Creative Healing Integration, Inc.

05/22/2026

In the MARI, Stage 5 asks us to become more discerning.

Not just about what we let in. But about what we are defending.

What am I protecting because it is precious. What am I protecting because I am afraid.

Those are two very different things. And Stage 5 invites us to tell the difference.

Which one comes up more for you right now?

MARI mandala shadow, Stage 5 reflection, Jungian shadow, mandala and self inquiry, great round

05/19/2026

In the MARI Mandala, Stage 5 is paired with two archetypes.

The Explorer and The Target.

At first they may seem like opposites. One reaching outward, one holding its ground. But I think they belong together.

Because this is the stage where we are learning what is ours to tend while still feeling the pull to move, discover, and expand.

The question Stage 5 keeps asking is not whether to protect or explore. It is how to do both with integrity.

MARI mandala Stage 5, explorer archetype, mandala symbolism, great round, self awareness through art

05/18/2026

Stage 5 of the MARI is called Target.
 
I find that name so evocative. It holds both focus and vulnerability. There are moments in this stage when we feel more centered and clear. And moments when we feel exposed. Sometimes both at once.

This is one of the reasons I find Stage 5 so deeply human.

What has been feeling more tender or exposed for you lately?

MARI mandala, Stage 5, mandala and healing, self protection, great round of the MARI

05/15/2026

There is a tension that lives inside Stage 5.

The wish to explore and the need to protect.

The impulse to expand and the necessity of boundaries.

In this month's video I sit with Stage 5 of the MARI Mandala and share what this stage has been bringing up for me.

What it means to assert yourself without force.

What it means to protect what is still forming.

Watch through the link in bio.

MARI mandala May, Stage 5 great round, mandala and self awareness, creative healing, depth psychology

05/14/2026

Stage 5 of the MARI Mandala is called The Target.

It is a stage that holds both focus and exposure. A moment when something in us begins to know itself as distinct. When we start to sense what is ours to tend, and what is not.

The MARI has been used in art therapy for decades as a way of mapping exactly these kinds of inner movements. Where we are. What we are protecting. What is ready to shift.

On May 17 I am hosting a live introductory workshop where we will explore the Great Round, its 12 stages, and make a mandala together.

You do not need any art experience. Just curiosity.

Register through the link in bio.

MARI mandala workshop, introduction to MARI, mandala making online, art therapy continuing education, Great Round

05/13/2026

Sunday is the day.

If this workshop has been sitting in the back of your mind, consider this your sign to stop waiting.

The Introduction to the MARI Method is a live 2-hour experience. We will trace the history of the mandala from ancient traditions through Jung and into Joan Kellogg's development of the MARI. You will learn about the MARI process. And we will make a mandala together.

You will leave with something felt. Not just learned.

May 17. 12 to 2 p.m. Eastern. Online via Zoom. 2 ATCB-approved CE credits. Open to everyone, clinicians and curious souls alike.

Last chance to register here - https://www.creativehealingintegration.com/page/697767

05/11/2026

Two hours.

That is all it takes to get a real felt sense of one of art therapy's most powerful frameworks.

In our May 17 MARI Mandala intro workshop, you will learn about the MARI's origins and how Joan Kellogg developed it. You will explore the Great Round and its psychological processes. And you will make a mandala. Because understanding this method through experience is different from reading about it.

You can leave with 2 CE credits approved by the Art Therapy Credentials Board. And with something harder to quantify: a sense of what it actually feels like to work with this framework.

Register here: https://www.creativehealingintegration.com/page/697767



ATCB continuing education art therapy, MARI mandala CE workshop, art therapy online training, mandala assessment research instrument, expressive arts CE credits

05/08/2026

Welcome to May, and to Stage 5 of the Great Round.

If Stage 4 was about emerging, Stage 5 feels like assertion. Not loud. Not forceful for the sake of force. But a clearer sense of self. A growing awareness of what needs protecting, preserving, and tending.

This is the stage the MARI calls The Target. It holds both focus and vulnerability. And I find it one of the most human stages of all.

I wrote more about what this stage stirs, and what it might be asking of you, in this month's blog.
Read it through the link in bio.

MARI mandala, Stage 5, great round, self protection, mandala and healing

05/07/2026

Somewhere right now, you are in a stage of becoming.

Maybe you feel it as restlessness. Maybe as longing. Maybe as a quiet sense that something is shifting even if you cannot name it yet.

The Great Round says: that is not chaos. That is process.

Swipe through and see if any of these stages feel familiar.

Join me May 17 to explore this framework live. Register here: CreativehealingintegrationIntroduction to the MARI Method

05/05/2026

05/04/2026

There is something a circle knows about you that words sometimes cannot reach.

The MARI Mandala has been used in art therapy for decades. Not only as an assessment, but as a mirror for the inner world.

A way of asking: where are you right now. What are you carrying. What is ready to move.

On May 17, I am hosting a live 2-hour workshop to introduce you to this framework. We will explore the Great Round, trace its 12 stages, and make a mandala together.

Whether you are a clinician looking for new tools, or simply someone curious about what the circle might show you. You are welcome here.

Register here: https://www.creativehealingintegration.com/page/697767

MARI mandala workshop, mandala for self-discovery, art therapy online, expressive arts healing, mandala and psychological process