We have designed pre-cut and carefully packaged floor labyrinth kits using virtually every commercially available flooring material. As an example, here is the procedure we recommend if you decide to install a labyrinth made with the most common material, 1/8" commercial grade vinyl composition tile (VCT):

Photo above is one of our Chartres Replica™ vinyl composition tile (VCT) kits installed in the newly-renovated fellowship hall at First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica CA.

First, make sure you engage a competent flooring contractor, often through a local flooring supply company. You want to use a careful craftsperson rather than a high volume, low bid installer (though with a slowing economy you may get lucky and find both). Installing a kit is a bit more work than putting in a standard tile floor. The installer needs to follow a detailed plan, measuring frequently between reference points to make sure everything is aligning properly.

Next, you and the contractor agree on the primary (field) and line colors. The contractor orders all of the tile for the room(s). The material (two colors) for your labyrinth is shipped directly to our fabrication plant, while the balance is shipped to your contractor. Having the contractor order all the material at one time means that it all comes from one color batch at the VCT plant. Your installer makes a small amount of profit from marking up the material. This keeps your contractor in the loop and on your side.

We cut grids of both tile colors with your chosen labyrinth pattern - we offer 46 designs in a range of sizes and we'll work with you to select just the right labyrinth for your space. We assemble each net tile from the field and line color pieces, and tape each tile to a cardboard sheet. Each is numbered according to an installation drawing and packed in cases on a pallet. We ship the floor labyrinth kit pallet to your flooring contractor.

The contractor prepares the floor and installs the labyrinth using the drawings we provide, then completes the balance of the room with plain tile. He should establish the main axis centerline and intersecting 90 degree angle centerline. Starting with tiles at the center and working out along the four axes, then completing by filling in the four wedges from the centerpoint outward. Be sure the contractor measures back frequently to the centerlines to assure that each tile is square and true, and also that it occupies its full 12" x 12" space within the grid. The installer should take care not to close the cut labyrinth pattern joints too tight. Even though these joints are very, very small, if they are closed tight your labyrinth pattern could be as much as 1/2" out of alignment by the time you reach the perimeter on a large design.

Once the tiles are installed, the contractor should seal the floor, preferably with multiple coats, filling the hairline gaps between the tiles and between the colors of the labyrinth. The sealant is your wear layer and a good quality sealant should last a very long time. You will maintain your labyrinth by applying polish and mopping just as you would with normal tile flooring.

For churches, schools, hospitals and other facilities, an indoor labyrinth made with VCT provides a year-round, all-weather option when an outdoor paver or garden labyrinth isn't the best solution.

More information about our floor labyrinth kits is available here: http://labyrinthcompany.com/view_category.php?category_id=8

David Tolzmann, Chief Geometer and Labyrinth Builder

Questions or Comments on our blog? Please send to David@LabyrinthCompany.com

One misconception I run into frequently is that it's necessary to design wider paths in order to make a labyrinth wheelchair-accessible. This false assumption is understandable in light of the accommodations required for most public spaces under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). However in the case of labyrinths, the only people who seem to feel wide paths are necessary are those who don't use wheelchairs.

For those who actually do use a wheelchair, the width of the path is not important. They navigate the path using the "V" between their knees. To create and maintain a meditative state, you want the wheelchair user to concentrate only on that "V" and not be looking over the side of their chair or worrying about going off the path. Once they achieve a meditative state, they will cut all corners short of the true turns and it won't matter as long as they remain focused on the path (and so long as they know the surface is solid all around them). Intruding on adjacent paths with the wheels (or with a walking frame or other mobility aid) may seem inconvenient to other users but in practice it is rarely a problem - labyrinth walkers are used to accommodating others on their journeys!

There are other reasons not to make the paths wider. Wider paths in a given space means simplifying the labyrinth design, and reducing complexity reduces the richness of the experience and thus effectiveness. Oversized paths and a set number of circuits can result in an over-long labyrinth walk which ultimately feels tedious. Wider paths encourage greater walking speed, which can degrade the meditative experience for many regular walkers. Part of good labyrinth design includes deliberately slowing people down to increase contemplation - narrower paths encourage this effect.

We have designed and built more than 1,000 wheelchair-accessible labyrinths in a wide range of settings and materials. In the end, what makes a labyrinth accessible is simply having a flat, barrier-free two-dimensional surface that's solid and reliably weight-bearing. Concrete pavers, decorated poured concrete, and the combination of stone lines with packed stone dust paths all meet ADA specifications for outdoor installations. In climates where grass thrives year-round, we have designed grassy paver labyrinths: a plastic, weight-bearing grid is planted with grass, while stone arcs or pavers are incised to form the lines of the design. Virtually all floor labyrinths and even portable floor mat labyrinths meet ADA specifications.

Often our clients add features to make their labyrinth more accommodating to folks who choose not to walk for whatever reason. An example is the lucite Breamore finger labyrinth installed at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Bethesda MD. This is permanently mounted adjacent to the large turf labyrinth we designed, and enables mobility-impaired (or sight-impaired) visitors a means to share the experience.

David Tolzmann, Chief Geometer and Labyrinth Builder

Questions or Comments? Send them to: David@LabyrinthCompany.com

Meditation has entered the mainstream of conventional health care as a way
to reduce stress and pain only within the last 30 years. The breakthrough
came in 1976 when Ainslie Meares, an Australian psychiatrist, wrote in the
Medical Journal of Australia that in some instances cancers actually
regressed following intensive meditation. Meares went on to write several
books about his findings, including, "Relief without Drugs."

Today meditation is being used more and more in hospitals to reduce
complications that occur when increased stress leads to a depressed immune
system. Medical professionals around the world have begun to realize that
mental factors such as stress make a significant contribution to a lack of
physical health. As a result, efforts by mainstream scientific organizations
to fund research in this area are increasing including the National
Institute of Health's initiative to establish five new centers to research
the mind-body aspects of disease in the U.S.

In his book "Zen And The Brain," Dr. James Austin, reported that by using
MRI imaging to observe brain activity, you can see that meditation actually
rewires the circuitry of the brain.

Furthermore, research conducted by Dr. Herbert Benson at Harvard Medical
School's Mind/Body Medical Institute found that focused walking meditations
are highly efficient at reducing anxiety and eliciting what Dr. Benson calls
the 'relaxation response'. He has proven this response has significant long
term health benefits, including lower blood pressure and breathing rates,
reduced incidents of chronic pain, reduction of insomnia, improved
fertility, and many other benefits. Regular meditative practice leads to
greater powers of concentration and a sense of control and efficiency in
one's life. Labyrinth walking is among the simplest forms of focused walking
meditation, and the demonstrated health benefits have led hundreds of
hospitals, health care facilities, and spas to install labyrinths in recent
years.

Photo above is our St. Paul paver labyrinth kit, installed at Kaiser Permanente Sunnyside Medical Center, Clackamas OR.

David Tolzmann, Chief Geometer and Labyrinth Builder

Questions or Comments? Send them to: David@LabyrinthCompany.com

I am often asked whether we do business outside our base in the United
States of America. Indeed we do! We have shipped labyrinths to over a dozen
oversea markets. Our largest non-US market, as you might expect, is Canada,
followed by the British Isles, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Hong
Kong and Singapore.

Portable labyrinths make up the bulk of our international sales. We have
also provided Garden Labyrinth Templates and Paver Labyrinth Kits. I have
personally provided professional design & on-site consulting services for
international clients - these projects are among my most memorable. All of
our products and services are available to our international customers. The
photo example below is a 30' Chelsea a la Chartres portable labyrinth printed on
poly canvas in use in the chancel of Ripon Cathedral in the UK.

For our popular portable labyrinth and garden template product lines there
is some extra transit cost involved. Usually the extra cost is small (5% -
20% above our on-line US prices), and they vary by size and destination.
Please contact us with your requirements and we will be happy to provide you
a quotation including the extra transit costs. We generally do not pre-pay
costs within your borders, such as value added tax (VAT) or customs
brokerage fees.

Our on-line shopping cart currently accepts only US addresses, so we handle
international sales via email and/or telephone. If our toll free line
1-888-715-2297 does not work from your location, please call us direct at
our Connecticut USA office number 1-203-344-9379. We accept all major credit
cards, wire transfers, bank checks (cheques), and PayPal transactions.

David Tolzmann, Chief Geometer and Labyrinth Builder

Questions or Comments? Send them to: David@LabyrinthCompany.com

Which direction should a labyrinth face? Generally it should be oriented so that the entrance is facing a calming vista or land feature. The photo example above, our Vision Quest a la Chartres paver installation at Advent Lutheran Church near the Pentagon in Arlington VA, faces away from a busy intersection and towards a grove of trees accentuated with newer foreground plantings.

Recently I was working with a landscape architect on a labyrinth project for a memorial garden at a church and there was a question of which direction the labyrinth should face. So let me share what I've learned while building and consulting on hundreds of projects.

There are many schools of thought regarding the orientation of a labyrinth. Many Christians say a labyrinth should face east, based on the idea that churches were built with their altars in the east. The prime example that's usually given is the famous labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral outside Paris. Interestingly, the Chartres Cathedral labyrinth does not face the east. It is actually oriented 42 degrees off the east-west axis, just as the cathedral housing it is off-line. The cathedral is only the latest building on an ancient site, and re-orienting it would have been impractical.

Generally when we're deciding how to orient a labyrinth, we believe it should be designed so that you are facing the vista or land feature you find most calming while standing at the entrance to begin your walk. Personally, I think this is comforting and enhances the walker's experience because the only decision you have to make as you prepare to enter the labyrinth is whether to walk or not.

David Tolzmann, Chief Geometer and Labyrinth Builder

Questions or Comments? David@LabyrinthCompany.com

We are frequently asked about the use of memorial pavers, bricks, tiles and plaques as fundraising techniques for permanent labyrinth projects. We recommend placing memorial pavers (and any other text) outside of the labyrinth walk itself. Stopping and reading material can be a distraction and tends to detract from the meditative walking experience. After all, the portion of your brain you are trying to quiet down is also the part responsible for text processing!

Memorials may be placed in the walkways leading to or around the labyrinth plaza; beneath, around and on benches and other amenities; and in walls and seating walls. Here's a photo of a Chartres Replica™ labyrinth (Buff field with Rose Red lines) showing red clay memorial bricks interspersed with gray pavers in the entry walkway: