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Healing With Mandala Art - A Multi-Cultural Idea Worth Exploring
History & Meaning of the Mandala
The Mandala (Sanskrit for “circle” or “completion”) has a long history and is recognized for its deep spiritual meaning and representation of wholeness.
Many people and cultures have vouched for the mandala’s intrinsic meaning. Buddhists, Tibetans, and Hindus have all derived meaning from the mandala and its captivating beauty. Psychoanalyst Carl Jung has called it “a representation of the unconscious self.” The mandala is widely recognized as a meaningful reflection of its creator.
Mandalas can be seen all around us, but are not just people-centric. They are larger than life. Mandalas represent life as we know it, but they also represent a larger ecosystem and universe that exceeds our consciousness.
The “circle with a center” pattern is the basic structure of creation that is reflected from the micro to the macro in the world as we know it. It is a pattern found in nature and is seen in biology, geology, chemistry, physics and astronomy.
On our planet, living things are made of cells and each cell has a nucleus — all display circles with centers. The crystals that form ice, rocks, and mountains are made of atoms. Each atom is a mandala.
Within the Milky Way galaxy is our solar system and within our solar system, is Earth. Each is a mandala that is part of a larger mandala.
Flowers, the rings found in tree trunks and the spiraling outward and inward of a snail’s shell all reflect the primal mandala pattern. Wherever a center is found radiating outward and inward, there is wholeness–a mandala.
Source: http://www.mandalaproject.org/Index.html
This couldn’t have been explained more beautifully. Mandalas are everywhere. They are the structures of our cells, our world, and our universe.
Utilizing the Concept of Mandalas in Art Therapy
The very nature of creating a mandala is therapeutic and symbolic. The shapes and colors you create in your mandala will reflect your inner self at the time of creation. Your instinct and feeling should inspire and guide you through the process of creation. Ultimately, you will be creating a portrait of yourself as you are when creating the mandala. So, whatever you are feeling at that time, whatever emotions are coming through, will be represented in your mandala art.
As with most art therapy, it’s not about the final product…it’s about the journey. When you reach your destination, you will have a representation of something meaningful and personal…a snapshot of you for a brief moment in time expressed through your mandala.
The next post will describe how to perform this type of activity…stay tuned!
Filed as Art Therapy Ideas |3 Responses to “Healing With Mandala Art - A Multi-Cultural Idea Worth Exploring”
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Thank you for the wonderful explanation of the meaning of the Mandala. I have heard this name lots of times already and I saw the mandalas not once, but it was just now I have grasped the meaning of the Mandala. Thanks once again for so pictorial definition. I am eagerly looking forward to your next post, for your description of how to perform it. That should be the awesome.
Thank you in advance.
Although mandala art is legitimate, lately I hear it talked about as if it is THE best expression of the inner self for insight to ourselves and healing. The remarks of feelings, emotions, a portrait of the inner you, and so on, are true, but certainly not limited to the mandala art form.
I think the mandala is currentlly being over-emphasized, almost like a fad, to the exclusion of other wonderfully legitimate and effective art expressions. ANY time we create art, we draw from our innermost feelings, current emotions, impressions, etc., and thereby create a kind of portrait of ourselves at that given moment. Art expression obviously isn’t limited to mandalas, nor is it a particularly “best” way of drawing out the inside person. It is only one of many art therapy methods and creative avenues to healing.
I have used mandala art for group therapy with dual diagnosis clients. They loved it. Each had different results! They all took their art work home with them!
Thank YOU!