| What is a Mandala? | | | | speaking is the core, the very essence of Self. I |
| Mandala is a Sanskrit word meaning holy or magical | | | | chose a color and allowed my brush, the water, and |
| circle. I first learned about mandalas in a dream work | | | | the pigment to flow across the paper. The unfolding |
| class I took for the art therapy curriculum. | | | | begins. The choices of colors just happen and so do |
| Psychologist Carl Jung began drawing circles and | | | | the shapes, lines and forms. Sometimes I go with |
| designs and noticed that they somehow | | | | what appears symbolically and bring it out or just |
| corresponded to his inner situation, feelings, | | | | enjoy the spontaneity and total freedom. |
| impression, and thoughts. He concluded after some | | | | From an early age, I learned that people seem to like |
| study of the matter with his own drawings and also | | | | your art when it resembles or represents life. I have |
| the drawings of his patients, that these circular | | | | been juggling this phenomenon for years. When I |
| drawings were therapeutic, first to draw, then to | | | | began creating mandalas it gave me the freedom to |
| look at. Jung finally arrived at the conclusion that the | | | | create whatever came forth and not have to please |
| Self, the wholeness of the personality, is reflected in | | | | anyone. It seems so genuine. I noticed that these |
| the mandala. He felt that the mandala that a person | | | | mandalas reflected me at a deeper level. At times I |
| spontaneously drew in any given moment was a | | | | question whether to show my mandalas paintings |
| gentle reminder, or urge to live out that person's | | | | along with my other paintings or not. An artist |
| potential, something he called the person's total | | | | colleague told me if I do not display my mandalas |
| personality which he called individuation. He felt that | | | | with my other paintings it is like throwing the baby |
| attention to the symbols the unconscious gave in | | | | out with the bath water. |
| response to queries for deeper meaning could | | | | YOU Too Can Create a Mandala |
| enhance and speed personal growth and | | | | Did I hear you say that you do not have a creative |
| understanding. | | | | bone in your body? |
| How I Create a Mandala Painting | | | | It is time to set your self free. Tap into your |
| When I have a dilemma or when feeling a need to | | | | creativity and artistic self-expression. Yes, it is there! |
| get in touch with myself I create a mandala. I | | | | Trust the process and allow your self the freedom |
| created my first mandala as a project for the dream | | | | to allow the flowing for the magic to happen. |
| work class in 1989 and have been making them ever | | | | Watercolors are fun, but they are not the only |
| since. Some days I choose to listen to music while | | | | medium. Choose whatever appeals to you when you |
| creating mandalas and other times I prefer the | | | | are in the art store or use any art materials at your |
| silence and sounds of birds or wind outside my | | | | finger tips. Set aside at least an hour of uninterrupted |
| window. In the process of creating a mandala I find | | | | time. Remember to give the "art critic in your head" a |
| that a meditative state naturally occurs. | | | | vacation somewhere else away from you. Now, |
| FIRST: I draw a large circle on a half sheet of | | | | create! And most importantly, ENJOY! |
| watercolor paper. | | | | "Artistic expression lies in all of us and requires only a |
| SECOND: I sit quietly and breathe waiting for | | | | sense of trust and the freedom to allow the flowing |
| inspiration. | | | | for magic to happen. |
| THIRD: I begin in the center which psychology | | | | |