Book unlocks the benefits of walking a labyrinth

Date: 4/21/2016

HOLYOKE – One of the first things Sister Lorraine Villemarie of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield will explain to you is the difference between a maze and a labyrinth. A maze is a puzzle designed to confuse you, while a labyrinth is a design that takes its walker in a circular path with one way in and one way out.

A labyrinth is also a means for self-reflection and meditation and Villemarie has been teaching about the effect for years.

She has just published her third book on the subject, “Labyrinth Reflections,” co-authored by South Hadley resident Cathy Rigali.

In addition to a Bachelor of Arts in English and an Master of Arts in education, Villemarie has more than 40 years of teaching and curriculum development experience on all levels of education.

She has published two other labyrinth books, “The Labyrinth Experience: An Educator's Resource” and “The Labyrinth Program: An Educational Model for Transformation.”

Rigali is a nurse and teacher who is the director of Pathway to Change: A Jail Labyrinth Project.

Villemarie said interest in labyrinths has increased with the general public’s fascination with spiritualism. She explained to Reminder Publications while fewer people may be devoted to following a specific religion, people are more focused on matters of the spirit.

The interest in the effects that walking a labyrinth can have grown with the popularity of yoga, mindfulness and tai chi, she added.

“They fulfill a spiritual need that sometimes religion cannot,” Villemarie said.

Villemarie has been teaching about labyrinths for years and Rigali met her when she took her workshop at the Genesis Spiritual center in Westfield a decade ago.

She was so impressed with the experience, she asked Villemarie to come to the Hampshire County Jail, where Rigali was working, to run a labyrinth workshop for some of the inmates.

Eventually the program was such a success the inmates built a large labyrinth on the jail’s grounds.

Rigali, like Villemarie, became a Veriditas-certified labyrinth facilitator.

Northampton Community Television produced a 30-minue documentary about the two women’s work at the jail that can be seen online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJfvJgfzRsg.

The two women also decided to write a book that would give people interested in the experience not only instructions on how to build a labyrinth, but also offering a wide variety of mediation themes for walking a labyrinth.

Villemarie explained the history of the labyrinth is 4,000 years old. According to the website, www.thelabyrinthbuilders.co.uk, labyrinth as a design has been found as far back at the Neolithic and Bronze ages. Coins from Crete in the first few centuries BC also have the design.

In the last 25 years, though, labyrinths have become more recognized for the potential to allow reflection.

Villemarie explained the act of walking the labyrinth allows the body to relax and thoughts emerge. Rigali said a class of walkers is usually presented with a topic for thought while walking as a form of guided meditation. After they complete the walk typically they sit quietly and discuss what happened.

“Nine out of 10 times this is a lively discussion,” Rigali said.

Villemarie said the outcome of a labyrinth walk could be surprising at times. At a workshop in Rhode Island involving eighth graders, she recounted how she asked the students to use one word that came out of their walk. One student said, “Regret.” This revelation was then used by the student to think about his past behavior.

“You never know,” Villemarie said of an outcome of a labyrinth walk. “There is a story to every walk and every one is different,” she added.

Yet, the experience is not “magic” she said. “There is no agenda except what the person wants to bring to it,” she added.

The labyrinth experience can also be brought to people who cannot walk it. Villemarie displayed a labyrinth carved into a piece of wood. People use their finger to trace the path and Rigali said it’s been shown to have a calming effect for children as well as for Alzheimer’s patients.

For more information about the book, contact Villemarie at her email address villemarie341@verizon.net. The book is available by mail for $20, plus $5 for shipping, from Villemarie at 32 Lower Westfield Road, Apt. 210, Holyoke, MA, 01040.

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