Walking meditation

I am…walking on a labyrinth.

As a form of meditation. I slowly walk into the center, stand there for awhile and then walk out.  Due to the path in a labyrinth I meander back and forth, turning 180 degrees each time I enter a different circuit. Walking and changing directions shifts ones awareness from right brain to the left brain.

The labyrinth is said to encourage healing, clarity, and peacefulness. I find a feeling of peacefulness when I finish walking a labyrinth. Stillheart Institute has one of my favorite labyrinths (see picture in blog). I usually walk it in my bare feet. Though the first time it had just rained and was a little too cold to walk in my bare feet.

Labyrinths have become so popular that there is a Labyrinth Society, based in Connecticut with a national network of labyrinth users. There are an estimated 1,000 labyrinths created across America, including Grace Cathedral Labyrinth Project in San Francisco. The labyrinth at Grace Cathedral is the first one I ever walked.

I helped create one at a workshop. It was outside in a back yard. We used flour as it was temporary labyrinth. We put my “I am” affirmation cards in the center to pick during our walk.

Quotes on labyrinth:

“Nature is a labyrinth in which the very haste you move with will make you lose your way.” – Francis Bacon, Sr.

“A labyrinth is a symbolic journey . . . but it is a map we can really walk on, blurring the difference between map and world.” – Rebecca Solnit

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