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My husband and I recently met up with good friends on the coast in Bandon, Oregon. One of the highlights of our trip came from my husband researching Bandon Dunes Golf Course. He found they had a Labyrinth!
He and I have a fun history with Labyrinths that began in San Francisco one rainy night a few years ago. As we passed by Grace Cathedral, we took a chance to see if it was open. We’d never been inside and I’d wanted to visit for ages. We got lucky! While there, Lauren Artess a Canon at the cathedral, came in and began a candlelight ceremonial Labyrinth walk. We were mesmerized and she invited us to participate. It was an incredible experience we’ll never forget.
After that Labyrinth encounter, my husband bought me Lauren’s book on Walking the Labyrinth. After reading it, I took a weekend class with her on the subject. She’s a great teacher and I highly recommend her classes.
So, when my husband asked if I’d like to go and try to find the Bandon Labyrinth, of course I said YES!
Our friends were willing accomplices although I’m not sure they understood what it was we were in search of. It had been raining heavy all day and there was a brief break in the weather as we headed out late in the afternoon. Within ten minutes we were at the spot the article offered as its clue for the trail head.
Our friends were skeptical as we got out of the car, but I was excitedly on a mission. As my husband convinced our friends we were in the right location, I had eagerly found the trailhead and was on my way down the path.
Our starting point was Bandon Dunes Golf Course Lodge. Down a narrow path off to one side was a small sign that pointed towards the Labyrinth. The path wound its way into the forest with a few signs posted along the trail. The tall pines were dripping from the recent rain and the path was covered in wet pine needles and bark. The scent was aromatic and fresh.
My husband and friends were a small distance behind me and I could hear their voices through the quiet. The forest was cool and still after the rain. I found the entrance to the Labyrinth area. There before me, cathedral like, welcoming and ready was this beautiful sacred circle.
This Labyrinth is like the one found at Chartres Cathedral in Chartres, France which was also duplicated at Grace Cathedral. The Chartres Labyrinth is filled with multiple layers of symbolism, sacred geometry, and ancient cosmology. Labyrinths offer a sacred path.
Labyrinths are used as a form of walking meditation or prayer. An intentional offering is given as one walks the narrow, meandering, circuitous path, eventually finding the way to the center and back out again. A Labyrinth has only one entrance/exit and one path. It is a metaphor for our life’s journey….and the place in our journey we now find ourselves.
I entered the Labyrinth and began my spiritual walk. My husband and friends soon joined me in the circle, each at their own pace. The atmosphere was magical, quiet and sacred.
As I slowly and intently made my way around the circle I encountered feelings of great joy and moments of great sorrow. Memories and feelings flooded over me and I allowed them to inform me as I released them over to the Divine. At times I asked for forgiveness, other times I offered my gratitude, or lapsed into silence. The process is spontaneous, raw and incredibly healing.
Like many, our friends had confused the Labyrinth with a maze. Mazes are left brain activities. They’re like a puzzle to be solved using logic and analytical skills. Walking a Labyrinth is a right brain activity that involves using intuition, creativity and imagery.
Our friends tend more naturally to left-brained activities. This walk had one of them somewhat distracted and the other trying to quickly complete the task. They both hung in there and found their way to the center and back out again.
Upon finishing, I went up to the area’s entrance and read the monument that I had previously not noticed. The plaque explained the Labyrinth perfectly.
I asked my male friend if he’d read the inscription? My sense was he hadn’t quite understood the purpose of walking the Labyrinth. He was currently going through a difficult health challenge and I knew there was an energetic healing opportunity for him here. I was hoping he’d be open to it.
Upon reading the monument, he quietly told us he felt he needed to walk the path again with this new awareness. As he began, I watched him take his first few turns, and then I closed my eyes, lifted my arms just out from my hips, and opened my hands palms up, holding his space as I stood there, energetically, prayerfully following him around the path.
As he encountered specific turns in the circle I started to cry, sobbing silently and deeply. The release was profound physically, emotionally and energetically. The energetic imprint being displaced was very old and very deep. The shift was immediate and immense. I felt it move through my body, mind, and spirit, like a deep soul cleansing, leaving feelings of clarity, peace and serenity vibrating within me.
The beauty of spiritual work is all who are engaged experience healing. This Labyrinth walk provided significant healing for each of us, but especially for our friend.
At one point I briefly opened my eyes and saw that I had been joined by my friend’s wife and my husband, silently holding space with me, also with their eyes closed. My husband later told me that when he joined us to hold space, the energy was so powerful it gave him a jolt that went through his entire body. He had never felt the power of sacred space and prayerful intention so strong.
As our friend finished his second walk around the circle and came out of the Labyrinth it began to softly rain. God’s offering of a cleansing finish to this incredible ritual. The entire experience was simply beautiful.
This lovely Labyrinth is located where the filtered light and trees combine creating an outdoor cathedral and sacred sanctuary.
Just like sitting in meditation, each time we walk a Labyrinth it offers us exactly what we need; Reflection, prayer, release, answers, a glimpse into ourselves and into the Divine within us. We are in sacred communion with the Divine.
Deciding to enter the labyrinth, we choose to walk the spiritual path, to walk with the Divine. And…as in life, we can get a little bit lost along the way. Eventually we find our way to the center, to enlightenment before heading back out onto the path.
One night in late summer a few years ago, I was experiencing a somewhat fitful night of sleep. I was stressed and worried over work issues. I got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. As I sat there relieving myself I looked forward through sleepy eyes and there on my bathroom wall was the image of Jesus. I was startled. It was an odd sensation having Jesus look back at me while using the bathroom.
The street lamp was shining through the leaves from the trees outside my window in such a way that the image of Jesus’ face was staring back at me. It was unmistakably Jesus. It was comforting and yet strange. I know people have seen images of Jesus and Mother Mary in strange places all over the world, but it has never happened to me before. I took it as some sort of sign. Although I was not certain what the sign was, it was my guess it was not to worry.
I climbed back into bed and thought about it for a few minutes. I didn’t quite believe it so I got up to look again and make sure. Yep. There he was, Jesus on my bathroom wall. Okay, well then, I told myself I guess I won’t worry and I fell back to sleep. Several nights later I awoke in the middle of the night, again not sleeping well. It occurred to me to check out the bathroom wall again. He was still there and it made me smile. This time I told Jesus I was grateful for his presence and went back to bed.
It had been a few months since Jesus first showed up and I remember thinking he will soon go away as the leaves are starting to fall now. The Jesus leaf experience was kind of cool, kind of strange, but it was definitely Jesus on my bathroom wall.
A year or two later I had to have some construction work done on my bathroom. The window had to be replaced. I was out while the work was being done and upon my return they had replaced my clear window with one that had frosted privacy glass. I was surprised at my response. Immediately I thought that Jesus would no longer be seen on my bathroom wall. Of course the trees had grown over the last couple of years which had changed their shadows and reflections on my wall. Jesus’ image had not re-appeared since that first summer, but still I was sad.
It is funny how small things like this can impact us emotionally. One of my fond childhood memories of my paternal grandmother was of the two of us sitting on the lawn on a summer day and watching a baby cloud dissipate and then looking for images in the other clouds. To me that was magical. We laughed and talked about clouds and vision and seeing things in other objects, like faeries in tree bark. She was wonderfully imaginative and to a little girl, it was such fun to have someone help me believe in such things.
Many years later, but before I saw Jesus on the bathroom wall I was in Kauai with a group at a Spiritual Workshop. It had been a good week and on the second to the last day we got up early and took a bus up to watch the sunrise over Wailea Canyon. It was a lovely ceremony as we all stood there quietly chanting our call to the sun. Then as the light of the sun started to reflect on the clouds our leader looked up into the sky and exclaimed “look at all the angels in the sky!” We all looked around the sky and were delighted! It was filled with angel clouds! Everywhere we looked there were angels in the sky. That was a very special moment and we took that as a sign as well. We were being watched over and the work we had done all week was being blessed.
Sometimes the magic of the Universe shows up and surprises us by placing these familiar and comforting images in unusual places. How else would we know Spirit was trying to get our attention and give us a message? We just have to remember to look for the signs…in all the odd places.
HighRoadpost by Lisa Joiner 
Postcards from Tommy Bahama
February 12, 2015 in Musings, Social Commentary, Spirituality | Tags: doing nothing, Italia, spiritual breadcrumbs, Tommy Bahama, vacation | Leave a comment
I enjoy receiving inspiration and noticing the spiritual bread crumbs that come from surprising and yet, ordinary places. An advertisement/invite arrived in the mail the other day from the local Tommy Bahama store kicking off their Spring Collection. Ciao Italia!
It was just an over-sized postcard with a picture and a few words ….the way postcards are supposed to be; Compact, specific and quick.
Hey! I’m thinking of you and I’m someplace Fabulous!
I like Tommy Bahama as a brand. The stores are interesting, they normally smell good and make me dream of being someplace distant, relaxing and lavish. They sell us on ‘the dream’ and I appreciate that. I enjoy feeling transported if only for a short time.
This particular spring collection is based on a trip to Italy. Beautiful linen fabrics, casual elegance, easy style. What really hit me was the phrase they used on the postcard: il dolce far niente – “the sweetness of doing nothing.”
Talk about transporting…immediately the phrase conjured images of lounging in a lovely resort (wearing beautiful clothes of course), strolling through cobblestone streets, sipping wine, watching beautiful sunsets, or chatting with friends and having no plans for days.
As an accomplishment driven, responsibility-phile, solo entrepreneur, I sometimes dream of doing nothing and how sweet that would feel, and then I immediately dismiss the notion. When I was younger with less responsibilities and more years ahead of me than behind me, I would actually allow myself time to do nothing. Now I even limit my naps to 20 minutes!
I know… intellectually… that life is short and there is validity in doing nothing. Experts agree it is extremely productive and necessary to recharge and refuel our minds and bodies by having fun and just relaxing.We come back to our tasks more focused, alert and creative.
Wow….Somewhere along the adulthood path I got caught in the “doing” cycle and became…dare I say it…task oriented and un-fun.
The Italians have the right idea….long lunches, naps every day and knowing summers are for a long lazy holiday.
Planning nothing into our daily or weekly schedules should be a priority. It should also be taught in school along with other real life skills (but that’s a whole other blog post).
Unlearning habits such as overworking and constant doing are important, as is learning to set boundaries. We (okay, me) must begin to ignore the voice of Mr. Guilt and instead embrace our Italian friend’s mantra,” il dolce far niente.”
After all, why should we only look relaxed and fabulous while on holiday? Why should we only enjoy the sweetness of nothing while on vacation?
Send yourself a postcard. A quick, compact reminder that now is the time to enjoy some sweet nothing time. Pull out your Tommy Bahama ‘vacation’ clothes, do nothing, have some fun and say Ciao Italia!
To the sweet life!