MANDALA WORKSHOP:
Activating Creative Potential

APRIL 2000 / COSTA RICA / Regina Drumond

Regina Drumond is a psychologist in Brazil who uses the mandala in her workshops. Regina recently held a workshop at the 4th Congress of Creativity in San José, Costa Rica and submitted the following text and photos.

HUMAN MANDALAS:
Activating and Developing
Creative Potential

This workshop was developed at the 4th Congress of Creativity in San JosÈ, Costa Rica, in March 2000 and was coordinated with ACOCRE.

I am a psychologist working in the areas of organization and quality control, development of human resources and creativity. This workshop took place in Costa Rica with 43 adults working in various businesses such as banks, hotels, embassies, publicity and communication companies as well as government agencies.

The Objectives

  • To use the mandalas as a metaphor for teamwork
  • To work with the primary process of creativity -
    the intuition
  • To stimulate intuition and other potentials of the participants.

The Workshop

First I address the curiosity of the participants. I explain what the mandala is and how it relates to them.

Placed in the middle of the room was a beautiful crocheted cloth and a flaming candle. I explain the 4 elements: air, earth, fire and water and about how mandalas are created in Costa Rica (see photo).

Each participant received a geometric mandala to paint with the colors that they choose. After they complete their mandala, each person placed their artwork in the middle of the room, constructing, step by step, a group mandala (see photo).

We then danced around the collective mandala. I explain the different philosophical aspects of the mandala as well as the creative process itself.

The people then divide into small groups to create mandala ³teams.² Each team constructs a mandala made of different materials that represent each team members' personal creative expression.

It was an unforgetable experience for me and for all participants. They told me that they each experienced a personal discovery. Some of their discoveries included: how we are each different, what beautiful work we each created, how important the group synergy was, how we have mandalas in all parts of our lives.

After the workshop we all felt so relaxed and happy! Following the congress, the twelve facillitators got together to discuss the different workshops. ³Mandala² was the principal word used and discussed. The Mandala workshop had made a major impact on all involved, including the other facillitators!

Contact:
REGINA C. DRUMOND
RUA ESPIRITO SANTO 977
601 30160-031 BELO HORIZONTE - MG BRASIL
FONE : 55 31 226 66 25
FAX: 2263202
EMAIL: reginadrumond@uol.com.br