Mindfulness coloring and Mandalas art therapy for reducing stress and anxiety

Use your own creativity to tap into your inner power of growth and healing…..

In this busy life, we have lost ourselves so much, that it has started affecting us physically and mentally. We have become so much carrier oriented and money minded in this race that we hardly get to think about our own wellness which is eventually leading us towards stress, anxiety and depression. First, we run to earn money, a lot of money we want. When we get satisfied till the time, which we never get, we become vulnerable to various types of mental stress and anxiety, that we finally realize we need to visit a Psychologist or a Psychiatrist. Next, we start spending that hard-earned money on various mental and physical treatments and therapies. Now, what is the point? First, earn, then spend on treatments???….. Isn’t it better to follow the philosophy of “Prevention is better than cure” … or to simplify, self-care and self-love comes first?  All we need is some time for our own self.  Time to relax our body and mind. Time do our favorite activities and then feel good about it. There are lots of activities we can do, to relax our mind and reduce anxiety and stress.

Various stress busting activities include yoga and meditation, reading books, playing with your pets, spending time in your garden, or I’ll say that doing anything you love to do helps in reducing stress and anxiety.

Today, I am going to talk about one such activity called Mindfulness Coloring and Mandala art. Anybody, even stress-free minds can do this because of its various benefits. But first, we need to understand what actually is Mindfulness??…. Mindfulness is basically the human ability to be fully aware and be fully present. Aware of where we are and what we are doing. Neither getting over reactive nor overwhelmed by what’s going around us. Sometimes we get laid away in our own good and bad thoughts, mindfulness is that thing which brings us back to what we are presently doing. Though it is not easy to explain what it is but it is something that we already possess. Its not something that we acquire, we all have it, all we have to learn is how to access it. When we are mindful, it helps us to reduce stress and improve performance. Gain awareness and insight by observing our own mind and increasing the focus and attention. It gives us calmness and peace. There are various mindfulness practices that we can do like yoga, meditation, or simply doing what we enjoy. Out of these one such practice is Mindfulness coloring or adult’s coloring.

Mindfulness coloring and the Mandala coloring – an art has no mistakes only discoveries

Mindful coloring brings us into the present moment by consciously focusing on coloring and design. We draw our thoughts and expressions on a sheet focusing on color and design. This art is similar to meditation as by focusing on color and designs, we let go our thoughts about past or future and focus and bring awareness towards the present activity.

Now talking about Mandala Art,In the modern age, Mandala Art is known as a diagram, a chart or a geometric pattern which represents the cosmos metaphysically and symbolically. The Mandala describes an imagination which is looked thoughtfully for a long-time during meditation. Its purpose is to help transform ordinary minds into enlightened ones and follow with healing. A Mandala represents the period of creativity, existence, and a symbol of deeper connection with the oneself and the universe. Mandalas are mostly rounded or circular, symmetrical and radical with a central axis.

You can create your own Mandala and then color it with your own choice of colors and shades. You just have to pour out your imagination on the sheet in a circular and symmetrical order with a central axis. There are a lot of videos available on YouTube where they help you learn it very easily. People who love making drawings can draw themselves. But for people like me, who are not good in drawing, there are a lot of books available in stores. They are known as Mandala Coloring Books or Adult Coloring books. Don’t forget to buy the colors along with the book. You can color the Mandalas with pencil color, colorful gel pens, poster colors and water colors. These Mandala coloring books are available in different volumes. I bought volume 1 for myself and sets of pencil colors and gel pens and water colors as well.

Another art therapy that   I will talk about is the Mindfulness coloring..  Well it is a different form of art than Mandalas. Mindful drawing is making anything you feel connected to. You can draw a Tree. Flowers… Animals or patterns or anything you want to pour on a sheet. There is no right or wrong because it is just a form of self-expression and emotions and moods. I have bought one mindfulness coloring book for myself. I m not so fine at drawing so I preferred buying a book along with gel pens and pencil colors.

My Experience with Mandalas and mindfulness colouring art therapy – saying things with colours and shapes

Well, if I describe my self as a person, I am not the one who takes too much of stress and worries. I am a very calm woman who neither gets much excited and nor gets much upset… a neutral kind of person. For me, self-love and self-care is the priority. I am not the one who went running for some psychologist.. but still I love to do things that make me feel happy and calm. The art therapy was introduced to me by a friend who was feeling anxious and stressed. She started to do this mindfulness coloring and once discussed it with me. I was quite appealed with them after seeing the change in her. The very next day I thought that I should try it just to pass my time.

I saw various options available online with the name of adult coloring books, namely Mandalas and Mindfulness, who claimed to benefit the stress levels. So, I finally chose one named mindfulness coloring book and one named as Mandala coloring book.

Even before I started to color them, I was so overwhelmed by the Mandalas and patterns and drawings made in both the books. The drawings were so beautiful and attractive that I immediately started to choose the first drawing I am going to color. There was a new drawing on each page. And it, really made me understand how my friend was able to reduce her stress and anxiety levels. I was now even planning to color them and get the best out of those to be framed for my house decoration. You need some patience to finish 1 drawing completely because it is quite dense and fine. Its been two months now.. and I still take out time to color them. Even if you spare 10 minutes a day to color them,, it will make you feel focused, calm and peaceful for those 10 minutes. These are the various benefits that I felt by doing this art therapy.

Benefits of mindful art and mandala art

• Relieves stress
• Improves the fine motor skills and vision
• Increases the attention span
• Increases focus
• Fun challenge
• Brings out your creativity
• Anybody can do it
• Makes you feel calm and peaceful
• Provides a much-needed break
• Improves sleep

So, guys, grab a Mandala art coloring book or Mindful coloring book or just draw them yourself and feel free to express yourself without being judged. Feel the moment and start coloring. It does not need to be perfect as it is your self- expression. Chose your own colors and shapes. Trust me, you will start to step away from technology and start to feel the sensations. You will forget all your worries while focusing on colors and shades of life and presenting them on the sheet. You will be feeling happier and calm. Just try it…. 😊

“If you are feeling blue, try painting yourself a different color”– Hannah Cheatem an 8 years old

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