One of my beloved and wise clients told me she was starting to do Zentangles. A Zentangle is a small, 3.5 X 3.5 inch, delightful piece of art that’s fun to create and that looks great. Anyone can do it.
So what? Well, it can lead you to moments of deep mindfulness, so deep that you become enlightened.
Even people who are sure they have no artistic talent can create pieces they love in about 15 minutes while harvesting the benefits of deep mindfulness play.
Benefits
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. –da Vinci
Making art can drop you into a flow state. Creating Zentangles is probably the easiest way to harvest this quality of making art.
When you are in a flow state, you feel pleasure, happy, purposeful, aligned with the universe and your skills. It’s being in the zone. You’re in the groove. You’re in heaven.
You are aware of your surroundings, your body, and what’s going on in the Present Moment. Your mind doesn’t travel to the future or the past. You are fully engrossed alert, fascinated, engaged, enchanted by what is happening in the here and the now.
The never ending critical mind chatter goes away. You are at peace. Calm and focused.
It’s fun. It’s playful. It will make you feel like a happy kid again.
Zentanglers put it this way – they felt more like themselves when they are at their best.
This state of flow, this right brain activity, helps with pain, fatigue, and stress. People sleep better, handle their lives more easily, process grief with kindness, and deal with chronic pain with more ease.
Weirdly, your self-acceptance grows. Because in the format Zentangle teaches, you can’t make a mistake. There are no mistakes. They teach you to learn to integrate your mistake into the pattern or just accept it, live with it. Depression and anxiety fade, or melt away completely.
I have crafted eight of them as I write this, and each one has at least a few mistakes. But, so what? I like them. I have learned to not ruin people’s experience of my art by showing them my mistakes.
And did you guess, all this boosts your creativity, yes even yours. With your creativity boosted, you solve problems easier. Right?
All of this builds your self confidence and increases your self-expression. Isn’t that useful?
I have written three books on making art, all aiming to bring you into your right brain and into the present moment. The Zentangle method does this admirably.
How to Turn Doodles into Art and Magic and Enlightenment
You start with a small piece of paper (3.5 X 3.5 inches) called a tile of good art paper. Zentangle recommends Fabriano Tiepolo printmaking paper. Regular paper just doesn’t work well. Good paper heightens your experience. Trust me.
You can use hot press watercolor paper or other smooth surfaced printmaking paper. You can of course get the tiles and all the tools on-line at www.zentangle.com, Dick Blick Art Supply, or Amazon.com.
I recommend supporting your local art supply store if you have one. When I roam, I love exploring college bookstores for art supplies.
You will use a black indelible ink pen – Micron 01 is recommended. I love micron pens, but use a 03. Both are fine tip pens. Last, you’ll need a regular No. 2 pencil or the like. No eraser needed or allowed.
Sit with your blank tile for a second, take some deep breathes, and get centered. Then…
Put a pencil dot in the four corners, connect the dots with pencil. The lines need not be straight. There are No mistakes.
You get to break each suggested rule.
Then divide your square with a line or two… curvy or straight. Then fill in each section with a tangle, one of the patterns.
See the curves passing through the square at the below…
The patterns, called tangles, may look complex, but they are all simple – one line at a time. The Zentanglers have step by step instructions for making each of them.
See my Zentangle to the right. I started with an oval on the right side, then attached a curved line to the oval and then a curved line to the next… repetitive simple strokes. Easy, right?
Here’s the video I watched to learn it. Easy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcBt5D8jncc
Because the strokes are deliberate, you engage your right brain and get all the benefits of that.
Even though right at the beginning you’ll create art you like, it’s the process that works the magic.
Coloring Books
You may know that coloring books for adults are popular right now. Unsurprisingly, coloring gives you many of the benefits of making art.
Once you have finished your Zentangle in black and white, you can shade it in if you choose. It does make things pop.
And it’s fun.
See => 
Now, you can use this as your own unique coloring book.
Ta taa =>
A Surprise – Well Two
I created a Zentangle the other day, and I was surprised by the sense of accomplishment that I got when I was done. With endless to do lists and the open ended challenges we face, often we don’t get to complete things.
Completing the Zentangle was wonderful. I felt accomplished.
The second surprise – I really like my final products. I thought it would be cool to make them and the mindfulness would be a gift, but the results would be sort of, who cares… But I find I am quite fond of some of them. The one above is one of my favorites.
Suzanne displayed one of them… the equivalent of posting it on the fridge. High honors.
: )
Recommendations and Resources
I recommend highly that you play with Zentangles. Use the following to get you going.
Here’s the Zentangle website again > www.Zentangle.com
Here are my books.
Color the Sky Yellow: Creative Magic, Playful Art for Your Inner Child
Drawing the Sacred: Communing with the Sacred through Drawing – An Illustrated Journey Paper Back Version Kindle version
Sketching, Poetry, and the Sacred Present Moment: A Magically Potent Way To Savor Your Life Paper Back Version Kindle version
This website, A Little Lime, has a bunch of tangles with easy instructions on how to make them. You’ll love them. (You can find tons of YouTube instructional videos.)
My favorite Zentangle book => Joy of Zentangle: Drawing Your Way to Increased Creativity, Focus, and Well-Being
Here is a list of a bunch of Zentangle books on Amazon.
