Meditation: Labyrinths

We’ve got a society full of stereotypes and labyrinths are part of them. We continuously use maze and labyrinth are interchangeable words which while may have been true at one period of time, now is not so true. Who better to describe the main difference, but Wikipedia:

    “In colloquial English, labyrinth is generally synonymous with maze, but many     contemporary scholars observe a distinction between the two: maze refers to a     complex branching (multicursal) puzzle with choices of path and direction; while     a single-path (unicursal) labyrinth has only a single, non-branching path, which     leads to the     center.” (Labryrinth- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

   
This is the basic difference: the different designs. But why the different designs? John and I found out when visiting the Grand Hotel back in August.

What the sign basically says is that a labyrinth is a meditative/spiritual tool (sometimes therapeutic which is why there are so many at hospitals and healthcare facilities) and really, it is. When we walked it quietly, I could see how following the simple path was calming and easy which left plenty of space for deep thought and mindless peace… Or I could, if it wasn’t so small (sadly, the photo will not download or I would share it with you). 

If standard meditation is not your thing or walking/hiking is your thing (or you enjoy exploring spiritual rituals), then I would definitely recommend finding a decent sized labyrinth and give it a try!

Labyrinths
World-Wide Labyrinth Locator
Labyrinths- A Waymarking.com
Labyrinth Coalition
The Labyrinth Society
The Labyrinth Society: Events Calendar

Mazes
Maze- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Debuck’s Corn Maze (Loved it when I went there for my birthday last year. Spent all day going through their 3 mazes)