Yesterday, the CSO and I and some of our friends went to a hippie/rennaisance festival sort of thing. After buying cheesy crafts and drinking three dollar lemonade, we hed some time while our friends were still wandering around. I went off by myself for a bit, passing people recruiting for the green party (heh) and watching little kids paint paper fairy wings.
After awhile, I came to the labyrinth.
I'd walked in the hedge maze in Williamsburg, but I'd never walked a classical labyrinth before. I gave it a shot.
I know very little about labyrinth-based spirituality other than it tends to be practicised by some of the flakier UUs I run across. That said, I found the labyrinth to be a really useful experience. To walk one feels like pacing the way one does when one is deep in thought. You pace around, but without sharp corners and about-faces that make you think. The path is simple and repetitive enough that your feet seem to know what to do and you can focus on the problems you are thinking over.
I've mentioned here that I am terrible at meditation. I either start thinking about sex or fall asleep. I actually found myself thinking over some things as I walked in the labyrinth. Eventually, theCSO joined me. We walked it once holding hands and then once alone and in silence. He said he found the experience similarly helpful.
We're thinking of getting some white rocks from Home Depot at setting up one in the back yard. I'm guessing we won't actually get around to this, but if we do I will post pictures.
CC
Unitarian
2 comments:
There is a lot of labryinth activity at my church and once I walked it as part of a class I was taking. I had the same experience as you. My mind races, and it really slowed me down. But I haven't made time to do it since.
I think what happens in walking the labyrinth is that your right brain and your left brain get activated, sending you into a very groovy state of harmony or something.
Anyway, I did see the labyrinth at Chartres which was special.
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