These days, coloring isn’t just for kids. Many say adult coloring books help them cope with anxiety, and experts agree there’s plenty of evidence to support that assumption.
The last time I picked up a coloring pencil was probably in junior school. Then too it was to add some color to monotone assignments that my teacher handed out to the class.
I had this theory or perhaps misconception that art was always beyond my reach or scope and I believed that you needed some level of talent to pursue Art.
But when I saw a display of adult coloring books and pencil crayons at my local bookstore, I was intrigued and inquisitive by it all. I had heard the radio reports and had read the newspaper reports about how this hobby was taking the world by storm.
I was still not entirely convinced by the hype so I hesitantly purchased a book and a set of color pencils and pens. It wasn’t long before I found myself sitting at my dining room table looking at the intricate patterns in my book and inanimately deciding on which colors would suit the picture best.
I gave myself fifteen minutes of this madness and then I would get back to some real work. Half an hour later I was still sitting at the table and by then I was telling myself just one more minute. That half an hour felt unbelievably quiet in my head and it made me feel ready for my next task on my to do list.
The bright colors I used in the picture made me feel a little upbeat and it had an all-round pleasing effect on my mood. I felt more relaxed and felt that I coped better with the stresses of the day. Co-incidence? Was I imagining all of us? Or is there a science behind all of this?
How Coloring Affects Our Brains
According to consulting neuropsychologist and neuroscientist Dr. Stan Rodski, coloring for adults makes perfect logic.
“Watching children and the way that they relax while coloring really prompted the thought, why can’t adults re-enter that space in a brain state?”
Dr. Rodski is the author of several coloring books for adults began actively exploring the idea when he realized that conventional relaxation methods were not working on some of his patients.
“I was struggling with executives, managers, people who would normally be referred to me with stress, who just found it enormously difficult to do deep breathing, relaxation or meditation,” he says.
Remarkably, one of the first psychologists to apply coloring as a relaxation technique was Carl G. Jüng in the early 20th century. He applied this through mandalas: circular designs with concentric shapes. They have their origin in India.
Coloring has a de-stressing effect because while doing it we focus on one particular activity, the focus is just on that and not any of our worries. T
he relaxation that coloring provides lowers the activity of the amygdala, a rudimentary part of our brain involved in controlling sensation that is affected by anxiety.
Sahar El-Nadi, author of the book “Sandcastles and Snowmen” and founder of the popular Cairo coloring club, agrees that coloring for adults does alleviate stress and promote a sense of well-being. This is how she rediscovered coloring.
“I needed a creative activity to escape to for short intervals during the day,” says El Nadi,“or while on the road traveling or in waiting rooms between appointments. The systematic strokes of coloring pens and the constant creative process of color coordination is an incredible de-stressor. By doing so we switch off to the world and in this process we lose the stress we carry through in our daily life.”
El Nadi took this hobby one step further and self-published her own book of designs when she could not find a publisher who wanted to publish her book. They thought it was a joke. Her book “The Book of Joy” coloring book contains all original designs drawn by Sahar.
“The Book of Joy locally, is the first of a kind with original designs in Egypt,” she says, “and I joined a group of international artists to publish internationally. Right now I have one book in each market, and there are more on the way.”
The post Adult Coloring: Using Art As Therapy and a Stress Reliever appeared first on About Islam.
source https://aboutislam.net/family-life/culture/adult-coloring-using-art-as-therapy-and-a-stress-reliever/
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