Walking With Awareness

Entering the 7-circuit labyrinth, I extend one arm, palm upturned, in the direction of a catalpa tree. “Self in relationship,” I say, reaching out in friendship to this leafy being. As I continue along the path, I offer friendship in the same manner to an ant emerging from a crack, then to the lichen on which my bare feet tread, and finally to a large basalt rock near the labyrinth’s edge. I then turn onto the next circuit and reach with both hands before me toward a wasp nest in a juniper tree. I say, “Self and other,” acknowledging the black and yellow insects who cling to the papery nest. I continue on my journey, further acknowledging a bushy trumpet vine, the sun, and a cloud in the blue sky above. In honoring my connections with the more-than-human world, I am walking with intensified awareness, acutely present in each moment. Fingers tingling, feeling resonance and chi, I sense the web of relationships surrounding me.

Just how aware are we of the ways we physically, energetically, and ecologically intertwine with other beings and entities? How can we increase our experience of these very real connections? Several years ago, as part of my doctoral research, I developed a concept I call intensified awareness. Intensified awareness is an experience of concentrated or acute perception. It occurs when a person perceives an increase in the resolution of reality, analogous to an increase in the pixels of a digital image.

I used the classical 7-circuit labyrinth to model the spectrum of intensified awareness. Then, as I did in the opening narrative, I walked the labyrinth, using words, movements, and gestures to embody the type of intensified awareness that corresponds with each circuit of the labyrinth. Since then, I have continued to use the model as a meditation while walking the labyrinth. During many years as a regular practice, it has enlivened and enriched my experience and perception of interconnections with the world around me. I am grateful for this gift of awareness.

Self is an experience of singularity and separateness.