My Favorite Way to Walk a Labyrinth Plus Additional Prayer Labyrinth Resources

Most days, I talk a long walk around my neighborhood and incorporate a stop by the prayer labyrinth at the church we attend that’s one street over from our home.

I also enjoy using prayer labyrinths during my Solo Writing Retreats. It’s a great way to integrate the body, mind, and soul. Integration is a good thing for writers and all people.

A couple of weeks ago I went live on Instagram to describe one simple way I like to engage with labyrinths. You can watch the entire video on Instagram here or an excerpt below. You can also read the entire transcript below. I also included additional prayer labyrinth resources and links.

“I guess it’s important to make sure you have internet service when you go live. I just attempted going live over at the Labyrinth, the prayer labyrinth one street over at the church we attend, and it was a bit of a mess, not only because there wasn't great internet service, but also because of my ADHD brain.

But to focus a tad, one way to use a prayer labyrinth is to:

  1. Walk into the middle of the prayer labyrinth with your fists, close with your hands and fists, and thinking about things that you want to let go of.

  2. And then when you get to the middle of the prayer labyrinth, you can open up your hands and breathe and say a prayer if you like, or just say out loud or whisper the things that you want to release.

  3. And then as you leave the center of the prayer labyrinth, continue to kind of meditate on those things that you want to release. Or you can do it I did today and go live and show people that you're walking out of a prayer labyrinth.

If you don't have a prayer labyrinth one block over from your house. There are other labyrinth resources that I can share in the stories later this morning. There are a few websites that list different labyrinths in different locations, so you can search based on city and state and that sort of thing to see what kind of labyrinths are near you. Also, there are paper labyrinths that you can trace with your finger, or like a pencil eraser or something.

There are probably printable labyrinths, to be honest, kind of coloring pages, but a labyrinth that you can print out and use.

I have a couple of wooden labyrinths where it's a piece of wood and the labyrinth has been carved out and you use your finger to trace the path of the labyrinth.

So there are different resources out there if you aren't near one that you can walk in. So I will share some of those resources and maybe a couple of other ways to use labyrinth. And thanks so much for watching. I hope you have a good day.

August 16, 2024 Update: Here’s another Instagram Reel with one more way to pray using a labyrinth.

And this is wha the caption says:

hello from me

and the prayer labyrinth one street over from our house 

and how this week my labyrinth prayers have involved listening to special music that reminds me of some people I’ve been holding in the light 

that’s it—just listening to music while I walk and imagine these people drenched in light 

and how we don’t have to make this stuff harder than it is

and how we can make it up as we go and use our creative ideas to connect with God

and how traditional contemplative prayers and methods are great but my guess is God is fine with us winging it and making stuff up 

and how I realized one thing prayer labyrinths do is literally ground the longings and cities of our souls 

a prayer labyrinth gives our prayers a place and helps them become more concrete and less abstract