Bloedel Reserve entices visitors to take a different path with installation of labyrinth

Visitors to the Bloedel Reserve admire the labyrinth feature that is situated among a peaceful setting and a stunning view over Puget Sound. - Bloedel Reserve photo
Bloedel Reserve photo
Visitors to the Bloedel Reserve admire the labyrinth feature that is situated among a peaceful setting and a stunning view over Puget Sound.

By RICHARD D. OXLEY
Bainbridge Island Review Staff Writer
June 16, 2012 · Updated 1:43 PM 

Over the past month, visitors to the Bloedel Reserve have had a little extra feature to experience — a labyrinth.

The labyrinth isn’t so much of a maze to get lost in. Rather, the labyrinth the reserve has created is more of a healing exercise commonly used for mediating or patients in recovery.

Carved into the grass behind the reserve’s visitor’s center, the labyrinth creates a trail that visitors can walk through at their own pace. While in the labyrinth, one can meditate or simply tune out.

The labyrinth at the Bloedel Reserve winds in a circular pattern. Walkers complete a journey toward the center and then embark on another to get out.

Using the park’s natural setting isn’t anything new to the reserve. Kate Gormley of the Bloedel Reserve recalls Prentice Bloedel’s sentiments on the area’s natural ability to invigorate the spirit.

“He said that the reserve was a garden to stimulate the emotions and spirit, rather than the intellect,” Gormley said.

Bloedel believed that walking in nature would bring “unexpected insights.” Walking the labyrinth in such a setting as the reserve might just help those insights arise.

So far the feature has attracted the young and old alike. Children have been found taking a crawl through the trail, and others have been observed practicing tai chi long its edge.

Contact Bainbridge Island Review Staff Writer Richard D. Oxley at roxley@bainbridgereview.com or (206) 842-6613.

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