The first thing I answer in mandala classes is “What is a mandala? While I wrote the book, Activate Divine Creativity: The Life-Changing Magic of the Mandala, I did a lot of research on this topic, and it’s fascinating. A mandala is a combination of sacred geometry, which is always perfect, and precise, with creativity, which is messy and original. Mandalas are beautiful and interesting. Mandalas are created from sound waves, mandalas are created by fish in the bottom of the ocean as they dance (swimmingly) close enough to the sand to create a mandala. I
Read more →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 →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 →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 →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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