Zentangle™ as Spiritual Practice: A Drawing Meditation

Zentangle™ as Spiritual Practice: A Drawing Meditation

Jamie W. Johnson, Ph.D., CZT

Overview

Zentangle™is a fun and easy-to-use technique to create beautiful patterns with a focus on staying in the moment and mindfulness. In this particular lesson, you will quickly learn how to create an image using repetitive patterns around a word, phrase or symbol that is meaningful to you. While there are a plethora of fine art supplies available, I have suggested basic supplies to stress that you can practice this anywhere—all you need is pen and paper.

In Zentangle™practice, we say there are “no mistakes.” This is not about creating a perfect product but about how you feel while you draw, which is why I emphasize that it is a “practice.” Adults often say they are not artists, but anyone can learn Zentangle™. The prescribed 8-step process is designed by Zentangle™ founders Maria Thomas and Rick Roberts to help overcome artistic self-doubt. We also say, “Anything is possible one step at a time.” Follow the steps below and you will have a valuable experience with a final product at the end.

This particular lesson has been adapted from the original Zentangle™ method in order to accentuate the spiritual contemplation of the participant. In an unpublished research project, I found that 99% of survey respondents describe their Zentangle™ practice as improving their emotional well-being, while more than half specifically defined it as a spiritual practice.[1] As chaplains, spiritual caregivers, and mental health professionals understand, self-care is important in building resilience and coping with difficult events such as grief, loss, and trauma. Hopefully, this practice will become part of your spiritual self-care toolkit.

Supplies:

• paper
• pen
• pencil

Procedure:

*Please see the video that accompanies this lesson plan: https://youtu.be/J0PXO8T5mrA

1. Gratitude and appreciation: Gather your supplies. Take a moment of stillness and quiet before beginning. Breathe in, breathe out. Say a prayer or give thanks before beginning.
2. Corner dots: With your pencil, on your piece of paper, put one dot in each corner to make a square large enough to write and draw in. This will be your practice space.
3. Border: With your pencil, connect those dots lightly. The line does not need to be straight. While we call this the border, you do not need to stay in the lines!
4. String: Now with your pen, in the middle of your square, write a word (love, hope, joy, or even a short phrase or verse) or draw an image (heart, peace sign, star, cross, etc.), or combine the two. If you include words, you might want to outline the whole shape of the text. You can also subdivide the remaining space, with your pencil, to make smaller spaces to fill.
5. Tangle: Now add your patterns! A pattern (or tangle) is a series of repetitive steps drawn to create a beautiful design.
6. Shade: Add pencil shading to create patterns of light and dark. This does not need to create a sense of a single light source but is just another kind of pattern. Remember, you must leave some parts light to accentuate the dark shades.
7. Initial and date: You can even create a special symbol or signature for all of your drawings.
8. Appreciate: Look at what you’ve created! Give thanks for this time of meditation and creativity.

Suggested Online Resources

• Official Zentangle™ website: zentangle.com
• A treasure trove of tangle patterns with instructions (“step-outs”): tanglepatterns.com
• Google “Zentangle”—there are a multitude of resources on YouTube, Pinterest, and personal websites. “CZT” indicates that a person has received trainings and certification from the Zentangle™ founders

About Me

I am a Certified Zentangle™ Teacher (CZT) who practices and teaches in Connecticut under the name “Yankee Tangler.” I also hold a Ph.D. in art history and spent a decade creating and overseeing education programs in art museums. Now, as a student in the Masters of Divinity program at Hartford Seminary, I am journeying to become a hospice chaplain. As a Unitarian Universalist, I believe each person explores their own spiritual path of growth. Zentangle™ practice has been one of mine.  

Follow me at:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YankeeTangler

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yankeetangler/?hl=en

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNZ_Z35hvmpit2maO6DpExA

Blog: http://yankeetangler.blogspot.com/

[1] Jamie W. Johnson, “Zentangle™ as Spiritual Practice: Surveying a Community,” Hartford Seminary, unpublished paper, December 19, 2019.  See abstract at https://yankeetangler.blogspot.com/2020/05/abstract-zentangle-as-spiritual.html

My Morning Meditation

Today's morning tile

For me, Zentangle is as much, if not more, of a meditation practice than an artistic one.  Most mornings, summer or school year, I begin my day's routine by sitting in a corner of the couch, drinking tea or coffee, and doing a Zentangle tile.  Then, some days, I photograph it and post it to my Yankee Tangler feed on Facebook.  Which means, that the majority of tiles I post on FB and then here on my blog, were done in a morning's sitting, between 15-60 minutes, depending on my practice.  Sure, sometimes I do a larger canvas or frame or pencil pouch or even a rock but never for morning practice.  Those are my later Zentangle-Inspired Art projects.  My morning tile is all about the meditation.

I used to meditate in the more traditional way in the morning--lying down, counting my breath, and returning to my breath when I wandered into thinking or worrying.  But I found I was so ready to "do" something in the mornings, that I didn't sit well (I know, I know, judgement.)  So, now I meditate in the evenings (where the challenge is not falling asleep!) and I tangle in the mornings.  It's enough of an activity that I am not restless but enough meditation that it helps clear and calm my mind.

I embrace the no-mistakes philosophy.  Sure, I like to make tiles that please me visually and I'm happy to share those; but I mainly make tiles for the making of them, and share those, too--even when they show smudges or wobbly lines or just don't seem to coalesce.  It's all part of my practice and I want other tanglers to know that it's always a work in progress.  Practice makes progress.

Trust me, I'm an art historian and spent decades in academia and the museum world discussing composition, style, connoisseurship, etc etc etc.  I know what follows traditional artistic "rules," especially about internal and consistent light sources, perspective, vanishing point, realism, three-dimensionality, etc.  I've looked at tens of thousands of works of art from all over the world, in a variety of different media, and know what constitutes beauty, a "masterpiece," in many cultures.  In fact, I believe it is what hampered my own creativity (except crochet, which is "women's work" and never appeared in my art history classes!)  And now, I have my Zentangle practice.  Sure, the academic art historian in me wouldn't call my little morning tiles "art," though I would recognize the long-time human occupation with patterns.  But I also recognize that the tiles are pleasing to me both in and of themselves and because of their meditative value.  And if you define art as an artistic expression--which is a pretty broad definition (yep, I took theory and philosophy of art, too)--then my tiles do qualify.  But, honestly, I don't care anymore.

If you look around the web, especially Pinterest, at Zentangle tiles, as many new tanglers do, you'll see so many beautiful, almost perfect ones and it's hard not to "compare and despair."  But there is something you need to know:  sure, some of these are made using the steps of official Zentangle, but many, if not more, are perfected pieces of art not made in a single sitting--first, sketched out in pencil (sometimes even with a grid and eraser) and then traced in pen, often by practitioners trained in the graphic arts who work professionally; they are not amateur tanglers.  This doesn't lessen the beauty of their tiles, but I would hesitate comparing them to a regular tile.   I would call these Zentangle-Inspired artworks (ZIAs) and think it's important to differentiate between them and meditative  Zentangle tiles, like my morning practice ones.  Now, I find great inspiration in those amazing ZIAs made by talented Zentanglists, but I no longer expect mine to look like them; our purposes are different and, knowing that, I am not discouraged.

All of which is to say, choose your practice.  Are you tangling as meditation?  To express your creativity?  To improve your drawing technique?  To make beautiful works of art?  To sell or publish or teach?  Once you know what you want--and on different days, it might be different--have your practice reflect your goal.  I do practice my drawing technique and seek to make something pleasing to look at, but meditation is first for me.  And teaching is second, hence this post and the frequent sharing of my tiles.

Whatever your practice, happy tangling!

Tangling with History

I taught my first public adult Zentangle class on Thursday night to five enthusiastic students at the historic house.  It was a fundraiser for the education programs at the house and the first in a series of adult and youth classes.  Everyone was so enthusiastic and asked for the next class!  

Until then, here is the one I taught . . . .

Zentangle 101 Adult Class

I had a few displays around the room, including an Opus with many basic tangles and a few of my favorite tiles.  All of the students received my basic beginners kit, with Micron 01, pencil, tortillon, official Zentangle leaflet, my Yankee Tangler mini-brochure, the "Anything is possible" bag, and a bookmark.  

I introduced Zentangle, with its mindfulness-creativity paradigm, as a way for adults to (re)connect with their creativity.  I gave some of the origin story, of Maria filling in an illuminated letter and being in such a flow that she didn't hear Rick enter.  We talked about how patterns have been around time out of mind and how Zentangle sets up a structured method for using them.  We did a singing bowl meditation focused on the breath, with the mantra, "May we be peaceful, may we be happy, may we embrace our creativity."

      

First string--rectangle base with Z-string above.  We did crescent moon, hollibaugh, knightsbridge, and printemps.  

We looked at the class mosaic and they had questions about some other tangles, so I did an impromptu second tile (instead of the Bales monotangle I was considering.)  It was a loop-string with pokeroot, flux, and zensplosion folds.  Those don't blend well together, but the tangles were fun to learn (and the ones they requested.)  I also demonstrated punzel.

At the end, we talked about the next class (more tangles and a project), supplies and where to find them, and other recommended resources.  The list I handed out is below.  

I've heard from most of the students--they are practicing and having a great time.  Goals accomplished!

Happy Tangling!!

Recommended Resources

Tools

• Pens:  Sakura micron pens  01 and 08, Identi-pen (for treated fabrics, wood, or ceramics), Sharpies for rocks, shells,  etc
• Tiles:  Official Zentangle 3.5 x 3.5” tiles or Studio Series’s Artist Tiles
• Sketchbook:  any unlined book (I like heavier watercolor or sketch paper)
• Frames:  black or white 4 x 4” frames at Target
• Mod Podge and Mod Podge for fabrics to prep canvas, wood, and other surfaces

Books

• Marie Browning and Suzanne McNeill's The Joy of Zentangle
• Beckah Krahula's One Zentangle a Day
• Sandy Steen Bartholomew's Yoga for Your Brain and her two card decks
• Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas’s The Book of Zentangle and The Zentangle Primer

Websites and Apps

• www.tanglepatterns.com  A compendium of many tangle patterns
• www.zentangle.com The official site, with products and updates, including free newsletter
• Zentangle Mosaic app—free “waterfall” of people’s artworks; paid subscription allows more access
• ABCs of Zentangle YouTube videos by Dilip Patel

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My First Zentangle Class at School

Today, I had the honor and pleasure to be invited to give a Zentangle lesson at a local elementary school by a friend and neighbor who teaches there.  She had taken my very first Zentangle class a few weeks ago and wanted to share it with her fifth graders.  This was the perfect time, as school is winding down and kids are getting antsy to be indoors.

And it went wonderfully well.

My Lesson Plan for Kids' Zentangle 101

Supplies:  kits for kids (pen, pencil, 4 tiles, bookmark), Apprentice letter to parents, easel, easel pad, thick marker, gray marker for shading, black tablecloth, Apprentice video,

I.  Introduction

    A.  Have you ever felt angry, sad, scared, nervous, tired, bored, frustrated?  How did your body feel when you felt those emotions?  

    B.  One of the ways to rest and calm your body and mind is to think about your breathing.  Everyone breathes, you can do it anywhere, without any supplies--if you're tired of waiting in line or scared to go into the doctor's office.  

    C.   Short breath meditation--in through your nose, out through your mouth.  Feel the change in temperature, the breath over your lips, the rise and fall of your chest.

    D.   It's all about paying attention to the moment, going step by step.  "Anything is possible one step at a time."

   E.  Zentangle is a kind of art where you create calm, clear feelings by creating repetitive patterns in beautiful works of art (break down word "Zen"--Japanese meditation-and "tangle"--the pattern of lines.)  It combines art and mindfulness.

   F.  So let's go step-by-step through the steps of Zentangle.

        1.  Gratitude and appreciation

        2.  Corner dots

        3.  Border

        4.  String

        5.  Tangle

        6.   Shade

        7.   Initial and Sign

        8.  Appreciate again

II.  Supplies and jargon--but you don't NEED any of these

     A.  Tile

     B.  Pen (keep it capped between uses)

     C.  Pencil

     D.  Tangle

     E.  String

     F.  Auras

     G.  Sparkle

III.  First tile

      A.  Z string

      B.   Crescent moon (aura)--variations including dots between auras

      C.   Hollibaugh (draw behind), dots/outlines/black in empty spaces (or reverse and do hollibaugh black); draw crescent moon or printemps in spaces or aura space

      D.   Florz (grid)--original has boxes at intersections, but I sometimes do a heart (they drew all manner of shapes)

      E.    Printemps (sparkle)--different sizes, overlapping (draw behind)  (Idea: maybe Flux instead next time)

      F.    Some comments and ideas to touch upon meanwhile:  if you can write "iSCO" you can draw tangles, no eraser = no mistakes (but show them Bronx Cheers), what does a "hollibaugh" look like? (there is no right or real in Zentangle!),  the names of the tangles are generally non-descriptive and are short hand to make it easier to discuss, shade as part of the design (not trying to create consistent internal light source), walk around to encourage and help them, look at tile at arm's length, go your own pace, everyone is different, make it your own, go back to your breath meditation if you get frustrated, borders are made to be crossed , lines don't have to be straight  

IV.  Show Apprentice video 6 of Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas while they complete their tiles and add them to class mosaic  

     A.  Maria and Rick didn't invent patterns, they came up with the list of steps to access meditation through art; the names are non-descriptive to give us a shorthand for talking about the art and to each other

      B.  Look at class mosaic together--all different, all creative and individual--with same instructions!

      C.  Distribute Apprentice letter to parents and announce them all Zentangle Apprentices.

      D.  Now what are some of the feelings you have?  

      E.  You can tap into this feeling, creativity, and beauty whenever you need or want to

      

  Optional second tile, if time:  triangle-on-log string, with zander, pokeroot, tipple, knightsbridge (or static or flux)

I was there about an hour and they were so focused, curious, and excited.  I even gave them two extra tangles (zander and pokeroot) because they wanted to learn more, even though I had to rush them.  I pointed to the tangled border of their Apprentice letter to parents and said there were so many patterns--they could even make up some!  (If they'd name them after me.)

I was surprised with how hesitant they already were at 10 - 11 years old to make a mistake; most of them admitted being very hesitant when looking at a blank piece of paper and asked to create something.  But once we got the dots, borders, and strings on the tiles, they settled in.  Still, at each step, they wanted reassurance that they weren't "wrong" and that their designs were "good."  Both the teacher and I kept reiterating that there were no mistakes, that they made the creative choices, that different was okay.  They did experiment with their borders--several drew squiggles and loops instead of straight lines--but they were surprised when I crossed the pencil borders and my printemps invaded hollibaugh!  Even still, at the end, a couple of students wouldn't join their tile to the mosaic. 

But they begged the teacher to do more Zentangle patterns; they said they felt good when it was over.  I left the Apprentice DVD with the teacher and two extra tiles for each kid (plus some extra pens in case something broke.)  I told them they could look up Zentangle online and find all kinds of patterns, that they could make greeting cards or pencil cases or whatever they wanted.  The teacher said it was the most focused her class had ever been all year.

Maybe next year, we should offer the lesson in the beginning of the year, and then the teacher can introduce new tangles as they go and the students can add them to projects at Valentine's Day or Mother's Day; they can tangle when they are anxious about a test or done with their work.  I know I would have loved it when I was a student, just like these kids did.