Coloring Books: Therapeutic Art For Adults

Coloring is not just a child’s pleasure. In recent years, the simple art of painting mandalas, for example , has emerged as a very common practice among the adult population.

Perhaps for this reason, and seeing the emotional, physical and cognitive benefits that this distracted practice brings, we can already find more books aimed at this type of audience in stores and bookstores. 

Today, in our space we invite you to discover them with us, since you understand why coloring can be so beneficial for your health.

Pleasure for the brain: coloring

The advantages and benefits of hand knitting have been talked about for a long time. We deploy endless strategies for concentration, attention and memory that are very practical for any age.

Coloring a drawing is, although it may surprise you, much more appropriate. In fact, it has a long tradition in the clinical and therapy field.

Coloring and its benefits in clinic

Simple coloring therapy has been offered to many people with mental deficiencies for several years. It is an exercise that can provide a time of adequate relaxation and even emotional control. Children with autism, for example, often enjoy painting pictures quite a bit. The reasons?

• They help improve concentration and enhance psychomotor coordination.
• They act as a relaxant and channel the emotions. You find a lot of calm through the colors and filling in the blanks with the tones you choose.
• For many people within this group, coloring can become one of their favorite activities. In addition, it is a form of expression, of finding positive stimuli and reinforcements.

Coloring, an anti-stress art

In the publishing market you can find books like those of the Scottish author Johanna Basford. Titles like:

• “The secret Garden”.
• ” The enchanted forest”.
• “Lost ocean “

They were originally conceived for a children’s audience. However, later the editors realized that the drawings were too complex.

They had realized that adults had a habit of downloading mandalas and other types of graphics to color from the internet. So they decided to target them to a larger audience and turned them into a true mass phenomenon.

Consumers generally confirm the following:

• Painting relaxes them. Many people are looking forward to coming home to enjoy seeing these highly complex fantasy-filled black and white drawings. They become a direct invitation to “disconnect” from problems.
• When painting, concerns take another perspective. Things are seen more calmly and we enter a state of internal peace in which we can better connect with ourselves.
• We calm the nerves.  Cortisol levels drop and stress is reduced.
• We improve attention and memory.

• In turn, there is an important aspect that we must take into account: the simple fact of choosing a certain type of colors can express our mood.
• Painting is an external experience that allows us to get in touch with our emotions.

Coloring, an emotional and spiritual act

The famous Swiss psychiatrist, physician and essayist Carl Gustav Jung delved into the study of the art of painting and drawing as a mechanism of expression and liberation.

Although it is true that his works focused especially on mandalas and their symbolism, it is interesting to bring here some of his reflections that, without a doubt, define this recent fashion of coloring very well.

• The art of coloring is an act that unites us not only to our emotions, but to our innermost being and to many of those sensations that we have in the subconscious.

• As we paint, we do so in silence, thus allowing the most sleepy thoughts of our being to emerge. 
• Carl Gustav Jung called it “spiritual art.” He explained to us that mandalas, for example, mostly used the circular shape because it is the representation of a cosmos, of our own evolving interior, from an internal point to the exterior,  where good and bad can be reflected.
• If we realize, many of the coloring pages that are marketed today still mostly use representations that are arranged in circular shapes.
• According to Gustav Jung, it is also healthy for us to draw and not limit ourselves to just coloring. Drawing is a form of freedom, which also allows us to channel emotions and release stress.

Dare to experiment

They don’t have to be works of art. They will be cathartic drawings that reflect our feelings and that offer us that daily emotional relief that we all need.

Putting it into practice costs nothing. We will notice how our mood improves and how we feel much more relaxed with this simple practice.