To Your Health!

I recently had a piece of art commissioned for my massage office by my niece, Rebecca Roelant-Wauson. I had something that I wanted to convey, but I wasn’t exactly sure how I wanted it to look. So I described my thoughts to Rebecca and allowed her the artistic freedom to do what she does best, create a lovely pictorial expression of an idea.

The idea was simple. I wanted a piece that embodied the concept of health. The modern idea of health, as defined by the World Health Organization is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.1  I wanted the words “To Your Health” centrally displayed with the words for health (or a close translation) from many other languages surrounding it. I wanted the piece to honor the diversity of my clients and acknowledge their quest for health and their trust in me to help along the way.

In my mind, I had a Jackson Pollak-esque image of words scattered all over the canvas in a chaotic, random order. Instead, Rebecca chose to arrange the words in a mandala of concentric circles. When she sent me the first draft of her concept, I knew why I chose her to create the piece.

The mandala is a symbol in Hindu and Buddhist religions that represents the universe, and it is used to create sacred space and as a tool to aid meditation. Her creation is beautiful, colorful and vibrant, while at the same time it instills a sense of calm and tranquility. What a perfect image to have at the head of my massage table, inviting people to health.

For more information about the artist you can visit her website.