Labyrinth

Schedule

The labyrinth is open for meditative walking on the evening of each full moon. Visit the church calendar to verify dates, and sign up for the Labyrinth Interest List to be connected.

First U’s labyrinth

First Universalist started with a canvas labyrinth that was dedicated in June of 1998. Our current etched labyrinth was dedicated on March 26, 2005. The design is similar to the labyrinth found on the stone floor of the Chartres Cathedral in France.

What is a labyrinth?

Used for walking meditation, a labyrinth is a single winding path from the outer edge in a circuitous way to the center and out again. Labyrinths are used world-wide as a way to quiet the mind, calm anxieties, recover balance in life, enhance creativity and encourage meditation, insight, self-reflection and stress reduction. Labyrinths can be a metaphor for a journey to the center of yourself and back out with a broadened understanding of who you are. They can be a space to quiet your mind, release your troubles, and experience a sense of calm or peace. There are numerous labyrinth patterns. Labyrinth images are found all over the world dating as far back as 4,000 BCE.

Labyrinth as metaphor and mirror

Everything that happens on and around the labyrinth may remind people of their own life journeys, their psychological or spiritual issues, their goals, their hopes and fears. The labyrinth is like a mirror reflecting for the walker a new level of awareness, new possibilities. Usually with the birth of a new is a dying of the old. This awareness may be met with resistance or grief.

How to walk a labyrinth

There’s no right or wrong way to walk a labyrinth, but here are some tips you can try:

• Prepare – You can sit quietly to reflect before you start, or set an intention or prayer.
• Enter – Enter humbly and be aware that you’re entering a sacred space.
• Walk – Walk at your own pace, following the winding path towards the center. Pay attention to your breathing and inner experience.
• Center – When you reach the center, pause and stay as long as you like. You can meditate, pray, or reflect.
• Exit – Exit by retracing the path you came in on.
• Reflect – When you leave, take time to reflect on your experience and notice how you feel. You can write down your thoughts and feelings.

Can the labyrinth be walked more than once?

Yes. Each time the labyrinth is walked, the person will have a different experience, even if on the same day. Each moment in time we are in a different place in our lives. Walking the labyrinth frequently can offer the walker a deeply rooted spiritual practice.

Labyrinth by Leslie Takahashi Morris
From the book, “becoming, A Spiritual Guide for Navigating Adulthood”, used by our Coming of Age kids.

Walk the maze
within your heart: guide your steps into its questioning curves.
This labyrinth is a puzzle leading you deeper into your own truths.
Listen in the twists and turns.
Listen in the openness within all searching.
Listen: a wisdom within you calls to a wisdom beyond you and in that dialogue lies peace.