Going in Circles is Good

[Guest guest]

Winding paths can lead to wellness

For centuries, labyrinths have been used to promote

physical and spiritual health

 

janice mawhinney

Toronto Star

 

Physiotherapist Angie Andreoli says it's an uplifting

experience to watch patients from the Toronto Rehab

foundation walk or wheel through the Toronto Public

Labyrinth in Trinity Square Park.

 

" I have seen people with poor energy, who are unable

to walk longer than the hallway, walk the labyrinth

with purposefulness and a sense of joy. That is very

special, " she says.

 

This labyrinth, situated between Bay St. and the Eaton

Centre, south of Dundas St., is not a multi-path maze

where you can get lost or run into a dead end. It has

one winding path that weaves left and right,

eventually leading to a central point, then out again.

It's an invitation to spend some peaceful, personal

time moving quietly to the core of the labyrinth, then

back out into the world.

 

Many people consider labyrinths to be calming and

healing to the spirit. The Royal Victoria Hospital in

Barrie officially opened its labyrinth Oct. 29.

 

St. Joseph's Healthcare in Hamilton has two permanent

outdoor labyrinths and a portable canvas one for

indoors.

 

The labyrinths at St. Joseph's are simple, and are not

for decoration, says occupational therapist Ron Dick

of the hospital's labyrinth committee.

 

" It's not a curative and it's not for everybody, " says

Dick. " But our committee advocates labyrinth-walking

for staff and for many patients. "

 

Dick says he knows of a number of cases in which

walking the labyrinth has proved helpful for patients

with mental health issues such as grief, anger,

depression and anxiety.

 

" One woman troubled with anxiety walked the labyrinth

in the morning, and that afternoon we got a call from

her psychiatrist. He wanted to know what we had done.

He had never seen her so calm. "

 

Andreoli reports similar successes. " I see people

follow the path perfectly when I know that can't be

easy with their visual impairment. They can reflect on

their success. "

 

Psychiatrist Lawrence Martin of St. Joseph's and

McMaster University says walking a labyrinth keeps a

person's awareness in the present and provides a

chance for positive thought processes.

 

" Being present to your thoughts has an effect on

depression and anxiety, " says Martin. " In a labyrinth

you have to be present. If you don't pay attention,

you will walk off the path. I'm a big supporter of

labyrinths. "

 

The Toronto Public Labyrinth recently added a ramp,

making its wide paths fully accessible.

 

California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco was

the first hospital in North America to install a

permanent labyrinth. Many other hospitals, including

Women's College Hospital in Toronto, as well as some

prisons have since followed its lead.

 

 

Labyrinths have appealed to people for thousands of

years. The most common pattern in Toronto is based on

an 800-year-old stone floor labyrinth at Chartres

Cathedral in France, which was sometimes walked as a

symbolic pilgrimage in the Middle Ages .

 

Today finger labyrinths also exist for people who are

unable to walk a larger one. A finger traces the same

pattern to the centre, and out again. There are plans

to place a finger labyrinth near the entrance of the

Toronto Public Labyrinth.

 

No two people experience a labyrinth walk in exactly

the same way. Some people find it profound, and others

find it simply quiet and relaxing.

 

Jo Ann Stevenson, chair of the Labyrinth Community

Network, recalls one woman complained that she

couldn't see what was so good about her labyrinth walk

& #8211; all she felt was peaceful.

 

" Each one of us is walking our own path, " Stevenson

says. " The labyrinth is a place you can bring anything

to. Everything that happens in the labyrinth can be a

metaphor for something in your life. "

 

The Labyrinth Community Network was founded in 1997 to

bring public labyrinths to Toronto. It maintains a

website and gives advice to others in Ontario with

similar goals.

 

Stevenson initiated the idea for the Toronto Public

Labyrinth. The network found support at city hall as

well as at the Trillium Foundation, which gave a

$100,000 grant matched by the city. A grass labyrinth

was established in 2000 and, in September 2005,

interlocking bricks were installed.

 

About five years ago, volunteers painted a labyrinth

on asphalt in High Park, in a spot previously occupied

by a carousel, north of the Grenadier Restaurant

parking lot.

 

The first permanent labyrinth in Toronto was painted

eight years ago on a corner of the St. James United

Church parking lot in Etobicoke, and is still open for

use by the public.

 

Coral Prebble, co-ordinating minister of the church,

says she considers the labyrinth a walking meditation,

" a chance to talk with the divine wisdom within

oneself. At the centre is the opportunity to be still,

listen and receive insight. Then we take that back out

with us.

 

" I think that relieving anxiety and gaining another

perspective in this way has huge benefits for our

health. "

 

Musician Debbie Danbrook has recorded a special CD for

labyrinth-walking, called Circles of Discovery. She is

often asked to play her distinctive Japanese flute,

called a shakuhachi, to lead labyrinth walks.

 

" It just feels amazing to walk the earth in that

pattern. It helps to balance us.

 

" I love the labyrinth. Like our lives, it's cyclical.

It's a winding path. "

 

The Labyrinth Community Network maintains a website at

labyrinthnetwork.ca with labyrinth information and a

directory of hundreds of private and public labyrinths

in Ontario.

 

There is a worldwide labyrinth directory available at

labyrinthsociety.org.

 

Andreoli, research co-ordinator at Toronto Rehab,

would like to see more research on the benefits of

labyrinths for those with brain injuries. " It's a very

useful tool, and one we'd do well to explore and

expand. "

 

Pathologist Vicky Chen of St. Joseph's Healthcare says

she knows a woman who unsuccessfully tried all kinds

of medications and treatments for depression, before

finding that labyrinth-walking helped her out of her

depression.

 

Chen has a labyrinth in her back yard at home.

 

" I walk it to quiet my mind, " she says. " I like

mystery. I have respect for things that are

unexplained. "

 

©Toronto Star