Savoring the last moments of our weekend with Mimi. Sunday came and I had to take her back. Looking ahead, I decided to make a reservation at the Scaritt-Bennett Hall just off of the Vanderbilt campus. Once a small college campus , it is now a place for repose.
Walking through the old gothic campus left us feeling like we were in England.
Among our discoveries was a peace garden hosting a labyrinth.
The labyrinth is not a maze. There are no tricks to it and no dead ends. It has a single circular path which winds its way to the center. The labyrinth walker uses the same path to return from the center and the entrance then becomes the exit. The path is never hidden but always in full view. This allows one to be introspective and quiet.
There are usually three stages to a labyrinth walk but there is never a wrong way to use a labyrinth.
1. The Release: As we walk to the center of the labyrinth we release the worries of everyday life and find an inner stillness. Just stop thinking and breath with each step.
2. Receiving: Once at the center , gifts of the innerself are received.
3. The Return: To leave the labyrinth you follow the same path that you walked in on. The entrance now becomes the exit. Symbolically and sometimes actually, you are taking out into the world those gifts that you have received from the center.
The labyrinth in a fluid continuous movement of the inner journey and the gifts such a journey brings back out into our everyday world.
Today we are joining Lisaover at Earthmama in her new wednesday series "Right Now I Am".
For more information about the Scaritt-Bennett Center and to walk their labyrinth have a look here.
