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Mandalas and Well-Being

submitted by deonne wright, RN – OHNA Communication Coordinator

 totem mandala - 2012
deonne’s personalized totem mandala – 2012 image cred: Eloyria Ra

 

From the moment I discovered mandalas, I have loved them. Something unexplainable about them pulls me in and takes me into my own center. I feel the ‘magic’ of the sacred geometry they represent. I’m not a mathematician, but I can see the math they exemplify and can feel the power of the golden ratio.

Turmoil has accompanied me much of my life from an early age. Having Uranus play such a big part in my natal chart has challenged me to live the courage of my convictions in the face of disapproval from those I love whose beliefs veer far away from mine. The values of justice and spiritual freedom informed my explorations even at the tender age of five.

I am very curious. As a child and young adult, that presented as questions – many of them! In general, when those questions show up around the topics of justice and spiritual freedom in an extremely conservative Christian family, they tend to be shut down; and the turmoil begins to fester. The concept of ‘well-being’ is incomprehensible in that place for it is born in a state of inner serenity.

The search for serenity and tranquility has been a long one for me. Today I define ‘well-being’ as a state of self not related to external factors. It’s feeling completely at peace within myself no matter what is going on around me or in my personal circumstances. This state comes from a centered place where I can retreat to the safety of neutrality/non-judgment and connect to my divinity – my inner divine sanctuary.

Working as a hospice nurse taught me the most about well-being of all the nursing roles I’ve had the privilege to experience. My patients taught me well-being does not mean ‘cured’, healthy enough, wealthy enough, loved enough, or any of those typical measures. When they faced uncontrollable circumstances with the courage and confidence nurtured in the inner sanctuary, they experienced a radiating serenity.

Mandalas are a tool for helping me find my center. Sometimes I use my personalized mandalas to meditate. Other times just glancing at them when I’m beginning to feel turmoil creeping in is enough to bring me back to center. I’ve also used these same mandalas – created especially for me by healers – as crystal grids for bringing in specific healing energies.

deonne’s personalized mandala used to create a healing crystal grid 2018 image cred: Eloyria Ra

 

I created an intention eighteen months ago with a crystal grid using one of these personalized mandalas for healing the migraines I’ve experienced since I was nine years old. I kept reactivating it for a number of months before I made the connection between it and the appearance of the only successful intervention that has ever impacted the true healing of that debilitating experience of chronic pain for me. (For the curious, I used clear quartz points, amethyst points and tumbles, a dioptase chunk, lapis tumbles, orgonite, and a lapis Ganesh, and a shungite pyramid to create the healing grid. I also placed a photo of myself under the large amethyst in the center.)

When I worked as a Staff Development Specialist in the acute care setting, I began printing and laminating mandalas for members of different teams I led. I found them posted on the walls of their office, slipped into the front cover of their everyday binders, and hanging from the ceiling in some spaces. Some staff I didn’t even know inquired where they could get theirs! That was a message to me others found as much value in mandalas as I do.

If you’ve never worked with or experienced the power of mandalas, you might consider trying them out. They’re easy to find and download from the internet. There are also adult mandala coloring books that tend to bring relaxation, calm, and a sense of well-being just through the activity of coloring. Buddhists create sand mandalas without attachment, simply for the sense of connection and well-being created within the activity – and then they are destroyed afterward.

The most fascinating mandalas of all I find to be animated ones created from numerology. I’ve linked a one minute example below for you to download and enjoy which was created with healing intention by Keith Allen Kay.

HealingLightShort

There are many ways mandalas can be used to help achieve a sense of well-being. I encourage you to explore and experiment with them, observing your inner state to discover if they might help you achieve inner serenity.