Your Nature Connection

Heart Shaped Healing

The lives of Nancy and Arlene, though brief and troubled, became an inspiration for Carol to create a Healing Garden at the Bucks County Women's Recovery center.  Carol focused on each of the women's passions, gardening and walking, when she decided that a labyrinth would be a perfect memorial to them as well as providing a meditative and healing pathway for the center's current residents. 

            The manifestation of the Heart-shaped Healing Labyrinth there is but one example of the magic of synchronicity and connectivity that we healers have become accustomed to.  It begins with the first chapter of my own healing journey exactly ten years ago.

            While wading in the pristine tree-lined Tohickon Creek back then, I reflected with angst on the emotionally charged turbulence within my marriage.  Oh how I yearned for steady ground to stand upon.  As if on cue, a still pond appeared on the shoreline. 

            I stepped out of the swirling rapids to inspect the peaceful waters.  There on the  ground beside the pond was a stone lined circular trail that triggered a remembrance.  The intriguing pattern reminded me of a picture of a labyrinth that I had once seen.  I stepped onto its winding pathway and began a restorative meditative walk.  Beneath me, I felt relief as I sensed the support of solid ground.

            During the years that followed my "discovery," the labyrinth has become a constant companion and healing modality for me and countless others who step upon its sacred path.  Ancient symbol, mysterious in its history, the labyrinth connects us to ancestors who have made the same journey.  Acting as a container of expanded space and time, the labyrinth allows us to slow down, move in a circular flow and be led to its center as well as our own. 

                 My first public offering as a self-made labyrinth designer, installer, and workshop facilitator took place in my own back yard.  I had laid out twinkly clear Christmas lights on my lawn in the classic seven circuit labyrinth pattern and issued an invitation to friends to enjoy a "Full Moon Labyrinth Walk."  The monthly moon walk became a time when we gathered for sharing about our lives and to tell the stories of what had happened to us while in the labyrinth.

            It was at one of these early gatherings that I met Carol.  We lost touch when I eventually divorced and sold my house.  It was with sadness that I removed the lights from the lawn and closed that chapter of my labyrinth journey.  Joyously, those same lights reappeared later on a very large labyrinth created for a nearby recreational farm where hundreds of local people walked its illuminated paths. 

            One of my favorite ways of sharing the labyrinth then was to pack up my portable rope version and attend conferences where I would lay out the pathways and facilitate a workshop for participants.  At an international conference in the Netherlands, I met Tami, a therapeutic harpist from Minnesota.  We recognized one another as kindred spirits and have remained long distance friends since then. 

On a tour bus a few years after our initial meeting, Tami and I collaborated on a heart shaped labyrinth pattern that she intended to use on a CD of original harp music.  That same pattern now rests on the lawn of the Women's Recovery Center.

Recently, a friend named Carolyn attended one of my resurrected Full Moon Walks at a local spiritual goods store and gathering space for holistic workshops as well as individual healing sessions.  At the time I was unaware that she was also a friend of the director of the Women's Recovery Center.  When Carolyn visited the center, she was still processing her "moon walk" and shared with Carol her experience.  Carol was delighted to hear that she could finally contact me regarding the installation of her meditation garden labyrinth.

At our first meeting Carol and the residents decided the pattern best suited to their purposes was that of the Heart Shaped Healing Labyrinth.  On a Saturday morning a few weeks later, we had a busy workday and completed a template of the labyrinth by attaching rope to the ground with roofing nails, a sort of acupuncture for the earth.  Pride was evident in the faces of the residents whose hands-on involvement had cooperatively created the special sacred space.

Collective awe was present as we ceremonially opened the labyrinth and were led in by the senior resident carrying a candle.  The newest resident entered last carrying a twelve step book and reading from it when all had gathered in the center.  Tears flowed when one of us noted that we totaled twelve women standing there in the middle of the concentric hearts of the labyrinth.

The courageous women continued to work together during the next weeks to replace the rope lines with brick work and to add plants, hand-made tiles and sitting benches to their garden.  They finished just in time for a public dedication. 

On a cool and breezy summer evening over forty people attended the event and walked the labyrinth.  It was a tribute to its creators:  all of us mentioned in this story.  When it was time to go, I was about to blow out the candle at the entrance in its heart-covered crystal holder when I noticed there were two flames there glowing side by side.  

As we viewed what appeared to be a miracle, I heard Carol state from a deep well of knowing,"Nancy and Arlene are pleased." 

Key learning:  "Although our life's journey may sometimes wind us away from our center, if we trust our path, it will eventually take us there: to our essential self."