About Mandalas

”Each person’s life is like a mandala – a vast, limitless circle. We stand in the centre of our own circle and everything we see, hear and think forms the mandala of our life.’ ‘  

Pema Chodron

Pronounced MAHN-Dahl-Ah, the word Mandala means “healing or sacred circle” in Sanskrit (मण्डल). 

Mandalas are circular, geometric designs that represent “wholeness” and ”completeness”. 

The pattern of the mandala circle is balanced and in harmony.  The sacred space within the circle is said to be a harbour for an inner truth.

Mandala Yoga

The word ‘mandala’ entered the English language in the second half of the 1800s and had the meaning of ‘magic’ circle.

It is an ancient representation of the great cosmos… as the yogis like to say ‘The Universe’.

Mandalas appear in many forms and in many aspects of our daily life.

The Circle

Since ancient times, the circle or sphere represents wholeness, unity and balance.

The mandala has been used to create, attract, focus and contain human and vital energy.

Mandala Yoga Mandala

 

The circle is one of our oldest symbols. We are surrounded by visible circular celestial bodies every day.

Think sun, moon, earth.

Rays of light radiate from the sun as it emanates its light.

And then there are  flowers – that unfold themselves petal by petal.

Even the iris of the eye is a circle through which we experience an increasingly busy, visual world.

Beyond the physical manifestations we have those vital yet abstract circles that we all like to talk about – friends, family, community.

The circle as a container and an organisation vehicle for ‘order’ is well known.  

Hang out with a toddler and a few crayons for while and you quickly see how the child progresses very quickly from scribbling to drawing discernible circles.

(It’s NO coincidence that snowmen and Santa have big rotund bellies!

The circle as an organising principle is a natural occurrence in a child’s learning process.

In the same way, as ‘older children’ the mandala encourages us to find our own centre.

It enable us to process old and new information, to connect with our personal identity, our inner child.

And without losing access to this vital centre, it also gives us the permission to build a cycle of personal growth, to reach out and expand.

”The mandala serves a conservative purpose—namely, to restore a previously existing order. But it also serves the creative purpose of giving expression and form to something that does not yet exist, something new and unique. … The process is that of the ascending spiral, which grows upward while simultaneously returning again and again to the same point.”

— Jungian analyst Marie-Louise von Franz, C. G. Jung: Man and His Symbols