What Is A Labyrinth?

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A labyrinth is a spiritual tool that is nondenominational, intergenerational, and cross-cultural.

A labyrinth is an escape from daily life, a meditative guide, and a construction of both historical and modern significance. 

A labyrinth can evoke feelings of wholeness and unity by opening the mind and quieting the soul. 

A labyrinth can point the way toward healing to those struggling with grief, anger, challenges, or illness.

Whoever you are, a labyrinth has something to offer.

Unlike mazes, a labyrinth has no dead ends. It is not intended to trick you. In fact, walking a labyrinth is a gift we give to ourselves. Its single winding path leads us to discovery, insight, peacefulness, happiness, connectedness, and well-being. Walking one can reduce stress, promote healing, and encourage problem-solving, spiritual reflection, meditation, and prayer. 

If you’re looking for a way to engage both your body and soul in meditation or prayer, a labyrinth provides such a path. When you want reflective time away from your busy life, a labyrinth can offer you such solace. As Melissa Gayle West describes in Exploring the Labyrinth: A Guide for Healing and Spiritual Growth, the labyrinth holds up a mirror, reflecting back to us not only the light of our finest selves, but also whatever restrains us from shining forth.

There is no “right” or “wrong” way to walk a labyrinth. The only choice a person must make is to enter its path. While the same path is followed upon entering and leaving, each experience in a labyrinth is unique. It is a personal journey in which one is free to walk at their own pace, pause from time to time, or pass others along the way. The only "rule" is to walk with an open mind and heart.

Labyrinthine designs date as far back as 4,000 years. Aztec, Hopi, Greek, Egyptian, and Norwegian pottery, tablets, and tiles show such patterns. Designs also appear in North America, churches in medieval Europe, cave walls, Cretan coins, the shores of Scandinavia, and doodled on Greek clay tablets dated 1200 B.C. 

Today, labyrinths are undergoing a revival of use and interest, with construction in many schools, medical centers, businesses, churches, parks, prisons, and private homes. In this fast-paced world, walking a labyrinth can help us find our center and bring us back to calmness. A labyrinth offers a chance to take time away from our busy lives, re-center, and find balance.

Visit and peruse other labyrinths around the world: World-Wide Labyrinth Locator