Mandalas are drawings, generally circular, that are made up of various geometric shapes around their center. These are colored subjectively by each one the drawing reaches. It is believed that in cultures such as Hinduism or Buddhism they were used to support meditation. Currently, some publishers are dedicated to launching series of books for painting mandalas and some doctors recommend them to promote concentration and reduce stress.
According to Patricia López, a coach specializing in symbolic language through the expressive arts and author of the book Mandalas for Abundance and Prosperity, mandalas are archetypal figures that represent already known patterns. But can the exercise of coloring one of them really help us reduce anxiety? Some researchers have tried to delve into the meaning and potential of this hobby.
The Swiss psychoanalyst Carl G. Jung, a student of Sigmund Freud, was one of the pioneers in theorizing about the creation and contemplation of mandalas as a relaxing resource. In his essay Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, Jung reveals that this conscious activity is capable of simultaneously connecting with the subconscious of individuals. For him, painting is a hobby that, a priori, is not creative, but rather results in forms present in nature, and that is why it has the power to provide calm and tranquility to patients with post-traumatic stress or depression, for example. example.
The coach Patricia López adds in her work that the fact of aligning our psyche with a perfectly ordered pattern like that of mandalas for a long period of time stimulates concentration and the author of the drawing reaches a state of relaxation, or even a meditative state. . In this way, coloring mandalas is not only an exercise capable of mitigating anxiety or stress, but it can be the vehicle for conversation with our subconscious.
Education Resources Information (ERIC) published a study by Nancy A. Curry and Tim Krasser titled Can coloring mandalas reduce anxiety?, which addresses the effectiveness of this activity over other similar ones for this purpose. 84 art students participated in this experiment and, in the first phase of sampling, listed the life episodes in which they had presented high levels of anxiety. In a second phase, the sample was divided into three groups, each of which was offered a drawing that they had to color for twenty minutes.
Each member of the first group colored a mandala, those of the second group painted an irregular figure and those of the third group were given a blank sheet of paper. In the end, after asking the students if they had managed to relax, the researchers found that the group that had colored the mandalas reduced their anxiety levels considerably. Those who painted an irregular figure reduced their anxiety levels, although to a lesser extent, while those who colored on a blank sheet of paper appeared confused and barely relaxed. With this they demonstrated that focusing our mind on a pattern works when seeking tranquility.
