For many years Qona Rankin, founder and trustee of Creative Mentor Foundation, has been interested in the effect that balancing the left and right hemispheres of the brain has on learning, particularly on pupils with Specific Learning Differences, (SpLDs). In 2004 Qona ran a competition at the Royal College of Art to design a labyrinth. Qona has frequently used the winning labyrinth, designed and made by Christopher Peacock, as part of her teaching practice.

Recently Qona became aware of scientific research involving MRI studies that concluded that meditation can decrease the power of the amygdala, (the brain’s threat detector), which plays a key role in people with autism, and many ASD individuals claim that they feel the benefit of walking through a labyrinth.

To continue with this branch of her research Qona has just built her very own labyrinth and called it El Laberinto del Castel de Lizar. It is situated on top of a hill overlooking the village of Frigiliana in Andalucia. Qona is hoping that it will be included as part of the ‘Ruta del Arte Frigiliana’ which is an annual event taking place during the first weekend in October.

In addition, Qona hopes to be able to invite groups of ASD individuals to benefit from the experience of walking the labyrinth and add their observations to the growing body of research in this area.

You can find out more about this project by following @el_laberinto_de_qona on Instagram.