Mindfulness & Mandalas, Part 2
What is a Mandala?
As noted in Part 1 of Mindfulness and Mandalas, Mandalas are circular, symmetrical and geometrical patterns. The word “mandala” originated from the Sanskrit language meaning “circle,”. Drawing, coloring and meditating on mandalas can all help to reduce stress and anxiety.
Designing your own mandalas can be both inspirational and therapeutic. Psychologist Carl Jung’s brought knowledge of the mandala into Western culture. Jung believed that mandalas are a representation of a persons collective unconscious. Jung used mandalas in psychotherapy by asking clients to draw individual mandalas and through this process he realized the large amount of similarity in the drawings that the patients created. He reported “In view of the fact that all the mandalas shown here were new and uninfluenced products, we are driven to the conclusion that there must be a trans conscious disposition in every individual which is able to produce the very same or similar symbols at all times and in all places. Since this disposition is usually not a conscious possession of the individual, I have called it the collective unconscious.”
Mandalas above are from my Year of Mandalas, where I created a mandala a day. These images include mandalas made with flower petals, collage, paint, colored pencil and inspiration varies from Prince’s death, sculling on Lake Merritt, the pattern of the foam in my coffee or the anniversary of the death of my late husband.
Jung wrote “I sketched every morning in a notebook a small circular drawing, a mandala, which seemed to correspond to my inner situation at the time... Only gradually did I discover what the mandala really is.... the Self, the wholeness of the personality, which if all goes well, is harmonious.” In 2016, a leap year, I committed to create a mandala each day, 366 mandalas in all! Sometimes I used materials in the environment and created mandalas that would not last, for example using flower petals and leaves while on a hike, or drawing mandalas in the sand while at the beach. Other times I created symmetrical patterns, while at other times used the circle as a means to contain what I wanted to express. I look back at these mandalas and remember exactly what I was feeling or thinking about on that day. The experience for me, as it was for him, transformative.
“I had to abandon the idea of the superordinate position of the ego. …
I saw that everything, all paths I had been following, all steps I had taken, were leading back to a single point — namely, to the mid-point.
It became increasingly plain to me that the mandala is the centre.
It is the exponent of all paths.
… I knew that in finding the mandala as an expression of the self I had attained what was for me the ultimate.”
- Carl Jung from Memories, Dreams and Recollections
When you create your own mandala, think of it as an echo of your soul. Mandalas can contain recognizable images that carry meaning for the person who is creating it. Drawing and coloring a mandala can be a highly enriching personal experience in which you look inside yourself and find the shapes, colors and patterns to represent anything from your current state of mind to your most deeply-desired wish for yourself, for a loved one, or for humanity. You can design a mandala to symbolize a state of mind that you would like to achieve. The best thing about designing your own mandalas is that you have the freedom to choose whatever shapes and colors that you feel express your sense of self and your view of reality. Your mandala is yours, and you have the freedom to use your creativity to create a mandala drawing that is uniquely you. Once you know the basic steps of how to draw a mandala, you can try new designs and colors each time you draw a new mandala.
Steps to create a symmetrical mandala pattern:
Step 1: Measure out your paper into a square shape. The square can be as big or as small as you like. The bigger the square, the more room you will have for putting in lots of detail and color.
Step 2: Find the center of the circle by making very light diagonal lines from corner to corner. Then use the center with a dot with a pencil.
Step 3: Draw a series of circles around this dot using a compass, or a CD for a quick start with two circles. If you don't have a compass and want more than two circles, you can use your ruler to measure out 1/2" (or more or less - depending on your preference) from the center dot. Make a mark 1/2" above, below, to the left and to the right of the center dot. Measure out another distance from the center dot, such as 1.5” from the center dot. Using the same process as before, make a mark at this same distance on top, below, to the left and to the right of the center dot. You can continue making as many rows of these dots as you like. The important thing is to make sure that the dots you make are all equidistant from the center dot. Now you'll want to connect the dots into circles. To do this, start at one dot, and draw a curved line to the next dot, and so on.
Don't worry about making the circles "perfect". It’s the process, not the product! Just take it one step at a time, going from dot to dot and make sure you draw lightly enough that you can easily erase if needed. Just this process can begin to ground you into the present moment.
Step 4: Now that you've drawn the basic outline for your mandala, you can begin drawing designs in your mandala! You can use a pencil, colored pencils, ink, crayons, or whatever you choose. You can start from the center, or you can start from anywhere where you feel inspired to make some marks. Using the lines and circles you drew as guidelines, you can draw shapes like circles, triangles, raindrops, loops, etc. If you want a symmetrical pattern make sure to repeat the pattern. For example, if you draw a circle on one of the lines, be sure to draw it in the same spot on the other lines. This creates repetition, which is a key element in creating a mandala. As you draw more and more designs, your mandala will start to look more complex. The key is to take it slowly. Draw one shape at a time and going around the whole circle drawing that one shape in the right place. Then you build on that shape by drawing other shapes around the circle in the same manner. You can then color or paint in the patterns.
Questions to ask yourself.
How does your body feel at the beginning of drawing, coloring or meditating using a mandala? Where do you hold your tension? What do you notice about your breathing? What did you notice as you created your mandala? What did you think about? Were you hard on yourself? Did you lose patience? Are you able to let go of the need for perfection? What would you have said to a friend that was saying the things to themselves that you were saying to yourself? Did you find that you were more compassionate? Would you try this again to see if you are able to focus more on the process and less on the product? Do you remember the first time you felt self conscious about art making?
