Labyrinths: a reflection

Walking the Labyrinth

Have you ever experienced a labyrinth? It is a powerful archetypal symbol that, when walked, can quiet the mind and soul.

Labyrinths are ancient human symbols known to go back at least 3500 years and probably much older. They appeared in most inhabited continents in prehistory.

Lost to history until recently, the labyrinth is a life changing tool for prayers and meditations, that has undergone a resurgence, generated by San Francisco's Grace Cathedral. Labyrinths now serve the spiritual needs of those in diverse religious communities, health care facilities, and retreat centers. They are used on school campuses to enhance concentration and creativity. Walking the labyrinth is a right brain activity (creative, intuitive, imaginative) and can induce or enhance a contemplative or meditative state of mind. It is a tool which can clear the mind, calm our anxieties during time of transition and stress, guide healing, deepen self-knowledge, enhance creativity, allow for reconciliation, restore feelings of belonging to community, and lead to personal and spiritual growth.

Research conducted by Dr. Herbert Benson at Harvard Medical School's Mind/Body Medical Institute has found that focused walking meditations are highly effective at reducing anxiety and eliciting what Dr. Benson calls "relaxation response". This effect has significant long term health benefits, including lower blood pressure and reduced breathing rates, reduced incidents of chronic pain, reduction of insomnia and many other benefits. Regular meditative practice leads to greater powers of concentration and a sense of control and efficiency in one's life. Labyrinth walking is one of the simplest forms of focused walking meditations and the demonstrated health benefits have led hundreds of hospitals, health care centers, healing centers, schools and spas to install labyrinths in recent years. 

When you prepare to walk the labyrinth, you just take a minute to breathe and collect your thoughts. Then you focus on the 3 R's, Releasing (as you go in), Receiving as you connect in the center and then Returning with the gifts received from the center. The path is winding and narrow on purpose, so the mind has to focus intensely. There is no right or wrong way to walk the labyrinth. When you discover your walking pace, you can find your natural rhythm in life, reducing stress and allowing you to get a glimpse of the bigger picture. Once you find peace, you can choose to stay in the silence or reflect on a challenge you are facing. This is a good time to take out your journal and record your experience.

Honor your soul in an ancient way; walk a labyrinth near you.

The labyrinth at HMHC is available to you 24/7 for all who come.

Barbara Mader 12-08