DRAWING FROM THE DAY
  • ...a blog on art, creativity, and mindfulness

LABYRINTHINE

9/25/2015

1 Comment

 
My back continues to recover slowly and today I walked 6000 steps.  Hurrah!  Not all were comfortable steps, but I did it, and am very encouraged.  Part of the walk was to see a much-loved old friend for lunch, and on the way home, I passed the labyrinth at the Harvard Divinity School and decided I could manage to walk it today.  And I did.  Here is a photo of the labyrinth:
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It was deserted on this cool, sunny day.  Just the way I like it. 

I haven't walked it in quite a while, and today I was reminded how narrow the pathway is in this particular labyrinth.  It's almost not wide enough for two feet, and negotiating the turns while maintaining balance can be a challenge.  Also, it seemed that I just got going in one direction when another turn would come up.

As I was walking it/working it, I was thinking about the twists and turns in life, how hard some of them can be, and what a perfect symbol of this is captured in this labyrinth.  I had to greatly slow down in order to make any of the turns, another striking metaphor. 

Even when two labyrinths are laid out in the same pattern, the spacing of each is different and so walking each one is different. 

Similar to the way our lives work.
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"A labyrinth has one entrance -- one way in and one way out. When we walk the path, we go around short curves and long curves; sometimes we are out on the edge, sometimes we circle around the center. We are never really lost, but we can never quite see where we are going." 

--Alex Pattakos in this Huffington Post piece.
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  Finally, here's a scribbled Tangled Labyrinth I did at one of Sadelle Wiltshire's wonderful Tangled Labyrinth workshops.  Clearly this was in the nature of a quick scribble rather than a thoughtful tangle, and yet...I like it because it reminds me so much of the human brain.

Check out Sadelle's fabulous tangled labyrinth works here.  She is a CZT and a Veriditas-trained Labyrinth Facilitator, and a gifted artist and teacher.  You'll enjoy studying her examples.  Her teaching schedule is here at The Tangled Labyrinth.  And don't miss reading the interesting comment she made (in the comments section)--feel free to add your own reaction to this post if you have one, or have experience with labyrinths.

Labyrinths...Zentangle®...both a form of moving meditation.   Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!

1 Comment
Sadelle Wiltshire link
9/27/2015 11:11:24 pm

What a lovely post! I'm so glad you had a successful walk AND that you got to walk the labyrinth today! That is a beautiful looking labryinth and one I have yet to walk, so I will definitely plan some time into a future visit to the Boston area!

I find that not only are my walks to different labyrinths different, but that a walk on the same labyrinth at different times are different. I've walked that labyrinth on the Greenway 3 times now, and each brought up diffferent experiences and messages. It's true how the path on the labyrinth is a metaphor for the path or journey of our lives. Walk it with other people and even more metaphors of life and community come forward. And the similarity in shape to the human brain is one that comes up alot, particularly with the classical type labyrinths, such as the one you have drawn. Which is interesting as the labyrinth offers not only a body/movement meditation exercise but also a psycho-spiritual one.

And thanks for the kind words about my workshops and artwork... I've found it interesting that it was out of playing with my artwork that the labyrinth came back into my life again, but then it took me on a different turn, one that brought me more fully back to Spirit, and it's clearly not done with me yet. It's taking me on a twisty, curvy path to a new place, one where I'm still not clear where I'm going, but am sure gaining much insight and clarity bit by bit. :-)

Once I'm finished with the activities of this fall I plan to offer more labyrinth art workshops. I'm in the planning stages of a weekend post-New Year retreat that should feed body/mind/spirit with labyrinth art, labyrinth walks and body/mindfulness care with Tai Chi with a fellow labyrinth facilitator and Tai Chi instructor friend and promise to let you know when we get it finalized. ;-)

Blessings,
Sadelle

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     I'm a textile artist (traditional rug hooking, punch needle rug hooking, and other textile arts), a long-time meditator, a certified meditation teacher and coach, and focused on learning about the interplay of art, creativity, and mindfulness every day. 

    I am also a Certified Zentangle® Teacher (CZT 11) and a student of drawing and of the tarot.

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  • ...a blog on art, creativity, and mindfulness