Water Mandala Links

 

Water:

Water - H2O - consisting of just three atoms (one oxygen and two hydrogen), is an extraordinary substance with very unique properties.  Because of these properties, some of which are described below, water is literally the foundation of all life on earth.Water - Wikipedia article about the properties and importance of water.

Everything you always wanted to know about Drinking Water - Drinking water contaminants, health effects of contaminants, and the advantages and disadvantages of various water treatment methods.
Water Quotes

A Gentle Introduction to Water and its Structure - A chemist's view of the world is not as narrow as one might think! Yes, we start with the atom, and then go on to the rules governing the kinds of structural units that can be made from them. We are taught early on to predict the properties of bulk matter from these geometric arrangements. And then we come to H2O, and are shocked to find that many of these predictions are way off, and that water (and by implication, life itself) should not even exist on our planet! But we soon learn that this tiny combination of three nuclei and ten electrons possesses special properties that make it unique amoung the more than 15 million chemical species we presently know.

Water Structure and Science - Water (H2O) is often perceived to be ordinary as it is transparent, odorless, tasteless and ubiquitous. It is the simplest compound of the two most common reactive elements, consisting of just two hydrogen atoms attached to a single oxygen atom. Indeed, very few molecules are smaller or lighter. Liquid water, however, is the most extraordinary substance.

H2O - The Mystery, Art, and Science of Water - Water is a Chemical!? Indeed! Water is one of our most plentiful chemicals. Its chemical formula, H20, is probably the most well known of all chemical formulas.

Water - Wikipedia article about the properties and importance of water. Read an article on the Water Molecule.

Animated essentials of water and pH - Don't forget to click the "play" button.

Water Properties - What are the physical and chemical properties of water that make it so unique and necessary for living things? When you look at water, taste and smell it - well, what could be more boring? Pure water is virtually colorless and has no taste or smell. But the hidden qualities of water make it a most interesting subject.

Water – nature's magician - Water is the solvent, the medium and the participant in most of the chemical reactions occurring in our environment. Water is at once simple and complex. A water molecule itself is simple, made up of three atoms: two hydrogen and one oxygen, H20. The configuration of these building blocks produces a molecule with almost magical properties.

 

The Circle:

the circle is defined as the set of all points that are the same distance from a given point, called the center. That distance is called the radius.The Circle - This article is about the shape and mathematical concept of circle.

Circles and Spheres - From the Geometry Junkyard with some interesting digressions into circular fractals.

The Circle: Paradox and Paradigm - The circle is an object of nature, an idealization of pure mathematics, and a symbol or framework we use to understand and describe our world. The circle exists independently of human thought, as ripples in a pond, or the appearance of the sun and moon, or the shape of the iris of an eye. In mathematics, we choose to define a circle as the places at a constant distance from a center, usually in two dimensions. In this article, we look back at world history and the varied uses of the circle: literal and literary, physical and poetical, mathematical, metaphorical and mystical.

Circle - The circle is such a common shape that we take it for granted ... but there is more to it that just a common shape. Mathematically, the circle is defined as the set of all points that are the same distance from a given point, called the center. That distance is called the radius. The word radius comes from the Latin word for rod or spoke of a wheel, and the radii, or spokes, radiate out from the center.

Circles of light - How are rainbows formed? Why do they only occur when the sun is behind the observer? If the sun is low on the horizon, at what angle in the sky should we expect to see a rainbow? This lab helps to answer these and other questions by examining a mathematical model of light passing through a water droplet.

The Circle, The Wheel of Fortune & The Rose Window - From Geometry in Art and Architecture.

Sacred Destinations/ - Not strictly about circles, but many of the destinations feature artifacts based on the circle, mandala, or other images described on this site.

Quartered Circle symbolism - Living Life’s Circle: Mescalero Apache Cosmovision

 

The Mandala:

Mandala - Mandala (Sanskrit mandala "essence" + "having" or "containing", also translates as "circle-circumference" or "completion", both derived from the Tibetan term dkyil khor) is a concentric diagram having spiritual and ritual significance in both Buddhism and Hinduism.

The Mandala Project - The word "mandala" is from the classical Indian language of Sanskrit. Loosely translated to mean "circle," a mandala is far more than a simple shape. It represents wholeness, and can be seen as a model for the organizational structure of life itself--a cosmic diagram that reminds us of our relation to the infinite, the world that extends both beyond and within our bodies and minds.

The Mandala - Sacred Geometry and Art - Perhaps the most admired and discussed symbol of Buddhist religion and art is the mandala, a word which, like guru and yoga, has become part of the English language. Its popularity is underscored by the use of the word mandala as a synonym for sacred space in scholarship world over, and by its presence in English-language dictionaries and encyclopedias.

The Wheel of Life - Aesthetics of Suffering and Salvation - This diagram serves as a powerful inspiration to spiritual aspirants and is painted to the left of all Tibetan monasteries, offering an opportunity to both monks and pilgrims alike, to look deeply into their own inner beings.

The Buddhist Wheel of Life - The Wheel of Life illustrates in a popular way the essence of the Buddhist teachings, the Four Truths: the existence of earthly suffering, its origin and cause, the ending or prevention of misery and the practice path to liberation from suffering.

The Kalacakra (Wheel of Existence) - The Kalacakra is a well-known Buddhist image that illustrates important Buddhist teachings. The circle represents the cycle of birth and rebirth, and the images inside illustrate the forces that keep beings trapped in this cycle.

Twelve Marvelous Mandalas - Twelve Mandala Drawings I picked up in a card shop in London around 1979, corresponding (apparently) to the astrological signs of the zodiac. Cartoons & Mandalas - I doodle. I doodle cartoons and mandalas.

The Center of the Circle, a Mandala Resource - We offer this site as a free service and work hard to keep our information up-to-date and to make this the best single source for mandala information on the Web.

mandala: Buddhist Tantric Diagrams - The word dkyil khor means "center-circumference," and describes both the essential geometric structure and ritual significance of mandalas.

Centered - Still - THE WHEEL: The wheel is a common symbol of the Buddha’s teaching, of truth, and can be seen as a simple mandala. As it turns, the centre remains still while everything else turns around it. From the micro level of atoms and molecules, to the macro level of planets and their orbits, circles and spheres are found in every aspect of our experience, and seen used in the symbology of many primitive and tribal cultures.

Early Tibetan Mandalas: The Rossi Collection - The Rossi Collection has been exhibited in Paris, France; Maastricht, Holland; and most recently in Peaceful Wind Gallery, Santa Fe, NM from Sept. 16 - October 29, 1994. The exhibition features 14 fine Tibetan paintings of mandalas dating from the 13th to the 16th centuries, drawn from the collections of Rossi & Rossi, London.

Mandala Zone - Mandalas have been the focus of meditation, contemplation and admiration for years too numerous to count. Since before the dawn of recorded history, humanity's intimate connection to the mandala has been a vibrant link to our universal ancestry. It is a sacred diagram that displays the structure of the spirit and the interwoven nature of the cosmos.

The Kalachakra Mandala - The best known form of the Kalachakra mandala is the sand mandala, for which colored sand grains are painstakingly placed. This sand drawing represents a 3-dimensional palace of which every single detail has a symbolic meaning. A mandala is a symbolic representation of many aspects of a specific tantra. In the Kalachakra tantra, all elements of the mandala refer to the universe (outer Kalachakra), the body and mind (inner Kalachakra) and the practice (initiation, generation and completion stages). Every detail of the mandala, from each deity to every adornments of the building, refers to time and the universe (Outer Kalachakra), physical and mental aspects of Kalachakra and ourselves (Inner Kalachakra), and also to aspects of the practice (Alternative Kalachakra).

Mandala - I have made en little sequence about Tibetan Buddhism, especially the mandala:

the Sun Stone, or the Stone of AxayacatlThe Aztec calendar - The Aztec calendar is the calendar system that was used by the Aztecs as well as other Pre-Columbian peoples of central Mexico. The Aztec calendar also demonstrates many characteristics of the Mandala

An introduction to the Aztec calendar - The Calendar and the Sun Stone: Mistakenly, one often refers to the Sun Stone, or the Stone of Axayacatl, as the Aztec Calendar. This sculpure does depict the 20 daysigns, and even the four era's of Suns that preceeded the current Fifth Sun but is was not used as a calendar. Instead it was used as a sacrifical altar. So, what actually is the Aztec calendar?

Mythical Ireland - Is there an astronomical meaning to Stone Age symbols? Ancient circular imagery is discussed.

 

Mandalas and Rose Windows

North Rose Window of Notre Dame de Paris. The Rose Windows of the Gothic era exemplify the radiance of spirit perceived by medieval architects.South Rose Window of Notre Dame de Paris.Rose Windows - The Rose Windows of the Gothic era exemplify the radiance of spirit perceived by medieval architects. Among the grandest developments of the European creative mind, these elaborate craft works represent a sacred concept of completeness and balance. For example The North window of Notre Dame de Paris - The magnificent roses of the transepts at Notre Dame date to 1250-60. Unlike most of the glass in Paris, and much of France, these two contain nearly all of their original elements. The ravages of time and war destroyed a majority of the great glass works of the Middle Ages, though human arrogance also took its toll. By the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the distaste for Medieval styles was prevalent across Europe. In efforts to modernize the churches and cathedrals, windows were callously smashed out and replaced with a lightly tinted glass called grisaille. In the nineteenth century some of these works were restored. Sadly, there no longer existed an extant tradition which supported the same degree of craft evident in such masterpieces as the roses of Notre Dame de Paris and Chartres.

Notre Dame: South Rose Window - The three rosettes Notre-Dame de Paris are one of the greatest masterpieces of Christianity. The South Rose Window was a gift from the king Saint Louis. Information on Rosettes.

South Rose Window of Chartres CathedralImages of Medieval Art and Architecture: France - Chartres Cathedral - Large Rose Windows. Click on one of the window icons to view a linked diagram for that window.

Rose Windows - A Rose window (or Catherine window) is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in churches of the Gothic architectural style and being divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery.

The Virtual Gothic Cathedral - Chapter 2. Stained Glass: Painting With Light. Gothic architecture really began in the 12th century with Abbot Suger, who in his description of the ideal church wanted to fill his Abbey Church of St. Denis, near Paris, with "the most radiant windows."

North Rose Window of Chartres CathedralThe Geometry of Rose Windows - Many people are interested in actually seeing how geometry was applied in the art of sacred traditions worldwide. One fine example involves the north rose window of the North Rose Window of Chartres Cathedral. Clearly, it is geometrically designed. But do you know how?
The West Rose Window of The Cathedral Of St. John The Divine in New York City - One of this Cathedral's key features is its west Rose Window above the main entrance facing the light of the afternoon and setting sun. From inside, the rose window is glorious in its design and colorful radiance.
The site also describes the geometry of the Rose Window of Grace Cathedral San Francisco.

Rose Window Images, including: Notre Dame Cathedral, Canterbury Cathedral, Chartres Cathedral, and Reims Cathedral

Christian Symbolism and Circles - ...But what of the use of circles in Christianity? Huge, circular "rose" windows were found in many cathedrals in Europe, and it is interesting to note that the symbols found in many of these windows were often similar or identical to symbols found in the zodiac--another ancient circle...

Symbols of World Religion - Many show some circular symmetry.

Mandala Therapy

Creating Mandalas - Mandalas are found among the most ancient art forms created by human beings. Rock carvings found all over the world incorporate the circular form and its variations such as spirals, crosses, concentric circles. It is thought that they express worshipful awe of nature’s cycles and the mysteries of life and death. The alternation of day and night, the ever-changing moon, and the rhythms of the seasons are aptly expressed by circular designs. These natural occurrences became the foundation for a worldview based on circles.

30-Minute Mandalas Coloring Book - Coloring a mandala is the perfect combination of active meditation and color therapy. It's a unique blend of spiritual insight and mental healing that has been used for thousands of years.

Carl Jung and the Mandala - I saw that everything, all paths I had been following, all steps I had taken, were leading back to a single point -- namely, to the mid-point. It became increasingly plain to me that the mandala is the centre. It is the exponent of all paths. It is the path to the centre, to individuation. ... I knew that in finding the mandala as an expression of the self I had attained what was for me the ultimate.

The Healing Nature of Mandalas - Mandalas in therapy were first used by Carl Jung, who found that the act of drawing mandalas had a calming and healing effect on patients while at the same time facilitating psychic integration... Using the rationale of Pennebaker’s written disclosure paradigm, the primary purpose of the present study was to examine the benefits for those suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) of processing traumatic events through the creation of mandalas. Benefits to participants were measured in terms of changes in the variables of PTSD symptoms, depressive symptoms, anxiety, spiritual meaning, and the frequency of occurrence of physical symptoms and illness. Relative to those in the control condition, individuals assigned to the experimental mandala-creation group reported greater decreases in symptoms of trauma at the 4-week follow up. Such results should motivate research evaluating benefits to individuals who are either reluctant or unable to write about their experiences, or who prefer visual-spatial to verbal exercises.

High-Tech Mandalas

LHC - The Large Hadron Collider -  the aim of the exercise: To smash protons moving at 99.999999% of the speed of light into each other and so recreate conditions a fraction of a second after the big bang. The LHC experiments try and work out what happened. The Large circumference. The tunnel is buried around fifty to 175 meters underground. It straddles the Swiss and French borders on the outskirts of Geneva. "Particle physics is the unbelievable in pursuit of the unimaginable. To pinpoint the smallest fragments of   the universe you have to build the biggest machine in the world. To recreate the first millionths of a second of creation you have to focus energy on an awesome scale." The Guardian
Mandala-Like Images

About the LHC - The LHC is the latest and most powerful in a series of particle accelerators that, over the last 70 years, have allowed us to penetrate deeper and deeper into the heart of matter and further and further back in time. The next steps in the journey will bring new knowledge about the beginning of our Universe and how it works, as the LHC recreates, on a microscale, conditions that existed billionths of a second after the birth of our Universe.

At the Heart of All Matter: The hunt for the God particle - If you were to dig a hole 300 feet straight down from the center of the charming French village of Crozet, you'd pop into a setting that calls to mind the subterranean lair of one of those James Bond villains. A garishly lit tunnel ten feet in diameter curves away into the distance, interrupted every few miles by lofty chambers crammed with heavy steel structures, cables, pipes, wires, magnets, tubes, shafts, catwalks, and enigmatic gizmos.
This technological netherworld is one very big scientific instrument, specifically, a particle accelerator-an atomic peashooter more powerful than any ever built. It's called the Large Hadron Collider, and its purpose is simple but ambitious: to crack the code of the physical world; to figure out what the universe is made of; in other words, to get to the very bottom of things.
Related Article

Large Hadron Collider nearly ready - The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a 27 kilometer (17 mile) long particle accelerator straddling the border of Switzerland and France, is nearly set to begin its first particle beam tests. The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) is preparing for its first small tests in early August, leading to a planned full-track test in September - and the first planned particle collisions before the end of the year. The final step before starting is the chilling of the entire collider to -271.25 C
(-456.25 F). Here is a collection of photographs from CERN, showing various stages of completion of the LHC and several of its larger experiments (some over seven stories tall), over the past several years. (27 photos total) Great pictures - many parts of the LHC demonstrate mandala characteristics.

LHC - Photos of the construction of the LHC - interesting in that you can drag an image and view the area in 360 degrees and zoom in and out as well.

More pictures of the LHC Here, Here, Here, & Here (some duplication)

Heavenly Mandalas

Spiral Galaxy NCG 4622 Hubblesite Gallery - Capture the extraordinary. Explore the universe through Hubble's eye, and witness the most dangerous, spectacular and mysterious depths of the cosmos. Most images are spectacular and truly open the universe to our gaze. Galaxy collection - several hundred images; many mandala patterns.Spiral Galaxy, M81

Multiwavelength M81 - A beautiful image of a spectacular spiral galaxy. Spiral Galaxies

Messier Objects - Small images of all the Messier Objects is shown - there are many "Mandala" images here.

 

Fractals, The Fibonacci series, & The Golden Ratio:

Fractal - A fractal is generally "a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-size copy of the whole," a property called self-similarity. The term was coined by Benoît Mandelbrot in 1975 and was derived from the Latin fractus meaning "broken" or "fractured."

What are Fractals? - A key characteristic of fractals is self-similarity. This means that similar structure is observed at many scales.

Demonstration of how a Koch snowflake is made.Koch Snowflake - A really interesting characteristic of the Koch Snowflake is its perimeter. Ordinarily, when you increase the perimeter of a geometric figure, you also increase its area. If you have a square with a huge perimeter, it also has a huge area. The perimeter of the Koch Snowflake gets bigger and bigger with each step. But what about the area? Imagine drawing a circle around the original figure. No matter how large the perimeter gets, the area of the figure remains inside the circle. So, the Koch Snowflake has an infinite perimeter that encloses a finite area.

Lightning exhibits characteristics of fractals.

17 Captivating Fractals Found in Nature - Fractals: they’re famously found in nature and artists have created some incredible renderings as well. Fractals are purely a wonder - too irregular for Euclidean geometry; iterative and recursive and seemingly infinite. They turn up in food and germs, plants and animals, mountains and water and sky. Here are seventeen stunning examples:

Fractals - A fractal is a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be subdivided in parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-size copy of the whole. Fractals are generally self-similar and independent of scale."
"There are many mathematical structures that are fractals; e.g. Sierpinski triangle, Koch snowflake, Peano curve, Mandelbrot set, and Lorenz attractor. Fractals also describe many real-world objects, such as clouds, mountains, turbulence, and coastlines, that do not correspond to simple geometric shapes.

Snow flakes exhibit characteristics of fractals.

SnowCrystals.com - This site is all about snow crystals and snowflakes -- what they are, where they come from, and just how these remarkably complex and beautiful structures are created, quite literally, out of thin air.  These snowflake images were taken by the world's foremost snowflake photographer, Kenneth G. Libbrecht of Caltech.  In response to a question about Masaru Emoto's books, which include The Hidden Messages in Water, in which he claims that water responds to thoughts and words to produce different kinds of crystals, Dr. Libbrecht replies, "...If you think it defies common sense that water does this, you are right. In fact water does not respond to thoughts and feelings - it's just water...  Have I tried to reproduce Mr. Emoto's experiments? No, and I don't intend to. While I try to keep an open mind to new ideas, this one is just too outrageous. I only have limited time and resources, so I study ideas that I think are more likely to be fruitful. As we liked to say back on the farm in North Dakota -- it's good to have an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out!"

A demonstration of the Fibonacci Series, golden ratio, golden rectangle, and several of the patterns in nature that reflect these relationships. The GoldenNumber.Net exists to share information on the pervasive appearance of Phi, 1.618... , in life and the universe. Its goal is to present a broad sampling of phi related topics in an engaging and easy-to-understand format and to provide an online community (aka The Phi Nest™), in which new findings about Phi can be shared. Select an area of interest. Enjoy the 'phi nomenon'!
Phi for Neo-phi-tes
- Phi ( 1.618033988749895... ), most often pronounced fi like "fly," is simply an irrational number like pi (3.14159265358979... ), but one with many unusual mathematical properties. Unlike pi, which is a transcendental number, phi is the solution to a quadratic equation.
The Divine Proportion and Life
- The design of life is based on a "Golden Ruler™". It has long been known that the Golden Section, or Divine Proportion, appears in certain proportions of living organisms. In 1997, I began to wonder how universal this was and how far it could be applied. I took a golden section of a line not just once, but many times, to form what I like to call the "golden ruler," shown as follows...

Golden Ratio - In mathematics and the arts, two quantities are in the golden ratio if the ratio between the sum of those quantities and the larger one is the same as the ratio between the larger one and the smaller. The golden ratio is an irrational mathematical constant, approximately 1.6180339887.

The sunflower is a beautiful demonstration of patterns found in nature.SunFlower: the Fibonacci sequence, Golden Section - The head of a flower is made up of small seeds which are produced at the center, and then migrate towards the outside to fill eventually all the space (as for the sunflower but on a much smaller level). Each new seed appears at a certain angle in relation to the preceding one. For example, if the angle is 90 degrees, that is 1/4 of a turn. Great picture of a sunflower!

Sunflower - If this picture doesn't put a smile on your face, nothing will.

Sunflower

Lightsource Arts: Sacred Geometry - The strands of our DNA, the cornea of our eye, snow flakes, pine cones, flower petals, diamond crystals, the branching of trees, a nautilus shell, the star we spin around, the galaxy we spiral within, the air we breathe, and all life forms as we know them emerge out of timeless geometric codes.
The designs of exalted holy places from the prehistoric monuments at Stonehenge and the Pyramid of Khufu at Giza, to the world's great cathedrals, mosques, and temples are based on these same principles of sacred geometry.

he Sunflower Mandala: A Universal Growth Pattern of Expansion and Contraction - The Sunflower Mandala exercise will remind you of a dynamic motion found in the Natural World. Experience the beautiful principle of infolding and unfolding as you work and participate in a creative process which is timeless and universal. Also: Nautilus Shell Spiral | Snowflake Pattern | Six-Around-One

Images of roses in Flickr - not all show the Fibonacci spiral, but most are beautiful.The Fibonacci Series - The Fibonacci Series The Fibonacci Series is a sequence of numbers first created by Leonardo Fibonacci (fi-bo-na-chee) in 1202. It is a deceptively simple series, but its ramifications and applications are nearly limitless. It has fascinated and perplexed mathematicians for over 700 years, and nearly everyone who has worked with it has added a new piece to the Fibonacci puzzle, a new tidbit of information about the series and how it works.

Golden Ratio in Art and Architecture - An exploration with the golden ratio offers opportunities to connect an understanding the conceptions of ratio and proportion to geometry. The mathematical connections between geometry and algebra can be highlighted by connecting Phi to the Fibonacci numbers and some golden figures. Also, the golden ratio is a good topic to introduce historic and aesthetic elements to a mathematical concept, because we can find that not a few artists and architects were connected with the golden ratio of their works through much of the art history.

Fibonacci Numbers and The Golden Section in Art, Architecture and Music - This section introduces you to some of the occurrences of the Fibonacci series and the Golden Ratio in architecture, art and music.

The Relation of Fibonacci Numbers to the Golden Spiral - The golden spiral can be created using the golden ratio or the golden rectangle . Did you know it could also be created using Fibonacci numbers?

The Golden Doodle - A Flash application you can use to explore some graphic patterns. Some don't make much sense, but several are interesting.

Museum of Harmony and Golden Section - You have got in surprising world, where you will learn a lot of new and mysterious that encircle you, and about what you, probably, did not know earlier. Our project is called a "Virtual Museum of Harmony and Golden Section", because the exhibits in form of photos are collected in it and it is only in the Internet, but actually all things of our Earth and of all our Universe are exhibits of our Museum. (English version of a Russian site)

Golden Section and Photography - all the experienced photographers know the "golden" rules of composition and use them almost innately. But until you start to use these simple rules without thinking, you need to practice, think what is better, and read about these rules.

Orthogons: a subconscious language in lines, dimension and space - Orthogons are simply space relationships repeated any direction within a work. Often a few relationships (small, medium and large) form a very powerful piece.

Homeopathy:

National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Questions and Answers about Homeopathy - Homeopathy ("home-ee-AH-pah-thy"), also known as homeopathic medicine (A whole medical system that originated in Europe. Homeopathy seeks to stimulate the body's ability to heal itself by giving very small doses of highly diluted substances that in doses would produce illness or symptoms (an approach called "like cures like")., is a form of health care that developed in Germany and has been practiced in the United States since the early 19th century. Homeopathic practitioners are commonly called homeopaths. This fact sheet answers some frequently asked questions on homeopathy and reviews scientific research on its use and effectiveness.

What is Homeopathy? - Homeopathy is based on the idea that large doses of a substance cause a symptom, while very small doses of that same substance will cure it. Homeopathy was developed by an 18th century German doctor, Samuel Hahnemann, who founded a system based on the ancient concept of "like cures like." Substances that cause a certain symptom in a person are given to the person to relieve those symptoms... ...Homeopathy's only medical danger lies in postponing recognized, proven treatment for major diseases or serious problems that are best diagnosed and treated as early as possible.

Music Therapy:
This section is included because a number of companies expose their products (particularly water) to music and claim that the product can then communicate the healing effects of the music to you.

Research has indeed found that music can benefit the body and soul, reduce perception of pain and anxiety and aid relaxation. However, music is intended to be listened to, performed, interacted with, and appreciated directly—with your ears, mind, and body.  Attempts to transmit the faint echoes of music through water or other substance can only dilute its power. Treated water, for example, can not transmit the beauty and power of a musical composition directly to your consciousness where it will be most effective. Compare a drink of H2Om water taken in silence with a drink of Mandala Water taken while listening to a Beethoven symphony (or your special piece of music). Which experience is more powerful, moving, and fulfilling?

Some Music Therapy Resources:
The American Music Therapy Association - Music Therapy is an established healthcare profession that uses music to address physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of individuals of all ages. Music therapy improves the quality of life for persons who are well and meets the needs of children and adults with disabilities or illnesses. Music therapy interventions can be designed to:  promote wellness, manage stress, alleviate pain, promote physical rehabilitation, enhance memory, express feelings, and improve communication. Explore the site's:
FAQs, Journal Abstracts, Music Therapy Perspectives , Stories About Music Therapy, Journal of Music Therapy.

Music, Mood and Mind: Strains that Soothe and Stir - Music therapy. It sounds newfangled and novel�like something on either the cutting edge or the fringe of useful medical practice. But the therapeutic value of music is ancient. One of Shakespeare's characters called music "the food of love" and claimed that it soothed his rocky love life. That was in 1601.

Devotional music and healing in Badakhshan, Tajikistan: preventive and curative practices (doctoral dissertation by  Benjamin David Koen) - Musical and poetic analysis draws on local, power-laden cultural symbols and metaphors, as well as concepts of embodiment and emplacement to explore how bodily response, belief and cognitive flexibility work together for cure and prevention.

Psychology of Health and Healing: Integrative Applications - Course Syllabus from Boston College

MusicCare at The James: Let Us Help Orchestrate Your Healing - The potential of music can be a powerful instrument to use during surgery, procedures or treatment. Through the MusicCare Program, we provide an opportunity for patients to have soothing, calming music of your choice. You can surround yourself in the musical environment that is best for you. Whether it's an inpatient stay or an outpatient visit, all patients and family members can benefit from this program.

Creating a Sacred Space for Health, Healing and Hope: Through the ages, sacred space has adopted many forms. Stonehenge with its ancient rituals, the miracles of Lourdes, the Holy Land and Mecca, the Great Pyramids, Native American burial grounds, and the exotic temples of Tibet all represent transformational healing grounds. Each provides a place of introspection where participants can renew and refresh themselves.

Program brings healing power of music to patients: Healing sounds fill the hallways of Vanderbilt University Hospital via a group of “on-call” musicians volunteering their services to patients in need of a song played at bedside during their stay.

Music proven to provide comfort, aid healing: Music is an integral part of people's lives all over the world. It is well known as a universal language, easy for children and adults to understand and one with inherent abilities to stimulate the mind, body and emotions. These characteristics that music possesses have also been used throughout history by medical and health professionals.

Healing Arts: Not all healing in a hospital is the result of medicine and technology alone. Linda Belans

Harvard Alumni Bulletin:
> Musical Healing: A physician-turned-orchestra conductor prescribes song. by Samuel Wong
> Health Through Song: Outreach workers in Benin and Guatemala use lyrics to promote health. by Matthew Davis
> Medical Maestros: HMS alumni compose lives that balance music and medicine. by Richard Kogan

Abstracts from PubMed: a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health
> Effects of live music therapy sessions on quality of life indicators, medications administered and hospital length of stay for
    patients undergoing elective surgical procedures for brain. Walworth D. et. al. J Music Ther. 2008 Fall;45(3):349-59.
> Music for pain and anxiety in children undergoing medical procedures: a systematic review of randomized controlled
    trials. Klassen JA. et. al. Ambul Pediatr. 2008 Mar-Apr;8(2):117-28.
> The anxiety- and pain-reducing effects of music interventions: a systematic review. Nilsson U. AORN J. 2008 Apr;87(4)
   :780-807.
> Music versus diazepam to reduce preoperative anxiety: a randomized controlled clinical trial. Berbel P. Rev Esp Anestesiol
    Reanim. 2007 Jun-Jul;54(6):355-8.  Free article
> The effect of music on preoperative anxiety in day surgery. Cooke M. et. al. J Adv Nurs. 2005 Oct;52(1):47-55.
> Music and its effect on anxiety in short waiting periods: a critical appraisal. Cooke M. et. al. J Clin Nurs. 2005 Feb;14(2)
   :145-55.
> Art, dance, and music therapy. Pratt RR. Phys Med Rehabil Clin N Am. 2004 Nov;15(4):827-41, vi-vii.
> A music intervention to reduce anxiety prior to gastrointestinal procedures. Buffum M. et. al. Gastroenterol Nurs. 2003 Jul
    -Aug;26(4):145-9.
> Music therapy effectiveness to decrease anxiety in mechanically ventilated patients. Iriarte Roteta A. Enferm Intensiva.
    2003 Apr-Jun;14(2):43-8.
> The effects of harp music in vascular and thoracic surgical patients. Aragon D. et. al. Altern Ther Health Med. 2002 Sep-
    Oct;8(5):52-4, 56-60.
> The effectiveness of music as an intervention for hospital patients: a systematic review. Evans D. J Adv Nurs. 2002 Jan;37
   (1):8-18.
> The effects of single-session music therapy interventions on the observed and self-reported levels of pain control,
    physical comfort, and relaxation of hospice patients. Krout RE. Am J Hosp Palliat Care. 2001 Nov-Dec;18(6):383-90.
> State of the science of music interventions. Critical care and perioperative practice. White JM. Crit Care Nurs Clin North
    Am. 2000 Jun;12(2):219-25.
> Balancing the focus: art and music therapy for pain control and symptom management in hospice care. Trauger-Querry B,
    Haghighi KR. Hosp J. 1999;14(1):25-38.
> Pain, music creativity and music therapy in palliative care. O'Callaghan CC. Am J Hosp Palliat Care. 1996 Mar-Apr;13(2):
    43-9.
> The effects of music interventions on anxiety in the patient after coronary artery bypass grafting. Barnason S. et. al. Heart
    Lung. 1995 Mar-Apr;24(2):124-32.
> Effect of music on ambulatory surgery patients' preoperative anxiety. Augustin P, Hains AA.AORN J. 1996 Apr;63(4):750,
    753-8.
> Effects of music on patient anxiety. Mok E, Wong KY. AORN J. 2003 Feb;77(2):396-7, 401-6, 409-10.
> A music intervention to reduce anxiety before vascular angiography procedures. Buffum MD. J Vasc Nurs. 2006 Sep;24(3)    :68-73
> The effect of self-selected music during colonoscopy on anxiety, heart rate, and blood pressure. Smolen D. et. al. Appl
    Nurs Res. 2002 Aug;15(3):126-36
> Music therapy: proposed physiological mechanisms and clinical implications. Watkins GR. Clin Nurse Spec. 1997 Mar;11
    (2):43-50.
> How does music affect the human body? Myskja A, Lindbaek M. Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen. 2000 Apr 10;120(10):1182-5.
> From emotion perception to emotion experience: emotions evoked by pictures and classical music. Baumgartner T. et.al.
    Int J Psychophysiol. 2006 Apr;60(1):34-43.
> A functional MRI study of happy and sad affective states induced by classical music. Mitterschiffthaler MT. et. al. Hum
    Brain Mapp. 2007 Nov;28(11):1150-62.
> Structural and functional neural correlates of music perception. Limb CJ. Anat Rec A Discov Mol Cell Evol Biol. 2006
    Apr;288(4):435-46.  Free article
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    et. al. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2005 Dec;1060:450-3.

Perform Music
As therapeutic as listening to music is, nothing can replace the benefits to body, mind, and soul of actually creating music.  Try to spend time composing, singing, or playing music.  Join a group where you can enjoy the company of, and perform with, like-minded musicians.  Great resources for anyone who enjoys vocal harmony is the Barbershop Harmony Society (and allied organizations throughout the world) for men in the USA, and for women the Sweet Adelines and Harmony, Incorporated.  Visit the home pages, find a chapter near you, and check it out.

Mandala Gallery:
Interesting images, sites, sights. and videos - some may only be peripherally related to the above subjects... Enjoy!

Tibetan sand mandala, Chenrezig the Buddha of compassion Mandala
Sand Mandala
(YouTube)

wow tenspace
(YouTube)
Arthur C. Clarke presents this unusual documentary on the mathematical discovery of the Mandelbrot Set (M-Set) in the visually spectacular world of fractal geometry.
Colors of Infifinity
(YouTube)
This sequence provides a good look into the infinitely repeating similar patterns at ever smaller levels of detail.  Compare this video to the Powers of 10 demonstration.
Mandelbrot Set Zoom (YouTube)

Powers of Ten explores the relative size of things from the microscopic to the cosmic. The 1977 film travels from an aerial view of a man in a Chicago park to the outer limits of the universe directly above him and back down into the microscopic world contained in the man's hand. Powers of Ten illustrates the universe as an arena of both continuity and change, of everyday picnics and cosmic mystery.
Powers of 10
Quarks to Galaxies


Snowflakes
(youTube)

Sound Figures
YouTube | website
In 2003, the Hubble Space Telescope took the image of a millenium, an image that shows our place in the universe. Anyone who understands what this image represents, is forever changed by it.
Hubble Deep Field
(YouTube)

Fibonacci images
Golden Spiral
(Flickr)

Chladni Patterns
sand | water

(YouTube)

Intraference
(YouTube)

Snowflakes/snow
(Flickr)

Nature's Geometry
(Flickr)

Mandalas Iluminadas
The Sand Mandala is a Tibetan Buddhist tradition which symbolizes the transitory nature of things. As part of Buddhist canon, all things material are seen as transitory. A sand mandala is an example of this, being that once it has been built and its accompanying ceremonies and viewing are finished, it is systematically destroyed.
Colorful Art Of Sand Mandalas

Buddhist Sand Art
Eitan Kedmy speaks about mandalas and creates a sand mandala.
Sand Mandala
(YouTube)
Crop Circle images and gallaries.  Many crop circles Many crop circles exhibit mandala characteristics.  The first link has dozens of pages of crop circle pictures.
Crop Circles 1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12



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* These claims have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.  These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or
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** Water Mandalas do not purify or disinfect water, so only use water or beverages that are known to be free of  harmful contaminants.
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   A Water Mandala does NOT duplicate the results or effects of any standard water treatment processes. Water Mandalas will ONLY
   duplicate the effects and benefits of the special water enhancement claims that are made.
   You can easily and inexpensively treat your own water.