Mandala Art for Healing and Self Expression

Mandalas are circular designs that have been used in many different cultures. The circle and the design that is contained within it has symbolic meaning. many cultures. I learned about it in graduate school during my internship. My field instructor used them in a group! Here is what I have learned about the Mandala designs since my introduction to them.

As I stated before I came into contact with Mandalas during my internship. I assisted in facilitating stress management group in a psychiatric setting. Some of the activities were simple such as putting a puzzle together and coloring Mandalas. Soon enough I had puzzles and mandalas in my home! This got me to wondering " was I stressed?" Hmm I am a divorced mom going to graduate school and working full time. I guess you can say that I am stressed. I just never took the time to realize it! Interesting that it was my involvement in a stress management group and the enjoyment of stress management activities that clued me in!

Needless to say the act of coloring a Mandala has been my number one stress reliever thus far. I have at least two mandalas completed at this time and the puzzle box has never been opened.

The circle is symbolic in itself. The center of the circle draws your eye and the the focus is on what is going on inside the circle rather than the outside. This is similar to meditation, where you are focusing on the inside rather than the outside. It has been said that mandalas have been used due to their circular form because it helps organize thought, perception and physical responses in ways that are helpful.

The mandala above was colored by me with this set of fine point Sharpie markers. I really liked using these. They have bright colors and a nice fine tip to get all the details! There are 24 colors in this pack.

Mandalas have an origin in Buddism. They were originally used in Hinduism for meditation purposes.It has been said creating a mandala is a "unifying experience that people can express themselves individually within a unified structure". I don't know if I am to this point , but my mind does tend to move more freely while putting pen to paper. This is a good time to note that mandalas can be made in any medium. They can be made from rocks or sand. They can be made from tiles or by painting. There are even stain glass window mandalas! Circular stained glass windows in many churches have holy images in the center. Native Americas created mandalas on totem poles and pottery bowls in the form of animals.

Mandalas can be found in nature! Think about the snail shell and how it is circular and how it is a whole yet a part of something.

Carl Jung took a lot of stock in mandalas. he " believed them to be symbols of the self".

Move over Spongebob and Shrek! Manadalas are my son' new favorite coloring pages.He saw me coloring mine and decided to get in on the action. He is six so he is at that stage where it does not matter if he stays in the lines or not. he picked one of the less elaborate of the Mandala circles and even simplified it more! I loved how he took the picture and made it into chunks of color. He kept it simple and within his ability! There is a picture of his masterpiece below. I find coloring to be a great calming activity before bed. ( for me and him!)

I introduced my mother to Madalas as well. I merely mentioned them in an email to her and she had already looked them up and printed a few off for her! My mom's creativity comes out in crocheting. I am anxious to see how she incorporates Mandalas in her work!

The following are a couple of mandala videos. I reccommend that they be viewed on full screen. They are very soothing to watch!

The above picture was colored with Prisma colored Pencils. These pencils are awesome because they really put out the color. You can blend colors easy and get a lot of detail. The two mandala designs came from coloringcastle.com. The link is below!