Most of us have fond memories of being immersed in a massive coloring book, creating vibrant illustrations without a care in the world. Time could fly past as the latest masterpiece was completed.
It undoubtedly helped to inspire many young artists who got their first taste of art by coloring in books with crayons, pencils, and pens. Yet suddenly most of us stop coloring our books. Not many give it a second thought, and why would they?
Colouring books are just for children after all –aren’t they? Well, it turns out that adults could find some incredible benefits from coloring in, as it has been compared closely to meditation. Adults appear to be noticing this, as evidenced by the increase in adult coloring books – Amazon’s top 20 best sellers include 6 different adult coloring books! Using these types of books can have a great positive effect on our creativity.
Stress and anxiety can also be reduced by coloring away, which is why it is being deemed almost as beneficial for mental health as meditating. “I recommend it as a relaxation technique,” says Antoni Martinez, a psychologist.
“We can use it to enter a more creative, freer state. I recommend it in a quiet environment, even with chill music. Let the color and lines flow.” Many others have agreed with this assertion. “There is a lot history of people coloring for mental health reasons,” says fellow psychologist Ben Michaelis.
“Carl Jung used to try to get his patients to color in mandalas at the turn of the last century, as a way of getting people to focus on the subconscious to let go. Now we know it has a lot of other stress-busting qualities as well.”
We’ve collected some coloring books from Amazon.
Drinking Animals Coloring Book
