Finding Mindful Silence in the Center of a Labyrinth

Dancing Elephants Press Book Project — Mindfulness

Some years back, my husband and I decided on the spur of the moment to go away for the weekend to celebrate our anniversary. We decided this late on Friday night, intending to leave first thing Saturday morning, and come home on Sunday.

We wanted something that could be a true getaway, that would allow us to have a unique experience for our celebration. Ideally, within our budget. And they had to have availability for the weekend.

My husband loves hot springs, especially ones with spiritual connections. And we wanted to see Colorado’s Great Sand Dunes. We combined the two with a trip to Joyful Journey Hot Springs, where we reserved an isolated yurt.

Practicing mindfulness on the journey

Our timeline on Saturday was immediately thrown out of whack when the narrow, two-lane mountain road was blocked by an accident. No one had been hurt, but a tractor trailer had gone off the road and tipped over on its side.

We were stuck there for hours while work crews struggled to move the tractor trailer out of the way.

At first, we were irritated and annoyed. We had this wonderful anniversary experience planned, and instead, we were stuck in a traffic jam.

Then, we realized, we were having a unique and memorable experience. It just wasn’t the one we’d planned.

We started paying attention to our environment. What new trees and flowers could we see around us? What did the mountains look like? How did that compare to the more familiar Rocky Mountains around Denver?

Since we were celebrating our anniversary, we played a game of “What was your favorite ____ during our marriage?” Favorite vacations, favorite gifts, favorite movies, favorite holidays, and more. We listened mindfully to each other’s answers, and felt more connected than ever.

By the time the traffic began moving, we were already having a wonderful time.

A change of plans

From our resort, we could see the Great Sand Dunes in the distance. However, the resort was on the back side of the park. To circle around to the front entrance would be another hour of driving. Much as we’d enjoyed our time in the traffic jam, we didn’t really want to spend two more hours in the car.

We’d spend Saturday afternoon at the resort, instead. What else was there to do besides soak in the hot springs?

There was a cute little gift shop that sold aromatherapy perfumes. We spent some time exploring all the different scents. We looked at the historical photos of the area, when it had been a prosperous town of around 2500 people, with twice-daily passenger rail service. From that heyday, the town slowly dwindled to around 100–120 people.

Then, my husband decided that he would go back to our yurt and do a long, mystical meditation. I didn’t want to disturb him, so I decided to do a walking meditation in the resort’s labyrinth.

The labyrinth

The Joyful Journey labyrinth is modeled on the one in the Chartres Cathedral. Laid out in local stones on the ground, it traces through 11 concentric circles as it winds its way toward the center (the 12th circle), then follows the same path back out again.

According to Dr. Lauren Artress, in Walking a Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Tool, these 12 circles are “the multiple of 3, representing heaven, and 4, representing earth. The path overall represents creation.”

What you create in a journey through a labyrinth is up to you. There is no right way to walk a labyrinth, although approaching the experience with humility and openness will tend to have better results than trying to achieve a specific outcome. In other words, be mindful, without judgment.

My labyrinth journey

I had never walked a labyrinth before, but I had done walking meditations. In those, I would make an affirmation and breathe in or out with each step. Part of the power of the walking meditations is that as you slow your breathing to match the deliberate speed of your pace, you naturally enter a transcendent state.

So I began to walk the labyrinth, one deliberate step at a time. My initial steps were basic affirmations, such as “Breathe in love. Breathe out fear.” Or “Breathe in peace. Breathe out anxiety.”

As I walked, I paid attention to my breathing, my footsteps, the sun and air upon my skin, and the shapes and positions of the stones making up the labyrinth. I was aware of all of these things, but without getting lost in any of them. Because I continued to come back to my breath, my steps, and my affirmations.

Slowly, as I moved further and further into the center of the labyrinth, I found myself less and less engaged with the outside world. Instead, I was moving deep within my own consciousness.

I was still walking, and breathing, and affirming. But in between each step, breath, and affirmation, I hung suspended in crystalline silence. It almost seemed that I was in the center of a crystal bowl, with each step, breath, and affirmation causing the bowl to ring. I could not hear it ring, but I felt the vibration in my soul.

By the time I reached the center of the labyrinth, I had spent all of my affirmations. There was nothing left to add or subtract from my being. I was left affirming, “Breathe in. Breathe out.” And then, simply, “Breathe.”

Returning to the outer world

I don’t know how long I stood in the center of the labyrinth, breathing. It was both an eternity and no time at all. I was simultaneously deep within my own consciousness, and connected to everything and everyone.

That connection told me it was time to leave, so I began walking again. Breathing and affirming with each step, I retraced the path that had led me into the center of the labyrinth.

Surprising to me, as I circled my way back and forth, I slowly regained my physical awareness as a body moving through space and time. It seemed to naturally occur in perfect symmetry to my initial descent into the depths of my consciousness.

Although I returned to the same physical being that I’d been before entering the labyrinth, I was changed inside. I carried the peace and tranquility I’d found in the center of the labyrinth back out with me.

I returned to our yurt to find my husband had just finished his meditation as well. We shared our experiences with each other, powerfully connecting on a deep spiritual level as well as with our physical beings.

It was an amazing anniversary celebration.

Creating your own labyrinth journey

If you’d like to experience your own labyrinth journey, you don’t need to travel to Colorado to do so. Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, CA, has created a network of people and organizations that host labyrinth sacred spaces. They even offer a kit that you can use to build your own labyrinth.

Another option is a finger-walk labyrinth. Using a smaller, printed version of the Chartres Cathedral labyrinth, you move your finger through the labyrinth instead of your entire body. The oldest known finger labyrinth is from the Lucca Cathedral in Italy. It is on the wall beside the entrance, so that visitors can trace the path and achieve a quiet mind before entering the Cathedral.

Thank you to Lady Dr. Gabriella Korosi, Sharing Randomly, and Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles for offering this opportunity to share my experience of walking a labyrinth with the readers of Dancing Elephants Press.