Transitions
The Labyrinth as a Tool for Navigating the Twists and Turns of Life
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Welcome to this six session self-paced on-line class, which I hope will assist you to reflect on and, where necessary, reinterpret previous transitions in your life so that you may learn from them, thus helping to ready yourself for those transitions that lie ahead.
Preparation for this Course
If you have not already encountered and experienced the labyrinth, before you go any further with this course, I would strongly recommend that you view ‘Introduction to the Labyrinth’, a free on-line course presented by Rev. Dr. Lauren Artress, available here.
Support
It is possible, as you work your way through this course, that some of the reflections on your past or plans for your future may bring up difficult emotions. If so, please make sure you have good supports – friends, family, counsellors – to help you if necessary, someone with whom you can discuss your memories and your plans. This will ensure that, during this part of your life’s journey, regardless of what the past and the present hold for you, you can reflect on your achievements and your strengths and look forward to future positive steps.
Outline of the Course
Session 1 – Introduction to Transitions and the Labyrinth/Life Transitions
Session 2 – Stages of Transition
Session 3 – Uncompleted Transitions
Session 4 – Unacknowledged/Unnoticed Transitions and Use of Ritual
Session 5 – Resistance to Transition/Crossing the Threshold
Session 6 – Preparation for Transition
Accompanying Material
The material accompanying each of the six videos will include several things:
- quotes, both those used in the video and others that seem appropriate to the session’s topic
- resources – books, articles, poems, websites etc. related to the topic. Some of these will be sources from which I have quoted; others will be more general resources you may find helpful. Some are applicable to more than one session, but only fully listed once.
- suggested exercises to be done in the time between sessions, which may help you build on some of the ideas and apply them to your situation.
The resources and quotes are not provided with full academic references, but hopefully have sufficient information for you to track them down if you want to – the blessing of the worldwideweb! They are either things that have assisted me in my journey and transitions, or those that other people have mentioned to me that they have found helpful. For some of them I have added a note that might help explain the connection that I have seen with the material we are considering; all I leave with you to make your own/other connections.
*Please note that this class was compiled in Australia and so uses Australian spelling in the description and handouts.
Your Instructor
Helen Malcolm encountered the labyrinth and did her facilitator training in 2008 when Lauren Artress visited Melbourne. She now offers the labyrinth to patients, health professionals, medical students, medical and University staff and the community, as well as using it personally. Helen is a General Practitioner (family doctor) with a special interest in mental health, an Anglican (Episcopal) priest and Deputy Director of Medical Student Education at the Rural Clinical School, University of Melbourne (where she was instrumental in getting an outdoor 11 metre Chartres labyrinth installed). In previous lives she has been an entomologist and a teacher. Her work has taken her to Britain, India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Tanzania as well as various states of Australia. Despite being a doctor, she has not found a cure for itchy feet which, after her first visit to Chartres, have taken her back there each year, last year to complete her Advanced Facilitator training.