Labyrinth Walks and Workshops

Labyrinth walks or workshops use this ancient design or symbol as a metaphor for your spiritual journey through your life challenges. It consists of a circular, meandering path to the center, and one walks the same path out again. There are no wrong choices or decisions to make, as are found in a maze. A labyrinth is designed to help you find your way – symbolically the journey helps us to integrate mind, body and spirit.

A labyrinth allows a person to take the next step on their spiritual journey, whatever that may look like for that individual. The labyrinth is also a tool for stress relief and centering.

Dr. Robin’s Labyrinth

There are many different labyrinth designs.  The 7-circuit classical labyrinth and the 11-circuit Chartres labyrinth are two popular designs.  My portable, green on white labyrinth combines the two designs and  called the Focus-7.  This Labyrinth has the 7 circuits of the classical design as well as several of the labyrs from the Chartres design that produce the 180 degree turns and 3 focus circles within the labyrinth.  This gives the Focus-7 labyrinth a wonderful flexibility for workshops and a smaller size than the Chartres.

Labyrinth Walks are divided into three paths:

1. Journeying In or Releasing: the walk to the center, quieting or emptying yourself, letting go of the details of everyday life, struggling with a life challenge.
2. Resting in the Center: time spent in the center meditating, praying or simply being of open mind and heart to receive whatever gift or insight may be present for you.
3. Journeying Out Renewed: the walk out from the center may be experienced as awareness of a deep connection or communion with God, the Holy Spirit, or with Sacred or Universal energy at work in the world. Others may feel centered, peaceful or renewed to journey back into challenges in their life and the world.

The labyrinth provides a physical expression for our circuitous journey as human beings. We start out walking straight towards our goal and then life experiences invite us to grow through a series of turns. We move toward the center again, only to meander to the outside of the path. Back and forth, in and out, until we feel we have lost sight of our goal. Then suddenly the center loooms directly in front of us. We have found some deep forgotten part of ourselves.

My Journey with the Labyrinth

I was first introduced to the labyrinth at Holden Village at the 1999 Winter Women’s Retreat. The retreat, “Tree of Life”, was led by Rev. Susan Briehl. Her husband, Rev. Martin Wells, created a labyrinth in the snow for us to walk, by creating the paths with snowshoes. It was a cold, crisp, clear, dark night as we made our way to the labyrinth, our boots squeaking with each step we took in the deep snow, flashlights in hand.

Martin placed candles in the snow at each turn of the Chartres labyrinth and in the center. As I walked, I was struck by the metaphors that came up for me. As we approached the labyrinth, it looked like a lighted snow globe with tall, silent trees around it watching. The packed path was solid and if you stepped off it you sank hip deep in snow.

As the women who journeyed before me started out of the labyrinth, we would wait to meet at the turns so we could hug and turn around there, as the path was a single person width and the turns a bit wider. By the time I reached the center, I was feeling peaceful, centered and tired (I had a cold and my coughing was triggered by the crisp air). I hopped over the two foot deep lines to make a quicker exit from the labyrinth. Even so, without walking out the entire labyrinth, it was a life changing experience.

My Labyrinth Training

By February 2000 I was chairperson of the labyrinth committee at Trinity Lutheran Church in Pullman, WA. We embarked on a dream of having a permanent outdoor labyrinth next to the church. Trinity Community Labyrinth is 80 feet across in size and is currently spray painted on a dark gravel surface.

In August of 2002 I went to Grace Cathedral in San Francisco for labyrinth retreat and facilitator training – more transformation. I became a certified labyrinth facilitator in March 2003 through the Rev. Dr. Lauren Artress and Veriditas.

Part of my love of the labyrinth is kindled by the direct connection to spirit I experience while walking. As I started my labyrinth journey, it was the only way to quiet my “monkey mind” and settle into a meditative state. If I tried to sit and meditate during this time, my body assumed it was time to sleep. I find the labyrinth is also a very flexible spiritual tool and symbol, it seems to graciously meet and invite people to take their next step on their journey as a spiritual being in this human body.