We will soon be at the 1 year mark of the Mandala Exchange
and boy have our lives undergone changes since last July when our blog was born!
I’d like to say that at the very least we’ve inspired and encouraged each other
to create a life worth living.
We’ve
utilized this blog as a means to stay connected through the happenings of life
stressors.
Towards furthering the idea
of connectivity for sustainable self-care practices from time to time we’ll
post about the blog on Facebook.
I
equate it to submarine sonar.
We (semi)
blindly send-out a ping, and then wait and see what we get.
Recently we received a reply
ping; Nichole Hall-Permell, a dear
friend of the Mandala Exchange and creator of the
Magpie Tree.
Nichole can best be described (and she can correct me if I’m wrong) as a
wonderfully creative go-getter. She’s
empathetic and loving towards the needs of others and finds in art a soothing
escape. Nichole’s
been using these to relax at night after hectic days at the clinic where she
works.
“I've stashed a container of colored
pencils and ink pens next to the couch; makes it easy to go to when relaxing
and watching tv in the evening.”
On her Facebook she
recently indicated starting to explore Zentangling.
Zentangles are not by any means
new more so than starting to catch-on in
popularity.
Try googling Zentangles and
then look at the images, you will find a myriad of examples.
The primary idea can be equated with a ‘hodge-podge’
of patterns within a delineated shape or boundary.
In most cases the overall look is quite
pleasing and intricate.
The creators of
the Zentangle trademark give instructions similar to these on their webpage:
1.
To begin obtain (or cut) a small piece of paper:
3”x3” or bigger. I find that for a
beginner 3x3 or 4x4 is nice and manageable.
Bigger pieces will take longer and may become overwhelming. The idea here is that small means easy to
start, carry, and complete. Think of it
as a constructive distraction over a cup of coffee (in fact they can easily be ‘coaster-sized’).
2.
Set your parameters/framework. *use a pencil* To do so place a dot ¼”-in
from each corner and trace a light line from dot to dot creating a border. If
you like a deeper border or a thinner one take that into consideration. Your image will be within the border.
3.
Drop-the-string! *use a pencil* OK so this can
be a little vague but what the experts indicate by dropping the string is to ‘carelessly’
create some overlapping lines through the drawing space. As many or as little as you’d like. What you’re looking for is the spaces created
by the intersecting lines ie. The more lines the more sections and the less
lines the less sections.
4.
Inking. *from now-on use a pen* I prefer a
fine-tip sharpie. Now the fun
starts. You can either choose the shapes
you like and outline them or use the pencil lines as guides and plan to
zentangle between the pencil lines and erase the pencil later. Experiment with both. Whether you look online for staple patterns use
your immediate surroundings for inspiration now it’s the time to put the pen
where the paper is. Create a different
pattern in each section using the pen.
This means no erasing and lots of concentration. Which is the point!
In Nicholes’ doodling she noticed that she needed more
effective boundaries. From her past
studies as an art therapist (and probably before) she knew of the inherent
benefits the mandala could offer and so it was not at all shocking (to me) when
her Zentangle turned into a zendala. She
indicates that exploring with patterns within the mandala’s contruct allowed
her to ‘let-go’. I find the mandala to
have stickiness to it. In that once you
learn about it chances are you will come-back to it. Yes, my perspective may be biased but I do
find myself time and again doodling away and finding that I’ve once again
sketched the beginnings of a mandala! (It seems I may not be the only one!)
Challenge for this week: Google Zentangles and try it.
I have used them as a means to practice mindfulness for
myself and within my groups. If using it
with clients make sure you bring-in and share some examples of patterns (try
printing a variety from simple to complex).
Like with Sara’s coffee-cup mandalas and my 6” mandalas the selling
point is portability. In our never-stopping-break-skipping ultra
fast-paced day a small 3”x3” doodle doesn’t seem like much in terms of
investment. So go ahead and try it (I triple
dare you!). I can’t honestly say
that it isn’t habit forming, but if/when the addiction takes hold you will reap
the benefits of a good chocolate addiction without the caloric intake!
Happy doodling!
