Making Whole: Healing Through Art: Nature Mandala

by Diane Steinbach

Making Whole is a bi-monthly art therapy column focused on art to heal. 

We have talked about Mandala's here before, and as an art therapy device, the Mandala is a versatile tool.  Carl Jung was obsessed with them and said, "I knew that in finding the mandala as an expression of the self I had attained what was for me the ultimate."

Especially significant as a tool for healing for women, the circle symbol, often associated with the womb, or Mother, can help artists work through issues and develop a sense of wholeness and integrity. 



Start this process with an 11x17 piece of watercolor paper and your favorite medium, water color paints, markers, drawing pencils, collage materials, ... whatever. 

Draw a large circle, a mandala on the paper to take up the majority of the page. 

Now, close your eyes.  Imagine a lush forest in springtime. Everything is mossy, wet, bursting forth with life. New growth. The sun filters through a canopy of bright green leaves, you hear water dropping onto the soft earth below your feet. Blooms on tiny plants begin to unfold around you. Vines begin to climb up the tree trunks, ferns shoot up and unroll into lacy feathers. Breathe it all in.

Now fill your mandala with the life that you absorbed. 

Process notes:  

The very act of filling the symbolic mandala with imagery of new life is a healing act. Subconsciously the artist feels renewed, and refreshed by the guided imagery and by the act of creation. As the mandala is of the artists creation, she acknowledges her own ability to be life-giving, in some way, and celebrates that through use of color and line. At the end of the process the artist should be relaxed and satisfied. 

If the artist is working through a loss due to abortion, miscarriage or other grief, creating life images in a mandala helps to re-establish the artist as a life-giver, a creator.  It gives the artist time to work through feelings of guilt, regret and sadness with each brushstroke or line. 

If the artist is so overcome by feelings of remorse, sadness or guilt that she cannot draw anything in the mandala, the group facilitator would need to encourage her to take the smallest step in creating one thing, one image of life in the mandala.  A small step on the way to healing, is still a step and opens up the door for verbal communication.

 
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Some rights reserved by Lyle58

Diane Steinbach is an art therapist and the author of: Art As Therapy: Innovations, Inspiration and Ideas:, Art Activities for Groups: Providing Therapy, Fun and Function and A Practical Guide to Art Therapy Groups

Making Whole: Art Therapy Process: Mandala

by Diane Steinbach 

Welcome to our first Making Whole Column. This will be a bi monthly column focusing on art therapy to help heal inner trauma or promote healing and personal growth. As an art therapist I have helped people connect with art medium to  express themselves for decades and our hope is that you can use it in your own personal way for healing, relaxation or to help work through stress. As time goes on all the Making Whole posts will be gathered together on a separate Page for easy reference.

Mandala is a Sanskrit word meaning “circle” or “completion” and has been part of artistic expression in many cultures for hundreds of years. Considered  a valuable  tool by some of the very founders of Psychology like Carl Jung, the use of the Mandala as a path towards healing and a means of reflecting our own inner thoughts and nature make it  ideal  to use in art therapy.

The Mandala is basically a circle with artwork contained within. A perfect way to provide structure to a basically unstructured, guided art process; Mandala can be used over and over again to help work through inner thoughts and feelings.

Begin by drawing a large circle on a piece of paper.  Begin thinking about your path, your journey through life thus far or however you are feeling at the moment.  Use colors and lines within the circle to represent your inner soul, your inner thoughts, chaotic or organized, the mix of happiness, relief, guilt or remorse you might feel.  Anything you do is acceptable. Divide your Mandala into parts to represent different aspects of your emotions if you want.  Just follow your instincts and create in a free and unplanned way. Whatever you are feeling at the moment will guide your Mandala.

Your Mandala can be done with paints, crayons, and markers, anything that allows you to create in color freely and easily. You should create in a relaxed state or in the hopes of expressing whatever emotions you may be experiencing at the moment. By placing your images and thoughts into the Mandala you can release them from your own mind and lower your bodies stress and anxiety levels.

Once you have completed your Mandala look at the colors, shapes, use of lines and overall effect of your work. Write down any connections you feel between the emotions and thoughts you were feeling or thinking while creating your Mandala. The insights you gain can further help you towards your journey of healing.

Keep a Mandala journal, where you can “doodle” into the familiar circular form anytime you feel uneasy, anxious or upset. 

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Some rights reserved by Gerlinde Hog-Aden