While I probably can tell you the exact order of both the A and B sides of the Beatles' album that serves as the title for this post, fans of the Fab Four will be bitterly disappointed to know I am not going to say anything that remotely relates to the lads from Liverpool.
Bloody hell!
What I am talking about instead is the inherit magic that lives inside the labyrinth on the grounds of Florida School of Massage in Gainesville. Often times when I’m back at the campus I make a point of taking a meditative walk along this curvy pathway cut into the grass. My journey starts with an intention garnered as I stand at the opening and “consult” with the statutes that mark the entrance. Then I make my way toward the center, feeling each step under my feet, while keeping whatever was the message for my journey forefront in my mind. Inevitably, additional phrases will come to me…sometimes in the form of questions…and always as a way of either honing the original intention, or making me take whatever phrase I was starting with and broaden it out some. By the time I get to the center, I’m ready to sit, and listen to what answers might be coming to me. It is a time of quiet mindful solitude. And I can’t tell you how many tears I’ve shed sitting in the center of that labyrinth as the sounds of peacocks peal in the distance from Paynes Prairie and I stare up into the tree tops looming overhead, paying attention to the answers I get to my questions, and the instructions I’m given as I journey forward and retrace my steps out from the center.
A sampling of some thoughts I’ve had on trips through this magical place:
Give and take love and light
Go inside the heart and discover the truth that
God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit dwell within you
Discover what’s within and keep the laughter alive
Each walk is different. Each one has its own language. But never have I stepped along the path of that labyrinth and experienced nothing!
The Florida School of Massage is on 441 (S.W. 13th Street) in Gainesville, and the labyrinth is behind the school building past the meditation garden and the hammock.
As the old Dunkin Donuts commercial jingle used to say, “It’s worth the trip!”
3 comments:
Beautiful description of a walking meditation. I am reminding of the teaching by Lau Tzu:
"At the center of your being you have the answer. You know who you are and you know what you want. There is no need to run outside for better seeing nor to peer from a window. Rather abide at the center of your being, for the more you leave it, the less you learn."
How wonderful to get a comment that is so thoughtful and I love the simplicity of your discoveries that make you the loving wonderful person you are.
MCG
Quite true! Thanks for the comment!
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