"It has been one of the pleasures of my life to offer the gift of the labyrinth to others. What is the nature of that gift? It seems to me to encompass a journey to the center of one's very being. During the walk inward, with its many surprising and disconcerting turns, one is invited to release: release old patterns, worn-out ideas and concepts, debilitating emotional memories, unhappy behaviors. Arriving at the center, the journeyer is asked to experience the recovery of her innate purposeful intelligence, her essence. Spend time, if desired, there at the center, the still point, and know that at very deep levels, one is in union with the greatest mystery.
"This centerpoint experience can range from a sense of becoming lighter, literally enlightened, to a mystical 'aha!' Sometimes the joy is in silence, or a feeling of the mind/body system being rewired. One enters the doorway of a different reality almost beyond words.
"For me the great work of the labyrinth is the challenge to leave the centerpoint and return outward to perform deep, loving service to the world, carrying the gifts and knowings of this visit to the heart of things."
To Practice: Walk a labyrinth using this three-part process.
— Helen Curry in The Way of the Labyrinth: A Powerful Meditation for Everyday Life