Zentangle®

Zentangle® is an easy-to-learn, mindful method of drawing, creating abstract art through the use of structured patterns. It provides relief from stress through relaxation while you create a piece of art. Zentangle® patterns are easy to draw with simple repetitive elemental and deliberate strokes. If you can write your name or draw a stick figure, you can do Zentangle®. It’s a fascinating art form that is fun and relaxing. It increases focus and creativity. It provides artistic satisfaction and increases a sense of personal well being. Zentangle® is enjoyed by people of all ages.

Zentangle® was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. Rick, the Zen of the team, has been a cab driver, musician, photographer, printer, and flute maker. He also lived as a monk for 17 years. Maria, the Tangle of the team, is as a lettering artist and operates a stationery design and production company. To learn more about them go to: www.zentangle.com

Although Zentangle® can be done on any paper or surface, it is taught using a black pen on 3.5-inch square watercolor paper, called a tile. Tangles or patterns generally are created by 2 or 3 simple or elemental strokes done in a series of steps. Doing Zentangle® or Tangling looks deceptively like doodling, but it’s not doodling. While doodling has its useful purposes, it is something one does with their hands when their mind is elsewhere. In contrast, doing Zentangle® is very focused; your attention is on the pen, the paper and on each pen stroke. Zentangle® is about being mindful. Often Zentangle® is referred to as “yoga for the brain”.

In Zentangle® the "relaxed and deliberate focus" aspect of meditation is emphasized. Today, everything is so instant, result oriented, competitive and fast. The stimulus people receive in the form of texts, Facebook, TV, emails, demands on our time and more are something that has never been experienced in the history of mankind. Never have we experienced such constant stimuli from so many directions. Never have we had so much information at our fingertips. Never have we had so many choices to make. There is simply too much going on in our brains!

Over the past decade meditation and mindfulness practices have gone mainstream. Yet, many are unable to sit still long enough to do these practices. I, for one, need be be doing something; sitting still is hard for me. Zentangle® calms the mind. It increases focus, creativity, and relaxation, provides artistic satisfaction and increases a sense of personal well-being. Zentangle® reduces stress and enhances creativity in people of all ages. It is a gift to oneself; the end Zentangle® art is the prize.