The labyrinth at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center is a single path maze with a unique design. It is a spiral walking course that leads into the center and back out. There are no dead ends or false turns.
Our Labyrinth Story
The labyrinth provides Johns Hopkins Bayview community members, patients, visitors and employees with a peaceful, meditative and "healing" space. Labyrinths have served for thousands of years in many world cultures as symbols of hope, healing and spirit. Many who walk these paths say they discover a sense of deep peace and hope.
The labyrinth is located adjacent to the Johns Hopkins Bayview Care Center. Dark green, wooden arbors mark the entrance to the labyrinth, drawing the eye into the nearly sixty foot-wide spiral walking path. During the next several years, adjacent shrubs will be pruned to encourage growth up and around the archways. Leafy locust trees also adorn the perimeter of the labyrinth to provide shade during the hot summer days. Ground lighting around the labyrinth's perimeter was installed to encourage people to use the path in the evening.
The healing garden and labyrinth serve many people in many different ways. Families may visit the garden and walk the labyrinth while waiting for loved ones to come out of surgery. Staff may come during lunchtime to enjoy a few moments of contemplation and relief from stress.
Special accommodations are made to assist people who move along the labyrinth's path in a wheelchair.
Using the Labyrinth
The spiraling course of the labyrinth will lead you into the center and back out again. The labyrinth experience may be seen as a metaphor for an individual's personal patterns or spiritual journey. It may help you discover where you are, where you are going and the process that winds and unwinds as you walk on the path of life.
We offer three ways of looking at the labyrinth walk. Entering the labyrinth and moving to the center is seen as a letting go or releasing of apprehensions and daily stress. The center is a place to pause, reflect and receive insight. Moving out is a time for action and renewal.
Most of all, we want you to remember that the labyrinth is a place for you to open your mind, listen to your heart and heal your spirit. We hope that you return to walk this special place time and time again.
The labyrinth is part of The Pathways Project. Johns Hopkins Bayview's partner in this special project is Nancy Romita and The Moving Company, a not-for-profit dance company located in Baltimore, Maryland, whose mission is to provide excellence in dance performance and commitment to community partnerships. The TKF Foundation of Annapolis is the primary funding source for the labyrinth.
