The Peaceful Path

When you get to the center, stay as long as you want, "sitting, standing, kneeling, journaling, meditating, humming."

Like many things in life, you get out what you put in. Ferre of Labyrinth Enterprises has seen reactions ranging from mere amusement to a reduced amount of stress, to deep enlightenment.

"Some people have intuitive ideas, [or] experience physical and psychological healing. They go beyond a barrier that is in some ways our intellectual mind," Ferre says.

There's a good reason these ancient designs, which are thousands of years old and span across many cultures, are experiencing a renaissance now in the U.S. "We live in world that place too much emphasis on the masculine and competitive -- a labyrinth is embracing and feminine," Ferre believes.

Many amateurs make the mistake of thinking any winding path can qualify as a labyrinth, Ferre continues.

While it's true they can be in any pattern, labyrinths do have to follow certain rules. Designing one takes knowledge of proportion and the principles of sacred geometry.

But once you get that down, there are few rules concerning the labyrinth. It's a remarkably versatile concept.

Labyrinths All Over

Ferre got his start constructing imitations of San Francisco's Grace Cathedral labyrinth on large pieces of canvas and selling them as temporary labyrinths to organizations that didn't have the space or money for permanent ones.

He then branched into permanent installations, and now he makes them out of everything from cement and stones to plastic forks. "I have a friend who draws them in the sand at low tide," he says.

It's even possible to print up a finger labyrinth and use it to steal a little meditation time at work; for those who don't even have the time to do that, the Labyrinth Society boasts virtual labyrinths online, where you can choose to either control the icon yourself or just watch calmly as it journeys through.

The Labyrinth Society also hosts a labyrinth finder, which can generate a list of all the labyrinths in your area. The Grace Cathedral is probably the best known in the U.S., but Ferre also recommends the Cathedral Labyrinth in New Harmony, Ind., or, for those with a little more cash to spend, there's always the original at the Chartres Cathedral, outside Paris, France.

	Find Your Center at Chartres

Or, you could just make your own. Fry and her husband painted their first labyrinth on their field with football paint, and since then it's turned into quite a project, one that they look at as "their ministry."

Since the initial painting seven years ago, they've created a stone path, added a fountain in the middle, benches around the sides and track lighting. She estimates they invest about $300-$400 into it each year. "We don't think it'll ever be finished," Fry says.

Fry's focus has changed since they built the labyrinth. The experience she and her husband once got from walking it they now get from tending to it, from trimming the grass to cleaning off the leaves.

And the more time you spend in labyrinths, she points out, the more you can find them anywhere.

"Now that I've had my labyrinth experience, I find that driving to Wal-Mart is a labyrinth," she explains.

Labyrinths help you locate that "in-the-zone feeling," Fry continues. "Everything is a joy, everything is an experiment, everything is an adventure. You really don't have to go white-water rafting ... to get that elation. Once you've had that experience, the labyrinth sensation comes over you."

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