Does coloring a mandala actually make you more mindful?
Coloring a mandala was no more mindful or calming than free drawing, but adding spoken mindfulness guidance reduced anxiety, and increased mindfulness only in people who liked the guidance.
Source
When Did Coloring Books Become Mindful? Exploring the Effectiveness of a Novel Method of Mindfulness-Guided Instructions for Coloring Books to Increase Mindfulness and Decrease Anxiety
Study at a glance
- Design
- Human experiment — Two between-subjects randomised experiments with pre/post measures: Exp 1 mandala coloring vs free drawing; Exp 2 guided vs unguided mandala coloring, each for 10 minutes
- N
- Experiment 1: 88 undergraduates recruited, of whom four were excluded after debriefing (the reported gender split sums to fewer than 88); Experiment 2: 72 undergraduates, mostly female
- Population
- Undergraduate students at a UK university in the West Midlands
- Outcome
- State mindfulness (State Mindfulness Scale) and state anxiety (short-form State Anxiety Inventory) before and after the activity
Structured fields used in claim comparison tables when every cited study has a complete layer.
What they did
In Experiment 1, undergraduates told they were in a 'Personality and Art' study were randomly assigned to 10 minutes of either coloring a mandala or drawing freely on a blank page, completing mindfulness and anxiety scales before and after. In Experiment 2, a new group of 72 students all colored a mandala, either on their own or while a meditation teacher gave mindfulness instructions adapted from breathing meditation. Afterwards participants were asked whether they liked the guidance.
What they found
In Experiment 1, anxiety fell over time in both groups equally, and neither activity changed state mindfulness. In Experiment 2, anxiety dropped in the guided group but not the unguided group, while overall mindfulness did not change significantly. Among guided participants, the 17 who liked the instructions all increased in mindfulness, whereas most of the 19 who disliked the guidance became less mindful.
The limits
What it doesn't show
The samples were small groups of students, mostly white and in Experiment 2 almost all female, and the activity lasted a single 10-minute session, so long-term use of coloring books was not tested. There was no mindfulness-meditation-only group, so the authors cannot say whether the benefit came from the guidance or the coloring. The split into 'liked' vs 'disliked' guidance was made after the fact and was not randomised, so liking may reflect pre-existing traits rather than causing the mindfulness change. Experiment 1 also had no passive control, so the anxiety drop could simply reflect time passing or settling into the lab.
Key terms
- State mindfulness
- A temporary, moment-to-moment level of present-focused, non-judgmental awareness, as opposed to a stable trait.
- State anxiety
- How anxious a person feels right now, which can change quickly with situations.
- Mandala
- A symmetrical, usually circular design often used in coloring books marketed for relaxation or mindfulness.
- Funneled debriefing
- A step-by-step questioning at the end of a study to check whether participants guessed its aims, used here to exclude aware participants.
- Flow
- A state of full absorption in an activity, which the authors suggest the spoken guidance may have interrupted.
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Quiz yourself
What did Experiment 1 compare?
Common questions
If anxiety went down in Experiment 1, doesn't coloring work?
Anxiety fell equally after free drawing and mandala coloring, and there was no do-nothing group, so the drop can't be credited to mandalas or to mindfulness specifically.
Why did some people become less mindful with guidance?
Many found the teacher's voice distracting or awkward; the authors suggest it may have broken their absorption in the task, and dislike itself is a form of judgment that mindfulness aims to let go of.
Are 'mindful coloring books' supported by this study?
Not as usually sold. Unguided coloring did not raise mindfulness; only coloring with mindfulness instructions showed benefits, and mainly for people who liked the instructions.
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