Hilary Booth... of course!

The local Episcopal Church held a labyrinth walk tonight. The labyrinth walk was held in their common room, not in the actual church. Their labyrinth was on canvas, laid out in the traditional Chartres Cathedral pattern. Candles along the far wall provided the only lighting. Aside from the occasional bustle of workers or cars outside, the place was silent with no music intruding in the moment. Walkers removed the shoes before entering the labyrinth.

A keeper was there to answer any questions. She asked if I'd walked one before, because I seemed to know what I was doing. She did reassure me on one thing – there's no one way to walk a labyrinth. Take it fast, take it slow. Include as much prayer or ritual as you feel comfortable, especially before you enter it. I found myself watching some of the others. One person seemed to visit each of the corners of the center point before leaving. Another stood in place and took deep breaths at each of the turns.

I wound up walking the labyrinth twice this time around. Walking one still feels like a long winding balance beam for me. I deliberately slowed my pace down on the second time through, trying to steady my rhythm. I tried taking smaller steps and breathing more. I suspect I'd be a very bad meditation student.

I don't how to explain it. It's a very quiet experience. I literally come out of it not wanting to even speak for awhile for fear of shattering that feeling. Every noise feels intrusive and yet it also seems very distant and far away when you're in the labyrinth.

While walking to the grocery store, I happen to notice a flyer on a bus stop announcing the open labyrinth walks held at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington. Knowing she was also interested in labyrinths, I asked ariadnesthread if she was interested in doing the walk sometime. So we planned it for this evening. The church hosts two open walks every month on a Friday and a Sunday, with special walks for each solstice and New Year's Eve/Day. The church has three labyrinths. We saw two of them.

( Walking a labyrinth )

I could see why the labyrinth made a good meditation tool. It'd be interesting to combine with something like yoga, where breathing and balance are so important.