There are so many ways Feather - from monks on their knees pouring coloured sand, to pencil crayons. I mostly use markers and metalic markers - the one above "India" has some crystals glued on - I do different styles: Galic, African, Inca and I did a cool one with the 8 family crests of my children's great-grandparents - the one I am working on right now is Haida Indian.
You basically draw a circle and traditionally make 8 repeating pie pieces but you can do six or whatever you like - my first one was in fives. You measure angles and guidelines and then have fun. Anyone who can doodle when talking on the phone can make a mandala. You can google and find sites with outlines of mandalas that you can just print off and colour. Stick one by the phone with a pack of pencils or markers and see what happens.