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Restoring Inner Harmony:
Expressive Art through Mandala Creation
Cate Biddinger
Every day I experience many stressors which can contribute to my feeling internally “out of balance” and even out of touch with my original goals for life. The fast pace of the world around me places a high demand on my time, my energy, and even my serenity. I find I have to constantly remain in the logical mind of my being. The logical mind is located on the left side of the brain and has to do with cognition, decision-making and analysis. I have explored many strategies in an attempt to regain balance within myself. I discovered that one approach is to nourish the functions of the right side of the brain having to do with emotion, symbolism, spontaneous gesture and intuition. I have been experimenting with expressive art, which is known to help promote inner balance and have been experiencing a restoring of my own inner harmony through the creation of mandalas.
The mandala, or circular design, has appeared in the art and community expressions of cultures for thousands of years. The word mandala is from the Sanskrit syllables mandal, or essence, and la, or container. The circumference of the circle represents a boundary for the self and the inside of the circle reflects the individual’s thoughts and feelings The circular design is often geometric in pattern with one central point, but can however, be free style. As I draw the mandala, I experience the creation of a picture that develops spontaneously. I find that creating mandalas can be a combination of art therapy and meditation. I shut out the pressures of the outer world while discovering how to solve a problem, what I need to do to improve relationships, or just relieve the stress. I trace around a small dinner plate which provides a circle the size of the human head and use pastels, charcoal or even water color to fill in. I love to use oil pastels because they glide across art paper.
As I participate in mandala creation, I find support for my own self-nurturing and psychological healing. The mandala forms a bridge between the conscious and subconscious mind as I spontaneously draw within the circle. As I researched the creating of mandalas, I found additional benefits.
The process of creating this art:
- Organizes and integrates fragmented parts of the self
- Forms psychological boundaries
- Provides a therapeutic tool for integration of the personality and knowledge of the self
- Increases effective communication and stimulates creative decision making
- Promotes psychological growth
- Increases concentration
- Provides enlightenment to rising issues
- Sets aside "inner dialogue" and obtains a reprieve from domination of negative thoughts and emotions
- Provides structure and comfort
- Allows expression of conflicting thoughts and feelings and promotes order and integration of traumatic events
- Restores a sense of inner balance
- Brings order to chaotic emotional situations
Learning how to utilize the right side of my brain has been instrumental in restoring much needed inner harmony. It is exciting to see how mandala creation allows me to access my own spirit in combination with the Divine in an effort to restore spiritual guidance.
Cate Biddinger is a Licensed Professional Counselor and a Registered Nurse. She provides counseling services through Noeticus Counseling Services LLC. "Noeticus" comes from a Greek word which means "to perceive". Cate believes every change in perception is a miracle! Please call 517.262.2120, contact cate@noeticuscounseling.com, or visit www.noeticuscounseling.com
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