I’ve been taking a break from blogging, but not from my beloved labyrinth. I continue to walk daily, alone, with friends, one time through, three times through, once a day, or multiple times a day. When she calls, I come.

A few days ago I had the wonderful opportunity to walk with three dear women from my lane. These are women who I’ve felt a connection with, but haven’t done anything about that potential friendship. One of the women I see frequently on the road. I stop (I’m usually driving, she’s usually walking to the mailbox with her dog), we chat for a quick bit, and then I’m off. On one of the quick chats, I told her about the labyrinth and that she was welcome to visit. She told me several times that she wanted to come and we finally got down to specifics and she and the other two came over.

I got excited about the labyrinth, so the story was coming fast and furiously out of my mouth. I noticed how quickly and loudly I was speaking. It makes me smile to think of just how excited I still am about sharing the labyrinth with others.

I explain that there’s no right or wrong way to walk this labyrinth and then ask if I should head in first. I’ve found that folks new to my labyrinth want to follow someone, and I’m always excited to walk it, so I head in. The others follow fairly quickly. As I round one curve, I notice that the last woman in has chosen to take her shoes off. Great idea! At the next curve closest to the entrance, I pause to shuck my shoes, tossing them through the arch and continue around. I love passing people in the labyrinth. Feeling the different paces and movements as we spiral in and out.

I get to the center and turn to watch these beautiful, strong women, whom I barely know, striding towards me. The first reaches the center and we hug. Heart connection, clear and strong. The next comes up and we hug. Again this truly strong heart connection. I continue down the path, third woman, again – heart to heart, open, raw, sweet. Big smiles as we head back out the way we came in. They, in turn, hugging each other until we’ve all hugged.

We exit the labyrinth and words start to bubble up and out. “Wow!” and “That was almost overwhelming!” and “Thank you!”

A wonderful conversation ensues as we stand under the entrance archway to the labyrinth. A realization that I’ve never touched these women before and yet it seemed so natural to hug. One of the magical bits of the labyrinth or any other type of heart opening experience is that touch becomes essential. A way of connecting wordlessly to communicate those things that we don’t have words for.