Finals are a stressful time on a college campus, and much of that tension collects at the library, a staging ground for late-night study sessions and last-minute edits to term papers. This year, a pair of university libraries in Oklahoma and Massachusetts installed high-tech versions of a labyrinth-one of the world's oldest meditation techniques-to help students relax during their studies. Found in the many cultures around the world, labyrinths are similar to mazes, with one important difference-while a maze branches off into multiple paths, a labyrinth offers one long, winding path toward its center and out again. The point of a labyrinth is not to solve a problem but to contemplate a solution already laid out before you. Labyrinths are often laid directly into floors of buildings or courtyards. Now, though, institutions looking for a less permanent installation have a new option-SparqLabyrinth.
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