"Circles of Creativity" class is Underway!

This past Monday was the first session of the Circles of Creativity seminar I am facilitating at the art studio in Goodwin House, in Falls Church, Virginia. The participants are an amazing group of people: artists, poets, scientists, massage therapists, teachers. We range in age from twenties to nineties. This really is a class for everyone!

Our time together began with a question from Mary asking how I became so interested in mandalas. I told about my personal experience with mandalas beginning in 1993 when I took a workshop through the Omega Institute. From that moment, I was hooked and began drawing mandalas for my own personal healing, as well as drawing mandalas for others. I began studying why mandalas are so powerful. It has to do with the power of the symbol of the circle and the power of intention. I told the story of how I used to walk with a cane and after doing a mandala for healing I was able to put the cane down and have never used it since. That was over 10 years ago. Working with mandalas has been miraculous and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to share this mysterious and sacred process with others. Then Jack asked the most important question of the evening: What is a mandala?

The word "mandala" is a sanskrit word that means "sacred circle." Many cultures use the circle as a symbol representing oneness, unity, continuity. There are many mandala images throughout the cultures that we have all seen: the peace sign, the labyrinth, the medicine wheel, the rose window in a church, seder plates, chakras, and the sand mandalas created by the Buddhist monks.

The idea of oneness and continuity are reflected back to us repeated throughout our life. In nature, flowers, tortoise shells, spiderwebs, geodes, spiral nebula, all the planets, stars and moons are mandalas. We play with mandalas when we play archery or darts, or play with balls and frisbees. We keep time with mandalas: sundials and clocks. We eat mandalas: bagels, donuts, pizza. On a healthier note cut open an apple, orange, melon, or cabbage and there is a pattern that takes your attention to the center.

I'm sure you can think of many other examples of mandalas in our ordinary life. The message of the mandala from the universe is that we are all one. There is no place where I end and you begin. We are all connected and part of this dynamic circle.

Carl Jung referred to the mandala as "the psychological representation of the totality of the self." When you look at a circle, your attention is drawn into the center and it takes you into your own core. When you work inside a circle, creating a mandala, especially with intention, it works like a biofeedback loop, and the positive intention in manifested and reflected back to you. It is a most mysterious and wonderful process. When I was in social work school, because my own results were so profound, I did research on the power of using mandalas as a therapeutic tool. Medical studies have even show beneficial effects from drawing within a circle including a slowing of heart rate, slower and deeper breathing, feelings of relaxation. Participants report feeling at peace and calm.

After some time discussing mandalas and getting to know each other, we spent some time practicing creating luminosity on the page through a scale of light exercise. When we work on white paper, we draw in the shadows. When we work on black paper, our focus is on drawing out the light. Here's a hint for those of you who may want to create light on your own: The key is to get beyond the technique itself, and experience the pencil as a consciousness light wand. As we experience the pencil as spiritual consciousness an added dimension of luminosity shows up on the paper.

Our first class focused on drawing the light out of the darkness. We did a meditation to access a symbol of our own inner light, and then spent the rest of our time together creating our personal symbols.

At the end of the session, everyone had an opportunity to share something about their experience, and we closed with the following reading by Black Elk:

Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle.The sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours. The sun comes forth and goes down in a circle.The moon does the same, and both are round.Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a [person] is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves.


All in all, it was a great beginning. In this time of busy days and hectic schedules, it is lovely to have a place where we can all slow down and enjoy the process of creating radiance and healing for ourselves, our loved ones, and the world.

Interested in joining the class? Give me a call at (703)256-0485 or email me at jennifer@soulworksstudio.com.