Health & Fitness
Walking Through Contemplation
Walking the labyrinth is one of the best ways to learn to be still while in motion.
From the first glance, I thought the labyrinth might be a maze. Its meandering path zig-zagged across the painted canvas, making slow progress toward the middle. But unlike a maze, there were no dead ends; it was a single flowing channel with one way in and one way out.
I slipped off my shoes and took a seat cross-legged on the floor, my arms out behind me, continuing to follow the design with my eyes. As I decompressed from my day, my breathing slowed, and the candles' flickering light seemed to bring about a peace I wasn't expecting. The quiet music and gently waving palms created such a calm environment, I wasn't sure if I was still in Gales Ferry. I could have sat there all night.
Finally I realized that I should probably walk the labyrinth; I really couldn't actually stay there all night. As I stood, the pattern of the labyrinth shifted with my perspective. No longer a maze from my eye level, I could see more clearly where I was headed. I entered the labyrinth, mindful of the sights before me, the sounds around me, and the feeling of the canvas on my bare feet. With every step I took, I felt my heel touch the floor and roll toward the ball of my foot, weight shifting off my toes as I lifted my foot and replaced it with the other. A breath in and a breath out. You know, the rhythm of walking and breathing is something I just don't pay attention to, but this experience was simple. Easy. Mindful. And maybe a little too truthful. Just when I thought I was close to the center, the path would whisk me away in the opposite direction. It was strange, thinking how sometimes my day at work can be the same way. Or perhaps how an entire season of my life has taken that route.
Suddenly I found myself in the center.
How did that happen? I slowly turned to survey the path I had taken, remembering where I had been walking just moments before. How different the outlook was from this point.
I paused for a few moments before taking a step toward the single path that led out. Step. Breath. Step. Breath.
As I headed toward my shoes, laid abandoned at the side of the hall, I breathed in the incredibly peaceful evening. Tying my shoes, I felt that the tension in my shoulders had somehow worked itself out. And upon further gaze on the labyrinth, I realized that this was never meant to get me lost in the sea of undulating curves. Instead, it helped me be found.
An annual tradition, the United Methodist Church of Gales Ferry's labyrinth will be open Wednesday, April 16th from 6 PM to 8 PM; Thursday, April 17th from 6 PM to 7:30 PM & 8:30 PM to 9 PM; and Friday, April 18th from 5 PM to 8 PM.
10 Chapman Lane, Gales Ferry, CT 06335
- Christy Wright, Director of Youth Ministries
