Mandala of the Lunar Quarter, 12-13-10

 

Mandala of the Lunar Quarter - 12-13-10 - First Quarter 

The holiday season can be extremely stressful, even though we may feel great joy of giving and receiving gifts and seeing friends and family and sharing meals. Some of may feel alone and frustrated, or even depressed (one example is Seasonal Affective Disorder); others may be busy every possible moment and feel overloaded and overwhelmed. In any case, we all need to set aside sacred space and time for our inner peace, as the greatest gift we can give anyone is to take good care of our selves before we can truly give to others.

This mandala represents some of my frustrations ... I keep trying to reach the peaceful center, but it seems like all of the holiday activities are blocking me from it. I've forgotten at times to stop everything, simply BE and breathe. I've chosen to represent the holiday season with trees, so it can appeal to all people. The dove in the center is a universal symbol for peace. 

The outside ring I've left segmented, to hold many small doodles or words. You can list all of the things that are stressing you in the blank spaces, or draw symbols or little pictures to represent your stresses. Alternately, you can use the blank spaces to fill with words or doodles that lead you over the busy holiday season to the calm center inside you. Perhaps you might print out and color one of each kind of mandala to fill your needs.

This is also a great mandala to print out for children to color during the holidays, perhaps as a distraction while the adults are busy with cooking, cleaning, socializing, traveling, etc. I can easily see the "kid's table" set up with crayons, markers or colored pencils, and children of all ages sitting and coloring this mandala together. 

When giving your child a mandala to color, please observe - rather than direct - what the children do with the blank spaces on the outer ring, as well as their color choices and the strokes they use - you might be able to spot subtle stresses your child cannot articulate in words. For example, a mandala filled with dark, heavy strokes of dull colors can be an expression of distress or worry in a child. (This is but one generalization taken from formal child art therapy.)

Make your own free digital greeting card

Paper Mandalas for the Holidays

See Beautiful Paper Snowflake and 1000's of others - or share your own on Cut Out + Keep


See Create A Snow Blossom! and 1000's of others - or share your own on Cut Out + Keep

Swept Away by Sand Mandalas

Tibetan sand mandalas have always fascinated me. The monks work for hours and days on incredibly intricate designs, tapping or vibrating colored sand through long metal cones. When it's finished, it's simply swept away. Typically, the sand is then scattered to the wind, or into a body of water. Sometimes it's put into small containers or bags and divided among the spectators so they can take part in the scattering.

When I went to see a sand mandala swept away at a local university, the person I was with at the time was frankly horrified at the concept. "How can they destroy all that work?" he asked."Why bother to do it at all if they're just doing to sweep it away?" He found it extremely depressing. We talked about our feelings. I'd always found it to be liberating and energizing, as it represented the natural cycle of birth and death we all experience. I love sand mandalas because I need to be reminded of the impermanence of all things, and I need to remember how precious is every moment of every day, and how quickly it can all pass by and disappear, and then I have a deeper appreciation and thankfulness of everything in life.

Check out this video of the Dalai Lama and other monks engaging in the construction and destruction of a Tibetan sand mandala.

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Mandala of the Lunar Quarter: Full Moon November 21, 2010

 

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Full Moon of November 21, 2010

For this mandala, I left it quite empty on purpose. Even if you don't celebrate the "traditional" American Thanksgiving, now is the time when most civilizations in the Northern hemisphere are collecting the last harvest of the year, and beginning to celebrate using the food from all the harvests. It's always been a good time to begin contemplating the long winter ahead, watching each night getting longer and longer as the days grow shorter and shorter, until the longest night of the Winter Solstice, December 21st. This is a very quiet and humble mandala for a very quiet time.

How is your life quieting down with the Earth? How is your life becoming unquiet? Around the holidays, perhaps your life seems quite stressful, too full and energetically draining. You could simply allow peaceful colors and patterns to gently fill the empty spaces in this mandala, then hang it up in your kitchen or wherever you'd like to have a reminder to breathe and clear your head for a few moments.

This is also an excellent mandala to print out for children to color during holiday feasts. You might be surprised at the beauty and wonder that comes about when children are given simple designs to color! Share your finished mandalas with links in the comments section below, or email me a JPEG no larger than 5megs to mandalamama@ymail.com. Enjoy!

My Birthing Mandala

I colored many, many mandalas while I was pregnant with my daughter, especially the last 2 months when I was on bed rest. Some of the mamas in my due-date-group started coloring them also, we found it so relaxing and fun! I started coloring this mandala just after my surges (contractions) started. It really helped to have something creative to do during my labor.

My doula (birth assistant) and I colored a few mandalas together, and I chose this one as my "focus" - I hung it on the wall where I could focus on the center of it, and I was also chanting "Om mani padme hum" with each surge, one syllable at a time. I had a drug-free labor, even though I felt "pain," it felt more like I was on a giant roller coaster - that overwhelming feeling of "I wanna get off but I can't yet, whooo!" The doctors and nurses poked fun at me for laughing and giggling all throughout labor, even transition. When I first got there they doubted I was in labor because I was walking back and forth and smiling and singing ... I had a check, and my cervix was at 6 cm. Mandalas and meditation ROCK!

Later, when breastfeeding, the first few weeks were quite intense, and I had this on the wall near my bed and focused on the center whenever I needed. I've used it as a meditative focus for the stressful times we all go through as mamas. It really helps to have something, anything, you can focus on that sends positive energy flowing through you. Try creating or coloring a mandala and see what happens.

Now my daughter can sit down and meditate in front of it, and instead of a traditional "time out" we call it "time in, to calm down." She really loves it, it's helped her countless times.

Enjoy!