One of the first things I need to do when telling people about my book or teaching a mandala class is to explain what a mandala is. I learned most of what I know from my brilliant mandala muse, Merry Norris, of MerryNovaStudio.com and Paul Heussenstamm of Mandalas.com. While writing Activate Divine Creativity: The Life-Changing Magic of the Mandala, I did a lot of research on this topic. The most basic definition of a mandala is “circle.” Mandala is a Sanskrit word that literally translates to “circle”. Ok, then why don’t I just teach people how to draw circles?
[read_more text="Read more" title="Read more" url="https://www.activatedivinecreativity.com/what-is-a-mandala/" align="left"]I met Paul Haussenstamm about 15 years ago through my mandala teacher, Merry Norris. Merry had studied with Paul for a couple of years and brought him into her home to do a colored pencil mandala workshop. I knew Paul was from California, but I wasn’t expecting him to look like an athletic surfer. Turns out, he was a surfer and in many ways, acted like a surfer, at least my stereotypical view of one. Kind of macho and funny and authentic. When it came to mandalas, Paul was 100% engaging. The story I remember him telling us
[read_more text="Read more" title="Read more" url="https://www.activatedivinecreativity.com/what-is-creativity-an-interview-with-paul-haussenstamm/" align="left"]How do you draw a mandala? (See video at the end of the blog post). While there are many ways to draw a mandala, my favorite is to get out a pad of paper, a pencil and start doodling one! I find my best mandala moments are spur of the moment and not thought out. This whole thing (the book, the workshops, retreats and blog) all started from a simple mandala doodle. Once I realized I could just draw one without special equipment (a compass, a ruler, etc), I couldn’t stop. The first mandala I just doodled
[read_more text="Read more" title="Read more" url="https://www.activatedivinecreativity.com/how-to-doodle-a-mandala/" align="left"]Here’s a wonderful book that makes a perfect companion to my book, Activate Divine Creativity, The Life-Changing Magic of the Mandala. I have been studying and creating mandalas since 2000. There are quite a few good books available, however I have found most of them are either way to dense and academic, or are full of what look like computer generated mandalas to color. I teach a 10 week class based on my book. It was during this class that I discovered The Mandala Guidebook: How to Draw, Paint and Color Expressive Mandala Art . While my
[read_more text="Read more" title="Read more" url="https://www.activatedivinecreativity.com/the-mandala-guidebook-book-review/" align="left"]I’ve decided to create adult coloring books with my mandala doodles. There are a few obvious reasons for this. I LOVE doodling mandalas. I love teaching others to doodle mandalas. I think mandalas can open up creative avenues in anyone who creates, colors or looks at them. Doodling is being recognized as a super powerful way to help people remember and be creative. Adult coloring books are extremely popular (they outsell all other books in the UK!) I’m an entrepreneur and I see this as a “holy shit!” way to earn money doing what I absolutely love to
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