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WALKING MEDITATION The Calming and Centering
Effects of Labyrinths by Gina McGalliard
While many of us like to meditate, some can’t sit still. Walking a labyrinth provides an enticing alternative.
A
n archetypal labyrinth gently leads us in a circular path inward toward a center and
then back out again. Found in an- cient cultures from African, Celtic and Greek to Native American, they became especially popular fixtures in Medieval European churches; one of the most renowned is in France’s Chartres Cathedral. Depictions of labyrinths have
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38 Long Island Edition
been included in paintings, pottery, tapestries and in Hopi baskets as a sacred symbol of Mother Earth. Sev- eral American tribes saw the pattern as a medicine wheel. Celts may have regarded it as a never-ending knot or circle. While some of the oldest known labyrinths decorate cave walls in Spain, today they grace diverse locations ranging from spas and wellness centers to parks, gardens, university campuses and even prisons. “Labyrinths can be outdoors or
indoors. Permanent labyrinths may be made of stones, rocks, bricks or inlaid stones. Temporary labyrinths can be
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painted on grass or made with all sorts of things for a particular purpose or ap- propriate to a specific cause,” explains Diane Rudebock, Ed.D., resource vice president and research chair of the Labyrinth Society, in Trumansburg, New York. “Walking a labyrinth is useful for those that sometimes have a hard time being outwardly still and draw- ing themselves inward. You must move your body, and because you’re focused on the path while you’re walking it, it’s easier to drop wholly into the journey and let go of all else,” says Anne Bull, of Veriditas, a Petaluma, California, nonprofit that supports new labyrinth designs to suit the spiritual needs of hospitals, schools and retreat centers. The group also sponsors a worldwide directory at
LabyrinthLocator.com.
Individual Approaches A labyrinth walk typically involves three stages. The first is for releasing extraneous thoughts on the way to the
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