The Zentangle method is an art therapy based on awareness (Mindfulness) in which participants create detailed images by drawing repetitive structured patterns, called tangles, with points, lines and intricate curves.
“Zen” represents meditation, slowing down to feel and love everything inside and in front of us. “Tangle”, tangle, represents an art form where one image is built one stretch at a time, involving the participant in a dialogue with himself, calming the mind.
These abstract motifs consist of simple traits designed on small pieces of square paper called cards, which can be assembled in large mosaics.
What is Zentangle
Created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas in 2003, Zentangle is unique as it requires few drawing skills, planning or equipment to start.
The reasons are freely designed, the cards can be rotated in any direction and no corrections are foreseen. It is easy to learn and suitable for anyone, can also be done everywhere, even in the convenience of your home.
The simplicity and meditative nature of Zentangle art has pushed its popularity in recent years: the current global Zentangle community is of large -reaching, with over 3000 certified teachers in over 40 countries.
Mindfulness is more commonly defined as an awareness focused on the present which is non -reactive and non -judgmental. The interventions based on awareness are effective in improving various psychosocial conditions. Among these depression, anxiety, insomnia, hypertension and pain. They have shown to reduce stress, promote emotional regulation and improve psychological health and holistic well -being.
The art therapy
Art-therapy is a therapeutic intervention that uses and integrates the creative process of making art to improve physical, mental and emotional well-being. Art therapy based on awareness (Mindfulness Based Art Therapy), in particular, has complementary effects on mental health and has shown that it induce emotional relaxation, reduce symptoms of stress, depression and anxiety and improve spiritual well -being and quality of life (Newland & Bettencourt, 2020). However, these interventions usually require resources and time and several months before the effects can be detected.
Zentangle avoids these limitations with its simplicity and creativity through the imagination and relaxation that attract all ages. It allows people who do not feel artistic to be creative and innovative and can be taught quickly with a single short session (for example, a 30 -minute seminar). The final and tangible final product created can be a symbol of realization and even be shared or given to others.
Although Zentangle emphasizes awareness, it focuses mainly on the promotion of gratitude and appreciation through drawings in the absence of structured models. Pens are preferred to pencils to encourage acceptance and reformulation and the tires are not necessary, since the process does not recognize the errors, which should instead be processed as an opportunity.
Participants can simply enjoy the present moment and the conscious and relaxing process of creating Zentangle art.
Zentangle art can be used for the reduction of stress, as an instrumental complement to therapy and even for motivational training. By cultivating the awareness moment by moment, it is based on the same mental dynamics as conscious meditation, obtaining similar results.
How Zentangle works
Although Zentangle is a relatively new approach, it is based on methods used for centuries, see for example the meditative Buddhist practices associated with the creation of mandalas.
Similar to the scribble, it does not start with a precise image in mind to be brought back to paper. Instead, let the image fluise from the pen without any preconceived notion of what could be designed. While you get riders, the goal is to let your mind focus only on the process of creating the lines, not worrying about errors or how the finished product will appear.
Zentangle provides for an eight phases process:
- Gratitude and appreciation: Set your mind to relax and appreciate what you are about to do.
- Corner points: Create a point to the four corners of a sheet of square paper.
- Edge: Use a pen to connect the points with a sinuous or straight line, forming a square.
- String: Separate the square in sections using strings or lines that creates on paper.
- Tangle: Use a predefined sequence of simple traits to create a pen motif without worrying about making mistakes or how the image you create will appear.
- Shading: adds a share to the work by shading different areas of the drawing.
- Initial and sign: Place your initials on the front and sign up on the back.
- Appreciate: Observe the work and appreciate what you have created.
Potential benefits for mental health
Although it is relatively new as a tool aimed at wellness, some scientific evidence can be found that suggest that Zentangle can provide therapeutic benefits for mental health.
A preliminary study (HSU et al., 2021) was conducted on 40 health workers, the researchers noticed that Zentangle had a positive effect on alleviating stress and frustration in the workplace, enhancing self -efficacy, increasing the commitment to the workplace.
A result shared by the entire sample is that health workers have noticed significant improvements in their physical, mental and spiritual well -being.
A study published in 2022 (Chung et al., 2022) found similar results: significant reductions in negative affections have been found in the Zentangle group compared to the control group both in immediate post-intervention assessments and 2 weeks. They noticed that with sufficient practice, Zentangle can help anxiety and improve self -compression.
Also other research based on art therapy (Akbulak & Can, 2022; Yakar et al., 2021), which use Mandala’s creation, where the concept at the base remains the same that for Zentangle, have found promising results in the reduction of stress and anxiety in people hospitalized with tumors and subjected to chemotherapy.
Similar results (Kim et al., 2018) were obtained in a sample of psychiatric subjects also hospitalized: in addition to an increase in subjective well -being, greater hope was found in the success of the path taken.
These encouraging results remain at the moment limited to small champions and still insufficient scientific production. However, the recent interest for this type of interventions, and favorable data found so far, are leading researchers to increase the studies aimed at investigating the beneficial effects of the Zentangle method in reducing negative affectivity.
Bibliography
- Siu-Ki Chung; Fiona Yan-Yee Ho; Henri Chun-Yiu Chan (2022). The Effects of Zentangle on affective Well-Boing Among Adults: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial, The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 2022, Vol. 76 (5), 7605205060
- HSU, MF; Wang, c.; Tzou, sj; Pan, TC; Tang, PL Effects of Zentangle Art Workplace Health Promotion Activities on Rural Healthcare Worldrs. Public Health, 2021, 196217–222.
- Fatma Akbulak, Gülbeyaz Can (2022), Effectiveness of Mandala Coloring in Reducing Anxiety in Women with Early-Stage Breast Cancer Receiving Chemotherapy for the first time, Explore, 2022, ISSN 1550-8
- Hatice Karabuga Yakar, Banu Yilmaz, Ozan Ozkol, Fadime Gevher, Emine Celik (2021), Effects of Art-Based Mandala Interventions On Distress and Anxiety in Cancer Patient, Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, Volume 43
- Hyejin Kim, Sunman Kim, Kwisoon Choe, Ji-Su Kim (2018), Effects of Mandala Art Therapy on Subjective Well-Bell, Resilience, and Hope in Psychiatric Impatient, Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, Volume 32, Issue 2, Pages 167-173.
- Newland, p., Bettencourt, Ba, (2020) Effectiveness of mindfulness-based art therapy for sympoms of anxiety, depression, and fatigue: a systemic review and meta-analysis, complementary therapies in clinical practice, volume 41, 101246, ISSN 174-3881.
