DAY 38 - MANDALAS

Day 38

Since the beginning of the semester, I’ve noticed one of my students colouring mandalas during class. I sometimes doodle at meetings or when I speak on the phone, so I was never bothered by it. Some of us have the ability to focus on more than one thing at the same time...mainly women, apparently (sorry gentlemen). Anyway, today, this same student made an oral presentation about her passion: mandalas.

I discovered the origin and mental benefits of this art form. Mandala is a Sanskrit word which means circle. Not at all incidentally, its shape is circular and generally geometrical. Mandalas originated in India but were mainly used in Tibetan Buddhism. For more than 2000 years, they have served as a tool for meditation.

Carl Gustav Jung, the famous psychiatrist, saw the mandala as a “representation of the unconscious self” and he believed that his own paintings of mandalas enabled him to identify emotional disorders and work towards the wholeness in personality.

In her presentation, my student showed us how the universe is filled with geometrical shapes and patterns (in stars, planets, flowers, snowflakes, the eye, the womb, etc.) and that mandalas are, in fact, a representation of this universe.

Keeping these two views in mind, meditating with a mandala could help us individually and wholesomely connect with the universe. Isn't that profound? A little New Age, but still very profound.

The matter of the fact is, clinical trials have shown the health benefits of meditation: it increases the immune system, reduces stress, reduces pain, lowers blood pressure, stimulates the release of melatonin, a hormone believed to slow cell aging and promote restful sleep, promotes happiness, etc.

For that reason, I have been meditating every day for the past month, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. I usually try to quiet my mind by repeating a mantra, focusing on my breathing or simply letting go of my thoughts as they enter my mind. It sometimes works. But other times, I feel like I am a knight with a sword, at battle with the future and the past, trying to remain in the present!

I will now print out some mandalas and incorporate this new approach in my meditation strategies. If it doesn’t work, at least I will be looking at something pretty for 20 minutes instead of only battling with my thoughts!


Mandala images: http://www.google.ca/images?hl=fr&q=mandalas&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=6XfATLX0GMT7lwe-sPXUCg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBQQsAQwAA

Carl Gustav Jung, Memories, Dreams reflections, pp.186-197