Creating a grass labyrinth
Our labyrinth in the morning frost
After much head-scratching, sighing, downing-tools-and-walking-away, we finally got the labyrinth done yesterday.
As with many things, the idea was exciting and the doing was a little harder than I expected. I wondered whether it might be too hard. I thought about going back to mowing a spiral. But I really wanted to do this, and tussling with the uncomfortable, difficult part of working out how to do it was the only way through.
As with learning most new things, the hardest part was at the start. It takes a while to learn the language of anything new. At the start nothing makes sense. You're thrust into beginner's mind whether you want to be or not.
My husband and I did this together. We often laugh at how quickly we'd be eliminated from The Amazing Race. Our minds work so differently, it often feels like we are speaking different languages. But it turns out that we needed both languages in order to build the labyrinth.
My husband has a mathematical brain that is great at the abstract. I have a brain that is great at visualising and imagining things in space. We needed to calculate widths of paths and walls and convert the pattern to fit our lawn. We had to look at this bare blank of lawn and visualise it in place. My husband is great at the first part, and I am great at the other.
When the labyrinth was mowed, my husband appreciated it by looking at it. I appreciated it by walking it—two different ways of being in the world. My son then ran through it as fast as he could. And my daughter stepped over the walls straight into the centre. Yet two more ways of engaging with it!
My intention is to walk this labyrinth every day. I look forward to noticing the changes and watching the plants in the grass wall grow and flower. And I think I'll add something to the very centre to say hello to each time I arrive.
Mary xx
p.s. This labyrinth is a classic seven circuit pattern. The pattern and instructions we followed were from The Sproutling Writes.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO READ MORE ABOUT THE LABYRINTH?
Read the essays below, visit the main In the Labyrinth page, and get your very own letterpress labyrinth card, for meditation and mindfulness.
I fell back in love and became more attached to the labyrinth than ever, right at the point of letting go.