A new labyrinth on an outdoor walking trail in South Strabane will provide a path to spiritual wellness and a place where people can go for peaceful contemplation and meditation.

The labyrinth, which is open to the public year-round, will be dedicated during a ceremony from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the Wilfred R. Cameron Wellness Center of The Washington Hospital at Route 19 and Manifold Road.

It is the first hospital-affiliated labyrinth in Western Pennsylvania and supports "our commitment to a holistic approach to wellness," said Gary Weinsten, executive vice president of The Washington Hospital.

It was designed and built by Dorit Brauer, a Scott reflexologist, meditation and guided imagery teacher and a certified labyrinth facilitator.

"A labyrinth is a walking meditation," Ms. Brauer said. "They are found in every culture on the globe." Go to www.doritbrauer.com for further information.

Unlike a maze filled with dead-ends and multiple paths, labyrinths feature a single winding path leading into and away from the center. Walking the labyrinth provides a peaceful opportunity to take time out from the pressures of daily life and seek solutions to troubling questions, Ms. Brauer said. The walker can "connect with nature, one's inner self or a divine being."

In the past 20 years labyrinths have become increasingly popular here.

In 2006 Ms. Brauer spent six weeks walking labyrinths in churches, hospitals, prisons and other locations all over the country.

She used pea gravel and river rocks to build the Wellness Center labyrinth in South Strabane, modeling it on a seven-circuit pattern that dates to 350 B.C. in Crete.