Healing sexual trauma through re-imagining my story into mandalas. The mandala is emergent, non-linear, its evolution is known in a single moment— where it appears stuck, it is surrounded by movement. The woman in my story book was taped to the ceiling above my bed for a year. She symbolizes the quality of surrender and self-acceptance that I felt as a kid laying on the sand of Alki beach, sleeping in our overgrown lawn, floating on water. She holds the quality of trust, and I often found her silhouette in the sky right before falling asleep. In such a way, she also symbolizes for me a desire to subconsciously access trust and pleasure. In the final mandala, she is found both on the perimeter and deeply centered in the frame, revisiting the mantra I began this project with: I am found within myself.