More Zen than Tangle Sometimes

Past the art form of Zentangle... the Zen part is the most interesting to me.

Did you know that someone battling with Parkinson disease,  Zentangle can help rewire their head to accept hand-to-brain signals.  Someone with this disease said they were on medication and after tangling, they were able to come off the meds.

Zentangle can be a helpful tool  to deal with:  anxiety, depression, bipolar, addiction therapy, ADD, ADHD, strokes, traumatic brain injury, chronic pain, therapy for cancer, anger management and stress to get relief in helping them focus on a topic and get thru difficult episodes.

Meditation and journaling are two recovery techniques that are offered through tangling.  The repetitive patterns let your mind focus and as you draw, you find yourself thinking on certain issues and resolving some of them or seeing them in a different light. 

One might note a thought on the back of each tile (with the date) of what you were thinking during the tangling.  Tangling centers yourself, let go of stress, increase self esteem.  Drawing something beautiful helps with confidence.  After drawing their first tile, folks are surprised how beautiful it is and are impressed with themselves.  Some use tangling for aid in sleep, for inspiration, help focus and concentrate, to relax.

When first looking at a tile, you might think it looks elaborate and complicated.  The best part for me, when teaching the art form, is that folks think they could never do something like that and when they do thru simple designs and patterns "one stroke at a time" what you thought impossible was actually quite simple.

The theory of Zentangle teaches ways of thinking, through drawing, that can be applied to any life experience.  As in tangling, just break it down one stroke at a time - one step at a time,

There are no erasers in tangling.  Just like life, you can't go back, so turn it into something else, take a different direction. No matter what line you draw, it will effect your pattern.  As in life, everything you do will affect your life's pattern, foot print or someone else's.

Bottom line:  Zentangle makes a difference one way or another.  It will change your life too. It did mine.