Labyrinths

Walking the Labyrinth

 A common and attractive use of the labyrinth is to quiet the mind... Sometimes we have too much energy for a sitting meditation, and walking with a focus on the path with its surprising turns can bring a desired stillness with the “no-thinking” kind of quiet we desire.  The ancient Christians would relate this to the Via Negativa  and the Buddhists, as emptying.  I particularly love this Huston Smith quotation, 

“To the quiet mind, the world surrenders.” 

Some days our intention is a simple Sabbath pause and the brain’s gentle moodeling is just fine for the time.    

Let me add some other suggestions that have been helpful for me:

Over active mind:  If you find your mind is relentlessly obsessing and replaying the same old tired thoughts, you can use Thich Nhat Hahn’s walking meditation technique which includes counting four slow steps to your inhalation and four to six during the exhalation. The counting and breathing can help us get into our body and feel less hostage to an over-active mind. 

Absorbing a truth:  Sometimes repeating a silent or quiet mantra can accomplish a centering along with the effect of absorbing a truth you want to live deep in your bones.   For example, you could repeat, “I am enough”   on the inward journey and simplify it to “I am” during the outward journey.  Some people call this the way of image versus the way of silence.  Christian history offers these same concepts with terms for which I love their sound: apaphatic and kataphatic. 

Dealing with Distractions:   Sometimes we may find ourselves thinking about the neighbors’ conversations,  the barking dog, the other walkers on the labyrinth, the children playing, or whatever presents itself as a possible distraction during our labyrinth walk.  I like the rector of Chartre, Francois Legaux’s advice for this situation as “pray the distractions”.  In other words, use whatever your mind lands on as the focus of your prayer or request for good to occur.  With this technique,  all the so called distractions become reminders of your intention and everything you notice receives the gift of your positive intention. 

Finally, remember there are no rules or a right/wrong way to walk a labyrinth.  Since a labyrinth is a metaphor of your sacred journey,  pay attention to your intuitions and your reactions to distractions for they are all part of the wisdom that the labyrinth can help you draw up.

I most often walk a labyrinth to center and open myself to God.  I have heard it said that good dialogue involves both speaking and listening and so it is with the Divine.  Prayer and meditation provide the means to both speak and listen. A few years ago, the Presbyterian Church which I was attending built a beautiful labyrinth using the Chartres design.  About the time I began my seminary studies, the senior pastor retired. He had led the church well for twenty five years, so his leaving brought about upheaval with the vacuum of power that lasted throughout the interim years before the new pastor began. I found it significant but difficult that the church in which I had experienced such meaningful growth and tender community began feeling more like a war zone during most of my seminary studies.  

On Sunday mornings during the peak of my frustration, I would arrive a half hour before the service with my husband, who needed to practice with the choir before the service.  I would wander outside to walk the labyrinth during which meaningful spiritual preparation occurred.  

I entered the circle with the intention to quiet my mind and always loved that first surprising turn.  No matter how often I walked that labyrinth,  that first turn  surprised me and helped me get out of my head.  I would notice all sorts of thoughts arising and got better at letting them just be without reaction or judgment. They dissipated more effectively with this response.  

Often the neighbors’ dogs on the other side of the wood fence would bark ferociously and then quiet a bit as they got used to my repeated circling to their side of the labyrinth.  At times, the neighbors behind the fence would come out and talk to each other about the garden or holler shopping instructions to the one leaving in the car.  Sometimes, children would play on the nearby swings or a neighbor would walk through the field with their dog.  Usually I would look up and allow my eyes to follow the sounds or motions, or nod my greeting to a passerby. 

OK I admit some days I treated these experiences as irritations, but other days, I could apply Legaux’s wisdom and “pray the distraction.” The truth is that my conflicted thoughts and feelings about what was going on in the church were more dominating than what was occurring outside the church.  The trip into the center always settled me and though I never experienced the center in the same way, beneath the variety of responses, there was a strong sense of that center as a privileged, sacred place of holding – the quintessential “thin spot”. 

The journey out usually lifted my eyes to the church I was soon to enter.  It became the focus of my prayers both for my ability to forgive its imperfections and for its blessing, healing,  growth as a community.  I felt the gift of resolve to release disappointment and be part of the healing.

This church blessed my moving on and remains a cherished community to me. 

The labyrinth on the Presbyterian grounds provided me a way to invite spaciousness where the Divine winds blew.  I experienced healing which I believe in some sense allowed the spirit to move through me and enabled me to be a healing presence. 

The Labyrinth

Somehow that first step

into the labyrinth 

feels like a piercing 

into something monumental – 

a circuited world of beginnings.

Remember how the tiniest

intention enters the ovum

-that galaxy of possibility,

and my - what activity

these unions beget

with the curious pattern

of dividing, multiplying,

knitting.  Imperceptible

currents move us, grow us

beyond the place we enter.

 Whether you speak of it 

as birth or transformation, 

it works the same:

offer a little intention

to the Universe and the next thing

you know, your life is a rabbit farm.

A labyrinth can be 

a high yield venture. Jesus 

wasn’t kidding 

about life abundant. 

Blessings friends as you walk the sacred journey of your life.  May the circuits in your heart resonate...Sue 

June 2012