Labyrinths: The Long and Winding Role

Although the actual construction took place on a tight schedule, the three years of preliminary work leading up to a job the Kermeens did at the end of last year in Nashua, N.H., is a bit more typical.

“There was one volunteer working tirelessly in her community to get one of our labyrinths in a public park there,” Marty Kermeen says. “A lot of times it’s people’s lack of knowledge about what a labyrinth is that scares them initially. Once they know what a labyrinth is, most people are pretty accepting.”

Click photo to enlargeSelling the work isn’t the only issue for the Kermeens. Because the jobs are often hundreds of miles from their home, it can also be a challenge to a marriage.

For example, Marty Kermeen is spending this March and April in Mexico City building a labyrinth for an insurance company, while Debi Kermeen stays at home overseeing the rest of the business, supervising the rebuilding of the company’s website and attending the local community college.

Debi Kermeen has always been as committed to the labyrinth business as her husband – and as crucial for its success, he says.

“She keeps my schedule and her schedule and all the contracting and bidding and billing,” Marty Kermeen says. “She’s also handled the design of our websites and all our brochures.

“She’s like a road manager; she also facilitates labyrinth walks, educates about labyrinths and paints canvas labyrinths for clients.  She often doesn’t get the credit, but she makes it happen.”

And, when he needs the help, she’s onsite with him, laying pavers.

It’s her interest in how the labyrinths tie in with her own loves of dance and movement that have sent Debi Kermeen back to school to formally study exercise science. She says particularly her class in anatomy has helped her understand how debilitating stress can be to people’s mental and physical health.

“The beautiful thing about a labyrinth is it can be used for religious purposes, for spirituality and for wellness,” she says. “I’m focusing on finding more ways to incorporate it into wellness. And, all of a sudden opportunities are coming locally for me to give workshops on the subject.”

Both Kermeens are also enthusiastic about their first foreign client.

“They have between 4,000 and 5,000 employees, and they understand that when you treat your employees really well and nurture their bodies, minds and spirits, they’re going to be better employees,” says Debi Kermeen. “They feel the labyrinth is going to help the company get a lot better quality of work from their employees, and they’re treating Marty well because they want positive energy put into it.”

Still, she says, it’s been a challenge for them and the company they use to ship their tools and materials to jobsites. In this case, the shipment was held up at the border for four days, and not all of their tools made it to Mexico City.

“It’s been a new experience for us, and we didn’t have everything done the way it should have been done,” says Debi Kermeen.

However, the couple is happy for the education. Last year they began working with a woman who wants to put one of their labyrinths in historic Centennial Park in Sydney, Australia.

Before then, though, they expect to spend part of the summer installing a labyrinth in the healing garden of the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.

“That’s huge for us because that’s where the presidents and their families go for medical care, not to mention many of our veterans,” says Debi Kermeen.