With the world moving at a faster pace every day, taking those few quiet moments to relax and be in the present can be more important than ever. Coloring books have come along at just the right time to offer a way to unwind from the chaos. Although the idea of coloring books was pioneered for kids, that’s just a starting point. Today, coloring books for grown-ups are becoming more and more popular for relaxation and as a meditative practice. How in the world did they become a path to relaxation, creativity and to being more mindful?

The Rise of Adult Coloring Books

The success of adult coloring books illustrates that these universal pleasures are widely shared. Crossing age, gender, and cultural boundaries, they have brought together coloring fans from all kinds of backgrounds – and the detailed drawings and patterns in their pages are an invitation to creative activity and emotional experience. Amid all the digital distractions that can captivate us, engaging with pens or colored pencils on paper allows us to reconnect with something very basic and down-to-earth.

In a world that’s increasingly fast-paced, screen-based, and heated, coloring offers a calm alternative. The repetitive, focused motion of filling in shapes with color helps you reach this meditative state. Amid the noise, it’s a sensory intervention that gently nudges the mind to stay in the present moment, highlighting the sounds and sights of color and line while allowing everyday thoughts to step back into the background, at least for a while.

The Science Behind Coloring and Relaxation

But there is more to the power of coloring than meets the eye: speaking as a content creator and coloring book artist, I know that coloring forms part of a chain of events in the brain that triggers a flood of relaxation chemicals. In a real sense, it is like opening a valve in the brain, and, with the loud relief that comes from easing pressure, a happy little flood of calming neurotransmitters follows. In coloring, then, a meditative medley is created in the mind, preparing the brain to loosen its grip on the stressors of daily life. Scientific research confirms that coloring can lower levels of cortisol, the ‘stress’ hormone. At the same time, the brain begins flooding itself with heightened amounts of the ‘feel-good’ chemicals dopamine and endorphins, a chemical cocktail that can sweep away stress and anxiety, and elevate mood.

Fostering Mindfulness Through Coloring

Staying in the moment is a skill at the heart of mindfulness, and that’s where coloring activities come in. The color flows from your hand to the page, and your mind follows it, caught up in the rhythms of what you’re doing. The chatter of the world breaks off, and for those few moments, the worry about the past and the future can be staved off, and you can be at peace with the moment.

Coloring helps us experience mindfulness, but it also makes discussion about it accessible to those who see meditation as difficult. Coloring is a mindful activity that doesn’t require the stilling of thought but instead invites you to redirect attention from what is happening in your head to the colors, the lines and shapes unfolding in the page. As this regular practice of handling color becomes routine, it builds a kind of inner refuge, which might yet offer a much-needed space against the busyness of life.

Unlocking Creativity and Imagination

The white of the coloring book pages is a playground for your imagination. Every line you color is an opportunity to opt out of reality and play. The color you use, the combinations you try, and the techniques you apply are all expressions of your creative mind. And you aren’t really coloring within the lines, you are creating your own version of the design, and the more unscripted your creativity, the more you will get out of it.

Connecting with Your Inner Child

The smell of crayons; the feel of paper in your hands; the joy of seeing colors blend: childhood itself and its experience of the world seems to be distilled in the very act of flipping through a coloring book. Coloring books open a gateway to a lost world, one of innocence and pleasure, untouched by the obligations and worries of adulthood.

Restoring this connection to your inner child is, in fact, part of the therapeutic benefit of coloring. Because adulthood is hard, coloring can feel like a small vacation, like having a safe space to step into where worries are not allowed. Nostalgia is like a warm, grandmotherly hug; it calms and comforts us in ways that strange new things, by definition, cannot. It tells us that it’s possible to feel happy enough not to need more than we already have.

Incorporating Coloring into Your Routine

Coloring need not be an elaborate production, either. If you have a busy schedule, there are still plenty of opportunities to fit it in. It can be as little as 10-15 minutes a day; it can become a rest in between things, or a planned pause to take care of your mental health.

Use coloring in the morning as you gaze into your coffee mug, to help wake up from your dreams in the best possible way; use it again in the evening, away from the pressures of tomorrow, as a transition between work or play and sleep. The daily rhythm of coloring helps to integrate your life by creating calmer, more mindful and creative moments.

Choosing the Right Coloring Book for You

The large selection of grown-up coloring books on the market allows you to explore your deepest desires for self-expression: the theme can be an extension of your passions (flora and fauna, mandalas, geometric abstract). In addition, there’s the issue of complexity of design: the more elaborate the design, the more it may appeal to those who like intricate work, while simpler patterns seem more inviting to those who are only dipping their toe in the coloring pool for the first time. Then there are the pens and pencils themselves: there’s a wide range of colored media (colored pencils, markers, gel pens) and experience can vary depending on your preferences. [Check out these beautiful flesh tone coloring pencils for diversity options!]

Once a child’s recreational activity, the coloring book has become a serious tool for relaxation, creativity and mindfulness. Mindful coloring can be a respite from the push and pull of the world, and a chance to slow down and be fully in the here and now, allowing yourself to express your emotions through color.

The world might be full of chaos, but as you color the world, your own is calm. ❤️