Labyrinths, and other aids

[Godric2]

I asked elsewhere about Labyrinths. I wonder if anyone has found them helpful in their prayer life.

Now I extend that a bit to ask are there other physical helps to prayer and contemplation which you may have used at some time and found they helped - I guess the Holy Rosary is one such.

Solvitur Ambulado

 

[Modern_Revert]

The first labyrinth I experienced was at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco. I was disappointed at first because it seemed so, well…small. Then I started walking and it seemed to go on forever. I couldn’t wait to get off of it, but felt obligated to stay on for the duration (which was only about 10 minutes, lol). Forcing myself to keep going was a spiritual exercise in itself.

There is a labyrinth where I work at Bryn Mawr College. I try to use it just for “mind-emptying” when I’m overloaded at work. I couldn’t use it for the rosary because the entire time I’m walking, I’m praying it will end soon! Slowing down is a big problem for me.

 

[CB_Catholic]

I don’t “get” labyrinths, but I don’t think, as some people do, that they are inherently bad or new age–in fact they are very old and have appeared in the past in the Catholic tradition. I believe there is a cathedral in France that has an old one.

As I was saying, they have never added anything to my spirituality, and I have never been able to understand how others like them, but everyone is different.