All mandalas in this piece are courtesy of Charissa Adeline aka Io

When Charissa Adeline Pereira had a tattoo of her chakra done in 2013, little did she know that five-years-later she would embark on an esoteric cum artistic journey creating seven beautiful mandalas based on the primary chakras.

Relax, by the time you finish reading this post, you’ll be acquainted with all seven!

First introduced in ancient Vedic scriptures, chakras have now become a household name among meditation and Yoga practitioners when it comes to describing the manner in which the energy of life affects our physical body.

The Chinese physical exercise, Qigong, was created based on the cultivation of life energy (the Chinese call it Qi while the Hindus refer to it as Prana) at various focal points similar to Yoga.

Charissa, who has given herself the name Io, was first exposed to scared geometry and chakras as a concept when she first placed her feet on the shores of self-discovery several years back.

“I had no idea what they symbolised yet but knew that someday I’d come to understand,” she reveals to me via email.

The year 2017, she adds, felt like the culmination of an energetic shift in her life calling for her to re-examine all things within her psyche in order to heal them and move forward into a more crystal state of being.

“As the chakras represent the energetic centres in our body which are closely connected to the emotional and mental state, it occurred to me I could use the process of arting to explore within, as I moved from one piece to the next,” the Taiping born says.

In the span of 10 months, Io spent close to 350 hours (that’s two weeks) of creating mandalas inspired by each of the seven chakras.

“They are all centred on the flower of life which are created as mandalas,” Io explains, adding that the artworks were created using Copic liners and markers.

Io reveals that the entire process of creating the seven artworks allowed her the opportunity to practise active meditation.

With the repetition of strokes for each of the mandala, Io practised focusing on her breath. This practise differs somewhat to the conventional method of meditation whereby an individual remains inactive in a lotus position with eyes closed.

“As this was a spiritual process to me, I followed my instincts and listened for the chakra and emotions that came knocking.

“I then spent a few days studying the purpose of each chakra and its application towards resolving past pain and trauma. The experience of each piece was individual and varied greatly from others.”

Pieces such as the Svadhisthana (Sacrum, Creativity), Anahata (Heart, Love), Ajna (Third Eye, Intuition) and Sahasrara (Crown, Consciousness) flowed easily with Io feeling incredibly light towards the end.

“This indicated that I had either a balanced chakra or my tendency towards favouring certain behavioural patterns.”

On the other hand, she found herself taking some effort with the Muladhara (Spine, Foundation), Manipura (Digestion system, Identity) and Vishuddha (Throat, Truth).

“They took weeks to finish as I experienced battles within to address what I may have abandoned in the past.”

Io, who is a mummy to a cute two-year-old believes that the torus-like relationship between experience and creation, continuously looping back to itself, with no beginning and no end means that we are all inherently born to create.

“Therefore, wherever I can find or make time, I try to do just that – create – art, DIY projects, gardening, writing, music. Everything under the rainbow.”

After releasing a huge sigh of relief on the completion of this wondrous personal art project, Io now hopes to sell these chakra mandalas as canvas pieces, wearable art t-shirts and stickers.

“I also do not mind people digitally downloading the pieces for personal use as meditation points and decoration. I’m just happy to be able to add a little bit of beauty to the world.”

Wanna purchase Io’s gorgeously made chakra mandalas? Head over to her Facebook page. Io also documents her experimental art journey on her Instagram page too! Know of any funky individuals similar to Io? Email us at [email protected]

Tags: Charissa Adeline