Video 1
Meditation
The process of laying a mandala is a deeply meditative one for Solas Art. Somehow by applying our attention to the meticulous placement of the materials in a repetitive fashion a deeply peaceful awareness is cultivated. With this quality of mind visiting us so regularly we developed a taste for it. So much so that it led us to integrate a daily meditative practice into our lives.
Meditation seems to come in as many forms as there are people on the planet. We have learnt some basic practices called the mindfulness of breathing and the cultivation of loving kindness. These practices are very soft but at the same time very potent. Their strength blossoms with consistency of practice rather than intensity.
These practices have helped us enormously with our mandala creativity. They have provided us with a space to digest and draw meaning from the intensity of experience that can occur when constructing.
We have also integrated the mindfulness of meditation back into the process of laying a mandala; most particularly by bringing awareness to each of the senses. The physicality of this work is very yogic and as we have become acquainted with awareness we have found it very fruitful to bring this awareness to each of our senses. This is very much in harmony with the journey towards wholeness that runs through the work. By reacquainting ourselves with our senses; particularly that threshold between the sense itself and the environment it can be a deeply rewarding exercise and acts as a sort of home coming.
Solas art would like to extend gratitude to the Dublin Buddhist Centre for their generosity of spirit in sharing these techniques with us and for the warm welcome always extended to us.
With kind permission from the wonderful teacher and author Paramananda we have included the introduction to our favourite book on meditation called Change Your Mind.
Change Your Mind - (click here to read article)
Since 1985 Paramananda has been teaching meditation and Buddhism full time in San Francisco and London, where he now lives. He sees meditation and Buddhism as power tools for both individual and social change, and believes that service to the community is a vital aspect of spiritual practice.
