“Walking the spiral path of twists and turns is an ancient spiritual exercise.
“Often the words labyrinth and maze are used interchangeably, but they are not the same. A maze is a network of paths and dead-ends, and one has to puzzle her way out. In contrast, a labyrinth has only one way in and only one way out. The walker simply follows the path.
“Twenty years ago in San Francisco at Grace Cathedral, I walked a labyrinth on its marble floor, a replica of the famous design found at Chartres Cathedral in France. It was an exercise that gave me profound calm and unexpected answers, all from just putting one foot in front of the other.
“I discovered there is a scientific reason for why this happens. The left side of the brain, which governs rational, logical and linear actions, is often overworked. Walking a labyrinth allows that side to rest, while the right side of the brain, which is associated with non-verbal, non-rational and the intuitive, is exercised, according to “The Healing Labyrinth,” an article in Barron’s by Helen Rafael Sands in 2001. After walking a labyrinth, the two hemispheres of the brain become balanced.”
