This study is a qualitative case study that explored the process and structure through which inner recovery unfolded among Japanese marriage migrant women who participated in an integrated healing model combining the RHS (Recovering the Human Spirit...
This study is a qualitative case study that explored the process and structure through which inner recovery unfolded among Japanese marriage migrant women who participated in an integrated healing model combining the RHS (Recovering the Human Spirit) meditation program and mandala art. As Korean society continues to transition into a multicultural society, the number of marriage migrant women has steadily increased; however, in-depth research on the psychological repression, emotional isolation, relational conflict, and difficulties in self-expression experienced by Japanese marriage migrant women has remained relatively limited. In particular, Japanese marriage migrant women may be situated within a complex life context shaped not only by issues of migration and cultural adaptation but also by relational orientation, emotional restraint, and the disposition to avoid burdening others—values long emphasized in Japanese culture—as well as by the performance of daughter-in-law, wife, and mother roles within Korean family culture.
Accordingly, this study combined the cognitive reflective structure of the RHS meditation program with the visual externalization structure of mandala art, in order to explore, within participants' life contexts and processes of psychological change, the process through which emotions that had been restricted in expression or insufficiently verbalized became conscious and unfolded into an inner recovery experience. The research questions of this study are as follows.
First, how does the individual psychological change of Japanese marriage migrant women participating in the integrated healing model of the RHS meditation program and mandala art manifest within the context of each participant's individual life? Second, what common structures and differences among participants characterize the patterns of psychological change that emerged in the process of the integrated healing model of the RHS meditation program and mandala art?
To explore these research questions, this study selected seven Japanese marriage migrant women who had resided in Korea for 25 years or more as research participants. Participants were recruited through snowball sampling, and a qualitative case study method was applied. Research data were collected through in-depth interviews, session-by-session reflection journals, mandala artworks, researcher observation records, and pre- and post-test results of the Six Worlds scale. Data analysis consisted of within-case analysis, focusing on each participant's life context and process of psychological change, and cross-case analysis, aimed at identifying common structures and differences across cases.
The within-case analysis, corresponding to the first research question, examined how individual psychological change manifested by focusing on each participant's life history, migration experience, family relationships, patterns of emotional repression, changes in mandala expression, and the content of RHS reflection. The cross-case analysis compared themes and units of meaning derived from individual cases to identify the common structures and differences in patterns of psychological change that emerged in the process of the integrated healing model.
As a result of the cross-case analysis, participants' patterns of change were structured into four main categories and twelve subcategories. The first main category, the formation of repressed emotion within the context of life, comprises the subcategories of the accumulation of repressed emotion amid migration and cultural adaptation, the internalization of self-restraint within family roles, caregiving, and relationship maintenance, and the accumulation of experiences of loss, comparison, and alienation. The second main category, markers of repressed emotion revealed through the body, behavior, and images, comprises the subcategories of tension in repressed emotion revealed through bodily sensation, patterns of emotional defense and control through silence, avoidance, and repetitive behavior, and repressed emotion latent in images. The third main category, the externalization and conscious recognition of repressed emotion through mandala, comprises the subcategories of the visualization of repressed emotion through color, form, and symbol, the cracking of control and the verbalization of emotion that emerged during the working process, and the objectification and acceptance of the mind as it was transformed into a visible object. The fourth main category, meaning-making and integrative reconstruction through RHS reflection, comprises the subcategories of self-awareness of psychological states within the Six Worlds, the meaning-making of self-narrative through self-loving-kindness, and the reconstruction of relational position and changes in attitude toward life through personal vows.
The core finding of this study is that participants' inner recovery unfolded through the stages of awareness, acceptance, and meaning-making; however, this process did not reach linear completion but instead developed into a spiral recovery structure involving repetition and deepening. In the awareness stage, participants externalized emotions that had been restricted in expression or insufficiently verbalized into color, form, and symbol through mandala art-making. In the acceptance stage, rather than eliminating or denying the externalized emotions, participants began to transform them into objects that could be observed and to accept them as part of their own lives. In the meaning-making stage, participants came to understand their psychological states through the RHS framework and to reposition repressed emotions within their self-narrative and relational position. Here, relational change did not signify that external relationships had been objectively and immediately improved, but rather that participants had come to newly recognize their own position within relationships and to move in a direction that allowed for self-expression and self-care. That is, participants' statements and changes in their artworks suggest the possibility that the cognitive reflection of RHS and the visual externalization of mandala were experienced in a complementary manner. Participants repeatedly engaged in awareness, acceptance, and meaning-making rather than eliminating or denying repressed emotion. As a result, inner recovery expanded into the integration of self-narrative, self-loving-kindness, the reconstruction of relational position, and changes in attitude toward life.
At the same time, although this structure of recovery stages was common across participants, the timing of entry into each stage and the focal point of reconstruction varied according to participants' life-historical conditions, indicating that the integrated healing model operates not as a uniform pathway but as a process that interacts with each individual's life context.
The significance of this study is as follows. First, it explored the psychological experience of Japanese marriage migrant women not by confining it to issues of cultural adaptation or family conflict, but by centering on individual psychological change and the process of inner recovery. Second, it proposed the possibility of an integrated healing model in which the cognitive reflective structure of the RHS meditation program and the visual externalization structure of mandala art operate in a complementary manner. Third, by analyzing participants' patterns of psychological change in terms of both the uniqueness of individual cases and the common structures and differences across cases, this study explained inner recovery as a spiral recovery structure. Fourth, by presenting both the uniqueness of individual cases and the common structures across cases through a qualitative case study, this study holds practical significance in providing foundational data for the development of multicultural counseling, art therapy, and meditation-based healing programs.
As this study is a qualitative case study involving seven Japanese marriage migrant women, there are limitations in generalizing the findings to all marriage migrant women. In addition, this study did not encompass long-term change following program participation or the perspectives of family members, indicating a need for follow-up research. This study has exploratorily demonstrated that the integrated application of the RHS meditation program and mandala art can function as a process of inner recovery that externalizes the repressed emotions of Japanese marriage migrant women and reconstructs their self-narrative and relational position. Accordingly, it is hoped that this study will serve as practical foundational data for the psychological recovery of marriage migrant women, including Japanese marriage migrant women, and for the development of multicultural counseling, art therapy, and meditation-based healing programs.
Keywords: RHS(Recovering the Human Spirit) Meditation Program, Mandala Art, Japanese Marriage Migrant Women, Inner Recovery, Integrated Meditation-Art Healing Model