“SOME people walk very quickly. Some slowly. Some people crawl.” John Watters was telling us about an ancient meditative practice that, after centuries of neglect, is making a comeback: Walking the Labyrinth.

Labyrinths are to be found in religious traditions all over the world. Many take the form of a large circle, with a single path leading you through the four quadrants to the centre. They became an established part of the Catholic Church during the crusades, when pilgrimage to the Holy Land was dangerous, and people needed another way of honouring their vows.

They were rediscovered just over twenty years ago, when Dr Lauren Artress, a psychotherapist and canon of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, walked the 12th-century labyrinth in Chartres Cathedral, and saw its potential value as a meditative tool for the 21st century.

According to Dr Artress — whose book Walking a Sacred Path was on display in St Nicholas — “our intellect has been encouraged at the cost of our deep intuitive natures. In our ordinary consciousness, we are split in our mind, body and spirit, but you don't know that until you walk into the labyrinth and feel this split. You can have a heart-to-heart talk with yourself in the labyrinth”.

There are three stages to the walk — purgation, illumination and union. Purgation is a time to discard distractions and calm the mind; Illumination is a time of meditation and prayer; and union is when you join with God, your higher power, or any other forces you would normally call upon. “The labyrinth walk is a metaphor for your life”, Mr Watters told us, “it is important to walk at your own pace, and to be aware of those around you.”

To aid meditation the lights were dimmed and a recording of meditative music was put on. Mr Watters lit candles to the suggestions of “world peace”, “gratitude”, “inner peace” and “families”. He had written individual virtues on cards in case we would like to focus on one as we walked. He also provided paper and crayons to record our experiences, and suggested that we afterwards write down anything we wanted to get rid of and burn it in a bowl of sand. As people started to take off their shoes, Mr Watters struck two bells together, and said: “The labyrinth is open.”

We were sent in at intervals of a couple of minutes. For me the edifying potential of the labyrinth was slightly undermined before we started, when we were told how to avoid “traffic jams”. I was quite relaxed during my fifteen minutes, but there were a number of distractions — the woman engaged in rather ostentatious nymph-like movements, the starling in the roof and traffic jams being my top three.

Comments afterwards were mostly positive, or noncommittal. One man, who confessed to having a minotaur floating about vaguely among his expectations, said that “it was less intimidating than I thought it would be”. One woman said that she “spent most of the time trying not to bump into people”; and another that it was “uplifting”. Another said, carefully, “it was a new experience”.

But many people have reported sudden insights, audible messages or even visions. “I think it’s most interesting when either sceptical or open-minded people have very profound experiences”, Mr Watters told me. “I’m very curious. Every time I offer the labyrinth I am more and more confident that it is effective.”

There are now thousands of labyrinths in use in America. The labyrinth movement in Britain is just beginning, but Mr Watters is hopeful: “I think it’s about to take off.” A five-star guide

A FIVE STAR GUIDE

EVENT: Labyrinth Walk

VENUE: St Nicholas Church, Brighton

LEADER: John Watters, who also co-ordinates the children's ministry in the church

ARCHITECTURE: A 14th-century building, partially rebuilt in the 19th, on a hill overlooking the Old Town. Its 18ft, five-circuit labyrinth is not permanent, but a replica hand-painted on canvas and laid out in the nave

MUSIC: Religious songs and instrumental pieces recorded in Chartres cathedral. Appropriate and unobtrusive

AFTER-WALK CARE: Tea, coffee, cake and biscuits

SPIRITUAL HIGH: To be achieved with practice