KARIN WILSON | at Imagine Summer, 21 July 2007
Path to the Inner Labyrinth
Meditation is the vogue form of personal spiritual retreat. It's quiet, solitary and usually stationary form of getting in touch with one's inner being. Ancient yogis were known to sit for hours, even days, in deep contemplation. But there were other spiritual masters, and seekers, who incorporate movement into their meditation. They walk. And many walk the prescribed path called the labyrinth.
Labyrinths date back to the time of ancient Greece, and these paths appear all over the world and have been used to symbolize the spiritual journey that we are all on. Unlike a maze, the path always leads in one direction, to the centre, and it guides you back out again.
I've walked along beaches, and meditated, walked through forests and even city streets, but until I set foot inside First United Church on Bernard, I had never walked a labyrinth. I had never stood next to one. And for some peculiar reason, the idea of doing so unnerved me a little.
The labyrinth at First United is a replica of the famous pattern found on the floor of the Chartres Cathedral in France. Thick brown lines are painted on the floor of the church hall - about half the size of an elementary school gymnasium. The outer rim is scalloped, but all the other lines are smooth.
Rev. Karen Medland had already told me that people tend to ask the labyrinth a question and during the course of the walk, answers or at least indications emerge. Silence is critical, and barefeet a necessity whether the labyrinth lies indoors or out.
I slip off my shoes. Fortunately no one else is here. The office assistant dims the lights. I came prepared with a book - The Labyrinth and the Enneagram: Circling into Prayer and select the option Releasing My Inner Critic. Already I'm uncomfortable. I re-read the chapter four times and hover over the entry to the labyrinth. I'm not sure I want to know what it will reveal. I'm not sure I want to be that uncomfortable.
As I walk, I wonder about my steps. They're not even. Am I doing this properly. My body wobbles on the tight turns that fold back onto themselves and for some reason remind me of the womb. I try to get it right. Try to keep my pace consistent. My stomach feels sick. It's tense. I let go. Be still and accept myself as I am. Accept my surroundings for what they are.
I'm getting close to the outer edge now, feeling more relaxed. I speed up and then before I realize it I'm in the centre of it all and it feels like I'm surrounded by energy. I turn my body around and around and around. The tears come easily.
And then I'm walking the path, this time on my way out. Someone comes into the room breaking the silence, but I let that go, knowing now that this too is God. Knowing that this too is part of my path. My foot wobbles off course again for a moment and I catch myself. My critical mind. And I laugh now, as I realize my self-criticism is constant. Even my feet don't work well, I tell myself, and I hear my internal critic for what it is. Such a child. And then I laugh again. And try to love myself.
My pace slows down as I exit the labyrinth. I'm not sure I feel connected, so much as I feel whole. I like my internal critic a little better. I realize how constant she can be. How petty. How picky. The labyrinth gave me a gift I never imagined - that it's better to be conscious of the arms of Spirit around me than to suffer in ignorance alone.
That is my prayer. For today anyway.
Labyrinths in the Okanagan
Seton House of Prayer
Catholic Diocese of Nelson
5819 Chute Lake Road
Outdoor labyrinth created from brickwork
764-4333
Naramata Centre of the United Church of Canada
3375 3rd St., Naramata
Outdoor Chartres - designed labyrinth with hedging
250-496-5751
First United Church
721 Bernard Ave., Kelowna
Indoor Chartres labyrinth
Phone ahead to book - 762-3311
Unitarian Church of Kelowna
1310 Bertram St.
Indoor labyrinth
Phone ahead to book - 763-7212
Emmanuella House of Prayer
Benedictine
15550 Commonage Rd., Winfield
12-circuit outdoor labyrinth
250-766-5333
Anytime
Fintry Estate
Fintry Provincial Park
7655 Fintry Delta Rd, Kelowna
Located on the Westside of Okanagan Lake
60-foot diameter outdoor labyrinth
250-542-3461
Copyright © 2007 Karin Wilson. All rights reserved.
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