Relaxation Moments

Relaxation, Peace and Serenity for the Mind and Body

Tame Your Brain by Coloring Mandalas

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Mandalas have recently become immensely popular, although their existence has started long ago. The very word “mandala,” translated from Sanskrit, means circle. Simultaneously, according to the Buddhist faith members’ explanation, the term itself refers to a pictorial representation of the universe.

It is important to note that Mandalas appear in all fragments of human life. Mandalas appear in the moon, sun, and earth. In a certain way, it symbolizes the circle of life, including your friends, family, and the culture in which you live.

Mandalas’ meaning is a circular pattern that symbolizes that life is like a circle; it never ends. Mandalas can have a powerful spiritual meaning for a person/group of people.

How to Use Mandalas

When choosing a Mandala, make sure that you know its meaning and that its visual appearance is attractive. If a particular Mandala is appealing to us, experts say the Mandala helps our brain prevent running thoughts from breaking through and allows us to have a spiritual view of that Mandala.

After that, you need to observe it for a while before you start coloring it. The longer you follow the mandala lines, the more you can become aware of the feeling of light. Intuitive thoughts can become more powerful. You can create mandalas yourself, and you can also start coloring existing ones for it to work.

Mandala Coloring Methods:

  • From the inside out – that means you start from the center.
  • From the outside in – this way can help you establish more vital meditation skills, while at the same time, it encourages creativity.
  • By Sections – Every Mandala usually has 4/6/8 symmetrical sections.
  • Optional – In the end, there are no rules. You can choose the way that is the most fun for you to draw or color a mandala.

How to Choose Your Colors

If you want to use Mandalas for specific purposes, check out the color meanings and choose based on what you need.

Meaning of Different Colors:

  • Red: Symbolizes strength, passion, and energy, aggression, sensuality. At the same time, red color is the color of the first Chakra.
  • Orange: Symbolizes change, creativity, transformation, self-esteem. It is the color of the second Chakra.
  • Yellow: It symbolizes happiness, desire to learn and acquire new knowledge, willpower, laughter, and wisdom. It is the color of the third Chakra.
  • Green: This color is a symbol of nature, hope, physical healing, psychic abilities. It is the color of the fourth Chakra.
  • Blue: This is the color of the fifth Chakra. It symbolizes peace, calmness, communication, respect, meditation, inner peace, and emotional healing.
  • Indigo blue:  This is the color of the sixth Chakra. It represents intuition, mind, justice, creativity.
  • Purple: This is the color of the seventh Chakra. At the same time, it symbolizes oscillations, creativity, focus, and everything related to spirituality.
  • Black: In most cultures, this color has a negative connotation. The color black symbolizes individuality, deep thinking, mystery, authority, etc.
  • Pink: Symbolizes love, femininity, tenderness, femininity.

Mandalas can help us tame our minds and brains, establish stronger concentration and focus, get rid of stress and unnecessary thoughts, practice self-discipline, and meditate in a slightly different way.

Achieve Meditation Through Coloring Pages for Adults

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Parents and teachers have long considered drawing and coloring a good tool/activity. It is a widespread activity for engaging and calming anxious and disobedient children. But adults adopted this relaxing activity that reminds them of their childhood.

What started as a novel pastime has become a trend spread worldwide. The evidence is that many coloring books for adults have found their way to the top of international bestsellers’ charts. There are many reasons adults color, but the biggest one is that this activity relaxes and has many benefits.

Coloring Is a Form of Meditation

Based on research from the 20th century, coloring has a relaxing impact. It encompasses calmness. And it stimulates brain areas associated with human motor skills, creativity, and senses.

Even the psychiatrist Carl Jung used colors in his practice. He introduced into Western thought the Eastern motif of the mandala, the appearance of which he believed to reflect the human soul’s internal processes. He drew and created the mandala’s motifs, believing that their shape reflected provided a safe space of calm for his patients to bring their Self into sessions.

Several different studies included brain scans during coloring. The researchers concluded that both brain hemispheres activate during this activity. That means that we are using both our creative and logical side during this activity.

Just like meditation, coloring allows us to remain present in the current moment. It stimulates relaxing thoughts and helps us control them and prevents over-thinking. It can also help you replace negative thoughts, patterns, and images in your mind with more pleasant ones.

If you have tried to meditate several times and did not like it or unsuccessful, you can now ease yourself from stress with this activity. You may like it too much.

The Therapeutic Effect of Coloring Books

Coloring has been around for a long time. It gives the best results when you engage in it often. Many mental health practitioners and their clients turn to coloring to ease anxiety. Psychiatrists and psychologists often use drawing, coloring, and presenting different images as one form of therapy with their patients.

Of course, we don’t have to be patients of these practitioners to enjoy the benefits of coloring. Like any other kind of art, coloring requires time to do. As you take time alone, you move away from everyday problems.

While coloring, some people concentrate entirely on what they are doing, while others let their thoughts wander. In both cases, the person relaxes. And when we are relaxed, amazing things can happen!

The state of relaxation, which we achieve by coloring, results in:

  • Happiness
  • Calmness
  • Absence of depression and anxiety
  • A reduction in blood pressure
  • A decrease in fear and anger
  • The elimination of headaches
  • The elimination of digestive disorders
  • Brain stimulation – helps us in solving our problems faster
  • It tames our mind – it doesn’t allow us to overthink
  • Improved focus and concentration
  • Embraces our inner child
  • Increases self-awareness
  • Strengthens self-confidence

Love Yourself: Self Care with a Coloring Routine

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We are all in a hurry and lead a busy life. The day does not seem to be long enough to achieve all personal and business responsibilities. Unfortunately, as a result, our self-care suffers.

Taking care of yourself should be a priority in this time where we all seem to rush around a lot. Because, if not, stress, lack of sleep, and chronic fatigue become an integral part of your daily life.

When you have your day planned to the brim, the excess can result in stress. If you plan your daily routine within your energy levels’ limits, you can feel more at peace. And if you do not plan your day and let things happen sporadically, you may experience chaotic energy levels.

The best way to handle your schedule is to plan as much as you can in advance and allow yourself time for a self-care routine.

Self-Care Activity – Coloring

Self-care activities should be something that you enjoy engaging in and positively impacting your mental health. There are many activities of self-care you can choose.

Coloring adult coloring pages is a lot of fun and is easy to include in your daily self-care routine. Plus, it has many benefits.

To color, you only need a quiet place, a piece of paper or coloring book for adults, any coloring pencils, markers, or crayons, and that is it. If you also turn on some soothing music, make yourself a cup of tea or coffee and turn off your phone, you will create your oasis of peace.

Set aside at least half an hour a day for this activity, and you will eventually notice all its advantages.

Benefits of Adult Coloring   

1.     It has a calming effect. It can help you reduce stress and anxiety.

2.     It encourages creativity. Given that there are no rules for this activity, you can improve your coloring skill and embrace your inner artist.

3.     It will improve your focus and concentration in general. While you are coloring, you will have to focus on what you are doing, eliminating negative thoughts and emotions. When it becomes a habit, it will improve your focus on other activities as well.

4.     It is a great way to practice Mindfulness, and at the same time, it is a form of meditation.

5.     It will help you reconnect with yourself.

Tips for Creating Your Coloring Routine

  • Get to know all the colors, learn more about their meanings.
  • Find coloring books and colored pencils you like.
  • If you like Mandalas, get acquainted with the meaning of the Mandala you want to color. It can enhance and deepen your coloring self-care routine.
  • Be persistent, even when it seems that you don’t have time to do something for yourself.
  • Create an atmosphere that will entice you to practice this activity every day.

Push your boundaries, and don’t be afraid to combine colors. There is nothing right or wrong when it comes to coloring. Let your creativity run

How Coloring Helps You Fall Asleep

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Sleep experts say that many adults encounter sleep disorders. Most of the time, those sleep disorders meet the criteria of insomnia. People who experience sleep disorders get less sleep, frequently wake during the night, and have reduced energy levels during the day.

An extended period without sleep affects mood and behavior. At the same time, it also affects the mental and physical condition. Stress and anxiety are some of the biggest triggers for sleep disorders.

If you suffer from sleep disorders, sometimes overthinking and overanalyzing triggers these disorders. The best way to improve your sleep and establish healthy sleep patterns is to find an activity that will help you reduce stress before bedtime.

It may sound surprising, but one of the best activities to achieve a better sleep quality is coloring. It is an activity intended for all ages. It helps you relax and be in a more meditative mindset, which would help you sleep better.

What Happens When You Sleep?

During the night, the human body produces Melatonin, according to the Sleep Foundation. It is a hormone created by the pineal gland that facilitates falling asleep and enables a sounder sleep. Melatonin secretion decreases over the years and begins to decline in a person’s forties.

For this reason, the elderly often have a problem with insomnia. To stimulate the production of Melatonin, go to bed a little earlier. Make sure to put aside cell phones, tablets, or laptops before bedtime. We recommend giving yourself 1 hour before bedtime to color. Coloring improves tallows the brain to ease tension and stress in a relaxing and creative way.

The relaxation provided by coloring books lowers the amygdala’s activity. It is the part of our brain that is the center of our fight or flight responses and which experts claim our reactions to things going on in our environment.

Quality sleep is most important for energy production. When we get enough sleep, we get up fresh and rested, or exhausted after a poor night of sleep. As a result of insomnia, the body weakens, and immunity decreases, which leads to a poor overall health picture of the body.

Try Coloring to Get Better Sleep

  • The best way to improve your sleep quality with this activity is to practice it before bedtime — color for at least 15 to 30 minutes before going to bed.
  • You will achieve the best effect if coloring becomes part of your daily routine and self-care.
  • Everyone needs to spend some time engaging in self-care during the day because it is vital for establishing mental balance. Spend that time on useful activities that can help us nourish your body and soul.
  • The most significant benefits of coloring are reducing stress and anxiety, anger and fear, and boosting brain/mind stimulation.
  • We can compare the various effects of coloring with the results of meditation. You can improve focus and nourish your soul.
  • When the body is relaxed, and the mind is free of running thoughts, the body falls into sleep more easily and naturally.

Stress Less with Coloring for Adults

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A surprising trend in relaxation products has been the expansion of coloring books for adults. The question is: Is coloring just for fun? Or does it provide us with various benefits for our mental health?

The answer to both questions is YES!

Coloring is not only for children. Numerous studies have proven that this activity reduces stress, drives a low mood away, and encourages creativity. It has a similar effect to meditation, and because of its positive impact, many experts recommend it as a form of therapy.

What Does the Research Have to Say?

Since this activity for adults has recently become popular, profound research is still limited. What is widely known is that coloring therapy has been recommended for years and has been an enormous success.

In 2006, researchers conducted a study and discovered that this type of mindfulness therapy helped women who have cancer – it decreased emotional and physical distress symptoms during their treatment. It has also helped people cope with other conditions (depression, anxiety, addictions, and trauma). Also, studies prove that this therapy benefited those who loved to draw and color when they were children.

The Benefits of Coloring

1. It reduces stress/anxiety – during coloring, the level of anxiety and stress decreases. The activity requires complete focus. Also, colors and patterns are hypnotic, making you feel good and in charge of yourself.

2. It boosts creativity – In this type of therapy, there are no limits. All it takes is to let your imagination run wild. There are no rules. You can paint in / out of lines and use any colors and patterns. And finally, there is no wrong way of coloring.

3. It exercises the human brain – When adults start coloring, they use both sides of their brain. The brain’s left side is the “rational” side responsible for fine motor skills and problem-solving. The human brain’s right side oversees the artistic choice of colors and provides aesthetic balance. Coloring exercises both sides of the human brain.

4. It encourages self-awareness and mindfulness – Maximum concentration is required when using coloring books for adults, which means that you must entirely be focused on this activity and block the rest of the world. You will unknowingly practice being present at a given moment. It will also help you sort your thoughts so that your attention is not distracted, helping you for other spheres in life.

Other benefits:

  • You can take coloring with you on any occasion, wherever you go, for which you do not need a lot of space and materials.
  • It is for everyone, not just kids or artists.
  • It strengthens our focus and concentration.
  • It’s a great way to get away from mobiles/laptops/computers.
  • It can improve vision and motor skills.
  • It can improve sleep.
  • It is a form of meditation.
  • It can bring back your happy childhood memories.
  • It can displace negative thoughts and emotions.