Researchers at La Salle University in Philadelphia have found that labyrinths can be used to help heal past traumas -- and maybe even achieve a little inner peace.

If you associate labyrinths with the Minotaur, then relaxation may not be the first thing they bring to mind. But people from all walks of life have begun to explore labyrinth walking as a way to quiet their minds and learn a little bit about themselves. Many of them report profound feelings of peace, happiness, or sometimes sadness or deja vu while walking these ancient pathways. But it is a genuine phenomenon, or just the latest fad?

Dr. Lynne Texter and her partner Janine Mariscotti, both of La Salle University, set out to see if they could demonstrate experimentally whether labyrinths have a measurable effect on the human mind. They started by looking at relaxation theory, and specifically research that studied the relative effects of different activities, such as listening to music, yoga, massage, prayer, or taking a walk. "We wondered where the labyrinth would fit into all that," says Texter.

They split a group of 165 participants into three groups -- some listened to music, some walked in no particular pattern, and some walked a labyrinth while listening to music. The participants were surveyed before and after their respective activities to measure their feelings of physical and mental relaxation.

Ê"Skeptics say that [the participants] could have just done the walk in the woods and it would have been the same thing," Texter explains, "but it doesn't appear that it is the same thing." Instead, they found that the labyrinth walkers reported greater feelings of timelessness, joy, love, and/or thankfulness than the people who only walked or who listened to music.

The results are only preliminary, Texter cautions, but very promising. Anecdotally, people report the same feelings simply by tracing a labyrinth pattern with their fingers, or watching others walk a labyrinth.

How does the pattern work? Nobody knows, she admits. "Something happens, but we can't say why."

She suspects, however, that it has to do with accessing the subconscious. Unlike a maze, walking the single pathway of a labyrinth doesn't require the person to make conscious decisions, which allows that part of the brain to shut down. "It doesn't engage the thinking mind, it engages the intuitive self. It frees up the mind to work on other paths."

Part of it may be simply that it takes people out of their everyday lives and gives them time to be alone with their thoughts. "How many times in this country do we take the time to not have an iPod or a cell phone?" she observes.

Along with their research, Texter and Mariscotti do seminars where they bring a portable labyrinth -- with the pathways painted on canvas -- and allow groups to walk for themselves. Texter says that people's reaction to the labyrinth often reflects what they're feeling or their attitude toward life: for example, someone who hates cutting corners in personal projects might be annoyed by watching someone literally cut corners in a labyrinth. Someone who likes things to be simple may prefer the straight paths to the curves.

The important thing, she emphasizes, is that "anything that happens to you, you bring with you" -- in other words, there aren't any external forces at work. That's a key point for church groups worried that they're about to embark on a "spooky and mysterious" practice their pastors might not approve of.

On the other end of the spectrum are people concerned about the labyrinth's religious connections. The first labyrinths are thought to have been invented 3,000 to 4,000 years ago as small spiral patterns incised on rock. They were well known to the Greeks and Romans, and became especially popular in medieval Europe. One of the most famous examples is the labyrinth laid into the floor of the Cathedral of Chartres in France, which was created around 1200 CE. Labyrinths like that one symbolized the pilgrimage to the Holy Land at a time when the actual pilgrimage became too dangerous to undertake.

The layout of a labyrinth is typically in quadrants, with the path leading in close to the center and then back out before finally returning to the middle. The older labyrinth patterns usually contain 7 or 11 circuits, although nobody knows why -- or even who created them.

When Texter and Mariscotti bring their labyrinth for a group walk, they try not to do too much interpretation, but simply to allow people to have their own experiences. They suggest that people pause for a moment before they begin, perhaps saying a prayer, and to walk at a pace that feels comfortable. They'll have music playing in the background, usually something instrumental that's not well known, so people are less likely to have memories associated with it.

The process of walking a labyrinth can be described in three phases, Texter says: Release, receive, return. On the inward path, the walkers let go of the everyday world and pay attention to any thoughts or memories that come up. In the center, they might lay down, or stand meditatively, or simply turn around and walk out. The return is the process of integrating the experience into their daily lives.

The labyrinth they use in presentations is a replica of the one at Chartres, which they chose because of a fondness for the original. Both women have been to the original Chartres labyrinth many times, and Texter says that the years of use have made it a very powerful place.

"People will say the path is the path is the path, and that is true," she says. "But there's just something about walking those stones that is so profound . . . It's more than your own experience, it's hearing other people walk -- it's really powerful."

In the past few years, labyrinths have become virtually mainstream, appearing on television shows like Touched By an Angel and Oz, and being put into places as venerable as Johns Hopkins. Locally, there are labyrinths at Chestnut Hill College, the Dominican Retreat House, the Health & Wellness Center by Doylestown Hospital, the Medical Missions Sisters in Philadelphia, and St. Asaph's Church, among others. Most of them were created within the past decade.

While appreciation for labyrinths grows, Texter and Mariscotti continue their research. "There's still data that we have not had time to go back and look at, to get the hard data that people like to see," Texter says. In the meantime, they'll keep people walking the path.

For more on Texter and Mariscotti's workshops, visit http://www.labyrinthjourney.com/.

---