A Manual for Bringing the Labyrinth Experience to School
Children
by Marge McCarthy
(with thanks to the teachers and students of Santa Fe Schools)
HISTORY OF LABYRINTHS IN THE SCHOOLS:
Although labyrinths have been in existence for thousands
of years in countries all around the world, the use of them
in the schools is a relatively new development. Perhaps
the popularity of labyrinths in schools today is a result
of the frantic pace of our society. Children feel pressured
- to succeed academically, to excel at sports, to be popular,
to participate in a multitude of after-school activities
and to please their parents and teachers - so that something
that allows them to slow down and calm down
is welcomed.
BENEFITS OF LABYRINTHS FOR CHILDREN:
Of course, the reaction to walking the labyrinth
is different for each child, but children have reported
that
after walking the labyrinth they calm down and become
more relaxed, they become less angry or frustrated, they
gain
insight for solving problems, they feel closer to a friend
with whom they walked the labyrinth and they are more
aware
of the things they are grateful for. Children who have
experienced a loss find that walking the labyrinth helps
in the grieving
process. An eight year old boy whose dog had died two
weeks before we built the labyrinth at his school said “I’ve
had a very hard time since my dog died, but after I walked
the labyrinth I realized that my dog will live in my heart
forever.” Other children have reported that they
were very upset about parents divorcing, or parents fighting,
but when they walked the labyrinth, they felt calmer
and
better able to concentrate.
Walking the labyrinth allows for creativity and intuition
to flower. Studies have shown that we are more able to connect
with the right side of our brain after walking the labyrinth.
It has been reported that children do better on tests if
they walk the labyrinth before taking the exam. Each child
has a different experience each time he or she walks the
labyrinth - it is not always momentous like the examples
above, but it always seems to have a positive effect. Sometimes
it is just an enjoyable experience.
HOW TO GET
STARTED: Gather with Kindred Spirits
The old adage “two heads are better than one” is
true here. It helps to have a group of labyrinth enthusiasts
to figure out the best way to approach a school with
the idea of building a labyrinth. Topics that can be
discussed with this group include:
•
Find out if labyrinths have been constructed in any nearby
schools - if so, contact the people involved.
•
Does anyone in the group have friends who are teachers,
counselors or principals in a local school where they
would be willing to work with you to bring the labyrinth
experience to their school?. If possible, have 3 or 4
schools to consider.
•
What resources are available in the group? For example:
skills, work experience or contacts with friends, neighbors
or school personnel?
•
Discuss how to approach a school - you must know your
audience and “speak their language”. Emphasize
how this will benefit the children - do not use religious,
spiritual or “New Age-y” language. Avoid
trigger words that might offend people.
•
Choose a spokesperson for the group who is sensitive
to school needs and can relate well to school personnel.
•
Discuss funding responsibilities. All of us are volunteers
who have worked on the Santa Fe school labyrinths. Some
schools have been able to secure funding for a labyrinth
project. Perhaps you will have a grant writer in your
group! Some schools have had stones donated and parents
or school maintenance men have sometimes helped with
the preparation of the site. At others the children have
brought in all the stones and no other help was needed.
SUGGESTED STEPS FOR INCORPORATING A LABYRINTH INTO A
SCHOOL PROGRAM:
Keep in mind that each school is different. The following
are suggestions based on the experience of the Labyrinth
Resource Group in eight Santa Fe schools . What actually
happens will depend on the needs of the school and the people
involved.
Representative from The Labyrinth Resource Group meets
with person(s) who will take responsibility for the labyrinth
and with the principal (if possible), to explore having
a labyrinth in the school.
Teachers who are open to new ideas and who enjoy
doing something unusual and innovative are most likely
to succeed
with a project like this. Unless there are committed
people willing to do preparation in the school and
follow-up after
the labyrinth is built, the project should not be undertaken.
An ideal situation is an interested teacher working
with
someone like a guidance counselor who is not tied up
in a classroom. Keep in mind that it is always better
to have
the school personnel take responsibility for as much
of the planning and organizing of the project as possible.
They know their school better than we do and the more
they
are involved in creating the labyrinth, the more they
will want to maintain it in the future.
Location and design of the labyrinth.
The general location, ideally, should be easily accessible
to all the children and in a place that is relatively
quiet
and protected from noisy activities. For safety reasons
it is best if it is seen from the school, but not from
the
road. It should be a place where children can safely
go to walk the labyrinth without constant adult supervision.
Obviously, the location must be discussed with all
the appropriate
people in the school before starting the building process.
Think through which people and/or groups might be considering
use of the land, so the labyrinth area is protected
from being destroyed by future projects. School people “left
out of the loop” could cause hard feelings and result
in problems later.
Experience has shown that labyrinths that are located
by dowsing the land are more powerful and give greater
benefit
than those which have not been dowsed. There must be
someone knowledgeable about labyrinths to lay out the
location and
pattern - it would be a mistake to just copy a pattern
out of a book and mark it on the ground. This professional
dowser
- or labyrinth expert - should help school representatives
position the labyrinth and decide on the diameter,
form
and location of the entrance.(The Labyrinth Resource
Group has professionals who do this for schools.) The
expert should
work with school people so the needs of the school
are taken into consideration. For example, in one school
there was
a child using a wheelchair so the labyrinth was made
with paths wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair.
We ran into one situation where a teacher was so uncomfortable
about the idea of dowsing for a labyrinth that he refused
to have us help him. It is essential to work with the
school
people to determine who should be involved in the dowsing.
We emphasize that we are planning for the very best
location
for the labyrinth. We have sometimes done the dowsing
with just the people who are organizing the project
in their
school and we have sometimes done it with many children
and teachers joining in.
Older children may help lay out the design of the labyrinth,
if the people doing it are comfortable with that. With
younger
children, it is more efficient for the pattern to be
already drawn on the ground (just drawn in the dirt
or by using
surveyor’s flags), as their biggest satisfaction
is placing the rocks on the pattern and seeing the labyrinth
almost magically take shape. The process described below,
placing rocks to mark the lines, works with all children.
We have done only seven circuit patterns in the schools.
We find many children do not have the patience to walk
the
11 circuit designs. The majority of the school labyrinths
have been 7 circuit concentric designs with a large
center - so more than one child can stay in the center.
When
two
classes in one school did a field trip to several labyrinths
in Santa Fe before building their labyrinth, they decided
they liked the one with “more turns”, so we
did a modified Chartres pattern in their school.
Preparations for staff and students for building the
labyrinth may include:
• The first step is usually a meeting with all teachers
and staff, giving them some background and information about
the history and use of labyrinths. When talking to teachers
It is important to emphasize the benefits to children. In
addition to the more serious benefits (mentioned above),
it can also be just a lot of fun! As many of us have observed,
the first reaction of children to seeing a labyrinth is
to see how fast they can run to the center. Also, there
have been many games developed for use on the labyrinth.
(See “Let’s Have a Labyrinth Party” by
Lani Rosetta, Leihuna Enterprises)
Included in this initial staff meeting can be a preview
of the class presentation (discussed in detail below).
Since very often the maintenance staff is involved
in preparing the surface for the labyrinth and in maintaining
it in the
future, it is good if they can be included in this
first meeting. This way, they feel included and can
be of enormous
help in the process.
• The way in which the labyrinth is introduced to all
the children in the school has varied from school to
school. In one school, the presentation was given to a 2nd/3rd grade
class and then they went to the other classes to present
the information. In another school the Enrichment Classes
were given the presentation and they developed a Learning
Center which all in the school were invited to visit.
We have found that the most effective way to involve
the whole school is to have one or two classes take
the leadership
in organizing the process (For example, these classes
can make posters to place around the school to “advertise” the
day of labyrinth building and to encourage students to
bring in stones to place in the labyrinth.) and then
have someone do the presentation (discussed below) to
all the classes in the school. Of course, this is very
time-consuming
(the last school had 600 students so the class presentations
took most of a week) but it meant that by the day we
actually
built the labyrinth all the children were familiar with why they
were doing this.
Note: Ask that you be given one room where you can set
up the slide projector and keep your materials - let the
classes come to you. It is extremely difficult to carry
everything from room to room. Also, the room must be able
to be darkened if you are showing slides.
The class presentation we use includes a brief history
of labyrinths, a time line which shows graphically
how long
there have been labyrinths in the world and a world
map with locations of labyrinths around the world before
1900.
Slides of different labyrinths are shown: we include
pictures of ancient labyrinths (graciously provided
by
Jeff Saward),
some modern labyrinths in the community which are often
familiar to the children, and then pictures of labyrinths
in other schools. A discussion of why labyrinths have
been
found in so many different cultures and how they can
be used today is mentioned. The effects of using the
labyrinth
should be discussed - children have included such things
as: to calm down, to stop being sad, to think about
things that are bothering them and figure out what
to do about
it, to think about things they are thankful for, etc.
It
is important for the children to develop their own “rules”
for walking the labyrinth; they are much more likely to
develop a respect for the labyrinth if they are involved
in setting the guidelines. We explain that if they are on
the labyrinth alone, they can do whatever feels right to
them. But when they are in a group, there must be rules
to respect the needs of others. After some children had
suggested things like “Don’t throw stones”
and “Don’t push or shove”, one girl suggested
a general rule: “You should stay in your own bubble”.
We encourage “Be silent” as one of the rules
- to respect others who might be dealing with loss or
sadness.
If there is time, it would be helpful for children
to create labyrinths of their own, using various art
forms.
There
are pictures available of many, many different types
and forms of labyrinths for ideas. We almost always
have the
children color or paint a diagram of the labyrinth
which they will be building. Students can be shown
a simple
way
to draw the classical 7-circuit labyrinth. Finger labyrinths
can be demonstrated and used. (e.g. Paste yarn or seeds
on the lines of the labyrinth and “walk” it
with their fingers.)
Teachers have used their imaginations in applying labyrinth
ideas to the curriculum - depending on the age of their
students. For example, one teacher did a math. lesson
where
the children cut strings the length they estimated
it would be from the entrance to the center. They pasted
the string
on a diagram of their labyrinth. If it was too short,
they added another color string and if it was too long
they subtracted
the amount left over. Of course, the string lengths
were measured and amounts added or subtracted. Another
teacher
had the children write invitations to their parents
for the labyrinth-building as a way of learning about
writing
letters.
Students might want to write a story for a school or
local newspaper. We have had newspaper reporters and
photographers
come to the building of the labyrinth - what fun for
the children to see their labyrinth in the paper the
next day!
Materials to be used must be decided upon.
The most basic, and easiest, way to build a labyrinth
(at least in Santa Fe’s dry climate) is for the children
to bring in stones for several weeks - so that they feel
they have contributed to the project. The school may want
to have a base of gravel, coarse sand or bark on which to
place the stones. There are many more costly alternatives
which can be discussed if there is funding. However, the
benefit of children bringing the rocks to be used is that
they really feel a part of the construction. If the whole
school brings in rocks, perhaps each class could have a
way of identifying “their” rocks, such as having
a different colored sticker on the rocks for each class.
Or, another possibility is for each class (one at a time!)
to bring the stones which they have gathered and place
them
in the labyrinth. The stones should be at least the size
of a grapefruit - small pebbles would make the task tedious
and would be easily moved after being placed in the labyrinth.
If it seems unlikely that the children can provide enough
rocks, additional stones can be purchased. (Once the
diameter
of each line is known, an interesting math. problem would
be to figure out how many rocks they will need for the
eight
circles and entrance paths.)
In one school, the children and their families were
encouraged to paint stones to put in the labyrinth.
They brought
stones
representing family members and ideas - such as “Peace”,
“Respect”, “Have pride”, “Be happy”,
etc. Large stones were placed around the outside of the
labyrinth. Be sure to research the best kind of paint for
lasting outdoors.
Start a “Labyrinth Book” for the classroom,
which might include:
• Journal-type experiences from the children; it might
help the teacher to have a worksheet prepared (e.g. What
did you like about building the labyrinth? What was it like
to walk the labyrinth the first time? Other experiences?)
• Photos taken before, during and after construction.
(Perhaps a parent could be responsible for this project.)
• Drawings of labyrinths by the children.
• Curriculum projects.
• Results of research. (Good web sites to start with:
www.labyrinthsociety.org and www.veriditas.net)
Dates need to be set for:
• Introduction of labyrinth to school personnel.
• Planning location of labyrinth by expert from
The Labyrinth Resource Group.
• Classroom discussions by consultant from The Labyrinth
Resource Group.
• Date for actually building the labyrinth. (Include
a Rain Date).
• Follow-up activities (e.g. inviting parents to walk,
a Peace Walk, a staff walk).
Including parents:
In general, it is best to let the children introduce
their parents to their labyrinth. However, it
could be helpful to have a parent volunteer who would
assist the
teacher with such things as organizing the Labyrinth
Book for the class and maintaining it, helping to document
the
building of the labyrinth with photos (suggestion for
photo-taking: use a ladder, so you can see the
outline of the labyrinth). If possible, videotaping
labyrinth activities is something
the children love.
In some schools, the active involvement of parents
is taken for granted. In one school, it was wonderful
to see families
bringing their painted stones to the school on the
day the labyrinth was built. Decide what works best
in each school.
Construction of the labyrinth.
We have tried many ways of doing the actual construction.
What seems to work best for us is to do the difficult
part
of laying out the labyrinth the day before construction.
That includes marking the entrance lines with surveyor
flags
and tape and delineating the circumference. In the
case of the modified Chartres labyrinth, each labrys
needs
to
be marked with surveyor’s tape. We have found Robert
Ferre’s books invaluable in helping us to lay out
the pattern (www.labyrinthproject.com).
We have used several techniques for laying out the
stones. Boards can be joined together to make a giant
compass
with
large bolts sticking out so that when the board is
dragged around the circle, eight concentric circles
are formed.
We have found the easiest technique is to have a rope
with
the radius of each of the 8 circles marked on it. With
a group of children, it takes no time to rotate the
rope around
a pin in the center of the labyrinth and have children
place a stone where each of the 8 marks on the rope
are. The rope
is then moved a couple of feet for another row of 8
stones. After placing the stones, it is easy to fill
in the spaces
between the “marker” stones. At a large school
where 600 children were going to share in constructing the
labyrinth, we divided the circle by the number of groups
(2 classes in each group) and had 1/12th of the “pie” for
each group. We watched the labyrinth grow around the
circle during the day!
It is helpful if an explanation of the process is given
in the classroom before going to the site. We try to
include
this at the time of the class presentation - usually
the week before building the labyrinth.
Be open to suggestions from the children. For example,
a child once suggested that we put a flat stone at
the entrance
to the labyrinth so people would have a place to stop
and think about how they wanted to use the labyrinth
that day.
He called it a “Pausing Stone” and we have
placed one at the entrance to every labyrinth we have
built since
that time.
Brief “Ceremony” before walking the finished
labyrinth.
There needs to be a break between the busyness of construction
and the quiet first walk of the labyrinth. If the children
seem particularly wound up, they may need some time
on the
playground or in the classroom before walking the labyrinth.
One possibility is to have the children line up around
the
outside of the labyrinth and hold hands for a moment
of silence before walking. Then they just move around
the circle
as they wait their turn to enter. Explain that there
will be no talking until they return to the classroom.
With a large group, it is necessary to allow time (and
space) between each person so that they do not bunch
up on the
path. One suggestion is for the children to count slowly
to 20 before entering the labyrinth. It helps to have
someone
at the entrance letting the children know when they
should begin the walk. Standing a few moments on the “Pausing
Stone” is a good way to prepare for the walk.
All, including adults, should be encouraged to return
to the classroom, so that those who wish can share
their experiences.
Suggestions for using the labyrinth:
• Some classes walk daily at a regular time.
• Individual students walk during free time - at lunch
or recess.
• Teachers use with classes at times of difficulty
or conflict.
• Guidance counselors can use the labyrinth for conflict
resolution - walking with the children and then discussing
the problem with them.
• Invite students who are troubled or angry to walk
with someone they trust.
• Staff can walk together - to enjoy being quietly
together or when there is difficulty.
• Use your imagination for ways that will make the
labyrinth more meaningful to your school.
• Do plantings or add benches around the labyrinth.
• Introduce class projects to learn more about history
or use of the labyrinth.
• Interview people about their experiences with the
labyrinths.
• Have children create labyrinths of their own - on
paper, with clay, etc.
• Write articles for local newspapers.
• Ask children what would help them to make the experience
more meaningful or helpful.
• Make plans for maintaining the labyrinth - both during
the school year and in the summer.
• Work with other teachers as to how the labyrinth
could be incorporated into the curriculum.
• Beginning of school year is a critical time for maintaining
an active use of the labyrinth - fliers in teacher’s
boxes can remind them to ask for support in introducing
the labyrinth to their new students. People from The Labyrinth
Resource Group could be asked to return for a “refresher
course”.
• The presentation for teachers could be given to parents
at a PTA meeting.
• Be open to all possibilities - in one school, a custodian
became interested, looked up information on the Internet
and shared it with the children who were organizing the
labyrinth project.
Keeping the labyrinth experience alive:
Planning for the maintenance of the labyrinth - both
physically and in the lives of the children - is essential
This has
particularly been a problem when the person who spearheaded
the creation of the labyrinth is no longer at the school.
One way to help in this would be to draw up a contract
with the school when you begin which outlines the responsibilities
of the school and the responsibilities of those helping
to bring the labyrinth to the school. Included could
be
such things as to how the physical maintenance will
be done and who in the school will be responsible for
seeing that
new staff and students will be introduced to the labyrinth.
Another possibility would be to have a “Labyrinth Council” at
the school, made up of of staff and students. This group
would be ongoing (so there would be some continuity from
year to year) and would be responsible for keeping the
labyrinth
experience alive, for the physical maintenance and for
planning labyrinth events.
Feel free to call on The Labyrinth Resource Group for
help.
(Marge McCarthy - 505.989.8231 or margemcc@newmexico.com) |
