It’s time… Hoffman’s annual mandala contest is here. The contest was created a couple years ago to engage our graduates (and now our Hoffman Essential participants!) in a fun activity to create from your spirit. It also comes with a prize and the opportunity to be included in Hoffman’s 2022 calendar.
What Is a Mandala?
What is a mandala, you may ask. Mandalas can be used as a way to visually express your internal feelings. They are a way to bypass the intellect and access the creative spirit that lives in us all. Though often used as spiritual symbolism, they have also appeared as art and as a way to interpret psychological meanings.
Carl Jung was a proponent of the mandala, noting that the urge to make them emerged during moments of intense personal growth. He gradually discovered the mandala was “…the Self, the wholeness of the personality, which, if all goes well, is harmonious.”
Harmony
The winner for the 2021 calendar, Lia May Byrd, explains why they are harmonious for her. “I love mandalas, because I can do/create anything I want (feel) with clear boundaries.”
She explains that she found inspiration to create the mandala for this 2021’s calendar in the Hoffman Process. She discovered that, “It’s quite a meditative process.”
While she was drawing the mandala, she let her intellect and emotional self dance. She also listened to the Hoffman playlist [on Spotify]. “I am in a childlike joy state; a place of knowing I can’t get it wrong,” she says.
Ready… Set… Color!
For anyone considering drawing a mandala, Lia says, “Do it, do it, do it! It’s a delightful journey and joy. You can’t do it wrong! I’m excited to see what you’ll create!”
Lia has already submitted a new mandala for this year’s contest. “I love the Hoffman Process and community, and I was happy for the excuse to draw a mandala. Especially drawing one that made me meditate on ‘Fierce Compassion.’”
We invite you to get out your Crayons, chalk, paints, colored pens/pencils. Let your emotions, intellect, and body play. Then submit your creation by end of day on February 28, 2021 for a chance to be part of the 2022 calendar, and maybe even win a virtual course.
All the details are here. We look forward to seeing your beauty on display!
The mandala at the top of this page is by Brian Bowen.