I received this as a Mother's Day gift and I love it. I walk an outdoor and indoor eleven circuit labyrinth and I also have a wooden lap labyrinth. I love them all, but I found this to be a new experience. The texture of the sand and the sound it makes as you trace the path add a new dimension to the labyrinth experience. I found I kept tracing and tracing and tracing.
The Sand Labyrinth is fun! It is also an effective tool for spiritual development and meditation. Finally, Dr. Lauren Artress, THE authority on labyrinths, has provided an inexpensive, effective finger labyrinth for general use. Although everyone does not have a walking labyrinth readily accessible, the finger labyrinth is definitely a viable alternative whose use is not dependent on location or weather. Of particular note is that you really get two labyrinths for the price of one: a seven-circuit Cretan Labyrinth and an eleven-circuit Chartres Labyrinth, each of which provides a slightly different meditation experience. The fine sand provides an interesting tactile experience and a little "resistance" for the finger as one traces the labyrinth. The accompanying book by Dr. Artress is well written and very accessible to a labyrinth novice, while the several sections of quotes provide food for contemplation for more advanced users.
For me, it was helpful that I had previously read other labyrinth material by Dr. Artress and had walked labyrinths on several occasions before using the finger labyrinth. On a slightly negative note, the width of the paths on the eleven-circuit Chartres labyrinth is too narrow for an adult male with "average" sized fingers to trace with ease. A larger size - even 12" x 12" would have been more helpful. However, this is only a slight detraction to an excellent addition to the growing number of labyrinth-related items.
