Walking the Labyrinth as a Mindfulness Practice
Mindfulness is often taught sitting still: eyes closed, attention on the breath. For many people, that works. For others, especially people whose bodies stay on high alert, sitting still with their eyes closed is the hardest place to start. A labyrinth offers another way in. You keep your eyes open, you keep moving, and your attention has somewhere to rest: the next step.
A labyrinth is not a maze
A maze is a puzzle, full of choices and dead ends. A labyrinth has one path. It winds back and forth, sometimes close to the center and sometimes far from it, but it always leads in, and the same path leads back out. There is nothing to solve and no way to get lost. That frees your mind to do something other than plan.
How it connects to DBT mindfulness
In Dialectical Behavior Therapy, mindfulness is a set of skills you can practice, not a mood you have to reach. A labyrinth walk gives each one a home:
- Observe: notice your feet on the path, the air, the sounds around you, without needing to change anything.
- Describe: put words to what is here. "My shoulders are tight." "I'm thinking about work again."
- Participate: let yourself be fully in the walking, turn by turn.
- Nonjudgmentally, one-mindfully, effectively: when your mind wanders, and it will, notice it without scolding yourself, and come back to the next step. Coming back is the practice.
One way to walk
Many walkers use a simple three-part rhythm:
- Walking in: letting go. Let each turn loosen whatever you are carrying, a little at a time.
- At the center: pausing. Stand or sit as long as you like. Notice what is here.
- Walking out: returning. Carry what you noticed back into your day.
I often pair the walk with Loving Kindness practice, silently offering wishes of well-being with each step: "May I be happy. May I be safe. May I be healthy. May I live in peace." On the way out, you can widen the circle to someone you love, someone neutral, and eventually all beings.
Walking with care
A labyrinth walk is gentle, and it is still yours to shape. Keep your eyes open. Go at your own pace, and step off the path whenever you need to; there is no wrong way to finish. If strong feelings come up, slowing down, feeling your feet on the ground, or simply stopping are all skillful choices. If you are working through trauma, it can help to try your first walks with support, or to bring what comes up to your next therapy session.
Where to walk
- Near Spokane: Spokane Labyrinths gathers the public labyrinths in our area, and the Spokane Labyrinths Passport lets you track the ones you have walked.
- Anywhere in the world: the World-Wide Labyrinth Locator lists labyrinths around the world, searchable by location.
- At home: no labyrinth nearby? Try the BridgePath finger labyrinth and trace the path with your fingertip, or your mouse, at your own pace.
If you would like to explore mindfulness or labyrinth walking as part of therapy, read more about mindfulness at BridgePath, or email me.