Zentangle a soothing remedy for your jangled mind

KELOWNA – So who knew when you were doodling your way through high school, filling the margins with aimless drawings, you were already experiencing the stress-reducing mindfulness of Zentangle.

“Research shows doodling students retain a lot more information than those that don’t. Doodling is similar in ways but Zentangle is more structured. You start with certain guidelines,” Siri Marken says.

As a certified Zentangle teacher, Marken takes students through the basics of the practice she says has been called yoga for the brain.

“Zentangle is a form of structured repetative drawing that creates a sense of mindfulness and relaxation,” Marken says. “It’s an art form that anyone can do. The way it’s designed, it’s accessible to anyone who can draw a lline.”

Hundreds of intimidatingly beautiful Zentangle drawings are readily available on the Internet but Marken says many of them are done by people who never thought they had any artistic talent.

“It’s broken down in such a way that Zentangling is easier than you think and the results can be very surprising,” she says. “We create a border and spaces so you only work in a small area. It takes a lot of choices away."

Zentangle is the trademarked creation of Maria Thomas and Rick Roberts, a couple from the U.S. who combined aspects of calligraphy and meditation to create Zentangle.

The simple black-and-white drawings, done on small squares of paper, have proven popular as both a method for relaxation and as a team building tool for corporations and other organizations.

Marken has most recently put on a 90-minute Zentangle workshop for pre-teens at the Okanagan Regional Library in Kelowna, who took immediately to the simple pen-and-paper drawing exercise.

“The library staff were in awe. They had never seen them so quiet.”

For more information about Zentangle, visit Marken’s website.

To contact the reporter for this story, email John McDonald at jmcdonald@infonews.ca or call 250-808-0143. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.