Mandala Meditations

This past Monday I conducted a mandala workshop for the Regional Expressive Arts Practitioners (REAP). I think it went well and that everyone had fun. Thanks to Kathy Luethje for organizing the evening, and thanks to everyone who attended!

 

 

I believe, as Carl Jung did, that the mandala is a healing tool, and that to create a mandala is a form of healing meditation. So when I create mandalas, I'm conscious of centering and going inward. My mandalas tend to incorporate the color spectrum associated with the body's chakras, or energy points. Therefore the outer rings will be red, denoting centering of the physical body, and move inward through the spectrum to violet, giving energy to the cerebrum. In the case of the mandala above, painted in acrylics, my theme is gold, so the center focal point is also gold. (The design of white dots is actually the atomic symbol for gold.)

I prefer to make mandalas loosely and with magic markers, like the one above. At this stage, I'm not concerned with making everything perfectly symmetrical. Instead, I'm in a creative zone and working fast. With the mandalas drawn by hand, the process is my focus, not the finished product. Such mandalas can be refined later (because I believe looking at a beautiful, pristine mandala is a meditation in itself), but the designs at this loose stage often have more energy and power.

I also create mandalas on the computer, usually after having worked out the design in pencil, or with magic markers. My computer mandalas can often be other-worldly.

Here are nine mandalas that serve as corporate logos. Left to right and top to bottom: Pilkington Glass, Mercedes-Benz, Target, Accelrys, Google Browser, Yamaha, CBS, Tupperware and Korean Air.