The Labyrinth (walking meditation)

Labyrinths, dating back more than 3000 years, have been found in India, Europe and North America and have appeared throughout history at times of great change and spiritual crisis. The last resurgence of labyrinths was during the medieval period and the most famous labyrinth, built in 1201, is in Chartres Cathedral in France. A labyrinth is a meditative tool that induces a contemplative, intuitive state.

Typically, labyrinths have a single circuitous path that winds its way into the centre and out again. It's not a maze and has no dead ends. Mazes are complex and require left brain thinking and logic. Mazes challenge, while labyrinths invite. The single path ensures you cannot get lost. The numerous 180 degree turns shift your awareness from right brain to left brain and balance the two hemispheres of the brain, resulting in a meditative state linked to physical and emotional healing.

Labyrinths serve as a kind of gyroscope, steadying and balancing us, reordering our priorities, rescuing us from the past and the future to experience the power of the present moment. There are many reasons to walk a labyrinth: to celebrate, grieve, slow down, seek insight and inspiration, or to find stillness and compassion. Whatever the reason or occasion, walkers report the follwing afterwards:

• experiencing tranquillity and peace
• reducing stress and irritation
• re-establishing equilibrium and balance
• increasing intuition and insight
• enhancing physical and emotional healing
• experiencing happiness
• developing creativity and awareness
• a sense of community with others

Research by Dr. Benson at Harvard Medical School’s Mind/Body Institute has found that focused walking meditations are highly effective in bringing out the relaxation response or 'labyrinth effect'. Regularly eliciting this response results in:

• lowering blood pressure
• lowering breathing rates
• reducing incidents of chronic pain
• reducing insomnia
• improving fertility