Labyrinth Articles

Why walk the Labyrinth?

Dear Eve,
I’ve heard about the monthly labyrinth walks you hold at The Sacred Garden and I have to admit that I’m curious. I have a hard time imagining how walking around in circles can improve my life or my relationships. Honestly, it seems like I walk around in circles all day long! Can you tell me what I’ll get out of a labyrinth walk? Thanks.

Aloha,
Actually, I cannot tell you what you, specifically, will get out of the labyrinth walk because it is a personal experience, different for everyone. With that said, I can tell you how to get the most out of the labyrinth walk and assist you in understanding why you might want to try it. I can also help you see how to gain benefit while you are “walking around in circles all day long!”
Without going into any of the history, the “labyrinth” I’m referring to is not a maze; there is only one path to the center and the same path brings you back out. I have found it to be the perfect “practice ground” for all of the essential life skills that I teach. The skills can be practiced and mastered on the labyrinth and then applied in your relationships and daily life.

As you walk into the labyrinth, the object is to practice self-observation. In my experience this is one of the most important skills that we can develop. Self-observation brings about awareness. When we are aware of what we are doing and thinking, we realize we have the power to choose differently if what we are thinking or doing are not serving us. When we find our minds wandering as we walk, we can practice focusing on the present moment, on the walk.

When we become aware of what we are experiencing on the labyrinth, we can look at what that represents metaphorically in our lives. For instance, if you are bored on the labyrinth, boredom is probably an issue in your life. If you judge others on the labyrinth, judgment is your issue. If you worry about what people are thinking of you as you walk, your need for approval is your issue. So the labyrinth acts as a sort of microscope shining light on the areas of our being that may need a little shifting. In addition, it serves as a place to experience peacefulness and calm, where we can quiet the busy-ness of our minds and really listen to the whisper of our hearts. We can gain clarity as we walk, receive answers to our questions, let go of stress and discover richer aspects of our being.

What does that have to do with relationships? Imagine being in relationships when one or both people are self-aware, know how to reduce their stress and access their inner wisdom when problems need to be resolved! The better we know ourselves and the better self-mastery we have, the better our relationships are going to be.

The labyrinth walk can also shine a light on various dynamics of your relationship. Perhaps as you walk, you become aware that you are more comfortable when one partner is leading. Perhaps you realize that you pay so much attention to wondering whether your partner is enjoying him/herself that you don’t pay any attention to enjoying yourself. You may find there are times where you are walking side by side, only to find moments later that you are on opposite sides, going opposite ways. The labyrinth is a rich field of metaphor so what is revealed to you as you walk in partnership will undoubtedly be revealing of issues that could use some awareness. As we simply observe our experience in the labyrinth, we gain valuable insights into ourselves and our lives. The same holds true when you find yourself “walking in circles” throughout your day. Simply become observant and notice what is being revealed to you.
At the very worst you will have a peaceful and pleasant experience under the Maui moon. Perhaps that is all you really need!
With Aloha,
Eve

Intellectual Foreplay Question: How would your relationships benefit if you were calmer, clearer and more centered?

Love Tip: When what we are doing isn’t working, we have to do something different. Remain open-minded to the possibility that the “something different” is something you’ve never tried before or that won’t make sense to you until you do!

Labyrinths as a Wellness Pilgrimage

Labyrinths are popping up all over the country in hospitals, churches, retreat centers, parks, schools and back yards as a path of prayer and Hawaii is no exception.

The concept of taking a pilgrimage as a path of wellness is not a new one. In fact it is eons old. From the ancient concept of vision questing to journeys toward sacred destinations such as Jerusalem, Mecca, Lourdes, Stonehenge, or power places in nature. While coming to Hawaii as a spiritual destination is certainly a pilgrimage in its own right, one can miss the spiritual aspects entirely if only focusing on the shopping, nightlife and resorts. For a sense of spirit, for an experience beneficial to one’s wellness, one must look a little deeper. In addition to the beautiful beaches, gardens, waterfalls and rainbows designed to replenish your soul, the labyrinth is available here as a walking meditation.

Most labyrinths built today are replicas of the 800 year old Chartres Cathedral labyrinth. In the 1200’s, the Crusades were going on and taking a pilgrimage to a sacred destination meant risking your life. Rather than journey into danger, pilgrims of the 13th century took a metaphorical pilgrimage within the confines of the labyrinth and the safety of the church. Today, we use the labyrinth in much the same way.

The labyrinth looks like a maze but it is not. Rather than dead-ends and multiple paths to tease and challenge you, the labyrinth has only one path that winds its way into the center and the same path brings you back out. The labyrinth offers a three-fold path, just like a pilgrimage—the journey in, the sacred destination of the center, and the return back out.

The labyrinth provides us with a laboratory for practicing certain life skills that are imperative for wellness: self-observation, letting go, getting centered and choosing actions in alignment with our strong, wise and healthy self. The labyrinth allows us a practice ground for these skills from which, once mastered, we can apply them in our lives moment to moment.

The walk into the labyrinth provides an opportunity for us to begin self-observation, contemplation and release. The task is to walk the labyrinth cognizant of a “witness” state—being the observed and the observer at the same time. Simply pay attention to what you are feeling and thinking and then, with a deep breath, release it and let it go, freeing your awareness to be available for the next moment in time. The walk in is a time of preparation, as if you are emptying your mind of thoughts, memories, expectations, and judgments, so that you are open and ready to receive guidance when you reach the center. It is the journey from your head to your heart, from thought to feeling, from logic to intuition, from believing to knowing.

The center of the labyrinth, the heart, represents the sacred destination. Just as on a “real pilgrimage,” here the pilgrims sit or stand in mediation open to receiving guidance or insight. Whether you receive an answer to a question, a valuable insight about your life or merely a sense of peace, solitude or joy, the center is a quiet space in which you get what you need, if not what you came for. You come to know the stillness of the center—your center—as a sanctuary to which you always have access and can return whenever your soul needs rejuvenation. So many of us are so busy in our lives that our brains are working overtime—creating a lot of noise. Seldom to we retreat to silence—away from TV, radio or conversation. The center of the labyrinth provides the solitude necessary for accessing your inner wisdom and hearing the whisper of your heart.

The journey out of the labyrinth represents Divine Alignment—returning home, in union with God, to apply in your daily life the insights and wisdom youíve gained on your pilgrimage. Truly, this action step is critical for bringing about the transformation that extends beyond the pilgrimageóthe transformation of your life toward wellness, wholeness, and health.

The labyrinth works with the magic of metaphor, mirroring back to us anything that stands between us as the pilgrim, and the Divine. If you simply observe what you experience as you walk, you will see that metaphorically that is also what you experience in your ìrealî world. If you find yourself impatient to reach the center, impatience undoubtedly impedes your path through life, as well. If you find yourself judgmental of others as they walk, your judgments are the very thing you need to release in order to enter the temple of your heart. If you walk worried about what others are thinking of you, releasing your need for approval will move you closer to the Divine. If you stay ìin your headî throughout the journey counting the paths and trying to figure it out, this metaphor reveals to you that it is time to venture into the realm of feeling, rather than merely thinking about, the Divine.

By allowing the labyrinth to be the laboratory where we practice self-observation, letting go, getting centered, aligned action and the magic of metaphor, we are then prepared to expand the boundary of the labyrinth to include our entire lives. After all, does your spiritual path—and the benefit of these skills—only exist within a 40 foot circle? Or, did your spiritual quest begin when you left your home, flew across the ocean to the sacred islands of Hawaii and then return back home the way you came? Or, did your three-fold path begin with birth, continue with the sacred center of this life, and the return journey of death? Or is your pilgrimage even bigger than that?

---

Labyrinths on Maui:
Rev. Heather Mueller of St. John’s Church in Keokea and I had a “happy accident” when we discovered that she had built a replica of the Chartres Cathedral labyrinth in the parking lot of St. John’s Church but had no one to teach the community about it. While simultaneously, I had discovered this perfect tool for sharing powerful concepts for spiritual growth with the community, but I didn’t have a labyrinth. We were truly an answer to each other’s prayers and continued to provide monthly full moon labyrinth walks at St. John’s for Maui’s pilgrims for ten years. The walks are now held at The Sacred Garden of Maliko in Makawao, Maui, Hawaii.

Rev. Mueller has also been presenting the labyrinth walks as part of the church’s historical tour for senior citizen groups who quickly discovered the labyrinths healing abilities quite by accident. “One woman shared that she almost didn’t make it to the walk due to a severe migraine,” the Reverend explained. “At the last minute she decided to walk and when she emerged from the labyrinth she excitedly shared that her migraine—which usually lasted several days—was completely gone! Shocked, she wanted to know if this was ‘normal.’ As I reassured her of the labyrinth’s healing traits, another older woman overheard the conversation and shared that she suffers of vertigo on a regular basis and was apprehensive about walking around in circles on account of it. However, after just a couple of turns along the path she realized that her vertigo had gone away!” Rather than being disoriented and confused, the twisting path served to balance her equilibrium.

The Reverend’s personal experience has been that in days full of ministering to other’s needs, handling zillions of interruptions and phone calls, taking just fifteen minutes out to walk the labyrinth always brings her back to center so that she can carry on from a peaceful state. While Heather is no longer at St. Johns, the labyrinth at St. John’s (808-878-1485), open to the public.

Part of my own labyrinth ministry on Maui has been to provide labyrinth weddings on a portable canvas labyrinth or on the labyrinth at The Sacred Garden, in which the bride and groom walk in separately, letting go of the past. They share their vows when they find each other in the heart of the labyrinth and then forge the path out together. The labyrinth is the perfect metaphor for the transition of marriage.

Below is the recently built labyrinth on my property “The Sacred Garden of Maliko.”

While I am more of a labyrinth “mystorian,” Labyrinth historian, John Kozak. painted a labyrinth on the grounds of Sacred Hearts School in Lahaina.

Kapalua, just below the Ritz Carlton, is the home of Maui’s largest labyrinth. Building the Kapalua Labyrinth was a true act of love and was done as peace project in spring 2005.

		The Kapalua Labyrinth is made of white coral and is nestled on a little penninsula with turquoise blue water on three sides. This sacred location was considered a “jumping off point” for souls as they made their transition from this existence to the next. To get there, Go to the Ritz Carlton (Turn toward the ocean from Hwy 30 onto Ritz Calton Way. Take it all the way to the bottom where you will see the small Ritz Carlton Chapel on the right. Turn right into the little parking lot. It is easiest if you walk up toward the chapel, then cross the bridge toward the ocean that will take you on a golf course path toward the bottom of the hill. When you reach the bottom, you’ll have to walk across a small stretch of golf course toward the stand of ironwood trees. The labyrinth is on the other side of the trees, near the ocean.
	There is another labyrinth beyond the RItz by the “blow hole.” Continue on highway 30 north to “Hobbitland”. At mile marker 38, park seaside near the orange gate, walk down toward the ocean.

---

 

---

Dear Lord, Please Be Blunt With Me

Ten years ago when I first read about the labyrinth as a walking meditation, I immediately knew I wanted to include this wonderful tool in my workshops. Metaphorical of taking a pilgrimage, the labyrinth seemed to me to be the perfect place for people to practice the essential life skills that I taught for self-discovery and self-mastery.

It was then that I heard about a Labyrinth Facilitator’s Certification training at the Grace Cathedral in San Francisco and knew that this was a course that I wanted to attend. I reviewed the registration materials and figured out that I was already going to be in California at the time so I didn’t need to worry about the airfare from Maui, (where I live). My excitement began to build as I envisioned joining the group and learning about this sacred path.

My heart sank as I continued on to read about the registration fee as, at that particular time in my life, I had several other expenses that were taking priority and an extra $500 for this workshop was not in my budget. And then there was the issue of explaining to my husband that I was spending $500 and three days taking a class on how to teach people to walk around in circles on a specific, clearly marked path with no dead-ends and no tricks. I just knew he wasn’t going to understand why facilitation of this type of “no-brainer” experience was something that needed to be taught.

So, I sat in my personal little shrine reviewing the problem with God. “Here is the deal. There is a labyrinth facilitation course going on at the Grace Cathedral next month and I’d really like to go. However, I can’t justify the money right now. So, God, if you want me to do this work, you are going to have to come up with the money, because otherwise, I’m not going to be able to. Okay?” I offered my problem to God and then went about my day, forgetting all about it.

Soon I had heard that there was a labyrinth up on Haleakala mountain at St. John’s Church just 45 minutes from my home. Since I knew I wanted to teach people about the labyrinth but I didn’t have one, I thought I should go meet with the minister of the church and find out what they were doing with their labyrinth and if I might be able to use it from time to time. Reverend Heather and I immediately hit it off. We started sharing our appreciation of the labyrinth and our excitement about its many uses for helping people to experience a sense of peace, hear the voice of God, make sense of their life experiences, release stress, achieve balance and gain clarity. It turned out that she had a labyrinth and no one to teach about it and I wanted to teach about it but didn’t have a labyrinth. Our enthusiasm was contagious as we discovered our obvious match. In the midst of the conversation I explained to her that there was a labyrinth facilitator training coming up and that I was trying to figure out where to get the money so that I could take it.

At that, she stood up from the table where we were sitting, walked over to her desk, pulled out her checkbook and wrote me a check for $500—on our very first meeting!
As I walked away from the church—in shock—with check in hand, I had to stop to thank God. I held up the check and said to God appreciatively, “Now THAT was very clear!” On many occasions I have explained to God that I needed blunt answers and guidance, subtle clues didn’t work so well for me. Now, with check in hand, it was clear that becoming a labyrinth facilitator was definitely God’s will.

I looked back toward the waving Reverend as I drove away from the church, overwhelmed with gratitude that we got to be the answer to each other’s prayers.

© Copyright 2006-2012 Eve Hogan