Labyrinth Spiritual Practice

To quiet her young sons during what felt like long services in our unairconditioned Pennsylvania church my mother would reach into her summer Sunday wicker purse and distribute quiet games she kept there for such occasions. My favorite was a small labyrinth. With rapt attention, oblivious to my surroundings, I was totally immersed in moving a small metal ball around the careful layout in such a way that the ball would sooner or later arrive at the center destination. The goal, of course, was to do so without having the ball make any detours.

It would take me more than a few decades from then to make the connection that Mother was likely unknowingly making within my young life. Quieting the mind, mindfully present while in motion, connecting one place to the next and the next while in flow, cultivating a deepening awareness were not too hard for my four-year-old self. Who knew that in a few decades from then, I would find myself practicing prayer in this way and teaching it to others. I couldn't tell you the first time I prayer walked a labyrinth for the very first time as an adult. What I remember is every time that I do, I connect to the experience I was introduced to on a hot, humid Pennsylvania summer Sunday morning in the house of prayer where I was raised.

The finger labyrinth I use in my home prayer space is in the style of the medieval walking labyrinth located in Chartres Cathedral.