This is a labyrinthine way to beat stress.
The ancient practice of walking mazes has become increasingly popular for reducing anxiety and increasing well-being, the BBC reported.
A labyrinth is a winding path, often one-way, with a singular path leading to a center, according to the Labyrinth Society. Although some may think they are synonymous with mazes, unlike a maze that has dead ends, all paths in the maze lead back to the center, no matter how complex it may seem.
A maze is meant to make you lose your way, and a maze is meant to help you find your way, Kathryn McLean, the research chair of the nonprofit Labyrinth Society, told Gothamist.
Labyrinths are an ancient archetype dating back 4,000 years or more, used symbolically, as walking meditation, choreographed dance, or a place for rituals and ceremonies, among other things, the Labyrinth Society explained on its website.
The oldest known labyrinth dates back to 1200 BC and is carved into the back of a clay tablet from the Mycenaean palace of Pylos in southern Greece, Gothamist revealed. Some labyrinths in Spain are perhaps 1,000 years older, but historians are not sure of their exact date.
Labyrinths seem to be everywhere. They have appeared in rock carvings, paintings, tiles and coins in Europe and North Africa. There is evidence of labyrinths cut into rock or sand or woven into baskets from Asia, America and southern Africa. In the Middle Ages up to 25% of cathedrals had labyrinths, the BBC explained.
While labyrinth walking has been a movement meditation for thousands of years, there is modern research that suggests it is beneficial for mental health.
A study published last year in Frontiers in Psychology found that walking a maze helped relieve people’s stress during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“For people in hospitals and prisons, labyrinth walking as an integrative mind-body practice can be vital and healing, in addition to traditional forms of medical treatment or counseling,” Jocelyn Shealy McGee, assistant professor at the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work at Baylor University in Texas, who was a researcher in the study, told the BBC.
“Our research found that walking a maze can foster a sense of peace and other positive emotions, reduce stress, cultivate self-compassion and connection, and provide an opportunity for reflection on life and meaning-making,” he said. add.
All study participants walked a maze on World Maze Day, which has been held on the first Saturday in May since 2009. Although, the maze walk can be done at any time.
If you want to follow in their footsteps, the Labyrinth Society has a tool called the World Labyrinth Locator that has a list of about 6,400 labyrinths.
If you live in New York City, you have several mazes to choose from.
New York’s oldest maze, built in 1928, is located at Riverside Church on the Upper West Side, Gothamist reported.
Mace Anderson, a volunteer and member of the church, told Gothamist last year that the church was paid for in part by the Rockefellers who sent church architects to Chartres Cathedral in France to study there a labyrinth from the beginning of the 13th century. Anderson said he first saw a maze in a church in the Bronx, and there are also mazes at Broadway Presbyterian Church on the Upper West Side, Ascension Episcopal Church in Greenpoint and the marble collegiate in Flatiron.
Labyrinths exist beyond churches in New York. There’s a maze by artist Diana Carulli in East River Park.
Artist Sarah Jones painted a maze on the sidewalk at 505 Laguardia Place as part of the city’s Department of Transportation’s Urban Art Program.
Bushwick’s Maria Hernández Park also includes a maze by artist Camilla Gelpi who added it in 2007.
A maze was also added to Battery Park in 2002 to commemorate 9/11.
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Image Source : nypost.com