Commonly called an eleven-circuit labyrinth, this singular path lies in eleven concentric circles with thirty-four turns going into the twelfth circle or center called the rosette. There are no dead ends or false passages but a winding path that leads unerringly to the center. After you reach the center you turn around and walk the same winding path out again. Walking this ancient design while praying gives double benefit. It calms the mind, relaxes the body, and reduces stress. For Christians who walk it, this tool provides a space that guides the mind and heart in prayer. The religious community as well as the medical community is hailing the benefits of prayer.
The labyrinth is making a comeback as a tool offering a chance to take time out from busy lives and to leave schedules and stress behind. Walking the Prayer Labyrinth can richly bless our lives and lead us to discovery, insight, peace, solace, and direction. It reminds us that no time or effort is ever wasted. If we stay the course, every step, however circuitous, takes us closer to our goal. It also fosters unity and connectedness, by inviting everyone to “walk the Christ-path together,” as a symbolic act of cooperation. As a work of the Spirit the labyrinth is more about the journey than the destination, about being rather than doing, integrating body and mind, reason and imagination, thought and feeling into one harmonious whole as God intended.
As people seek spiritual direction the prayer labyrinth is a step dozens of churches are taking to forge a new sense of what it means to be the church, one that moves away from an institutional identity to provide spiritual guidance and nurtures a new creative relationship with God. People who walk the prayer labyrinth find more than an intellectual understanding of God; they experience an authentic prayer relationship with the living Christ. Using this tool, individuals profoundly yet playfully experience the mystery of God’s presence in a tangible way. Lives are being changed and transformed.