Mandala 💙 Meditations
Have you ever felt so anxious that your heart threatened to bust right out of your rib cage? That your palms were sweaty and trembling? It sucks, right?
One of the ways I got through some awful moments is by drawing Mandalas. There was something in their repetitive structure that created order for me, somehow, when my world was anything but ordered. As I drew this one, which was going to be a paste up splashback for the bathroom, I sat in the bus with the fire going and a few tunes and breathed and drew lines, breathed and drew lines, until the world was a little calmer too.
In many traditions, mandalas are tools to focus attention, to teach spiritual lessons, and to create a sacred space. They are wonderful aids to meditation and to create trance states.
Indeed, by drawing mandalas, my attention moved away from the anxious over thinking that was consuming me to a microcosmic universe, a field of awareness that was quiet and true.
"In the state of consciousness natural to the field within the mandala - that of Self-realization, or non-duality - such opposites as inner and outer, or subjective and objective, male or female, matter and spirit, are all grasped as connected, married, ultimately unified" - Pema Chadron
I will never forget seeing a beautiful sand Mandala being made by Tibetan monks, only to be blown and swept away in a sublime lesson in impermanence. The worlds we create for ourselves are made of not much more than sand; the grief that comes when they fall apart is because we have attached to their beauty so fully that our hearts are broken when our constructions disintegrate.
Mandalas thus are containers for spiritual contemplation. They contain the essence, the distillation of a belief, an idea, a practice. They are thus seen in two ways; as a visual representation of the universe and as a guide for the psychophysical, that is, meditation or contemplation of the self and our relationship to the world, the cosmos. They can represent values such as compassion and loving kindness, the enlightened mind and so on. In different traditions, they mean different things, but all are journeys into the heart of spiritual practice.
I don't presume to compare my Mandalas to the magnificence of those created by Tibetan monks or Hindu Mandalas in reverence of Vishnu. However, I have experienced something of the divine as I breath, and draw lines, breath, and draw lines, journeying inward toward the true self, and back out a little more enlightened. Just a little.
"We should learn to see everyday life as mandala - the luminous fringes of experience which radiate spontaneously from the empty nature of our being. The aspects of our mandala are the day-to-day objects of our life experience moving in the dance or play of the universe" - Saraha
Mandalas are everywhere in the modern world and folk are using them more and more for therapy. I didn't know this when I started drawing them; I just felt the desire to draw and distract myself from what was going on in my head. However, art therapists claim their therapeutic value and I can vouch for it with my own dabblings. How beautiful are these, drawn by Carolyn Bloom ?
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"Your consciousness, your soul, is the center of this mandala, and the rest of the universe is the environment surrounding it. The totality of the mandala is unfolding according to an intelligent pattern; it is a dynamic mandala" - Chuang Tzu
Using Mandalas To Calm Anxiety
Mandalas help anxiety because you allow your mind to focus onto a piece of paper instead of swirl around and repeat. Instead of storing them on the inside, you can allow them to play out on paper, helping decrease the symptoms. Sometimes it's merely a matter of refocussing attention. They can help you understand what's been bothering you because you are physically doing something to distract the over thinking mind - like yoga, walking or any other activity, it's one that becomes a moving meditation and connects the mind and body.
Some people would much rather colour mandalas than create their own, but if you want to experiment, it's pretty easy to do.
You can use a compass and ruler to start creating your mandala, or you can free form a circle, depending on what suits you. Either way, start with a dot in the middle of your paper, and use a ruler to draw a line through the centre to four to eight points from the centre of your dot - for example, around the five, ten and twenty centremetre mark. Draw vertical and horizontal lines to connect the dots and then connect them to create your circles or rings where you'll place your patterns, colours or drawings.
Again, depending on what you like to do, start to sketch out patterns within the rings or try googling mandalas and finding inspirations for the patterns there. Pencil in some shapes first - don't stress what the end result is, but just let the shapes and patterns arise. Once you are happy with the patterns, you can begin to colour them in. I always go for black because my mind likes the balance and evenness of the patterns, but you might like to use colours - whatever works for you! I like to meditate on a word that means something to me.
This clip shows a pretty fancy mandala, but don't let that put you off! It's about the process rather than the end result, and you'll learn so much in the process.
I would love to see your mandalas if you're drawn them before, or let me know if you give it a try. I love seeing people's mandala's as they are a real expression of who they are. If you've loved this post, please resteem and support me. I'd love to run a contest for mandalas when I become a minnow one of these days!
May your day be calm and peaceful.
Thank you for the reminder, now I have to finish coloring those mandala arts i bought few weeks back hehehe
You should try drawing your own! It's good fun... :) and very calming!
i'll make time :)
Hello! I find your post valuable for the art community! Thanks for the great post! ARTzone is now following you! ALWAYs follow @artzone and the artzone tag, and support our artists!
That is a wonderful idea. I've been dealing with my share of emotions lately. I think I will give this a go.
Ah, sorry to hear that - life huh!! HOpe you are okay? xx
Yep, good old life--experience is annoyingly impermanent, but wonderful nonetheless.
It's a strange experience when you know this truth, huh? Because you get wrapped up in suffering because you are human - you grieve, you fear, you feel down, you love, you feel joy - and you feel it intensely, and you want it to stay, or you want it to go. Yet at the same time you know: 'this too will pass, this too will pass' - so you HAVE to live it, feel it, be it - that's living. xxx
Yes, exactly. The phrase "this too shall pass" has helped me many times.
Beautiful images, following for more! Although it’s a shallow comparison it seems like the recent trend of adult coloring books speaks to both the need for and benefit of a mindful hand to pattern practice. I’ve heard that intentional writing and sketching is one of the best ways to attune one’s nervous system. I’m also writing on meditation, feel free to check out my blog and followed list for some resources and writers you might enjoy. Best!
Hey, I do follow you. I'm currently trying to figure out how to bookmark the followers I like to keep up to date with as it's not easy just remembering user names and/or going through your list. So far I've been bookmarking on my laptop which is working out okay, so I've added you there, and will check out more of your content! Yes, there's a lot to be said for mindful hand to pattern - even the repetition can bring order to chaos, let alone the movement itself, like yoga. I'd love to read more about what you have to say!