Labyrinth walking

1. Introduction

Version followed: the contemporary meditative labyrinth walk taught by Lauren Artress and Veriditas (Petaluma, California), centred on the eleven-circuit pattern copied from the medieval floor labyrinth of Chartres Cathedral, as set out in the Veriditas "Four Rs" walking guidance (adapted from Artress, The Sacred Path Companion, 2006). The Catholic meaning of the Chartres labyrinth is given as the cathedral's own published material states it. [source: Veriditas, New to the Labyrinth; Veriditas, Walking the Labyrinth handout; Etoile Notre Dame, Chartres le labyrinthe]

A labyrinth is a single continuous path that winds from the outer edge to a centre and back, with no choices, tricks or dead ends; Veriditas stresses that it is not a maze. Veriditas describes it as a walking meditation and a path of prayer, "an archetypal blueprint where psyche meets Spirit". At Chartres the 12th-century canons understood it as a symbolic path on which a person goes to meet God, inviting penance and meditation, with the centre standing for the Heavenly Jerusalem (hence the name "chemin de Jérusalem"). These are the traditions' own understandings, reported here, not claims the therapist endorses or rejects. [source: Veriditas, New to the Labyrinth; Etoile Notre Dame]

This is a cross-traditional contemplative practice: it has Christian roots and is widely offered in churches, but Veriditas presents it as open to people of any or no faith, who may walk with a prayer, a mantra or a secular intention. Lauren Artress introduced the walk in the 1990s (painted canvas labyrinth at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco; indoor and outdoor versions followed in 1994 and 1995), led groups at Chartres, and began training facilitators in 1997; Veriditas reports over 4,000 trained. [source: Veriditas, New to the Labyrinth]

How change is understood to happen: walking the single winding path quietens mental chatter (releasing), opens a space for listening at the centre (receiving), and lets what was received be integrated on the way out (returning). Veriditas places integration mainly on the return and says outcomes vary widely: some walks are powerful and some reveal little. [source: Veriditas handout] In psychotherapy the walk is used, at the client's choice, as a contemplative and embodied space for reflection, prayer, grief or decision-making whose material is then processed in session. [synthesis]

Health claims: Veriditas makes no medical claims. A 2026 scoping review found 25 studies (2000–2025) reporting positive mental, cognitive, physical and spiritual outcomes but called the evidence base limited; the walk is not a treatment for any physical disease. [source: Wenzel 2026; Veriditas, New to the Labyrinth]

Cross-references: walking meditation within MBSR/MBCT (Domain II); spiritually integrated and contemplative psychotherapy (Domain VII); trauma-sensitive movement practices (Domain IV).

2. Framework

The Veriditas model has four stages, the "Four Rs". Veriditas says the stages can occur in any order and anywhere on the path; they are a map, not a rule. [source: Veriditas handout; Purchase College guide]

Stage	Where	Goal as taught	Moving on
Remember	At the threshold, before entering	Give thanks (people who support you, places that nourish you); choose a focus (a mantra, prayer or intention); if a difficult situation is present, shape it into a "healing question"	When the walker feels ready to step onto the path; no criterion given
Release	Walking in	Quiet the mind's chatter, set down burdens, let the heart feel what comes; breath or footsteps may serve as an anchor	Reaching the centre
Receive	The centre	Pause as long as wished; open to one's "higher power" (Veriditas wording), listen for a quiet inner voice, have an honest conversation with oneself	When the walker chooses to leave; no time limit
Return	Walking out the same path (or a separate exit path in processional designs)	Integration: carrying what was received back into life; may bring well-being, calm, excitement or a sense of reclaiming, restoring or renewing part of life	Leaving the labyrinth; reflection afterwards

Session count and format: the sources set no number of walks and no duration. Veriditas says some people gain clarity from one walk, others need several; it recommends starting with meditative walking and notes that regular (daily or weekly) walks may have a cumulative effect, and that some people walk intensively around a major event or life change. [source: Veriditas handout] The Chartres labyrinth is 12.89 m across with a path of 261.55 m; the cathedral document states chairs are removed on Fridays (10:00–17:00) so pilgrims can walk it (check current arrangements locally). [source: Etoile Notre Dame]

Formats in therapy [synthesis]:

Client walks a public labyrinth (church, campus, hospital, park) between sessions and brings the experience to the next session.
A finger (handheld or printed) labyrinth traced in session; Veriditas offers handhelds and free printable designs. [source: Veriditas handout]
Facilitated group walks led by a trained labyrinth facilitator, to which the therapist refers.
A therapist-accompanied walk outside the office only after considering boundaries, confidentiality and the client's wishes.

Criteria for moving between the therapy phases [synthesis]: (1) assessment and consent complete and no current contraindication; (2) orientation given and client chooses to try; (3) first walk or finger tracing, with debrief; (4) continued use only if the client finds it helpful and arousal stays within a tolerable range; (5) step down (shorter, finger version, eyes open, company) or stop if distress, dissociation or perceptual change appears.

3. Guiding principles

No right or wrong way. Veriditas states this explicitly. Practical meaning: never correct how a client walks; normalise walking straight to the centre, sitting, pausing, or turning back. [source: Veriditas, New to the Labyrinth]
It is not a maze. There is one path and no getting lost. Practical meaning: tell anxious or perfectionistic clients there is nothing to solve. [source: Veriditas, New to the Labyrinth]
"Follow your intuition and experience your experience." Practical meaning: no target state; a walk that "did nothing" is data, not failure. [source: Veriditas handout]
Client-led meaning, in the client's own tradition and language. The focus can be a prayer, a mantra or an intention. Practical meaning: let the client choose Christian prayer, words from their own faith, or a secular question; never supply religious content. [source: Veriditas handout; synthesis]
Integration happens on the return. Practical meaning: protect time after the walk, and in the next session, for reflection rather than rushing on. [source: Veriditas handout]
Respect for others on a shared path. Walking with others is described as a "lesson in tolerance". Practical meaning: prepare clients for passing and being passed in public or group walks. [source: Veriditas handout]
Attribute, do not adjudicate, religious meaning. The Chartres canons' meaning (path toward God, penance, the Heavenly Jerusalem) and Artress's psyche-and-Spirit framing are reported as theirs. Practical meaning: ask what the walk means to the client. [source: Etoile Notre Dame; Veriditas]
Consent and choice throughout. Practical meaning: offer, never prescribe; the client can stop, step off, or decline at any point. [synthesis]
Trauma sensitivity. Treleaven's trauma-sensitive mindfulness framework organises adaptations around attention, arousal, relationship, dissociation and social context. Practical meaning: keep the client within a tolerable arousal range and adapt rather than push through. [source: Treleaven, publisher description]
The therapist is not a spiritual director, labyrinth facilitator or clergy in therapy. Practical meaning: refer to Veriditas-trained facilitators, spiritual directors or the client's clergy for spiritual guidance; keep your role clinical. [synthesis]
Spiritual and religious competence. Vieten et al. (2013) proposed 16 basic competencies spanning attitudes, knowledge and skills for all licensed psychologists. Practical meaning: assess religion and spirituality as routinely as other areas and know your limits. [source: Vieten et al. 2013, abstract]
No health claims. Practical meaning: do not present the walk as treatment for physical illness; route health questions to the client's doctor. [synthesis]
Ethics. Respect for religious diversity, competence, avoiding harmful dual relationships and informed consent apply as in any intervention. [synthesis]

4. Intervention inventory

The walking steps (4.3–4.8) follow the Veriditas "Four Rs" guidance, paraphrased. The clinical framing around them (assessment, adaptation, processing, referral) is the psychotherapist's own work and is marked [synthesis] unless a source is named. [source: Veriditas handout; Purchase College guide]

4.1 Spiritual and cultural assessment before offering the walk

Purpose / when: before suggesting any contemplative practice; establishes whether the labyrinth fits the client's beliefs, history and goals. [synthesis; competencies per Vieten et al. 2013]
Steps: (1) Ask about religious or spiritual background, current practice and community. (2) Ask about any religious harm or leaving a faith (a church setting or Christian symbolism may be unwelcome). (3) Use the DSM-5-TR Cultural Formulation Interview and its supplementary module on spirituality, religion and moral traditions if available to you [uncertain: module wording not verified]. (4) Ask what the client already does that is walking, prayer or reflection. (5) Note mobility, balance, vision and stamina issues and crowd or open-space anxiety.
Example language (illustrative): "Some people find it helps to bring prayer or quiet reflection into therapy, and some would rather not. Where are you with that?"
Watch for: client deferring to you as an authority on spiritual matters; signs of religious trauma; current psychosis, mania, severe dissociation or recent trauma, which call for caution (see 4.14 and 5).

4.2 Screening and informed consent

Purpose / when: after assessment, before the first walk. Meditation-related adverse events are "not uncommon" and can occur in people with no prior mental health history (Farias et al. 2020, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica: pooled prevalence 8.3% across 83 studies; anxiety, depression and cognitive anomalies most often reported). These data come from meditation broadly, not labyrinths specifically. [source: Farias et al. 2020, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, abstract]
Steps: (1) Explain what the walk involves and that it is optional. (2) Name possible experiences: calm, strong feelings, nothing at all, and less often anxiety, feeling disoriented or "lost in time and space" (reported by participants in a small qualitative study at a psychotherapy institute). [source: Lizier et al. 2018] (3) Agree a stop signal and what the client will do if distressed (step off, sit, ground). (4) Agree whether the walk is spiritual, secular or both for this client. (5) Document consent.
Example language (illustrative): "Most people find it quiet and steadying; some feel strong emotions or a bit disoriented. You can step off the path at any moment. Shall we plan what you'd do if that happened?"
Watch for: pressure to comply with the therapist; magical expectations of a cure.

4.3 Orientation (psychoeducation)

Purpose / when: first introduction, in session.
Steps: (1) Show a printed or handheld labyrinth. (2) Explain: one path in, the same path out, no dead ends, not a maze. (3) Give brief history as the sources tell it: an ancient pattern; the 11-circuit Chartres design, laid in the cathedral floor around 1201 per Veriditas ("12th century" per the cathedral document), revived by Lauren Artress from the 1990s. (4) Outline the Four Rs as optional stages. (5) Stress that there is no right way.
Example language (illustrative): "It looks complicated, but there's only one path. You can't get lost. You just keep walking and it brings you to the centre and back."
Watch for: perfectionism ("How should I do it properly?"), which may need the no-right-way principle repeated; aversion to the Christian origin, in which case offer a secular framing or drop it.

4.4 Remember: threshold preparation

Purpose / when: just before entering; sets intention and settles the walker. [source: Veriditas handout]
Steps: (1) Pause at the entrance. (2) Give thanks, naming people who support you and places that nourish you. (3) Choose a focus: a prayer, a mantra or an intention, from the client's own tradition or a plain phrase of their own. (4) If a difficult situation is on the mind, bring it forward and, if possible, put it as a healing question (see 4.5).
Example language (illustrative): "Before you step in, you might take a moment to think of who or what is supporting you right now, and pick one word, prayer or question to walk with."
Watch for: gratitude prompts landing badly for clients in acute grief or depression; offer the option to simply notice how they arrive instead [synthesis]. Do not supply mantras; restricted mantras from initiatory traditions are not to be borrowed.

4.5 Shaping a healing question (in session)

Purpose / when: when the client brings a dilemma, loss or transition and wants to use the walk for it. Veriditas suggests forming a difficulty into a healing question; the in-session shaping below is [synthesis].
Steps: (1) Ask the client to describe the situation in a sentence. (2) Help turn it into an open question ("What do I need to...?", "How can I...?") rather than a yes/no or blaming one. (3) Check the question is the client's own and in their words, including religious language if they use it. (4) Write it down to take on the walk.
Example language (illustrative): "If you could ask one question about this, one that leaves room for more than yes or no, what would it be?"
Watch for: questions that demand certainty or a sign ("Will God tell me if I should leave?"); gently note the walk may bring no answer, and that is acceptable.

4.6 Release: walking in

Purpose / when: the inward walk; quietening chatter and letting feelings be. [source: Veriditas handout]
Steps: (1) Walk at your own pace and settle into its rhythm. (2) If helpful, rest attention on ordinary breathing or on your footsteps; Veriditas gives no breathing technique, and none should be added. (3) Let thoughts and burdens go as they arise; let the heart feel whatever comes. (4) If you meet others, do what feels natural: pass or be passed.
Example language (illustrative): "On the way in, you might just let the path do the work. If your mind is busy, your feet on the ground are something to come back to."
Watch for: rising anxiety on the tight turns, dizziness, or a sense of being trapped; the client may step across to the exit at any time [synthesis]. Signs it is working: slower pace, softer breathing, reports of quiet or feeling.

4.7 Receive: the centre

Purpose / when: pausing at the centre to listen. [source: Veriditas handout; Purchase College guide]
Steps: (1) Stay as long as you wish; there is no time limit. (2) Open to what, for you, is a higher power (Veriditas wording), or simply listen inward. (3) Listen for a "still, small inner voice" (phrase used in the Purchase College version of the guidance). (4) Have an honest, private conversation with yourself, or pray in your own way. (5) Leave when ready.
Example language (illustrative): "At the centre, you might stand or sit and just listen. If it's prayer for you, pray. If not, you might ask your question and notice what comes, even if it's nothing."
Watch for: tearfulness or flooding; feeling exposed in a public centre; voices or presences experienced as external rather than as inner reflection, which need gentle clinical enquiry afterwards (see 4.16). Signs it is working: a sense of rest, an insight, or simply time with oneself.

4.8 Return: walking out

Purpose / when: the outward walk, where Veriditas locates integration. [source: Veriditas handout]
Steps: (1) Retrace the same path outward (or take the separate exit path in processional designs). (2) Carry what was received, if anything, back toward daily life. (3) Notice any sense of well-being, calm, energy, or of reclaiming, restoring or renewing part of your life, without expecting it. (4) At the threshold, pause briefly before leaving. At Chartres the cathedral document adds that the pilgrim walks back out and follows the line toward the choir and altar. [source: Etoile Notre Dame]
Example language (illustrative): "On the way out, you might ask yourself what, if anything, you want to take back with you."
Watch for: the walk out feeling longer or distressing, which participants in one small study linked to emotional discomfort [source: Lizier et al. 2018]; normalise it and explore it later.

4.9 Post-walk reflection and processing in session

Purpose / when: after any walk, in the same or next session; links the experience to therapy goals. [synthesis, using the reflective prompts embedded in the Veriditas/Purchase guidance]
Steps: (1) Ask for a plain description: what happened in body, feeling and thought at each stage. (2) Use the guidance's own prompts: what supported you; what you asked; what you heard or noticed at the centre; what you might reclaim, restore or renew. (3) Optional journaling or drawing of the path. (4) Link one thread to a therapy goal; agree whether to walk again.
Example language (illustrative): "Take me through it from the entrance. Where did things shift, if they did?"
Watch for: pressure to report something meaningful; treat "nothing happened" as valid. Signs it is working: new perspective on a dilemma, settled affect, or the client using the practice on their own.

4.10 Finger labyrinth in session

Purpose / when: when walking is impractical (mobility, weather, no labyrinth nearby, confidentiality) or as a first, lower-intensity try. Veriditas describes tracing the path with a finger on a handheld or printed labyrinth. [source: Veriditas handout]
Steps: (1) Offer a printed or wooden labyrinth. (2) Invite the client to trace in with a finger, eyes open, pausing at the centre, then trace out, using the Four Rs loosely. (3) Allow either hand, any speed, stopping any time. (4) Debrief as in 4.9.
Example language (illustrative): "Let your finger follow the path in at whatever speed feels right. There's no rush and no correct way."
Watch for: frustration with fine motor demand or vision; restlessness. It also suits telehealth with a printed design. [synthesis]

4.11 Between-session practice

Purpose / when: when the client finds the walk useful and wants to continue. Veriditas suggests starting with meditative walking, notes regular daily or weekly walks may build a cumulative effect, and that some people walk more intensively around a major event or recovery from a life change. [source: Veriditas handout]
Steps: (1) Help the client find a public labyrinth or a Veriditas-listed facilitated walk. (2) Agree frequency and length that the client chooses (no source prescribes either). (3) Plan the threshold focus and a debrief note. (4) Review at the next session.
Example language (illustrative): "Would it help to walk it once before our next session and jot down a few lines afterwards?"
Watch for: use of walking as avoidance of needed action or treatment; framing it as a cure for physical illness. Some people walk before surgery; present this only as a way to reflect or pray, never as treatment. [synthesis]

4.12 Group and facilitated walks

Purpose / when: group therapy, grief or transition groups, retreats, or when referring to a facilitated walk. Veriditas notes group walking is interactive, with people at different points on a shared path, and calls it a "lesson in tolerance" when others walk slowly or erratically. [source: Veriditas handout]
Steps: (1) Brief the group: no right way; walk at your own pace; pass or be passed as feels natural; respect others' quiet. (2) Stagger entries. (3) Supervise young children, as Veriditas advises parents to do. (4) Provide a sitting area and a staff member for anyone who steps off. (5) Debrief in the group, voluntary sharing only.
Example language (illustrative): "You may find someone in front of you is slower. You can pass, or wait, whatever feels natural."
Watch for: irritation, comparison, self-consciousness; group pressure to share. Veriditas trains facilitators; leading walks in a spiritual frame is better left to them or to chaplains. [source: Veriditas, New to the Labyrinth; synthesis]

4.13 Client-led integration in the client's own tradition

Purpose / when: within spiritually integrated psychotherapy, when the client wants the walk to carry religious meaning (Domain VII).
Steps: (1) Ask what the labyrinth means to them. For Catholic or other Christian clients this may include the Chartres meanings of a path toward God, penance, meditation and the Heavenly Jerusalem. [source: Etoile Notre Dame] (2) Invite them to use prayers from their own tradition; for clients of other faiths, words from their own practice; for secular clients, a plain intention. (3) Suggest they consult their own clergy if unsure the practice fits their faith. (4) Process in session in the client's language.
Example language (illustrative): "You said walking it felt like a pilgrimage. What does pilgrimage mean in your faith?"
Watch for: the therapist's own beliefs steering the content; client worry that the practice conflicts with their religion. [synthesis]

4.14 Trauma-sensitive adaptation

Purpose / when: clients with trauma histories, dissociation, or religious trauma. Organised around Treleaven's five areas: attention, arousal, relationship, dissociation and social context. [source: Treleaven, publisher description; specific modifications below are synthesis]
Steps: (1) Attention: keep eyes open; offer an external focus (feet, path edge, surroundings) instead of inward attention. (2) Arousal: start with a finger labyrinth or a partial walk; agree a stop signal; check arousal after each stage. (3) Relationship: offer choice of being accompanied or alone, walking first or after, therapist presence nearby. (4) Dissociation: watch for blankness or losing track; ground through senses and movement; shorten. (5) Social context: consider whether a church setting, Christian imagery, or walking in public is safe for this client.
Example language (illustrative): "We can try it on paper first. You're in charge of the pace and when to stop."
Watch for: freeze, numbing, time loss, flashbacks. Note the overlap with the "lost in time and space" reports in Lizier et al. (2018), which participants did not necessarily find harmful but which may signal dissociation in trauma survivors. [synthesis]

4.15 Referral and collaboration

Purpose / when: when the client wants spiritual guidance, regular facilitated walks or retreats, or religious advice. [synthesis]
Steps: (1) Refer to Veriditas-trained facilitators (Veriditas lists a facilitator directory), the client's clergy, chaplains or a spiritual director. (2) With written consent, share only what the client wants shared. (3) Keep roles distinct: the facilitator or clergy guides the practice; you treat the clinical problem.
Example language (illustrative): "I can help you think about what comes up, but a trained facilitator or your pastor may be better placed to guide the spiritual side. Would you like names?"
Watch for: dual roles if you also facilitate walks; avoid leading walks for your own clients outside therapy. [source: Veriditas, New to the Labyrinth; synthesis]

4.16 Responding to challenging or adverse experiences

Purpose / when: when a walk triggers distress, perceptual change, strong energy-like sensations or spiritual crisis. Lindahl et al. 2017, PLOS ONE, mapped 59 kinds of meditation-related experience across seven domains (cognitive, perceptual, affective, somatic, conative, sense of self, social), ranging from very positive to very negative and from transient to severe and enduring; 26 influencing factors spanned practitioner, practice, relationships and health behaviours. These data come from Buddhist meditators, not labyrinth walkers. Cheetah House offers resources and a course on the study. [source: Lindahl et al. 2017, PLOS ONE (record); Cheetah House]
Steps: (1) Stop or reduce the practice (dose reduction): shorter, finger version, or pause entirely. (2) Ground: eyes open, feet, naming surroundings, ordinary activity, sleep and food routines. (3) Assess: distinguish a spiritual or religious problem from psychosis, mania, depression or dissociation by checking functioning, sleep, insight, persistence after stopping, and history. DSM-5 lists "Religious or Spiritual Problem" (V62.89/Z65.8) as a condition that may be a focus of clinical attention, and advises not mistaking it for disorder [source: Barrett 2020]; DSM-5-TR retains the code Z65.8. (4) With consent, coordinate with the client's facilitator or clergy. (5) Refer for psychiatric assessment if illness is suspected.
Example language (illustrative): "What you felt can happen with contemplative practice. Let's slow things down and get you feeling steady first, then look at it together."
Watch for: sleep loss, grandiosity, fixed beliefs of special mission, persisting derealisation, or suicidal thoughts, which need clinical assessment, not more practice.

5. Handling problems

The sources address few clinical problems directly. Veriditas's points (no right way, walks vary, some reveal little, tolerance of others) are cited; everything else here is [synthesis].

"Nothing happened." Veriditas says some walks reveal little and that another day or another labyrinth may differ. Response: validate; ask what the client noticed in their body, even boredom; offer one more try or drop it. Do not intensify the practice to get a result. [source: Veriditas handout; synthesis]
Stuck on a dilemma; looking for a sign. Response: revisit the healing question (4.5); separate the walk's reflective value from decision-making work done in therapy (pros and cons, values clarification). [synthesis]
Reluctance or resistance. It may be religious ("this isn't my faith"), aversive (religious trauma), or practical (self-consciousness walking in public). Response: explore without persuading; offer a secular framing, a finger labyrinth, a private time slot, or a different practice altogether. The labyrinth is optional. [synthesis]
Overwhelm: tears, panic, flooding at the centre. Response: step off or sit; ground (eyes open, feet, surroundings); shorten next time or use the finger version; debrief what surfaced in session rather than on the path. [synthesis]
Disorientation or feeling the walk out is endless. Reported by participants in a small qualitative study (Lizier et al. 2018). Response: normalise; remind the client there is one path and they can cross directly out; for anxious clients walk with eyes up, noticing landmarks; consider a smaller or finger labyrinth. [source: Lizier et al. 2018; synthesis]
Dissociation, perceptual change, energy-like sensations, spiritual crisis. Response: follow 4.16: pause, ground, assess differentially, coordinate with facilitator or clergy if the client wishes, refer for psychiatric review if psychosis, mania or severe depression is suspected. Before intensive labyrinth retreats, screen for current psychosis, mania, recent trauma and severe dissociation. [source: Lindahl et al. 2017, PLOS ONE; Farias et al. 2020, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica; synthesis]
Non-adherence to between-session walks. Response: explore barriers (access, time, weather, embarrassment); offer a finger labyrinth at home; reduce expectation; do not frame missed walks as failure. [synthesis]
Scrupulosity and perfectionism. Signs: worry about walking "correctly", repeating walks until it "feels right", fear that distraction during prayer is sinful. Response: treat as a possible OCD presentation; use ERP adapted with consultation with the client's religious authority, as clinical sources such as the IOCDF describe [uncertain: not verified]; meanwhile emphasise Veriditas's explicit "no right way". [source: Veriditas, New to the Labyrinth; synthesis]
Over-reliance or spiritual bypassing. Signs: using walks to avoid grief, conflict or necessary medical care. Response: name the pattern gently; keep the walk in service of therapy goals; route any health question to the client's doctor. [synthesis]
Rupture: the client feels the therapist imposed a religious practice, or dismissed their faith. Response: acknowledge, repair, return control to the client; review your own religious commitments and limits of self-disclosure; seek consultation. Use the spiritual and religious competencies (Vieten et al. 2013) as a self-check. [source: Vieten et al. 2013; synthesis]
Group friction (slow walkers, crowding). Veriditas frames this as a "lesson in tolerance". Response: prepare walkers for passing; stagger entry; use the irritation as material if the group agrees. [source: Veriditas handout; synthesis]
Physical access. Mobility, balance or vision limits, fatigue. Response: chair at the centre, wheelchair-accessible labyrinths where available, finger labyrinth, or accompaniment. Medical questions go to the client's doctor. [synthesis]
Children and young people. Veriditas advises parents to supervise young children on public labyrinths. In therapy, obtain parental consent and the child's assent, and keep the walk optional and brief. [source: Veriditas, New to the Labyrinth; synthesis]
Teacher or group concerns. Documented misconduct relating to the organisations named here: none found in the sources consulted. If a client's labyrinth practice sits within a group showing signs of coercive control (isolation from family, financial pressure, punishment for leaving, a leader claiming special authority over members' lives), explore it as you would any high-control dynamic and support the client's own choices. [synthesis]
Therapist role drift. Signs: acting as spiritual guide, leading walks for your own clients outside therapy, or recruiting clients to events you run. Response: keep the clinical frame, refer spiritual guidance out, and consult on dual relationships. [synthesis]

Sources

Web sources:

Books cited:

Artress, L. (1995). Walking a Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Tool. New York: Riverhead Books.
Artress, L. (2006). The Sacred Path Companion (as cited in the Veriditas handout).
Treleaven, D. A. (2018). Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness: Practices for Safe and Transformative Healing. [uncertain: year not verified]
American Psychiatric Association. DSM-5-TR, Cultural Formulation Interview and "Religious or Spiritual Problem".
ICD-10-CM Z65.8, Other specified problems related to psychosocial circumstances (includes 'Religious or spiritual problem'), https://www.unboundmedicine.com/icd/view/ICD-10-CM/945432/all/Z65_8___Other_specified_problems_related_to_psychosocial_circumstances

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