These stories are gathered from various books and communities around the nation.
One woman in her early seventies walked into the labyrinth, meditated in the center, then unconsciously walked in a straight line out to its edges. She thought she had completed the walk. Then, watching others, she realized she had not completed the path. She asked to go in again, and this time completes the walk on the path winding back out from the center. Later she told me she had struggled her entire life with completion issues. Until her moments on the labyrinth she had not realized how pervasive they were. She tearfully acknowledged to me and herself just how much unfinished business she had in her life – how it troubled her more every passing year.
One woman who felt deeply alienated as the result form abuse and incest in her family came to walk the labyrinth. Fearing that the walk would intensify her feelings of isolation, she asked a friend to walk with her. As they made their way to the center together the woman wept. She was experiencing many of the fears from her past. But she was able to walk through them, continuing her long journey of healing.
A man who was adopted but had no information about his family of origin (walked the lab). During his walk, he began to realize he needed to connect with his family to solidify his sense of self. He was surprised by these thoughts, as they had emerged from his subconscious. He made a decision while on the lab to search for his birth parents. When he arrived home from the conference, there was a message on his answering machine from his birth mother.
At a drama therapists conference a woman came out of the lab and gave me an unselfconscious hug. That morning she woke with a voice in her mind saying “I love…. I love…” She could not figure it out, and after playing with it – “I love my husband, I love my son.” – she put it aside. On the lab she heard the same voice saying “I love YOU.” and she was overcome with joy, realizing how deeply she is loved by God.
One woman who was in the midst of tumultuous change walked a labyrinth expecting to find direction and instead found that the entire walk was spent releasing the frenetic energy that had built up over the weeks. Instead of direction she found calm in the midst of the storm; something which looking back she realizes was more important at that time.
