Gratitude Monday: Walking meditation with friends

I’ve been thinking about labyrinths for a while; walking the labyrinth really helps me both focus and let go. For me, it is truly a walking meditation.

Saturday the ghastly summer weather finally broke and I went to the outdoor labyrinth at Holy Comforter Church, which is the closest one to me. It’s in a dell,, way in the back of their property, surrounded by woods and next to a pond. In the past, I’ve seen deer passing by. It’s quite peaceful.

I’ve not been there in a while—in fact, the last time I walked a labyrinth was in Dublin, more than a year ago. Must have been more than two years, at least, since I’ve been to Holy Comforter. First thing I noticed was this Little Free Library:

That wasn’t there the last time.

I settled myself for the walk, focused on my tetrad of thoughts and began. I have to say that I was having a bit of a challenge with balance; slowing down my pace was really unsettling. I suppose that says something about the speed at which I’ve been moving these past few months at work. But about a third of the way into the center, I began to feel steadier.

The thing about a labyrinth is that every time you turn a loop, if you look straight ahead, the view is just a tad different from every other turning point. If you try, you can see something different every time, even on an indoor labyrinth. I saw distant woods and close woods, church buildings and pond, ducks quacking and crows cawing.

I always spend a few minutes in the center of a labyrinth, to contemplate (to the best of my ability). Check in with the universe, as it were.

I was doing that when I became aware that the duck-quacking on the pond seemed to be getting louder. I looked around and found the reason for that:

A nice young couple had come out to join me. Perhaps in expectation of breakfast; if so, I disappointed.They stayed around even as I executed three yoga poses—Warrior I, Warrior II and forward fold—and then wandered away when I began my return walk.

When I left the dell to head out for Saturday Errands, I felt both more energized and more peaceful than when I’d got there. Perhaps it was the ducks, or the weather, or just the resumption of a practice that means a lot to me. Whatever—I’m grateful that I was able to do it after all this time.