Introduction
The word ‘mandala’ is based on Indian origin and comes from the Sanskrit language. It is translated to indirectly mean ‘circle’. However, a mandala is known to be of a simple shape. Mandala is observed in most organizations since it is represents wholeness and constitutes a cosmic diagram which reflects relation to an infinite universe. It represents the world that is beyond the body and mind. Theorists suggest that Mandala is present in all aspects of life and represents material and non-material entities. It is closely related to the celestial circles such as the sun, moon, and the earth. It is believed to be related to the conceptual circles of life and relationships such as the community, friends, and family (Stuckey, H. L., & Nobel, J. 2010).
Psychologists utilize the mandala which is a popular art form in order to evaluate the subconscious mind and though process with the help of symbolism of nurses. Nurse leaders and educators have adopted mandala as a means of learning and self-awareness among nurse professionals. Mandala is used popularly among recent graduate nurses in order to understand and evaluate emotional intelligence and learning. Theorists and psychologists study graduates with the help of hermeneutic phenomenology. In a recent study, participants were found to diverge from their expected experiences and observed a sense of expression of ‘self’ with a robust means of learning and conceptualizing. Based on past records, nurses have experiences a sense of self-discovery and socialization through nurse education. Implementation of mandala is known to bring about critical and self-reflection among nurses. Most nurses educators, theorists, and psychologists consider the implementation of mandala as an alternative form of transformative and emotional learning. According to the Tibetan Buddhists, the mandala constitutes of five excellences: The teacher, message, audience, site, and time. The mandala is incomplete without the audience and the teacher and hence it is important to understand the 5 stages (Aliakbari, F., et al. 2015).
The Teacher: The teacher forms the core part of the mandala. The teacher symbolizes the group or audience to whom the message and teachings would be taught. The teacher (nurse educator) would explain and bring about a sense of wholeness among the audience (graduate nurses). The teacher would teach based on experience and personal views at the site with an aim to improvise the system (Sampaio Filho, et al. 2015 and Aliakbari, F., et al. 2015).
The Message: The message often is the main teaching that would be conveyed among subordinate and graduate nurses. The message is often taught well in advance keeping in mind the requirements of nurses. The various supporters for a given task would also be discussed among the audience. In a mandala it is often dispersed which reflects the spread of knowledge across the audience (Sampaio Filho, et al. 2015).
The Audience: Among nursing profession, recent graduates and nurses are target audience who would develop new skills and knowledge. It is the responsibility of the nurse to convey the message among the audience which represents the mandala as a whole.
The Site: The site is a core part of the mandala which reflects where the teaching and target audience would be present. In nursing, a classroom setting or conference room could be the site to convey the message where, nurse educator is the teacher and recent nurses the audience. In the mandala the site is either represented by a different colour or present as a distinct layer or structure (Schlitz, M., & Valentina, E. 2013).
The Time: It is important to organize the teaching process and time forms a critical factor among nurses. The teacher would also discuss the timeframe taken to complete a given task among the audience. In the mandala, the time is often in the centre of the circle and is connected to all the four layers/colours/structures. It reflects the timeframe for both the teacher and audience in order to initiate and complete a task. Thus, the mandala is a unique artistic form of teaching among the nursing profession (Stuckey, H. L., & Nobel, J. 2010).
References
Aliakbari, F., Parvin, N., Heidari, M., & Haghani, F. (2015). Learning theories application in
nursing education. Journal of Education and Health Promotion, 4, 2. http://doi.org/10.4103/2277-9531.151867
Schlitz, M., & Valentina, E. (2013). Twelve Essential Tools for Living the Life of Whole
Person Health Care. The Permanente Journal, 17(4), e155–e157. http://doi.org/10.7812/TPP/13-089
Sampaio Filho, C. I. N., Moreira, A. A., Andrade, R. F. S., Herrmann, H. J., & Andrade, J. S.
(2015). Mandala Networks: ultra-small-world and highly sparse graphs. Scientific Reports, 5, 9082. http://doi.org/10.1038/srep09082
Stuckey, H. L., & Nobel, J. (2010). The Connection Between Art, Healing, and Public
Health: A Review of Current Literature. American Journal of Public Health, 100(2), 254–263. http://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2008.156497
