Free gifts from 100 Mandalas
Let’s gather as a community to honor and celebrate 2018. In this free event on the Solstice, I’ll host an online celebration that includes a Soul Journey, Oracle Card Reading, Year End Mandala Blessings Activity, Studio Time and Show & Tell.
One of my favorite practices is to combine my love for words and journal writing with mandalas. Each year during the holidays, I pull out a Flower of Life mandala and fill the shapes with words of appreciation. I designed a mandala that starts with the Flower of Life in the center and surrounded it with a border of interlocking semi-circles. In the center petals, I wrote down the names of the many people who I’m connected to including family, friends, colleagues, and members of my mandala community. You may include names of your mentors, teachers, authors, and artists who inspire you. Along the outer edge, record words to describe the qualities that you admire and appreciate. As you fill in the mandala, consider the many ways that you are connected. Fill some of the shapes with doodles and little drawings. Here I tucked in hearts under each virtue. In my example, a leaf-like pattern was repeated throughout to add detail. Try This: Print a copy and bring it to your holiday celebration. Invite guests to …
This month’s featured project may challenge your idea of what a mandala is. We often think of mandalas as have a clear center with shapes, colors, and patterns repeating from the center. Swiss Psychiatrist Carl G. Jung introduced to the West the idea of creating circular art for insight and self expression. During a time when Jung had a experienced a personal crisis his journal writings included drawings within circles. He observed over time how these drawings had colors, numbers, symbols, and arrangements that reflected his thoughts, feelings, and dreams. He called these circular drawings mandalas as they reminded him of the Hindu and Buddhist art form. This month’s challenge is a project from a course that I teach called, “The Great Round” where we create mandala art to explore twelve psychological stages that we all experience at different moments in our lives. Pictured here is a diagram of twelve symbols in black and white that typify each of the stages and the colored images are sample mandalas for each stage. Watch the video above to …
Linda Joy of Aspire Magazine invited me to chat with her about the benefits of creating mandalas on her radio show, Inspired Conversations. What a delightful conversation! We talked about: How Linda colors mandalas with a sacred intention and will repeat a mantra. We both agreed that one can feel the energy in the final colored mandala. How I got my start creating mandalas, launching the 100 Mandalas Challenge, and publishing my book, “The Mandala Guidebook.” My experience teaching at Kripalu, a yoga and health center in Lenox, MA. The health benefits of coloring and creating mandalas and why coloring mandalas is a centering practice. The work of Swiss Psychiatrist Carl Jung and how we can open up a conversation with our unconscious when creating mandalas intuitively. The Great Round Course, an online course where I teach people about creating mandalas for insight and self expression. It ties in with the work of Jung and how we can explore what I call our “mandala stories.” Curious to learn more about the Great Round? Access lesson one, …
The Great Round Online Course is a fascinating study that guides you through 12 stages that we all experience in life, again and again. Thank you for stopping by to check out this free sampler class. This page is a preview of the first lesson called, “Stage One: Resting in the Darkness.” Lesson One: Resting in the Darkness We experience Stage One when we are feeling creatively low, we are overworked and exhausted, our hormones are wreaking havoc and we feel anxious, seasonal light changes affect our moods, or we are ill and have no energy for doing anything. In this video lesson, I share one of my low moments in life and how creating mandalas helped me to feel creative again. This video also covers an overview of this stage and three example mandala activities. Participant Perspective I met with with Catz, a member of the 100 Mandalas Community who shares her experience about taking the Great Round Course in the video above. Are you ready for your own a-ha moments and transformation? Great …
I’m delighted to announce a new series to inspire your muse called the Monthly Mandala Challenge. Look for a video each month that introduces the theme, contest details, and the prizes. Project Theme for January: Mandala Inspiration Wheel One day while looking at my wall on Facebook, I noticed a really cool video clip of a fidget spinner whirring above a hand-painted mandala with the question, “What gift can you give yourself more of today?” The possible answers delighted my heart – ease, novelty, play, stillness, rest, adventure… I clicked through to my friend Tonia Jenny’s Facebook wall and saw that she had created some other Fidget Spinner Fortunes that posed more heart expanding questions and answers. What can you give yourself more of this week? What will support your dreams today? What is your soul asking for? I’m a DIY kinda gal and thought, I want to make one! But wait, I’d love to see what my mandala family would create. I reached out to Tonia and she generously offered to be the first …
One of my favorite practices is to combine my love for words and journal writing with mandalas. Each year during the holidays, I pull out a Flower of Life mandala and fill the shapes with words of appreciation. This year I designed a new mandala that starts with the Flower of Life in the center and surrounded it with border of interlocking semi-circles. In the center petals, I wrote down the names of the many people who I’m connected to including family, friends, colleagues, and members of my mandala community. You may include names of your mentors, teachers, authors, and artists who inspire you. Along the outer edge, record words to describe the qualities that you admire and appreciate. As you fill in the mandala, consider the many ways that you are connected. Fill some of the shapes with doodles and little drawings. Here I tucked in hearts under each virtue. A leaf-like pattern was repeated throughout to add detail. Pull out your favorite coloring supplies and think about each person as you fill in the …
Join me on Facebook for a live video event where I’ll show you my mandala parasols featured in Zen Doodle Workshop Magazine. Mark your calendars Tuesday, November 1, 2016 at 8:00 p.m., EST http://www.facebook.com/100mandalas During the video: Get a close up look at the two stunning mandala parasols featured in Zen Doodle Workshop Magazine. Listen to the story of how one of my parasols was completely ruined just days before the submission deadline. I’ll tell you want I did wrong so you don’t make this mistake. You may be surprised by what I used to embellish these paper parasols. Come with your questions! Four people will be randomly selected to win a copy of Zen Doodle Workshop Magazine (pictured above). This gorgeous magazine is filled with inspiring projects perfect for those who love to doodle. There are unique projects and instructions for both on and off the page. Official Contest Rules DRAWING 1 is for participants of the LIVE Facebook event. To enter the first drawing attend the live Facebook video (www.facebook.com/100mandalas) on Tuesday, November 1, 2016 at 8:00 …
These are just *SOME* of the prizes that I will be giving away at the party. I feel so grateful to have so many generous friends who donated these gifts including: Cloth, Paper, Scissors Alison Phillips Robuck Jill Badonsky Patricia Mosca Miz Meliz of Tinsel Town Join the party on Sunday, May 22, 2016. Starting at 11:00 a.m until 6:00 p.m. EST on Facebook. RSVP here: http://bit.ly/mandalaparty
New World Library sent me a review copy of Succulent Wild Love: Six Powerful Habits for Feeling More Love More Often written by one of my favorite authors SARK and her fiance Dr. John Waddell. I first discovered SARK over 20 years ago. It was the year after I graduated from college and I had moved 1800 miles from New Hampshire to Colorado. I’ll never forget it! It was the first weekend of my grand adventure and what would be a major turning point in my adult life. I stepped into a charming local independent bookstore where I saw, “Inspiration Sandwich,” a colorful book filled with whimsical illustrations and handwritten text. It was the three little words on the cover that stole my heart. Eat this book. Now how could I resist such an invitation? SARK’s inspirational words inspired a very shy and creatively timid young woman to live a daring and juicy life. Over the years I gobbled up her other books and even took classes from her online. The most magical and sparkly SARK …
How to Draw Mandalas and the 100 Mandalas Challenge with Kathryn Costa 