![](https://cdn2.cincinnatimagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2020/10/OCT20_Obscura.jpg)
Photograph by Tim Bayer
Behind New Thought Unity Center in East Walnut Hills lies an unfamiliar sight. Painted onto a circular patch of grey concrete, a winding path twists and turns from the circle’s edge all the way to its center. It’s the Unity Center’s labyrinth, and it exists to help visitors find peace. Designed by local landscape architect Wayne Dorsey, it was installed as part of a larger remodel of the center’s outdoor space. Larry Watson, the center’s head prayer chaplain, regularly uses the labyrinth for meditative and spiritual practice. “Before we go in, we want to create an intention,” Watson says. “And that intention is usually around releasing something, whether it’s a concern, belief, sadness, emotion, pain, anger, shame—we want to reach the middle and release it into that space.” Watson says the labyrinth’s intricate path prepares the walker for this release. “Working into the center, through the labyrinth, gives us time to be comfortable with letting it go.”
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