How to Use a Pen Labyrinth for Reflection or as a Centering Practice
- Bruce Stanley
- 18 minutes ago
- 4 min read
If you’ve ever seen a labyrinth set into the floor of a cathedral, or mown into the grass at a wellbeing or retreat centre, you might have wondered what it’s for.
The most famous example is the great labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral in France, laid into the stone floor in the early 1200s. It is nearly 13 metres across. Medieval pilgrims would walk it as a form of embodied prayer, sometimes as a substitute for a journey to Jerusalem they could not make.
You enter. You follow the path. It winds in and out, sometimes close to the centre, then unexpectedly far away again (try one of the pen ones here, you'll see what I mean). Eventually, without ever needing to choose, you arrive at the heart. Then you turn and walk back out.
Saving on air miles, you do something similar with the map of the territory and your imagination.
Here are three pen labyrinths. Printable exercises, you can use as a simple centring practice. It is a quiet and absorbing activity, lightly structured, and possibly a flow experience.
Instead of walking the path physically, you follow it on paper. The structure is the same: one continuous route that leads to the centre and back out again.
Why walk a labyrinth at all?
We live in a world of umpteen decisions, endless options, a hundred small forks in the road before breakfast. A labyrinth (or a pilgrimage route) removes that pressure. There is only one way forward.
You can't always see a straight way ahead but you trust and keep walking. You do not need to work out what comes next. You do not need to solve anything. The path is already there.
Walking a labyrinth becomes a centring practice. The body moves at a steady pace, attention narrows, breath slows. Thoughts surface, settle or wander. Often people describe three movements:
The way in – releasing what you are carrying.
The centre – pausing, receiving, listening.
The way out – returning with clarity or intention.
The structure, might creates space or insight.
What Is a Pen or Finger Labyrinth Exercise?
A pen labyrinth exercise is a simple reflective practice:
You begin at the entrance.
You trace the path slowly toward the centre.
You pause at the centre.
You trace the path back out.
That’s it.
Because the route winds inward and outward, sometimes close to the centre and sometimes further away, it mirrors how our attention moves. The physical act of tracing steadies your mind. Repetition helps your breathing settle. Thoughts slow down enough to be noticed rather than chased.
Some people use a pen labyrinth as a mindfulness practice. Others use it as a general centring technique before journalling, prayer, meditation, or a difficult conversation. It can also be helpful if you find traditional seated meditation frustrating and need something your hands can do.
How to Use a Pen or Finger Labyrinth at Home
If you’re using a printable labyrinth page, here’s a straightforward way to begin:
Print the page on A4.
Sit somewhere quiet for some minutes.
Begin tracing the path slowly with a pen, or your finger.
Notice your breathing without trying to control it.
When you reach the centre, pause for a few breaths.
Trace your way back out at the same steady pace.
You might choose to hold a question gently as you move inward. You might release a concern. Or you might simply notice what surfaces without trying to analyse it.
There is no right outcome; the value lies in the steady attention.
Download your Pen Labyrinths Here
Why Centering Practices Like This Work
Simple centering exercises like this combine movement, repetition and focus. That combination helps shift you out of constant mental noise and into a more grounded state. The labyrinth invites deliberate slowness. Unlike complex spiritual techniques, it doesn’t require prior knowledge or belief; the structure does most of the work.
If you are someone who has a spiritual practice already, a pen labyrinth can frame your reflection. The walk inward can become a movement of surrender or release. The centre can be a place of stillness or listening. The walk outward can be a return to ordinary life with greater steadiness.
If you’re simply looking for a mindfulness colouring-style activity with more depth than it first appears to have, the labyrinth offers that too. It can be play. You can draw tiny footprints all the way (or duck prints – I've no idea why my imagination went there).
A Small Practice With Surprising Depth
Spiritual direction echoes the same underlying shape as a labyrinth walk. It is not a technique for solving your life. It is an attentive conversation about how you are walking the path that is already yours.
In spiritual direction, we slow down enough to notice what is unfolding. We pay attention to patterns, movements, resistances, and longings. Like the labyrinth, the journey may feel indirect. There are times when clarity feels near and times when it seems distant. The work is not to force a shortcut but to remain faithful to the path as it presents itself.
If you’d like to try it, download and print one of these pen labyrinth pages and give yourself ten unhurried minutes.
Sometimes that is enough.
Comments