Living Room Labyrinth

If only my living room looked like this. It would be serene.

I decided to take the day-off from work in order to make an effort at rejuvenating my mind and body from the beating it took at work the previous three days. As part of that plan, I hoped to go and engage in a walking meditation at an outdoor labyrinth situated close to our apartment. What I didn't account for was the 112 degree heat index that happened to visit the area. A change of plans were put in order, but not a change in practice.

Instead of risking the heat outside, I decided to create my own rendition of a labyrinth within the confines of our apartment's living room. Now, the overall size of the labyrinth has to be at least 8-10x smaller than most externally located ones, but I was determined to make it work. I moved our coffee table and papasan chair to the furthest corner of the room, and began to construct the simplest and most basic labyrinth I could with the various books, CD's, and other items (e.g. dog toys, remotes, etc) that were available. And when I say simple, I do mean very simple. Even simpler than the image below.


The idea of the Labyrinth is based on a process of journeying inward toward awakening, followed by a return to the external world. My first experience of Labyrinth walking took place in 2005 while attending a youth workers convention. Within the confines of the convention center, organizers designated one of the main halls to be transformed into a room of awakening, prayer, and spiritual engagement. One of the guiding principles for the practice of Labyrinth walking at this conference was to use the bends of one's journey as a time to slow down before entering into a place of change. The experience was incredible, and I have been looking for the opportunity to re-engage with this practice.

This experience was much more difficult than other times mainly due to two reasons:

1) The area used for this walking meditation was incredibly too small
2) I was in an area familiar to me, thus causing an increase in distractions.

As I walked through my make-shift Labyrinth, I spent a great deal of time focused upon the cadence of my breath and the weight of each step. Due to the limited space, my turns inward toward the center occurred more rapidly than they would otherwise, and I found myself taking 2-3 steps before needing to make a turn. This was very difficult in the course of this meditative journey as I would have to be mindful of each time that I reached a turn. It felt as if each turn drew me out of the moment in order to begin a new one as opposed to the longer stretches of a full-sized labyrinth. All-in all, I spent approximately 15-20 minutes walking my Living Room Labyrinth, and probably navigated the space at least 12-15 times. In the end, it may have been more beneficial to do a straight line walking meditation in order to allow myself to engage deeper for longer periods of time, but the experience of a labyrinth was what I wanted. In order to expand practice following, I tried to be mindful in the movements and breathing of picking up the items I used in the construction of the labyrinth. This lasted for about 3-4 minutes before I got bored, and began quickly collecting everything so I could take care of a few other academic related tasks.

Using the Labyrinth Locator, I hope to find a labyrinth close to both home and to work that I can stop and participate in a time of contemplation. With the availability of this tool, I hope to be able to incorporate a practice that I found incredibly beneficial to myself, even if it was only from a single encounter more than 6 years ago. Not only will these local labyrinths be larger in size and more complex, they also won't have the issue of a dog reclaiming their possessions in the middle of one's journey inward.