Walking the labyrinth is not the only way to pray it. I have had very profound experiences of awareness of God's presence in the lives of others by simply sitting and observing others walking this sacred path.
On one occasion, I led a labyrinth walk for two groups of College students during a day-long young adult conference. Each of the two groups had about forty students, and we had an hour and a half for the experience. I began with an introduction to the labyrinth, its origins, various ways to walk, how it is a whole person prayer... I encouraged the students to begin their walk as they were ready, after spending time in prayer.
After a short time one young man rose from his place and approached the entrance to the path. He paused thoughtfully and simply stood still for some moments. Then, suddenly, like a jet taking off on a runway, he began to race down the path toward the center. Within minutes he was in the center, AND all the way back out again. The greater wonder to me, as I sat observing from a place on the floor on the far side of the labyrinth, was that the other thirty-nine students in the group got up and followed his lead-racing to the center, pausing there for an imperceptible second, and running back out again. Within fifteen minutes, all forty students completed the walk, and almost an hour remained of our time together.
Thinking quickly, I decided to ask the group to gather together in a circle around the edges of the labyrinth to unpack their experience. 'What did you experience?' 'What did you notice? What were you feeling?'
And for the remainder of the hour, they reflected together about how their walk mirrored the way they were living their lives in the fast lane! They recognized, with sadness, that they were speeding through life, mostly unaware of the journey they were on, not noticing the people they were journeying with, unconscious of their own deeper longing for meaning, oblivious of life happening all around them. And as they shared, they came gently together to the realization that they didn't want to live that way any more! WHAT GRACE!
I have often shared with people that 'I do not know why the labyrinth works as a way to deep transformation, but it does!' I know that forty young adults encountered God that day, and had some very profound insights about the way in which they want to choose to walk through life!
~ Sister Mary Rose Kocab, SIW