If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to the Art Therapy Blog feed or by entering your email address on the right. Thanks for visiting!
Healing With Mandala Art Therapy – 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. Mandala art therapy & healing can be a great source of reflection on one’s soul.
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 art therapy 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 therapy.
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 | Comments (14)14 Responses to “Healing With Mandala Art Therapy – A Multi-Cultural Idea Worth Exploring”
Leave a Reply
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!
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! IT!!!!!!!!!!!
it’s so great…… i love draw this mandals, because is is one of millium forms to go from othr sites and rela your mind, and maybe to do astral trips……
PD: my english is not good
Gracias !! muy lindas las mandalas… soy una apasionada de ellas, y siempre me gusta estar urgando diferentes lugares en busca de mas conosimiento… no se si entenderan el español, me costo un poquito leerlo que escribieron pero por suerte algo de ingles conosco, y eso me ayudo bastante.. Un saludo desde ARGENTINA!!! besos…
bye bye
[...] for the rest of the article click here ] [...]
The circle also means that we always get back to where we began, hence the saying, “Once a man, twice a child”. But, during our youth, the circle is always giving us a second chance. When we get back to the begining we go the same route, pretty much following the principle of psychologist, Eric Erikson’s stages of psycho-social development. This is why some of us tend to make the same mistakes over and over. If we understand that the circle of life is continually giving us new opportunities to correct old mistakes and grow better and better, then we can be as beautiful and resilient as nature.
HI …
would love to know more about the artists & sources of the paintings..
Thanks much ….
[...] it be scribbles, a picture, or even just single, random words. Her other suggestion was to try a mandala. Before Christmas break, I never really did any of her suggested art therapy. However, since [...]
This is beautiful, thank you!!!
I have been, for as long as I can remember, fascinated with circles. I do appreciate geometric shapes. However, I always seem to come back to the circles. I have, in the past, heard of the mandala but didn’t look into it. I was exploring your website and now feel I have a sense of reason as to why I am so attracted to circles. Thank you for the time you put into your website. I have enjoyed everything.
@Christopher, Thanks for the kind comments. It means a lot to know other people enjoy the site!
Thank you for giving me a better understanding of mandala. Art Therapy has been a life changing experience for me and I want to share it with as many people as possible.
Rupa