Mandalas

I started to use mandalas as a part of my healing journey, evolving out of my travels through Asia. They are created and used by most cultures around the world. Tibetan Monks create sand mandalas as a representation of impermanence, destroying the mandala upon completion and throwing it into a body of water. The Hopi created medicine wheels; the Mayans great temples, the Egyptians pyramids, in England stone circles and in Ireland, passage tombs.

Mandalas have been used to "lift the veil of darkness, alleviate suffering of the body, mind and soul, returning us to the heart and revealing the essence of who we are." They help to unite the feminine and masculine energies. They are a symbol of the universe and the evolutionary stages of consciousness that we all move through in one form or another.

The Medicine Wheel Garden was the first mandala created upon moving to McKellar. Based on the teachings of two Native elders from the Durham Region, integrated with the teachings of the chakras, I began to create a garden reflecting the elements found within and without.

I filled the garden with medicinal herbs and flowers, and spent a great deal of time here. Only later did I realize that creating this garden symbolized my relationship with Mother Earth and what has become the foundation of my yoga teachings.

The spiral first spoke to me through my body as I would sit in meditation and feel my body literally begin to spiral as though the energy within was attempting to awaken something within me. The masculine and feminine energies are not separate except in our own minds where we have created duality and chose one energy over the other - the physical body or the mind/intellect. The spiral symbolizes their union and how we can understand and express both aspects simultaneously.

Embrace the spiral and experience the dance between these two beautiful energies.

The Hopi Labyrinth is a symbol of emergence, rebirth and creation, and is known as Mother Earth. It depicts our own journey through life and death or transitions we experience along the way, giving us opportunity to let go and move forward. When we hold on, energy becomes stuck and stagnant manifesting as a rigid body or mind, or possibly various symptoms or illness.

There are over 60 labyrinths located throughout Ontario, and they can also be found in most parts of the world, including France, Sweden, England, India, Peru and the American south-west. www.labyrinthnetwork.ca

This 7-path Hopi Labyrinth is available to walk, so please call and come by to experience a labyrinth, slowing down and moving within.

Yantras are symbols of a deity and become their dwelling place, used to invoke a particular energy. The Ten Mahavidyas whose yantras I created are based on Hindu Culture and each represent an aspect or quality of the Goddess or Shakti, the Divine Mother.

Construction and painting of a yantra creates one-pointed ness and concentration. It requires discipline, accuracy and patience. The geometrical forms of the yantra activate the right hemisphere which is visual and non-verbal and the symbolic nature of a yantra triggers the left hemisphere, whereby the individual and universal consciousness become One.

Durga is the combination of all aspects of the Divine Mother and is known for her ability to destroy disharmony, poverty, suffering, famine, injustice, cruelty and evil habits, and to restore balance. She symbolizes the nondualistic existence of consciousness and seeks not to destroy evil and darkness in the sense of violence or anger but to transform it into Light, Love & Truth. "Durga" literally means "invincible".

Home Blog Mandala Yoga Massage

Yoga Teacher Training Workshops Links Connect