Autor: Zuzana Řezáčová Lukášková, zveřejněno 21. 9. 2017
Use mandalas for inspiration and creative drawing.
Here we offer several tips for how you can use mandalas and how you can work with them. You can get to know more about mandalas and their use in our audio on-line courses. Have you not found what you were looking for? Email us!
Before you start drawing, sit down for a moment, close your eyes and become aware of your sitting or lying body. Ask yourself, "How am I feeling right now?" It is the best to identify your current state by a single word (it can be a noun, an adjective or a verb...) which you will remember and write down. Then let the feeling pass through your hand into the creation of all the colors and shapes of your mandala. Choose all your colors intuitively, just as they are "close at hand." Do not think about whether they go together, whether you like them or not (you will get to that later on). Just pick one of them and start drawing. While you are using a crayon, focus on its head, follow its movement, listen to its sound and observe what is going on inside of you, what feelings are being triggered... Remember; this is not about the result but about the creation process! There is only one rule for drawing mandalas: the harder you try, the worse it gets and the less satisfied you are going to be with your results.
Many ancient cultures knew about the power which is hidden in the center of a mandala and they also knew how to use it. Even today we can still benefit from these special forces by both creating mandalas and relaxing with them. Next time you make a mandala try to start from the outer edges, proceeding to the center. Imagine you are diving deeper and deeper into yourself and your soul while drawing. Pay attention to what is happening and record it.
Spending time with yourself in your own rhythm is very healing on its own. When you allow yourself to dive into mandala creation, you will live by the present moment where the time is seemingly faster and your body gains more power and energy. For reinforcing this process, use colors with warming shades of red and yellow. You have probably already noticed that colors can be repulsive, scary, warm, nice, round... well, there are also colors which support the life force and optimism. Before you start creating your mandala of power, close your eyes for a few minutes and imagine all the colors which represent strength, energy, and warmth for you. Use them for creating your mandala. Put your finished mandala on a well visible place, so that you can see it several times a day and let it affect you. Observe its every day changes and transformations...
While drawing a mandala, you can ask the fairies and angels (if you believe in their existence) to calm you down. The circle image itself works, thanks to its harmoniously organized elements, as a model for the soul, which is being relaxed by trying to obtain a similarly balanced shape. Be aware of the changes of your breath. After you complete your mandala take a couple more moments and look at it, going from the center to the edges and from the edges to the center... You may find out that the seemingly peaceful two-dimensional image is actually very dynamic. When looking at the center, the mandala "comes to life" like if the colors were dancing. If you watch this dance for a while, you will realize that your body starts being relaxed and that your breath as well as your heartbeat is slowing down... If you are under attack of your worries and problems, let them go away like clouds on the sky and wait for what your mandala is trying to tell you. You can write your thoughts down and return to them some other time as you might reveal their meaning much later.
After becoming aware of your whole body and the perceptions from all of your senses, use you inner sight to picture “your life” with everything that relates to it. Put that image in your mandala. Channel your inner experience into the movement of your crayons… After finishing the mandala, look at “your life” and think about what you would like to change. If possible, make that change directly in your mandala and observe what is going on inside of you.
You can use mandalas just for aesthetic reasons, but you can also benefit from their healing power. Mandalas are often used for supporting the healing of physical, psychologic, and psychosomatic problems. They are an excellent tool for relaxation, meditation, as well as guidance when learning about other cultures, their gods and philosophy. Mandalas are also frequently used as a mean for communication with angels and other non-material beings. However, no matter how you decide to use your mandala, it will surely greatly enrich your life.
Choose a purpose for your today’s mandala. Before you start with coloring, pronounce this purpose. The clearer, the more positive your intention is and the easier it is for you to picture the result, the more efficient your mandala will be. E.g.: I am drawing a mandala for health while thinking: “I am healthy and full of energy.”
Sometimes it is beneficial to observe the mandala for a few days, letting it affect us and sometimes it is helpful to destroy it (by tearing, burning…). Tibetan monks for instance, believe that mandala’s energy is truly released only after it is finished and destroyed. On the contrary, some mandalas serve as a two dimensional model for real mandalas which come into existence in our inner world while meditating and give us the opportunity to understand the order of the outside world. Draw your today’s mandala for destruction. Put everything you want to get rid of, everything you no longer need into it and give it away to the universe without worrying. Be aware of you arising feelings, thoughts or doubts and then start drawing. When finished, burn or tear the mandala while still observing what is happening inside of you.
Draw today’s mandala with the memory of the entire past year (or another time frame). Put everything that has happened during that time into it. All your worries, failures, troubles as well as all your happiness, joy, excitement, and accomplishments. Look back so that you can move forward... From that moment on try to remember on daily basis what has made you happy, what you have achieved or what you are looking forward to, because that is the recipe for happiness!
…look at your mandala as a whole. Maybe even step back a little and ask yourself, “How is the mandala affecting me?”, “Do I like it?”, “What is it telling me?” As well as in the beginning of the creation process, identify your feelings, note them down and compare them with what you felt before you started. Finally, before putting your mandala away, close your eyes for a moment and evaluate the time you spent with your mandala – was it easy to “find” your mandala? What colors and shapes have you chosen? Did something distract you? What were your feelings during your work? Then, in order to finish the process, you may give your mandala a name. Name it after everything you have experienced together. Note that name together with the date on the back side of the mandala – thus, creating a “mandala diary” you can go back to anytime you wish to review your feelings.
Every color and shape (in other words, a symbol) is a carrier of a meaning, which is given partially archetypaly, partially by time, space, culture, and at last but not least, by personal experience of every individual. The exact definition of a mandala cannot be based solely on general meanings, tables or thoughts of a third person. If you want to know the meaning of your pictures, dive into them… Write down all the colors and shapes according to their percentual distribution in the mandalas. Put the mandala away and focus on this list for a while. Picture every color from your list with your eyes closed and wait if any feeling arises in your body. Then let words, thoughts, and images join that feeling and note it down. Come back to your mandala with a completed list. You might be surprised by what your mandala has to tell you…
