University of Maryland pairs meditation with labyrinth walks for campus series

A guided meditation, a slow walk through a labyrinth, and a free lunch are turning the University of Maryland’s Stillness in Motion series into a practical model for moving meditation. The spring program ran Thursdays from April 2 through April 30 at the Garden of Reflection and Remembrance outside Memorial Chapel, giving undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, and staff a chance to try a contemplative practice built around motion instead of stillness.

The format was simple and deliberate. Participants gathered for guided meditation, then moved into a mindful labyrinth journey, then stayed for lunch. That sequence matters for anyone who finds seated meditation difficult, because the walk gives the mind a task that is repetitive, contained, and easy to follow. Instead of forcing quiet, the labyrinth offers a path to trace step by step, with attention anchored in movement, breath, and the return to center.

The University Health Center says its meditation offerings are designed to cultivate self-compassion, mindful awareness, and “the ease that can arise as you meditate,” and no prior meditation experience is necessary. The Spring 2026 meditation lineup also included free weekly drop-in Zoom sessions from January 30 through May 15, showing that Stillness in Motion fit into a larger campus effort rather than standing alone as a one-off event. For University of Maryland students, the meditation offerings are free.

The setting adds to the practice. Memorial Chapel was dedicated on October 12, 1952, as a multifaith facility, and the chapel says its worship life reflects the 14 faith communities represented by University of Maryland chaplaincies. The Garden of Reflection and Remembrance, dedicated on October 28, 2010, was shaped in response to national tragedies including the September 11 attacks and the Virginia Tech massacre, and it was designed by University of Maryland landscape architecture students. Nature Sacred describes it as a place of respite, healing, contemplation, and connection.

That history gives the labyrinth walk extra weight. A UMD journal project analyzed nearly five years of writing and found 15 journals with 3,162 entries and excerpts, including drawings, with themes that ranged from contemplation and meditation to relationships, campus experiences, suicide and depression, encouragement, and community. The university has also returned to the format before, with similar campus series in Spring 2025, Fall 2025, and a 2024 guided garden meditation and labyrinth walk. At College Park, the moving meditation is no experiment anymore. It is becoming a campus ritual, built for people who want mindfulness they can actually walk into.