| Walking Meditation and the Labyrinth
There are three stages of the walk:
 | Purgation (Releasing) A releasing, a letting go of the details of
your life. This is the act of shedding thoughts and distractions. A time
to open the heart and quiet the mind. |
| Illumination (Receiving) When you reach the center, stay there as
long as you like. It is a place of meditation and prayer. Receive what is
there for you to receive. |
| Union (Returning) As you leave, following the same path out of the
center as you came in, you enter the third stage, which is joining God,
your Higher Power, or the healing forces at work in the world. Each time
you walk the labyrinth you become more empowered to find and do the work
you feel your soul reaching for. |
Guidelines for the walk: Quiet your mind and become aware of your
breath. Allow yourself to find the pace your body wants to go. The path is
two ways. Those going in will meet those coming out. You may "pass" people
or let others step around you. Do what feels natural.
|
"Your life is a sacred journey. And it is about change,
growth, discovery, movement, transformation, continuously expanding
your vision of what is possible, stretching your soul, learning to see
clearly and deeply, listening to your intuition, taking courageous
challenges at every step along the way. You are on the path... exactly
where you are meant to be right now... And from here, you can only go
forward, shaping your life story into a magnificent tale of triumph,
of healing of courage, of beauty, of wisdom, of power, of dignity, and
of love."
Caroline Adams |
We are all on the path... exactly where we need
to be. The labyrinth is a model of that path.
A labyrinth is an ancient symbol that relates to wholeness. It combines the
imagery of the circle and the spiral into a meandering but purposeful path.
The Labyrinth represents a journey to our own center and back again out into
the world. Labyrinths have long been used as meditation and prayer tools.
A labyrinth is an archetype with which we can have a direct experience. We
can walk it. It is a metaphor for life's journey. It is a symbol that
creates a sacred space and place and takes us out of our ego to "That Which
Is Within."
Labyrinths and mazes have often been confused. When most people hear of a
labyrinth they think of a maze. A labyrinth is not a maze. A maze is like a
puzzle to be solved. It has twists, turns, and blind alleys. It is a left
brain task that requires logical, sequential, analytical activity to find
the correct path into the maze and out.
A labyrinth has only one path. It is unicursal. The way in is the way out.
There are no blind alleys. The path leads you on a circuitous path to the
center and out again.
A labyrinth is a right brain task. It involves intuition, creativity, and
imagery. With a maze many choices must be made and an active mind is needed
to solve the problem of finding the center. With a labyrinth there is only
one choice to be made. The choice is to enter or not. A more passive,
receptive mindset is needed. The choice is whether or not to walk a
spiritual path.
At its most basic level the labyrinth is a metaphor for the journey to the
center of your deepest self and back out into the world with a broadened
understanding of who you are.
LABYRINTH LINKS
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