 |
          |
Growth is how we define success and wealth at Labyrinth Center...
In March 2009 Str8 Up, an art-based student-run business project at Rite of Passage in Nevada
donated $100 of its profit into the ROP Passageway Scholarship Fund
Labyrinth Center recently assisted Soul Beautiful.org figure out how to
create a fundraising calendar project ot raise oney to bring foster youth
to the Sierras for creative workshops and experiences....
Labyrinth Center helped bring the My Journey Home "Children of Prison Inmates" forum meetings to
Rite of Passage's Silver State Academy. My Journey Home provides monthly meetings with ROP students who have family members incarcerated.
For the seventh straight year, Labyrinth Center has been providing
Anger Management counseling and case management
services for the California Conservation Corps in South Lake Tahoe
International
Transpersonal Association Youth Conference
Palm Springs June 2004
Bret Stephenson led the teen component for the third time at this internation workshop. Teens participated in workshops on reincarnation, anxiety, psychedelics and rites of passage, Middle Earth role playing, and had a private meeting with legendary teacher Ram Dass
Institute
of Noetic Sciences Youth Conference
Washington DC June 2005
Bret Stephenson led the teen component for IONS' forst ever youth conference. Teens participated in workshops with Fred Alan Wolf (What the Bleep!). astronaut Edgar Mitchell, among others. The youth participated in trance dance sessions, drumming, meditation & guided imagery, and toured the nation's capitol.
 |
North Columbia Academy Labyrinth Center has been consulting with NCA to create a student-run business for fundraising, as well as weave Hero's Journey dynamics into the overall school program. |
|
Adirondack Leadership Bret Stephenson has been consulting to help weave Hero's Journey & Initiation dynamics into ALE's wilderness treatment program. |
 |
 |
Rite of Passage-Str8 Up Bret Stephenson has helped design and launch a student-run business for real-life vocational training. |
Teens and the Labyrinth
My first experience with adolescent boys and a labyrinth came about during the 1994 International Transpersonal Association's Youth Conference in Ireland. Part of what we did with these youth from all over the globe was to have them walk the labyrinth each morning, then once inside the center of the labyrinth, we'd do dream work or guided imagery with them.
At the core of my international group were five 12-13 year old boys from California. This was the first time I saw the difference in typical behavior between American teens and youth from other, older cultures. Each morning, as we prepared to walk the labyrinth, the American boys were typically bored, restless and often rude. Other children were more amenable to the guidance and instructions given them, as well as generally being more open to experimenting. Apparently, they were not so concerned about how they looked all the time.
One morning, as most youth were calmly meandering their way through the labyrinth, the American boys became typically competitive and tried to race to the beginning. They simply could not understand this was not a contest to be won, that the process was not competitive. In their hurrying, they bumped other labyrinth travelers off their path and pace, were giggling and laughing so as to distract others, and generally acted like they were at an amusement park. Even after pulling them aside and clarifying, once again, what behavior was expected of them, they refused to change how they looked at the process. While other teens and all younger children had positive, important experiences within the labyrinth, these boys never got it.
The next day, I noticed the boys huddling up before the morning labyrinth ritual. My teen intuition kicked in and I could tell they were brewing up something. When all the children began their daily journey into the heart of the labyrinth, for the first time the teens walked at a normal pace. However, their eye contact and other nonverbal behaviors continued to indicate to me they were up to something. As they got closeto the center on one of the paths, suddenly but not so subtly they jumped the path they were on for one closer to the center of the labyrinth. The great learning for me came when I realized the path they jumped to was indeed closer to the center, but it actually was leading them back out rather than in. A few minutes later, as they got further from the center and actually ended up back at their starting point, I had to laugh at the process overall.
This example of "cheating" the labyrinth became my working metaphor for the week. It was a poignant example of how cheating the process often backfires. It further showed me how our teens have been conditioned NOT to walk the labyrinth of adolescence and life, but cheat and deceive it. For modern teens, the richness and learning of the labyrinth process was overshadowed by their cultural training to compete and succeed at all costs, even to the point of failing the exercise in question. Since then, my goal has been to help adolescents understand the process, both literal and archetypal, and to help them walk the labyrinth of life in a successful and meaningful way.
In June 2003 Labyrinth Center was granted full 501 (c) (3) nonprofit, tax exempt status.
by Bret Stephenson
Last Updated April 10, 2009