Walking the Labyrinth to Your Center

Synchronicity abounds in my life these days; I'm connecting in marvelous and mysterious ways. At a spring equinox labyrinth walk that I co-facilitated, I met a woman who shared a wonderful story about engaging with the labyrinth. As it turned out, she is a writer, so I offered her the opportunity to be Engaging Inner Wisdom's first guest writer, and to share her experience with you.

Before I introduce you to our guest writer though, let me offer some background information about labyrinths. As a Veriditas Certified Labyrinth Facilitator I have supported hundreds of people in using the labyrinth as a method to engage their inner wisdom.

Chartres Style Labyrinth
Built by Myra Elaine Ryneheart

Labyrinths are ancient tools that help us hear and listen to the voice inside. Many people think they are mazes, but they aren't. Unlike a maze, a labyrinth has only one path - the same path in, leads to the center, and then leads out again - walking the labyrinth is about taking a journey to your center. Used in a variety of settings like schools, hospitals, churches, parks, prisons, veteran's administrations, spas, and homes, and for many purposes, including contemplation, meditation, problem solving, grief processing, and enhancing creativity, labyrinths provide deeply meaningful experiences. Labyrinths are found throughout the world, and come in a variety of designs; to find a labyrinth near you visit www.labyrinthlocator.com. If you are in the Los Angeles area come walk with me on World Labyrinth Day, May 4th.

I asked today's guest writer, Luella Wagner, to share what engaging inner wisdom means to her and the insights labyrinth walking evoke:

"Inner wisdom is a “knowing” that comes from deep inside; most of the time it is the “still small voice”, but it can be a dream, a thought, or that gut-wrenching feeling telling you that something isn’t right.  Basically, it is a person’s intuition.  It is one of the most valuable tools that one has at their disposal, yet rarely used.  Like any worthwhile endeavor it takes time, effort, and patience to develop.  The first step to tapping into your inner wisdom is to sit in silence.  That’s it.  Sit in silence.  You might not get an answer right away, but if you keep on practicing sitting in silence, the answers will eventually come to you.  It’s that simple"
~Luella Wagner


What’s in a Labyrinth?  Only You Know the Answer.  
by Luella Wagner
I had walked the labyrinth for years.  I had read about them, studied them, researched them, and taught them, but there was something missing. There is a Native American adage that says, “If you want to understand something, stand under it.”  I couldn’t stand under a labyrinth, so I decided to stand on one, by walking it every day until I found the secrets hidden beneath it.  There was a labyrinth close by my house and if I missed a day walking it, I resorted to my finger labyrinth that someone had given me a long time ago.  I started my quest on December 21, the winter solstice.  I purposely did not Google.  I wanted to see what would come from within or what would come to me without any effort.

So many times we wish that we could just concentrate on the spiritual and not have to worry about “paying the bills.”  I just wanted to walk the labyrinth, pray, and meditate, but I had to substitute teach.  The funny thing is, it was there that I found hidden mysteries of the labyrinth.  While teaching a class in Ancient Greek civilization, I came across the double-sided ax, the same design that is part of the turns in the labyrinth.  I discovered that the double ax was a symbol used by Greek priestesses as part of their ceremonies.  I started to see the labyrinth as a source of divine feminine energy.   I quickly discovered that the same design also symbolized the butterfly. 

Butterfly Gift

I knew all the analogies of the butterfly:  new life, resurrection, transformation, and then I came across the “butterfly effect.”   The term was coined by Edward Lorenz while studying for his doctorate at MIT.  In essence he discovered that the motion of the butterfly’s wings could alter the course of a tornado.  I suddenly saw the importance of every little step I took, choosing to use paper instead of plastic, letting someone on the freeway go ahead of me, holding the door open for someone as I left the 7/11 store, or smiling at someone in the elevator. Even saving a penny would make not only a difference, but a huge difference.  All of a sudden I realized that my tiny actions could have a great impact.  

I continued to walk the labyrinth.  I walked in the sun, in the rain, at night and during the day.   My favorite time was nighttime.  It was quiet, soothing.  The day was over and I could reflect. Again, through my substitute teaching, secrets of the labyrinth were revealed to me.  I was in a kindergarten science class.  The students were coloring an outline of the brain.  As I looked at the brain, I was reminded of the labyrinth.  In the center of the brain was the pineal gland, which many believe is the spiritual eye, just like labyrinth’s center is also the point of illumination.  I learned that the symbol of the pineal gland was the pine cone.  As I was walking to school one day, (yes, I do have that luxury every once in awhile) I found myself walking through a park filled with pine trees.  I couldn’t resist.  I caved in and did a little research on the pine tree.  I discovered that the tree has both male and female pine cones.  The male pine cones release their pollen and the wind carries it upward to the female pine cones which open to receive the pollen.  The pollen germinates for a year and then the female pine cone falls to the ground and releases the seed.  This had great symbolism for the labyrinth.  Sitting in the inner circle, like the pine cone, we receive, and then as we leave the inner circle, we release what we have learned to others.  This is the illumination of the labyrinth.

I continue my journey into the labyrinth and I continue to find insights and I look forward to sharing them with you after the next solstice.  But don’t wait for me.  Your personal mysteries of the labyrinth are waiting to be discovered.  

Luella Wagner

Luella Wagner is a teacher, writer, and documentarian.  She is currently writing her memoir which spans twenty years of teaching, including stints in Brazil, Samoa, and most recently an Indian reservation in southeastern Montana.  She lives in Woodland Hills, California with her cat Moo Moo.     

Spring Cleaning for Body, Mind, Spirit and Creativity

I recently embarked on the JJ Virgin diet in an effort to cleanse and lose weight. I’d never done anything like this. JJ virgin asked that I give up 7 foods – gluten, soy, corn, peanuts, dairy, eggs, and sugar – for three weeks and then slowly reintroduce them, one weekly, to see how each affected my body. It’s been an amazingly enlightening journey. Through this process I’ve learned a lot about my willpower, what I crave, how I think, and what does and doesn’t work for my body. As a result, I’ve made significant adjustments in my eating habits that have subtly, and unexpectedly, shifted other habits and ways of being in my life.

Given that today is the Vernal Equinox and marks the first day of spring, I began to link the cleansing that I had done, to “spring cleaning” and how we might look at the areas of our life that need cleaning out, or at least readjusting. Perhaps for you it’s not what you eat, but maybe what you think, what you do repeatedly, or how you feel in your body. While cleaning out is about getting rid of, it also relates to revaluing, reorganizing, assessing what we want to keep, and about moving things around to better serve us.

In the South Bay area of Los Angeles, there is a marvelous little vegetarian restaurant called The Green Temple. They have an amazing space filled with color and life. One day I complimented the owner on her space, how it changes constantly, and how good it makes me feel. She thanked me, and told me that it was intentional; they routinely rearrange, clear, and clean, because it keeps the energy moving, and reinvigorates. Perhaps there is a way to apply this philosophy to our lives, to our body, mind and spirit, and the way we engage with our creativity and inner wisdom.

Consider the following as you enter the first day of spring, where night and day are of equal length – tomorrow we move into bringing more light into the world.

• Mind – What do you think about? Are your thoughts filled with doubt and fear, or your inner critic ridiculing you? Do you focus on the future, hold onto regrets concerning the past, or stay centered on present moment?

What if you became aware of the type of thoughts you hold throughout the day? What would it look like if you took control of your thoughts and cleared out the ones that don’t serve you?

• Body – How do you feel - healthy, or not so good? Tired, bloated, energy-less? Are you happy with your weight, the amount of exercise you get, what you eat?

What if you revalued your body, the very temple that enables your marvelous imagination to manifest its dreams - housing your wonderful brain, the arms and hands that help you to do your creative work, the legs that support you as you dance? Have you given your body the credit it deserves? Not because you “should”, but rather out of gratitude?

• Spirit – Are you experiencing synchronicity, feeling enthusiastic, joyous and overflowing, or dragging, feeling disconnected and discontent? Have you been meditating, creating art, allowing time for self-expression, taking care of self?

What if you cleared your calendar or rearranged meetings to accommodate taking care of you longings, cravings, and inner stirrings?

• Creativity – When was the last time you gave into a creative yearning? Perhaps you have a series of unfinished projects, or maybe you’ve written tons of ideas, but never started them. What about cleaning those out – either do something with them or let them go?

Get rid of, let go, shed, so that what’s underneath can blossom, emerge and spring forth. Rearrange, reconsider, renegotiate, reinvigorate.

Shine light on the area of your life that you want to address. No need to take it all on at once. Allow the first thought – the first thing you think of - to be the best thought, and act on that – start small, but start!

Embrace the wonder that is you!

Are you taking care of yourself, truly loving and valuing your magnificence? I hope so. If you are in the Los Angeles area and need a creative boost, check out my upcoming workshops and classes, consider walking the candlelit labyrinth with me tonight to meditate on what the next several months will bring into being.

Happy Spring!

Deepening the Connection with Our Inner Self

February, in the United States, marks a time to focus on loving others. When we celebrate Valentine’s Day we send love and kindness to our partner, children, co-workers, and/or family. With this attention on loving “others”, I began to think about the importance of loving Self. In Art and Soul Lab's February newsletter I address supporting our creative self. In today's post, I highlight connecting with our inner self – the wise, knowing part of ourselves.

Previously this month, my colleague Karen Paquin wrote about “Intuitive Listening”, those times when we act on a “hunch” without realizing why, yet on an instinctual level we know what we need to do and by following and not questioning our intuition we gain insight or support in a way that our conscious mind could not have, or might have dismissed.

How do we take our intuitive listening to another level and find ways to consciously focus on our inner guidance system? In his book “Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving Into Stillness”, Erich Shiffmann explains the benefits of connecting with this deeper part of our self:

“Inner Guidance…is your deepest knowing made conscious… The spiritual teachings you'll receive from within your silent mind will be the source of new meaning in your life…Spiritual teachings will come in the form of inspiring and guiding you in your thought, speech, and behavior, they will come in the form of clarifying insights and sudden inspirations, creative ideas, intuitive knowings, life circumstances, people and situations, hunches, premonitions, desires, attractions, and spontaneous impulses.”

By connecting to what is inside we enhance the quality of our lives; by knowing our truths we may follow them and ultimately live richer and more meaningful lives.

“To the person who does not know where he wants to go there is no favorable wind.”

~Seneca

So how do we intentionally get to the gems of wisdom that we have inside? How do we connect to and support those parts of ourselves that we don’t always listen to, so that we may experience our internal “spiritual teachings”?

We know that eating well, exercising, taking time to go inward through yoga or meditation, and having a spiritual practice can help us to better hear our inner voice. What about other ways to listen? Here are a few ideas:

• Take time to reflect – How often do you stop and really allow yourself to think about where you would like your life’s journey to take you? What about thinking about past actions in relation to future desires – what has worked, what hasn’t? How do you really feel in a day? Are you happy? Satisfied? Reacting or Responding? 

“Reflection is looking in so you can look out with a broader, bigger, and more accurate perspective.”
~Mick Ukleja and Robert Lorber

• Consider taking yourself on a “self-discovery journey” - Take a trip on your own solely for the purpose of being with yourself to hear and listen to what you want and to what makes you feel passionate and inspired. You could do a “pilgrimage” or visit an awe-inspiring location like Alaska or an event like the season when humpback whales birth. Invest in a journey where it is just you, with you, exploring you. This doesn’t have to be an expensive trip, or even a literal trip as Cat Caracello pointed out in a recent email:

“Journeys can be experienced in the flow of dreaming, making art, accessing imaginal states and engaging creative connections. Journeys are a way of exploring what is sensed, felt, intuited, experienced, known and unknown.”

Be alone with yourself and your thoughts, pay attention, listen and see what you discover. As Tbird Luv suggests, “Stop the doing and be present in your being”. Sit and reflect, ponder, consider, allow ideas to bubble up, review the past in a loving way.

• Try SoulCollage® - SoulCollage® provides an innovative way of connecting to your inner self through images. By intuitively selecting images, creating cards from those images and then interpreting the cards’ meanings, you can discover aspects of yourself that beckon and wish to be seen, but haven’t consciously blossomed. Engaging in creative expression gets us into a zone that allows for ideas and insights to bubble up. 
  
  

In the coming months we will explore other ways of deepening your connection to "self" I hope that you are slowing down enough to really listen and hear, taking needed time to reflect and consider, and doing the work necessary to feel great and have a sense of purpose and vision.

Practice Engaging Your Inner Wisdom:

Select one of the modalities suggested above and try it! Let us know how engaging in one of these activities inspired you or supported you. Leave us a comment and let us know!