`The World Labyrinth Day celebration at Earle Baum Campus (EBC) is May 3. Labyrinths are winding circular paths that lead from a beginning point to a center and are designed to be spaces for meditation, mindfulness and stress reduction.
We chatted with Patricia Jefferson, Adult Program Specialist at EBC, and who also is a certified Labyrinth Facilitator, about her own history with labyrinths. She said, “In 2014 I was given a book, Walking a Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Practice, by Lauren Artress. I started thinking that with all the training and functional work with rehabilitation at EBC, there wasn’t a place for the emotional inward work of adjusting to vision loss. That got me started on a plan that took the next four years to complete: to get a labyrinth at EBC. I considered the accessibility issues in design, such as choosing the right materials and size of the path. I worked to secure outside funding to get it built, and on September 7, 2018, we had the EBC labyrinth dedication day.”
In addition to time for everyone to walk the labyrinth, the Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation, a longtime community partner of EBC, will have a table at the event. The Laguna Foundation works to restore and conserve the Laguna de Santa Rosa, a wetland complex in Sonoma County. Because the land at EBC contains vernal pool wetlands and is often home to the endangered Sebastopol meadowfoam flower and other native plants, the Laguna Foundation has worked with EBC on projects to conserve the land. Additionally, with a grant from the Sarah K. de Coizart Perpetual Charitable Trust, EBC and the Laguna Foundation collaborated to build a 0.83-mile vernal pool trail that winds through the intact vernal pool wetland complex at EBC. The celebration will also have live music from the Sonoma County based Batachá Latin Band. Their keyboardist Joel Bennett’s mother once received services at EBC.
The EBC Labyrinth is accessible to white cane users, dog guides, wheelchair users and two people walking side by side.
World Labyrinth Day at EBC Schedule
11:00 am
Sign in at the curb at EBC. Light breakfast items will be served. There will be information tables for LightHouse and the Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation, an organization that works to conserve the Laguna de Santa Rosa, a wetland in Sonoma County.
12:00 to 12:30 pm
We’ll migrate to the labyrinth bench and a speaker from the Laguna Foundation will recognize the projects completed on the EBC property.
1:00 pm
Labyrinth walking begins and continues until everyone is finished.
2:30 pm
Migrate back to the quad for music and dancing. Light refreshments will be served. Music will be performed by the Batacha Latin Band, a Sonoma County based band, which plays a variety of Latin music from jazz to salsa.
Details
What: World Labyrinth Day at Earle Baum Campus
When: Saturday, May 3 from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm
Where: Earle Baum Campus, 4539 Occidental Rd, Santa Rosa, 95401
RSVP to World Labyrinth Day with transportation from San Francisco.
RSVP to World Labyrinth Day without transportation.
Or RSVP to Patricia Jefferson at PJefferson@old.lighthouse-sf.org or 415-694-7692 or 707-775-7153.