The monkey mind and the mandala
Lets talk about the body/mind connection.
How does it work, exactly? For starters, let's consider the monkey mind.
At any given moment, we all have a load of chit-chat streaming through our thoughts.
You recognize this phenomena: the familiar little monkey mind skittering up, down and all around your inner landscape, ceaselessly chattering, never at rest.
What's your monkey mind saying?
Do you ever get quiet and listen?
It may be repeating worries, fears, or other negative memes. I know mine does. Sometimes it gets the upper hand, like in the middle of the night when I'm lying awake, and it seems like everybody else on earth and their dog is snoozing peacefully.
Can this inner voice and its repetition of fears create underlying physical stress?
Some healers believe that negative thoughts, repeated ad nauseum by our monkey minds, can actually soften the way for infection in our bodies. I don’t know for sure.
One thing that's for sure is the amazing connection between the body and mind. One way to access and strengthen this body/mind connection is to draw. This is where art – the act of making art, that is – can actually help open the doors to healing.
Yep. Just pick up a colored pencil or marker, nudge your inner kid awake, and just draw.
Or you might want to try coloring in a delicious looking coloring book of mandalas. Coloring book for adults! What a country.
The claim is that many people who are ill or in the throws of a healing crisis find the act of coloring is quite helpful.
Hold on. Coloring is good for you?
Now we’re talking.
Mandala studies shows that when you are coloring, your conscious mind is turned off. The chatter is turned down at least. Similar to being in a dream state.
As the standard chatter recedes, your unconscious mind, which is vastly larger than the conscious tip of the iceberg, is able to get a word in edgewise. Answers to conundrums may suddenly pop into your mind. You may receive key information about the next step on your healing journey, because healing mechanisms can be triggered by the simple act of coloring.
When I heard about this, my inner coloring-book lover did a happy dance.
If there are inherent lessons in illness, I suspect it has to do with realizing that we must give 100% participation in our own cure. It's learning to accept that we've embarked on the hero’s journey.
A hero who has stepped onto a landmine and can't move off.
So let's face it. The hero needs tools. And maybe a fistful of colored markers.
Any kind of coloring will work. However, mandalas are special for many reasons, and probably the best kind of design to bring harmony to your senses because of their circular symmetry.
Try it.
You might think it's pure synchronicity, but while you are fully concentrating on coloring, you may be given a reprieve from your pain. If it works and you feel better, who cares if it's synchronicity or if it's some sort of mandala magic?
Art saves lives.
At the very least, it can calm the monkey mind for a few minutes and give us a break from its tiresome chatter.
With practice, it may strengthen the bridge between that vast part of us that is perfectly well, not affected by disease, and give our body the rest it needs to heal deeply.
No matter what the doctors say, no matter what anybody else says, no one lives inside our bodies but us.
Only we can really know how we feel, what we need, and in any given moment, what can make us healthier. Our bodies are magnificent, and capable of self-repair and self-healing beyond our wildest imaginings. I believe this.
How does it work, exactly? For starters, let's consider the monkey mind.
At any given moment, we all have a load of chit-chat streaming through our thoughts.
You recognize this phenomena: the familiar little monkey mind skittering up, down and all around your inner landscape, ceaselessly chattering, never at rest.
What's your monkey mind saying?
Do you ever get quiet and listen?
It may be repeating worries, fears, or other negative memes. I know mine does. Sometimes it gets the upper hand, like in the middle of the night when I'm lying awake, and it seems like everybody else on earth and their dog is snoozing peacefully.
Can this inner voice and its repetition of fears create underlying physical stress?
Some healers believe that negative thoughts, repeated ad nauseum by our monkey minds, can actually soften the way for infection in our bodies. I don’t know for sure.
One thing that's for sure is the amazing connection between the body and mind. One way to access and strengthen this body/mind connection is to draw. This is where art – the act of making art, that is – can actually help open the doors to healing.
Yep. Just pick up a colored pencil or marker, nudge your inner kid awake, and just draw.
Or you might want to try coloring in a delicious looking coloring book of mandalas. Coloring book for adults! What a country.
The claim is that many people who are ill or in the throws of a healing crisis find the act of coloring is quite helpful.
Hold on. Coloring is good for you?
Now we’re talking.
Mandala studies shows that when you are coloring, your conscious mind is turned off. The chatter is turned down at least. Similar to being in a dream state.
As the standard chatter recedes, your unconscious mind, which is vastly larger than the conscious tip of the iceberg, is able to get a word in edgewise. Answers to conundrums may suddenly pop into your mind. You may receive key information about the next step on your healing journey, because healing mechanisms can be triggered by the simple act of coloring.
When I heard about this, my inner coloring-book lover did a happy dance.
If there are inherent lessons in illness, I suspect it has to do with realizing that we must give 100% participation in our own cure. It's learning to accept that we've embarked on the hero’s journey.
A hero who has stepped onto a landmine and can't move off.
So let's face it. The hero needs tools. And maybe a fistful of colored markers.
Any kind of coloring will work. However, mandalas are special for many reasons, and probably the best kind of design to bring harmony to your senses because of their circular symmetry.
Try it.
You might think it's pure synchronicity, but while you are fully concentrating on coloring, you may be given a reprieve from your pain. If it works and you feel better, who cares if it's synchronicity or if it's some sort of mandala magic?
Art saves lives.
At the very least, it can calm the monkey mind for a few minutes and give us a break from its tiresome chatter.
With practice, it may strengthen the bridge between that vast part of us that is perfectly well, not affected by disease, and give our body the rest it needs to heal deeply.
No matter what the doctors say, no matter what anybody else says, no one lives inside our bodies but us.
Only we can really know how we feel, what we need, and in any given moment, what can make us healthier. Our bodies are magnificent, and capable of self-repair and self-healing beyond our wildest imaginings. I believe this.
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