Labyrinths Find Their Way onto Hospital Grounds as Paths to Healing

Once found exclusively in sacred spaces from moors to cathedrals, labyrinths have been undergoing a renaissance of late. After falling from favor for more than two centuries, labyrinths are once again being installed by congregations in their churches. Increasingly, they are also appearing in secular places, including two that opened at Kaiser Permanente (KP) hospitals just last year. To Reverend Jurgen Schwing, Spiritual Care Manager in KP's Diablo Area, interest in labyrinths in health care settings is not surprising. “In humanity's early years, the priest and doctor were one,” says the German-born Rev Schwing. “Then, with the discovery of scientific research, the professions split. Physicians were taught to objectify the body. But now we're discovering the mind has a lot to do with the body.”