Walking the Labyrinth: Four Sacred Invitations

One of my favorite experiences to share with retreat participants is walking the labyrinth  (located near the Serenbe Inn in my amazing community).

At first glance, it looks like a winding path leading to the center and back out again. Often people mistake it for a maze.

But unlike a maze, a labyrinth has no dead ends.

There have many times when I've stepped onto a labyrinth carrying questions I didn’t have answers for, emotions I couldn't untangle, or simply a very busy mind. Nearly every time, I step out feeling lighter—not because all my questions have been answered, but because something inside me has shifted.

For centuries, labyrinths have been used as tools for prayer, contemplation, healing, and transformation. While there are many ways to experience one, I loved recently learning from a labyrinth facilitator (on “World Labyrinth Day”, which takes place the first Saturday of May at 1PM, local time, all over the world) that there are four simple words to focus on when you walk, that mirror our own life journey:

Remember. Release. Receive. Return.

These aren't just important for walking a labyrinth.

They're beautiful practices for walking through life.

Remember

The first stage begins before you even take your first step. Pause. Breathe.  Remember who you are beneath the roles you play. Beneath the endless to-do lists. Beneath the expectations. Beneath the stories you've collected over the years. Before you were someone's employee, partner, parent, caregiver, or friend... You were simply you. You were whole, worthy and enough.

I think we spend so much of our lives trying to become someone that we forget we've always had our truest self within us. We just need to remember.

Release

As you continue walking toward the center, notice what you're carrying.

Not physically carrying, but rather what are you carrying emotionally?

Perhaps it’s worries or resentment? Maybe it’s a conversation you can’t stop replaying, or a belief that no longer serves you??

As a recovering overthinker, I know how heavy our thoughts can be.

The labyrinth gently reminds us that we can choose to set the baggage down.

Every step becomes an opportunity to soften and let it go, even if it’s just a little.

Because we can't receive what's waiting for us if we are (metaphorically) already full.

Receive

After many twists and turns, you arrive at the center.

There is nowhere else to go. No finish line. Just presence. This might be my favorite part.

Because we live in a culture that programs us to strive, hustle, and prove our way through our lives with accomplishments, achievements, and so on. But the center of the labyrinth asks only this of us: Can you simply receive? Receive stillness. Receive guidance. Receive love. Receive support. Receive the next breath.

One of the greatest lessons I've learned over the years is that receiving isn't passive.

It takes courage and trust and openness.

It requires believing that you are worthy without earning it first.

From my experience, sometimes nothing "happens" in the center and sometimes it truly feels like I’m totally plugged into source energy (if that makes sense).

Either way, I have learned to accept whatever happens or doesn’t happen. And what an important lesson that is in life!

Return

But it doesn’t end there. You still have to walk back out. And that's where the real practice begins.

Because insight is beautiful...but without integration into your life, nothing changes.

How can we bring this peace into our next conversation?

How can we carry this openness into your relationships?

How can we respond differently the next time life doesn't go according to plan?

I love practicing (& teaching) yoga and meditation and going on retreats (as well as hosting them). But they all have a start and a finish, including labyrinth walks.

And then...Life invites us to live what we've learned.

The return is about bringing your truest self back into your everyday life.

Back into your home and family and workplace and community.

Back into the wonderful, ordinariness of your life experience.

The reality is that you don't need a physical labyrinth to practice these four sacred invitations.

You can pause at any moment throughout your day and ask yourself:

What do I need to remember?

What am I ready to release?

What am I open to receiving?

How will I return to my life with greater presence, compassion, and joy?

I believe this is the real journey.

Coming home to yourself...again and again.

Because life isn't linear. It’s a twisty, curvy journey, but we're never truly lost.

We're simply walking our way home.

With love,

Liz