It’s both a weird and wonderful story, about how I ended up having my virgin walk of a Labyrinth in the middle of downtown Port of Spain in Trinidad. You see, I’m now almost 9mths deep into my self-prescribed, year-long radical sabbatical and I’ve been in Trinidad and Tobago 5 weeks now, 3 weeks longer than initially planned and a direct outcome of my own Surrender Experiment.
I was just lounging one evening thinking about future travel plans and how I wanted to spend my next birthday, coming up the end of October. Do I want to go to CapeTown on that BeUnsettled programme? Do I go to New Orleans? I was just swirling around ideas in my head and clicking around the Internet, doing a little research.
Then I remembered that I wanted to do a silent retreat, just a weekend, maybe a week and maybe I could do that as part of my birthday. I was feeling the desire to completely unplug for a little and get deeper into the habit of listening and surrendering. But where though? As I Googled and clicked and read about Silent retreats, I was hooked on a particular website as it had a detailed agenda of what a Retreat is like and included in the activities was…yep…a Labyrinth Walk.
I was like a labyrinth Walk? I was puzzled as to why walking through what I had thought was a maze is now being included in a Silent Retreat. For me, a labyrinth was a really cool pattern you find in the garden of the grounds of some castle, like a maze. But as I read on and found out more.
What is a Labyrinth and why Walk Through it?
At Lessons4Living.com I found this.
“A labyrinth is an ancient symbol that relates to wholeness. It combines the imagery of the circle and the spiral into a meandering but purposeful path. The Labyrinth represents a journey to our own center and back again out into the world. Labyrinths have long been used as meditation and prayer tools.
A labyrinth is an archetype with which we can have a direct experience. We can walk it. It is a metaphor for life’s journey. It is a symbol that creates a sacred space and place and takes us out of our ego to “That Which Is Within.” Labyrinths and mazes have often been confused. When most people hear of a labyrinth they think of a maze. A labyrinth is not a maze. A maze is like a puzzle to be solved. It has twists, turns, and blind alleys. It is a left-brain task that requires logical, sequential, analytical activity to find the correct path into the maze and out.
A labyrinth has only one path. It is unicursal. The way in is the way out. There are no blind alleys. The path leads you on a circuitous path to the center and out again. A labyrinth is a right brain task. It involves intuition, creativity, and imagery. With a maze many choices must be made and an active mind is needed to solve the problem of finding the center. With a labyrinth there is only one choice to be made. The choice is to enter or not. A more passive, receptive mindset is needed. The choice is whether or not to walk a spiritual path.
At its most basic level the labyrinth is a metaphor for the journey to the center of your deepest self and back out into the world with a broadened understanding of who you are.”
My Personal Labyrinth Mission
When I was finished reading that, I was like, who knew!! This had come at a time when I’d just decided to double down on my daily meditation…it’s now 20mins in the morning and the same at night. Plus having read the book The Surrender Experiment, I realised that my radical sabbatical was my own version of the Surrender Experiment and I wanted to take the lessons I had learned from the book and go even deeper on trusting myself and trusting the Flow of Life as I remain open to people, places, and experiences as they came along the way.
Then over lunch with a Trinidadian sistren of mine, Nicole Joseph-Chin I mentioned the Silent Retreat and about a Labyrinth walk. She then told me that she had been doing these Labyrinth walks and Silent Retreats at Monasteries around the world since 2006 and in fact, there was one right here in Port of Spain, Downtown on the grounds of the Anglican Church, and that we could walk it if we wanted. I said, hell yes! Plans were made and off we went Friday morning.
When she picked me up, as I got comfortable in her car, she presented me with two mini journals and told me to pick one. I chose the one that was black and white with the abstract faces. Inside she had placed two pieces of paper. One was a list of things to be grateful for and the other was a list of things that you are totally over….. Nicole had made this into a whole thing, a full-on experience and I loved it, remained open to it.
This was again perfect as in my reading the night before, I read that “Labyrinth walking is an ancient practice used by many different faiths for spiritual centering, contemplation, and prayer. Entering the serpentine path of a labyrinth, you walk slowly while quieting your mind and focusing on a spiritual question or prayer.”
And I had a question that I was pondering. You see since I’d been meditating both mornings and at nights, and I’ve been finding that when I wake up in the morning, some amazing ideas, the information would float into my mind and I’ve have to sit up in bed and write them down. The morning before the Labyrinth walk something powerful floated to me, an idea I had for a business from about 3/4 years ago and I had killed it with overthinking and doubt. It came back with a mighty force I sat up in my bed and wrote what came pouring out of me. So I had spiritual question to ponder on my Labyrinth Walk.
I had read also, that “Walking a labyrinth ( a 4,000 year old practice) can be surprisingly calming and clarifying for your thoughts. Even if you don’t have a spiritual side, the slow, intentional walking in a quiet place on a set path allows for a level of focus that can be difficult to find in a busy life.”
And off I went. The question in mind. Mini Journal and a pen in my pocket to write down what came to me when we hit the middle and when I was all done and back out of the labyrinth. The labyrinth was on the grounds of The Trinity Anglican Church. At the gate you had a sign: see below.
Self Awareness On the Path
In my mind, I asked myself the question I had come with, then once I started on the path, I focused on my feet, looking down, being aware of staying the course, turning the corners mindfully, going where the path led me, not concerned about how long it would take me to get to the center or what route the path was taking me on. I just flowed with it.
I was locked into the moment and going with the flow of the path. Nicole was a bit ahead of me and I only became aware of here when we passed close to each other at different areas on the labyrinth. She reached the center first, I got there soon after and sat down too. We chatted for a bit, she told me more about her previous Labyrinth walks and how they helped her. We sat, being fully present and listened to the birds, the music coming from the inside of the Church and if on cue, the blistering sun and sneaked behind some clouds, which gave us a cooler cover to stay in the middle a little longer.
Then when we were ready, we followed the path back out.
On my way back out, I noticed that I was skipping and more playful as I walked especially around the corners, I was lost in the moment of kicking little stones out of the way, at times letting the sounds of the blackbirds float into my mind, then always I would float back to what was immediately in front of me, the focused, lightness, my footsteps on the path back out. I can’t even recall how long it took us in all, but I think maybe it was about 15-20mins.
When I left the Labyrinth, I closed the gate, look around, then went back in to take some pictures. Then I joined Nicole, who was under a tree, on a bench writing away in her mini journal and on the papers she had placed inside. I sat down, inhaled deeply and started writing my own observations, the answer to my question perhaps.
The Reminder Was the Answer
What I got from my Labyrinth Walk, was a reminder to focus and flow with the path that unfolds before me and trust that I will get to where I want to in no time, with ease, grace, and joy. And also to be more lighthearted, have more fun and remain open to the new people, experiences, ideas, opportunities that are naturally flowing to me.
Me being in Trinidad is proof of that. I had only initially planned to be in Trinidad for 2 weeks, then my Jamaican friend Charmaine Wright who invited me to stay with her in the first place, encouraged me to stay longer, so I changed my flight and added another 2 weeks. I was having loads of fun with the Trini Liming culture, eating my way through great restaurants, digging more into the Cannabis scene here, pre-decriminalisation, enjoying Pride parties and exploring Trinidad, a country I’d been coming to for 10 years but purely for 4-day business trips. This was the first time I had stayed this long and the longer I stayed the better thing got.
Then once again when the decision came for me to decide where to go next- Jamaica or elsewhere, I meditated again, and, here I am week 5 in Trinidad. A testimony to me trusting and flowing with the Abundance of the Universe. I can almost call myself a recovered control freak.
Because I can tell you, coming to Trinidad, staying here for 5 weeks was not something I had foreseen or planned for, which is why as I said earlier this Radical Sabbatical of mine has been my own Surrender Experiment. I’ve been loving Trinidad so much and previously I had started off in New York last summer, then went on to Miami, then Washington DC, then back to Jamaica, on to London, Malaysia, Florida, Atlanta, Miami again, then Jamaica and now Trinidad. All this and more from surrendering to the flow of life. I’m excited about who I am becoming.
Want to try your own Labyrinth Walk? Here are some resources below.
Some History and Guidelines on How to do Your Own Labyrinth Walk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=22&v=o7u80ZLEh3M
General guidelines for walking a labyrinth are:
1. Focus: Pause and wait at the entrance. Become quiet and centered. Give acknowledgment through a bow, nod, or other gesture and then enter. Come with your own question you are seeking an answer to if that’s your mission.
2. Experience: Walk purposefully. Observe the process. When you reach the center, stay there and focus several moments. Leave when it seems appropriate. Be attentive on the way out.
3. Exit: Turn and face the entrance. Give an acknowledgment of ending, such as “Amen”, “Namaste”…whatever feels right for you.
4. Reflect: After walking the labyrinth reflect back on your experience. Use journaling or drawing to capture your experience.
5. Walk often.
Locate One
There is a The World-Wide Labyrinth Locator allows you to search by country, city, state, and zip code. The listings include descriptions, directions, open hours, and photos.