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The Ursuline Education & Wellness Center, 4280 Shields Road, is offering several Guided Labyrinth Walks this season.

This year’s overarching theme is respect. Each walk will be led by a different facilitator with the meditation centering on a related theme. Respect is a virtue central to the ministries of the Ursuline Sisters of Youngstown, who began their work in the Mahoning Valley in 1874, and to the mission of St. Angela Merici, who founded the Ursuline order in 1535.

All persons of faith are invited to participate in these free, weather-permitting events. Walks generally take 20 minutes to ½ hour.

This year’s schedule is:

Thurs., June 17, 6:30 p.m.: Respect People Different from Ourselves
Thurs., July 15, 6:30 p.m.: Respect Yourself
Thurs., Aug. 19, 6:30 p.m.: Respect in Relationships
Thurs., Sept. 16, 6:30 p.m.: Respect Other Faiths
Sun., Oct. 17, 2 p.m.: Respect Creation

The labyrinth is open year-round from dawn to dusk for all persons of faith. There is no cost to use the labyrinth, which is accessible for different physical abilities and offers ample parking.

Printed guides are provided at the Labyrinth’s entrance giving suggestions for following the path, but there is no right or wrong way to experience the sacred walk.

For more information, call the Ursuline Education & Wellness Center at 330-799-4941 or visit theursulinecenter.org.

The Ursuline Education & Wellness Center is sponsored by Ursuline Ministries and furthers the mission of the Ursuline Sisters of Youngstown.

What Is a Labyrinth?

The labyrinth is an ancient pattern found in many cultures around the world. Labyrinth designs were found on pottery, tablets and tiles dating as far back as 4,000 years. Many patterns are based on spirals from nature. In Native American culture, it is called the Medicine Wheel and Man in the Maze. The Celts described it as the Never Ending Circle. It is also called the Kabala in mystical Judaism.

One feature they all share is that they have one path which winds in a circuitous way to the center. The labyrinth design at the Ursuline Center is a replica of the 11-circuit labyrinth of Chartres Cathedral in France. This pattern, once central to cathedral culture, was inlaid into the stone floor in 1201. 

Labyrinths are currently being used world-wide as a way to quiet the mind, find balance, and encourage meditation, insight and celebration. They are open to all people as a non-denominational, cross-cultural tool of well-being. They can be found in medical centers, parks, churches, schools, prisons, memorial parks and retreat centers as well as in people’s backyards.

The labyrinth is not a maze. There are no tricks to it and no dead ends. It has a single circuitous path that winds into the center. The person walking it uses the same path to return and the entrance then becomes the exit. The path is in full view, which allows a person to be quiet and focus internally.

Generally there are three stages to the walk: releasing on the way in, receiving in the center and returning; that is, taking back out into the world that which you have received.