Paint Your Stress And Relax!

While we are painting, we are able to let our thoughts fly, just switch off and relax. Painting helps us to escape from the world and to stimulate our creativity, to connect with ourselves and to let our imagination run wild. That’s why we’re introducing you to a colorful trend today: painting against stress.

According to scientists, when we focus on painting, we use hand-eye coordination. There are activates certain areas of the brain that the limbic system inhibit (our emotional Guardian), by which we are freed from worries and anxieties. Somehow we manage to restore our inner order, we manipulate ourselves, so to speak, and organize our thoughts while we dive deeper and deeper into a task. It’s fun and worth it.

Painting against stress with coloring books for adults

But how exactly does this activity affect our brain and what makes it strong enough to relax body and mind? It works like this:

We turn off the brain

Of course not in the literal sense. But by coloring in, we focus on combining our logical intelligence with our creative side. This alleviates the intensity with which we focus on our thoughts and emotions.

When we find colors that are of interest to us, this activates areas of the brain that control our vision and fine motor skills as well as the activity of the amygdala (part of the limbic system) and stabilize our emotions.

Unleashed creativity

Getting lost in an activity we like for a few hours will help us develop our creativity. There are also many themes, from mandalas to animals, forests and other drawings. All it takes is just a little immersion in this world to find out what you like the most.

We do something for sheer pleasure

It may seem stupid, but we should be concerned about how many things we do for pleasure in our daily life. We should also ask ourselves what we do to enjoy our lives.

Find a place quickly and easily where we can meet ourselves … and others

It is our right to sit down to paint and to devote ourselves to discovering our interests and making new friends. Because coloring asks us to come into contact with the inner and outer world.

There are more and more groups and pages on Facebook that connect and motivate adult colorists, as well as promote relaxation and well-being. If you are interested, we invite you to find out more about it.

The bestsellers that will help you to unpaint stress

Although there are numerous books these days that seek to help us relieve stress in our everyday lives in ways as effective as meditation, there are a few that are best-sellers.

This is the case with My Enchanted Garden: A Treasure Hunt  by Scottish artist Johanna Basford, which has become a real international success and has been translated into several languages. Her drawings are made by hand and show animals, forests and flowers to be colored in. Another of her much sought-after books is called Mein Zauberwald .  According to Johanna, her childhood visits to her grandparents inspired her to write this book. They lived in the middle of wild, unruly forests.

Based on her drawings, we can gradually try out different painting techniques, color in every detail patiently and bring in thousands of nuances that give our work liveliness and our thoughts calm.

As can be seen in the picture above, the book includes drawings that range from tiny to tiny, almost magical details. The idea behind this is to get us adults used to taking our time and working patiently.

Another very well-known book from the world of coloring is Mandalas y otros dibujos budistas para colorear (Mandalas and other Buddhist drawings for coloring,  not yet available in German ). In its own mania, this book gathers numerous images of mandalas and patterns with Buddhist motifs to nourish our colorful minds.

This new anti-stress trend is within our grasp and gives us the opportunity to reduce our worries and achieve a calming, health-promoting effect … if we give it a chance!

Another of the best-known authors of this trend is Richard Merrit, who also offer us many beautiful options, such as relaxing in Creative: The Colorful Coloring Book . As you can see in the picture below, these books are full of beauty.

Finally, we introduce you to The Mindfulness Coloring Book: An Anti-Stress Pleasure  by illustrator Emma Farrarons. Her beautiful illustrations invite us to meditate consciously as we fill the pages with color and our minds with peace and quiet.

Just do a search on the internet and you will get an insight into the success of these coloring books. You will also find some templates to print out if you want to try painting against stress.

We would like to encourage you to make this wonderful work a habit of your mind and a meeting place for your inner life. Remember that if you don’t want to think about anything and just turn your head off, you have a good coloring page.

So get your crayons, felt-tip pens and erasers !!