It was my first Christmas celebration at Akshar and I must say it that it was wonderful and I loved it. The dress code for the day was red so I had worn a red dress and I was at school at 8:50. All the cute little kids dressed in red started coming in. I was asked to take care if the kids in the Doll house (an area where kids play). I had a gala time with them there. After about an hour I took the kids down to ground floor. I was astonished to see the wonderful arrangements made.
There was a big labyrinth set up in the center of the hall. Labyrinth was made of plastic grass but it looked real. All the windows were covered and the room was made dark. But there were beautiful colorful lights and beautiful candles were lit. The whole room was filled with divine vibes.
The kids were asked to maintain complete silence. Then each kid was called and given a shell. The kid took the shell and walked slowly into the labyrinth and placed the shell at the center of the labyrinth. Then the kid walked out of the labyrinth slowly and came back and sat. While the kids were doing this I was sitting and wondering as to what could be the significance of this labyrinth walk? Why did Rudolf Steiner an Austrian philosopher who founded the Waldorf system of education include this practice into the system? This labyrinth walk is done not just on Christmas celebration day, but done by the kids daily before the classes start. On the day of Christmas celebration the labyrinth is much bigger and the process is more elaborated.
I kept wondering, all the kids finished the labyrinth walk and now it was teachers’ turn. So I took a shell and started walkinh slowly into the labyrinth. It was an extraordinary experience. I realized the importance of the labyrinth walk!! I was in a state of total awareness during the labyrinth walk. I was feeling each step of mine. I was feeling the touch of my feet on the floor. I was totally aware of my being and of my movement. I had read in books that that we should walk, eat and drink with total awareness and that itself would be a great meditation. I had read in a book that Thich nhat han used to walk with total awareness in such a way that he would feel each step of his. While I was reading the book I did not know how it would feel to walk with total awareness. But I experienced it during this labyrinth walk.
Then I realized that one of the reasons why Rudolf Steiner has included this practice of Labyrinth walk into Waldorf system of education must be to improve the AWARENESS. This is my finding from this experience. People who have studied Steiner’s work in detail might be knowing more.