Mandalas A Restful Retreat a Healing Symbol

Have you ever wanted to see inside yourself? I?m not talking about an X-ray of your internal organs but an up close and personal view of who you are in spiritual terms. Mandala art can bring forth information from within you that lets you know you?ve contacted a Higher Power.

Mandala is a Sanskrit word meaning circle. This sacred diagram or meditation symbol is usually circular and is a symbol of the Universe and its energy. It is used in Eastern and Native American medicine for healing body, soul, and spirit. Meditative contemplation of the mandala can bring the inner light of the soul to consciousness, activate hidden powers of the mind and open the heart chakra to the healing power of unconditional love.

When my husband and I were taking courses at American Institute of Holistic Theology, I took an elective class on Mandala art and he took Feng Shui. While I was shading and tinting on black paper creating designs that reflected my inner soul, Randy was arranging furniture, moving knickknacks and making sure each room had the proper color and placement of the five elements: earth, fire, water, wood and metal. One spring morning Randy came in from working in the yard and said that he wanted to start a Feng Shui mandala in our backyard. I could see in my mind a maze-like labyrinth with tall hedges and sacred coves to meditate, but he had a totally different idea. He wanted a flower garden that allowed energy to flow by following the Chinese art of color pattern and cardinal direction.

Randy took an iron pole and drove it into the ground at the center of our backyard. He tied a string to it and walked outward from the center pulling the string tightly and using it as a guide to mark a large circle where he intended to start our garden. He blessed the ground as a sacred place and then made a rough drawing of a design for the garden. Each quadrant features a color, a cardinal direction, and component of life associated with it. There is a goldfish pond in the north, a fire pit in the south, metal ornaments in the east and a wooden bench in the east. We've placed an altar in the middle where we leave gifts such as herbs, gem stones, coins and seeds to thank the gnomes and faeries who help our garden grow!

Our mandala garden progressed over the months and has become not only a restful place to meditate but a work of art that our neighbors and family enjoy with us. There's nothing quite like having a sip of tea and reading abook in a mandala garden!

Yvonne Perry is a metaphysical freelance writer and the owner of Write On! Creative Writing Services based in Nashville, Tennessee. She and her team of ghostwriters service clients all over the globe by offering quality writing on a variety of topics at an affordable price. If you need a brochure, web text, business document, resume, bio, article or book, visit http://www.yvonneperry.net.