Labyrinth at the Health & Wellness Show

Recent graduates from the Veriditas Facilitor Training Workshop (held at St. John’s Anglican Church and facilitated by Rev. Lauren Artress) will be creating a temporary Classical labyrinth at this year’s Health & Wellness Show. The show is being held this weekend - Saturday June 5th and Sunday June 6th - at St. Paul's University, 223 Main Street, Ottawa.

Four open walks will be held during the weekend:
Saturday June 5th: 
Opening walk - 10:00 - 11:30 am; Afternoon walk - 2:00 - 3:30 pm
Sunday June 6th:
Morning walk - 10:00 - 11:30 am; Closing walk - 2:00 - 3:30 pm

The objective will be to introduce people to the meditative, healing and stress-relieving aspects of labyrinth walking. Each walk will be presented by a different facilitator – who will provide a brief introduction about labyrinths – and coordinate the open labyrinth walk. There will be an opportunity to reflect on the walk afterwards through creative expression or journaling.

A freewill donation will be requested. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Children at Risk (a charity supported by the Health & Wellness show organizers ) and to help build a permanent labyrinth in Carleton Place.

For more information contact:
Christine Hume, Veriditas Labyrinth Facilitator
613 859 2136, chume@bsl.com

May 1st Workshop

Heather, Christine and Debby connecting with other labyrinth enthusiasts at the Sacred Pattern, Sacred Path workshop at St. John's Anglican church in South March. We participated in a wonderful day of opportunities - learning more about labyrinths and sacred space from Rev. Dr. Lauren Artress, a pioneer in the resurgence of walking meditation and one of the best know North American experts on labyrinths. I purchased her book "Walking a Sacred Path", rediscovering the labyrinth as a Spiritual Practice and look forwards to many hours of insightful reading.

Lessons Learned on the Labyrinth

Several of our Carleton Place Community Labyrinth committee members were really pleased to participate in the Sacred Pattern, Sacred Path labyrinth workshop held at St. John's Anglican Church in Kanata on Sunday May 2nd.   The workshop was facilitated by the Rev. Dr. Lauren Artress, author of THE book about labyrinths (Walking a Sacred Path: The Rediscovery of the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Practise) and the person responsible for reintroducing the ancient labyrinth to our modern world!

Lauren is a wonderful facilitator, teacher, spiritual director and human BE-ing!  We were all enthralled as she took us through a presentation on the history of the labyrinth, different labyrinth designs and meditative ways of walking the path.  Lauren teaches by story-telling - and sharing some of the many deep, rich experiences she has had over the years introducing the labyrinth to people around the world.

There were several opportunities during the day to walk the indoor or outdoor labyrinth ourselves.  We were encouraged to take time to journal, reflect, rest, really take a break from our busy and hectic lives!  Everyone was really present and in the moment...  We met new friends, had wonderful conversations, laughed, even stretched out on the grass to rest and spend some time cloud-gazing if we felt like it!

Lauren provided the comprehensive labyrinth facilitator training on May 3rd and 4th  and I was thrilled to take this course.  We were able to deepen our knowledge of labyrinth during the course and some of us may go on to become Veriditas Certified Labyrinth Facilitators.  Rather than trying to describe what we learned in detail -  these random phrases give a flavour of the experience...

nourshing our souls

help you find your way

come home to yourself

be present

 feel connected

the soul needs beauty 

take the time you need

whatever happens, happens

teaching self-reflection

 

Do not ask what the world needs.  Ask instead what you need and what makes you come alive and fills you with passion. Because the world needs people who are alive and filled with passion!

Worldwide Labyrinth Day - Celebrated Together

Glad to have celebrated World Labyrinth day with you all today on the site of our “getting closer to reality” permanent labyrinth. A crowd of about 30 people gathered - all were interested and supportive and it was lovely to see some new faces. 

There was a postive energy and a natural flow to the day - from the church bells tolling right at 1 pm - to the recitation of the "Simple Tools" poem by Inez - and to the moment of entering the labyrinth and walking the path - one by one. 

There were smiling faces, embraces, tears and hugs, spine-tingling moments, the much-maligned dandelions brightly leading the way - to the centre!  A moment of being all together - resting awhile - then refreshed , feeling renewed, treading softly back to the entrance, entranced by the feeling of being one of many walking the path today!

Simple Tools (the Labyrinth)

This I know
Simple tools are the best.

When I first gazed
upon a labyrinth path
It reminded me, laughingly, of my life.
As each wide arc
Of effort and emotion that
Carried me down some path
Never seemed to reach it’s goal.
Turning back on itself instead
To inscribe another arching roll
Then coming to a halt
in some empty inner space.
Requiring me to retrace
my steps in parallel strokes
Only to be spit out, frustrated and broke
Near the place where I began.
What a perfect joke! I thought
“Its a child’s toy, no more
Like Hopscotch, without keeping score”.

But with a little more information
And some newly focused intention
I made up my mind, and in I went
To walk the labyrinth path..
Without much effect, at first
But from learning and practice
And walking again
I came to believe that this was a tool
That could ground my journey,
All the way to the end.

Think on this.
A thousand,
Plus a thousand,
Plus a thousand,
Plus a thousand years
and more
Humans have created this pattern
On rocks and walls and floors.
In soaring cathedrals,
In musty hidden tombs
In glorious formal gardens
And simple mud-walled rooms

It has been looked on as a door
To capricious gods
A key to hidden truths
Protection from relentless foes
And long odds.
And a symbol of the christian church.
All of those, all of those, all of those,
and more!

Something must be working
In the flowing pattern of curves and lines
That pulls at the core of human kind
Guiding movement, calming the mind.
Some universal archetype
For all life’s journey taken to find
Our inner truth and outer signs
Of hope.

And no, it’s not a devil’s mark!
There is no evil there.
Only a simple form and true
Inviting you to walk in meditation
A frame for contemplation or prayer
Only a symbol
At the very center of the human breast
Remember,
Simple tools are the best.

By: Inez Dekker, April 2010
LIPS Member (Live Poets Society)

Join us at the Carleton Place Community Labyrinth on Saturday May 1st
as we "Walk as One at 1 for World Labyrinth Day"
Inez will open our walk with this poem!

Celebrate World Labyrinth Day May 1st at 1 p.m.

Saturday May 1st is World Labyrinth Day and we invite you to walk the Carleton Place Community Labyrinth on the property of the Victoria School Museum, 267 Edmund Street, as we “Walk as One at 1”.

This is the second annual World Labyrinth Day a global event celebrated each year on the first Saturday in May, sponsored by The Labyrinth Society, an international organization founded in 1998.  World Labyrinth Day is intended as a day that brings people from all over the planet together in celebration of the labyrinth as a symbol, a tool, a passion or a practice.

As part of the celebration you are invited to “Walk as One at 1” to effect a rolling wave of labyrinth walking as the earth turns. Enthusiasts around the globe over are asked to walk in their local time zone at 1:00 PM.

Labyrinths in a community offer a special place for people to come together for significant celebrations, to resolve a problem, to enjoy a meditative walk, or to simply take time out of a busy day.

To find out more about Saturday’s walk or the Community Labyrinth project contact Debby at 613-257-1014.

Preparing for Veriditas Labyrinth Facilitator Training

I am starting to reread “Walking a Sacred Path – Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Sacred Practise” by Lauren Artress – in preparation for my Veriditas labyrinth facilitator training in early May!   I have only read the Preface so far - but found it really interesting to read about the meaning of the name.

The name “Veriditas” (the name of the Worldwide Labyrinth Project that Lauren founded) – comes from the 12th century mystic Hildegard of Bingen! It means “Greening Power”. The mission for the first stage of Veriditas was to “pepper the planet with labyrinths” – and that is exactly what the work has done.

The Carleton Place Community Labyrinth is proud to be part of the movement that is helping the green the planet
with labyrinths!