Mandalas, and why people color them

Mandala is a Sanskrit word, usually translated as “circle”. [1] In Hindu and Buddhist traditions, a mandala is a sacred diagram used in rituals and meditation. It often pictures the universe, or the home of a holy figure, with that figure at the center. [1, 2]

A traditional mandala is read from the outside in: protective outer rings, including rings of fire and lotus petals, then a square, often drawn as a palace with four gates, and finally the center, where everything begins. [1, 2]

Some mandalas are made to be let go. Tibetan Buddhist monks spend days laying colored sand, grain by grain, then sweep the finished mandala away as a reminder that nothing lasts forever. [3]

During the First World War, the psychologist Carl Jung drew a small circular mandala almost every day, and came to see them as pictures of a person’s inner self. These were his ideas rather than tested findings, but they helped make mandalas known in the West. [4]

Circles built around a center appear in many cultures, from the stained-glass rose windows of Gothic cathedrals to Islamic geometric art, which grows from the circle and the square. [5, 6] Each has its own history and meaning, and they aren’t mandalas, but they share the same balanced order.

Zenvas pages are mandala-inspired. They follow the same structure, from a center to a closing edge, but draw flowers, waves, stars and simple geometry instead of religious images.

Researchers have tested coloring in small experiments since 2005. Here is what they found, in plain words.

• People usually felt less anxious after coloring.In experiments with students and older adults, people said they felt less anxious after 10 to 30 minutes of coloring, compared with before, or with people who did something else such as reading. [7, 9, 10, 12]
• It has been tested with teens.Before a school test, 193 eighth-graders colored either a mandala or freely. Test anxiety fell in both groups. [11]
• Patterns sometimes help more than a blank page, but not always.In the first studies, coloring a mandala or a checked pattern eased anxiety more than drawing on a blank page. [7, 8, 9] In other studies, free coloring helped just as much. [11, 13]
• Choosing your own colors matters.Students who picked their own colors felt calmer, and kept going longer on a later task, than students who copied someone else’s colors. [14]
• A tablet works about as well as paper.Small studies found coloring on an app or a tablet about as calming as pencils and paper. [16, 17]
• Getting absorbed seems to be part of it.Many people find coloring absorbing, a state psychologists call “flow”. In one small study, how absorbed people became explained why one style of digital coloring calmed them more than another. [17, 18]
• Coloring isn’t automatically mindfulness.On its own, coloring a mandala didn’t make people measurably more mindful in one set of experiments. It can still be a quiet break. [15]

• Patterned pages, not blank onesEvery page is a clear structure of bounded shapes, the kind of patterned design the early studies used. [7, 9]
• Your colors, your choice45 pencils and no color-by-number, because choosing your own colors calmed people more than copying set ones. [14]
• No points, rewards or animationsIn one small study, a coloring app with points and animations absorbed and calmed people less than plain digital coloring. Zenvas keeps tap-to-fill simple, with no streaks, scores or feed. [17]
• Sessions that fit your dayStudies used 10 to 30 minutes. Stop whenever you like: tap Done to keep a picture in My gallery, and reopen it later to keep coloring.
• Quiet and privateNo ads and no tracking while you color, so nothing competes for your attention. Your pictures stay on your device unless you choose cloud saving.
• Made for tablets, fine anywhereShapes sized for fingers, pinch to zoom into the finest ones, and a stylus works too. Small studies found screens about as calming as paper. [16, 17]

• Give yourself 10 to 20 minutes, about as long as most studies used.
• Start at the center or at the edge, and work ring by ring.
• Choose three to five colors for a page, or let each ring pick its own.
• Breathe slowly, and notice the shape you are filling rather than the whole page.
• There are no wrong colors. If something doesn’t feel right, tap Undo, or keep going and see what happens.
• Pinch with two fingers to zoom into the finest shapes.

Mandalas are sacred in Hindu and Buddhist practice, and are still made in temples today. Zenvas pages borrow the circle, the center and the rings for relaxation. They never use holy figures, sacred letters or ritual objects, and we don’t call them sacred or healing.

1. 1Encyclopaedia Britannica. Mandala. Britannica, updated 2026.
2. 2Rubin Museum of Art (2021). Circle in the Square. Rubin Museum, New York.
3. 3Asia Society Texas. Mandala Sand Painting: Mystical Arts of Tibet. Asia Society Texas Center.
4. 4Addison, A. (2025). Jung, Bion and the crucible of war. Journal of Analytical Psychology, 70(4), 535–555.
5. 5Encyclopaedia Britannica. Rose window. Britannica.
6. 6The Metropolitan Museum of Art (2001). Geometric Patterns in Islamic Art. Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.
7. 7Curry, N. A., & Kasser, T. (2005). Can coloring mandalas reduce anxiety?. Art Therapy, 22(2), 81–85.
8. 8van der Vennet, R., & Serice, S. (2012). Can coloring mandalas reduce anxiety? A replication study. Art Therapy, 29(2), 87–92.
9. 9Koo, M., Chen, H.-P., & Yeh, Y.-C. (2020). Coloring activities for anxiety reduction and mood improvement in Taiwanese community-dwelling older adults: A randomized controlled study. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2020, 6964737.
10. 10Holt, N. J., Furbert, L., & Sweetingham, E. (2019). Cognitive and affective benefits of coloring: Two randomized controlled crossover studies. Art Therapy, 36(4), 200–208.
11. 11Carsley, D., & Heath, N. L. (2018). Effectiveness of mindfulness-based colouring for test anxiety in adolescents. School Psychology International, 39(3), 251–272.
12. 12Carsley, D., & Heath, N. L. (2020). Effectiveness of mindfulness-based coloring for university students’ test anxiety. Journal of American College Health, 68(5), 518–527.
13. 13Chang, X. N., Othman, A., Yusoff, N., & Zulkifly, M. F. M. (2026). Effects of mandala coloring on alpha brain activity and anxiety symptoms among students at Universiti Sains Malaysia: A randomized controlled trial. Consortium Psychiatricum, 7(2), 48–59.
14. 14Eaton, J., & Tieber, C. (2017). The effects of coloring on anxiety, mood, and perseverance. Art Therapy, 34(1), 42–46.
15. 15Mantzios, M., & Giannou, K. (2018). 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. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 56.
16. 16Mantzios, M., Hussain, H., Hussain, A., Egan, H., & Scanlon, P. (2019). Adult colouring: the effect of app-based vs. pen-and-paper colouring on mindfulness and anxiety. Health Psychology Report, 7(4), 286–295.
17. 17Li, X., Li, Y., Zhang, X., Zhang, H., & Wu, W. (2026). Digital mandala coloring as a public mental health tool: psychophysiological benefits and the mediating role of flow in anxiety reduction among university students. Frontiers in Public Health, 14, 1743520.
18. 18Holt, N. J. (2024). Coloring for well-being: Evidence and applications. Palgrave Encyclopedia of the Health Humanities.
19. 19Zhu, Z., et al. (2025). Mindfulness-based art interventions for students: A meta-analysis review of the effect on anxiety. Behavioral Sciences, 15(8), 1078.
20. 20Liu, L., Hu, H., Xu, J., & Liu, Y. (2026). Mandala-based art interventions for anxiety and depressive symptoms in middle-aged and older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 17, 1877910.