you take stock of what was learned long the path. You don’t need to analyze anything too deeply. There will be plenty of time of this later. Just let the lessons and awarenesses resonate with the body and the cells.

Turning to the mentor, if you have not yet received the answer to your question, go ahead and ask for that now.  If you don’t have a future vision of your intention being manifest, ask the mentor to show you this now. If there is some solution to a problem that you are still unclear about, ask for clarity. If you are still unsure about your purpose for being here, ask to know. In the knowledge that you have journeyed to the core of your own being where all answers are available, go ahead and ask now for whatever you want to know. We will just wait patiently for the answer to show up and it will.  It always does.
 

The Outward Path
Knowing that you can return to this place anytime you like, go ahead and thank your mentor now and we will begin the outward journey with grateful hearts. And before we begin back onto the path, just take one more moment to whisper out loud to your self, “It’s going to be okay.” “It’s going to be okay.”
When the time is right, go ahead and you take your first few steps from the center. You are leaving here with new awarenesses and moving back into the world a different person. Consider the solutions, answers, or visions you were given.  As you let these answers, solutions and visions integrate, become a part of your reality, your map of the world, notice how each step you take is taken with greater confidence. Notice how you use your new found awareness to navigate the path with all of its twists and turns.  Notice how the 180 degree turns feel different as you walk and live with this expanded awareness. 

Continue walking and moving outward as the path leads you through each circuit. Again, realize the metaphors that are here. This path is an exact mirror of the path inward yet it feels so different as you experience it with a deeper truth of who you are in the world.

Notice how alive you feel with each step you take and the anticipation that is here to live life fully from this authenticity. Feel the ease with which you take each turn. Feel the gratitude that pulses through your body knowing that each of these curves have been the exact gift you needed to answer your own deepest prayers.

Consider the path before you now that you have the solution or answer or vision for your future. Is life outside of the labyrinth really any different than life inside? Notice what it feels like in your body to be following the path that has been laid out specifically for you. Notice how you are breathing with each step you take. Notice the lack of resistance as you follow the curves and make the turns with ease and grace.

As you continue to walk, consider the path outward as a metaphor for your whole life. What if each circuit represented some aspect of your life as a whole and begin to ask “Will this solution, answer or vision support your growth in all areas?” Making the 18 degree turn ask, How could it help you physically? Will your body and health be affected in a positive way? 

At the next turn as, What about in your relationships? Will knowing how to easily connect with yourself help you feel and be more connected to others? 

Continuing to walk the outward path, ask How could these answers support you financially? Now that you have had a real visceral experience of walking the highest and best path for yourself, how will this impact your decision making, your awareness of what’s best for you? How much different is life already by knowing you have access to the answers with in you?

And as you continue on the path and begin to near the exit to this labyrinth, ask your self how your spiritual awareness has already started to shift and change. Do you already feel more connected to life, source, god and goddess. How does knowing your life’s purpose here completely change the way take each step now and your perception of the world.  Notice how much easier it is to just not take things personally, to recognize each being on their own unique yet similar path. Allow yourself to really feel the greater sense of Oneness.

As you stand now at the exit of the labyrinth, before you leave, take  a moment to once again thank yourself and all who showed up to assist in this journey. And if it feels appropriate, you may want to make commitment to yourself to find a labyrinth in your community that you can go walk.
 

So when you are ready, go ahead and step out of the labyrinth back into that beautiful place where you started. Just resting here for a moment to let the experience, this journey integrate.

Final Integration
You know that time and place are just a construct and the fact that we can even conceive of all that has shifted, changed, manifested and healed means that it is already here, in this moment. So when you are ready and as soon as all parts of you are in agreement that this healing can continue organically, on its own, without you having to do a thing, you can come back to the present. And taking in a nice deep breath, letting this revitalized energy flow through the body and you can open your eyes.