Mandala: The Circle Of Life

"Mandala" is a Sanskrit word that means "circle". Mandalas generally have one center point, from which emanates an array of symbols, shapes and forms.

Many tribes throughout North America also used mandalas as ways to connect with the gods. These were often circular forms made from the skins of animals that were hunted, and incorporated feathers and other found objects.

Native Americans believed that the Mandala represents:

• The circle of life, and the path from birth to death
• The unification of man, nature, and the spiritual in a cyclical form
• A way to connect with the creators

While mandalas are used as physical forms of design in many Native tribes, the circular pattern is also essential to ceremonial practices and rituals. It is found in many dances, both in individual movements and as a greater movement around a central point, often a fire or important figure.

Drawing and coloring a mandala can be a highly enriching personal experience in which you look inside yourself and find the shapes, colors and patterns to represent anything from your current state of mind to your most deeply-desired wish for yourself, for a loved one, or for humanity.

You can design a mandala to symbolize a state of mind that you would like to achieve. Mandalas are great tools for meditation and increasing self- awareness. Many different cultures around the world use mandalas in their spiritual practices.

The best thing about designing your own mandala is that you have the freedom to choose whatever shapes and colors that you feel express your sense of self and your view of reality. Your mandala is yours, and you have the freedom to use your creativity to create a mandala drawing that is uniquely you. ~ Writes Monika

For Monika's Mandala Art Course, please visit: https://mandala.colouryourdream.co.uk/courses/

— Valeria interviews Monika Cilmi. Born in Italy and living in the UK, Monika is a professional artist, author and transformational life coach with a strong spiritual connection with Japan and its culture.

She has a Degree in visual arts, a PG certificate in Japanese and Korean art and Ma by Research in Fine art. She has also recently graduated at the Life Mastery Institute as a Dream Builder coach. She has exhibited her work internationally and has collaborated with a dance company in Mexico.

Monika is the author of various creative books, worked in education for a long time and now working as an artist and coach with clients locally and nationally. She is also very active in the local community. She has been interviewed on various occasions and was recently a special guest at a local radio show called "The Happiness Club" and at BBC radio Suffolk.

She is inspired by nature and the body-mind relationship and her work express the harmony between a logical research, personal feelings, and instinctive actions. Paper, in particular, is always her passion and it is a crucial part of her research. its various applications follow an abstract path visible through the extraordinary elements and materials in which are created.

To learn more about Monika Cilmi and her work please visit: https://monika149.wixsite.com/monikacilmi

For Monika's Mandala Art Course, please visit: https://mandala.colouryourdream.co.uk/courses/

— This podcast is a quest for well-being, a quest for a meaningful life to the exploration of fundamental truths, enlightening ideas, insights on physical, mental, and spiritual health. The inspiration is Love. The aspiration is to awaken new ways of thinking that can lead us to a new way of being, being well.