How to Draw a Mandala

Find at least 2 hours in your schedule only for yourself. Find a warm and quiet place where you can feel safe, turn off your mobile phone, make yourself a tea, light up scented candles, turn on some meditation music, put your favourite dried fruit in a little bowl and put some soft cryons (one of the best are called "Omega") next to your mandala template. Or just simply sit anywhere you want and get started…

Choose your mandala based on which one you catches you at first sight and which you really like. Even a blank paper with circle on (or with no circle at all) can be a template! Choose a technique you will follow - from the center to the edges, or from the edges to the center and follow this direction during the whole process. By doing so you will be able to calm down your mind, which otherwise constantly wanders from one thought to another.

Before you start drawing sit down for a moment, close your eyes and be aware of your sitting or lying body. Ask yourself, "How am I feeling right now?" and "What do I need right now?" It is the best to identify your current state by a single word (it can be a noun, an adjective or a verb...) which you will remember and write it down. Then let the feeling pass through your hand into the creation of all the colors and shapes of your mandala. Choose your colors in the same way you chose your mandala. Do not think about whether they go together, whether you like them or not (you will get to that later on). Just pick one of them and start drawing. While you are using a crayon, focus on its head, follow its movement, listen to its sound and observe what is going on inside of you, what feelings are being triggered...

Remember; this is not about the result but about the creation process! There is one rule for drawing mandalas: the harder you try, the worse it gets and the less satisfied you are going to be with your results.

After you finish your mandala look at it as a whole. Maybe even step back a little and ask yourself, “How is the mandala affecting me?”, “Do I like it?”, “What is it telling me?” As well as in the beginning of the creation process, identify your feelings, note them down and compare them with what you felt before you started

Finally, before putting your mandala away, close your eyes for a moment and evaluate the time you spent with your mandala – was it easy to “find” your mandala? What colors and shapes have you chosen? Did something distract you? What were your feelings during your work? Then, in order to finish the process, you may give your mandala a name. Name after everything you have experienced together. Note that name together with the date on the back side of the mandala – thus, creating a “mandala diary” you can go back to anytime for reviewing your feelings.

Sometimes it is beneficial to observe the mandala for a few days, letting it affecting us and sometimes it is helpful to destroy it (tearing, burning…). Tibetan monks for instance, believe that mandala’s energy is truly released only after it is finished and destroyed. On the contrary, some mandalas serve as a two dimensional model for real mandalas which come into existence in our inner world while meditating and give us the opportunity to understand the order of the outside world.