Printable and Online Mandala Coloring Pages
Circular Design Color Sheet Activities for Relaxation and Meditation
Nov 9, 2009
The mandala, a circular, concentric design pattern, or symbolic diagram, can assist one in focusing attention, achieving a meditative trance, or making personal discoveries. Mandalas carry ritual significance in Indian spiritual traditions, such as Buddhism and Hinduism, but also occur in various traditions. The psychoanalyst, Carl Jung, perceived the mandala as "a representation of the unconscious self" in his book Mandala Symbolism (Princeton University Press, 1972).
What Does Mandala Mean?
The meaning of the Sanskrit word, mandala, includes the concepts of "essence," "containing," "circle," "cycle," and "closure." The mandala symbolizes wholeness. It can symbolize wholeness of personality or otherwise represent a microcosm of the universe.
Circular activities give participants the sense of purpose and safety in knowing what to expect and where they are going, physically or psychically. Children's activities such as "circle time" take advantage of the calming effect of cycles of activity and the closure of one activity before moving on to another.
Mandalas can also help people of all ages develop and strengthen intuition. Mandala coloring sheets provide a way for parents and other caregivers to nurture a child's intuition, giving the child an opportunity for reflection and contemplation in an otherwise busy day.
Mandala Coloring Designs
Parents can use the following online resources to create and color mandala designs with children.
Online Kea Mandalas Coloring Book
Kea coloring books open an online painting program in a separate window, allowing users to choose from a selection of brushes, tools, and paints, including a paint mixing drawer, to color mandala coloring pages. The mandala design lines stay on top, leaving neat and clear colored mandalas. The coloring application allows users to save, print, and email completed mandala images. Each mandala coloring page includes Celtic harp music by Adragante: Les cordes de l'âme.
Printable Coloring Castle Mandalas
Coloring Castle coloring pages feature contemporary mandala designs with hearts, stars, sun, moon, and fire patterns. The PDF format images require the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view and print.
The act of coloring mandalas focuses attention and can aid one in transitioning into a meditative state. For example, when meditating with children, mandala coloring can help children move into the relaxed and focused trance state necessary for meditation.
Mandalas Symbols in Many Traditions
- In Hinduism, the term yantra refers to the mandala;
- In Tibetan Buddhism, the term kyil khor refers to the mandala;
- In some Native American traditions, the medicine wheel (sacred hoop) and the dream catcher;
- In Australian indigenous tradition, the Bora Ring;
- In Wicca, the pentacle;
- In Judaism, the Star of David; and
- In Christianity, the Crown of Thorns, the Celtic Cross, and the Rosary resemble mandala forms.
Mandalas serve many purposes from simply aesthetic and creative to ritual, meditative, and healing. People of all ages – parents, caregivers and children – can enjoy and benefit from coloring or designing mandalas.
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