Mandala Coloring Books were one of the first to come to the adult coloring book world because of the relaxation and mindfulness qualities that are part of the Mandala mystique.
My first exposure to Mandalas was in “Color Me Calm” A Zen Coloring book written by Lucy Mucklow, a licensed art therapist and illustrated by Angela Porter. I loved the simple swirling lines that Angela uses in her drawings and my next book was another by Angela called “Entangled” which combined mandalas and Zentangle which I also like to do.
For the unfamiliar, a mandala is a sacred symbol in Hinduism and Buddhism, made from a nest of squares and circles, that represents the cosmos. As the Asian Art Museum put it: “mandalas are not just images to view, but worlds to enter — after recreating the image in their mind’s eye, meditators imaginatively enter its realm.” Huffington Post
For me, mandala’s are just pretty designs that are repeated in a circular fashion that let me stop thinking about which colors to use and how to do shading and just sit down and fill up the spaces with whatever color appeals to me at that time. That is what art therapists suggest, choosing colors that appeal to you in that moment is filling a need you have to evoke the emotion that the color brings you. It can be the traditional meaning of yellow for happiness, blue for calm or a more personal connection, pink reminds you of your mother and you miss her today, green reminds you of a beautiful mountain setting where your husband proposed. That’s for you to decide. I’ve bought and received review copies of several mandala coloring books and I’ll list them below for you to explore.
If you’d like to learn a little more about Mandala’s I recommend Kathy Rausch’s Book Activate Divine Creativity where she talks about the Life-Changing Magic of the Mandala.
Best Relaxing Mandala Coloring Books for Meditation and Mindfulness
Color Me Calm: 100 Coloring Templates for Meditation and Relaxation
The Color Me series of books are completely unique in the way they are bound. Each book has 100 unique designs with sections of the book following a theme that Lucy Mucklow spells out for you in the short introduction to each chapter. The book is bound in such a way that the pages open fully flat and they are 1 sided images so you really don’t need to worry about bleed through unless you use sharpies or that sort of marker, just slip a piece of blank paper behind it if you do. The facing page is a repeated flower mandala that I use to test colors combinations on. I particularly liked the houses in this book. While these books are not strictly mandala books, the swirling nature of the illustrations along with the mandala’s will give the same mindful escape. This book also comes in the smaller portable version with 70 illustrations in a 6″x 7″ format.
Color Me Calm – Portable
Color Me Happy – Portable
Color Me Stress-Free – Portable
Color Me Fearless – Portable
Color Me To Sleep
Color Me Grateful
Other Mindful Coloring Books illustrated by Angela Porter
Entangled (A Creative Haven Book)
Mandala Coloring Books
Tranquil Ocean Mandalas – Just Add Color
Fantastic, quality coloring book from Barrons with 120 large perforated pages of ocean themed mandalas and illustrations to color. This book also features and accompanying QR code that leads to special relaxing music to play on your device while coloring.
Barron’s has a few books in this same series including:
Angie Grace Mandala Coloring Books For Adults
Best-selling coloring book artist Angie Grace invites you to relax and explore the intricate and exquisite world of stress mending circular whimsical art. Stroke by stroke, shade by shade, tension and worries fade away as you transform Angie’s beautiful black and white lines into your own unique, personal and beautiful keepsake art piece.
Balance by Angie Grace
Centered – Volume II
Breath Volume III by Angie Grace
Transcend Volume 4 by Angie Grace
Angie Grace also has mandala coloring books for those that have vision issues or prefer larger spaces to shade in with pencils or pens. These books with larger spaces may be better for seniors or younger children that find Angie’s patterns too complex and intricate.
Centered – for Crayons and Wide Markers
Transcend – For Crayons And Wide Tipped Markers: Angie’s Gentle Mood Menders
Balance – For Crayons And Wide Tipped Markers: Angie’s Gentle Mood Menders – Volume 1
Breathe – For Crayons And Wide Tipped Markers: Angie’s Gentle Mood Menders – Volume 3
100 Magnificent Mandalas Coloring Book
100+ Unique Mandala Designs and Stress Relieving Patterns for Adult Relaxation, Meditation, and Happiness
Magnificent Mandalas US UK Canada Book Depository
Stress Less Coloring Mandalas
Stress Less Mandalas US UK Canada Book Depository
According to the reviews, this coloring book allows you to use markers without it bleeding through the paper. Markers seem to be the preferred medium for Mandala Coloring.
Mandalas For Beginners
Mandalas for BeginnersAn Adult Coloring Book with Simple and Easy Designs for Meditation, Mindfulness, and Peace.
Creative Haven Mandala Low-Cost Coloring Books
Creative Haven Books are favorites for price-point, single-sided perforated pages, and decent paper quality.
Snowflake Mandala Coloring Book by Marty Noble
I don’t know anyone who isn’t fascinated by snowflakes, their imperfect perfection and uniqueness just speaks to our soul don’t you think? This book really stands out for me.
Snowflake Mandalas Coloring Book US UK Canada Book Depository
Christmas Mandalas by Marty Noble
Christmas Mandalas US UK Canada Book Depository
Magical Mandalas by Alberta Hutchinson
Magical Mandalas US UK Canada Book Depository
Square Mandalas US UK Canada Book Depository
Paisley Mandalas US UK Canada Book Depository
More Creative Haven Mandalas
- Kaleidoscope Designs
- Mandala Tessellations
- Celestial Mandalas
- Flower Mandalas on Black Paper
- Celtic Mandalas
- Butterfly Mandalas
- Nature Mandalas
- Groovy Mandalas
- Sea Life Mandalas
- Steampunk Mandalas
Mindfulness Coloring Books
The Mindfulness Coloring Book
Mindfulness Art Therapy Coloring Book Volume II
Colour Me Calm – REALLY Relaxing Colouring Book
Creative Art Therapy for Adults
This book by Kerry McQuaide is based on Japanese prints and patterns. This is a smaller format book with one-sided, non-perforated pages on better than average paper. No designs go into the margin
Activate Divine Creativity Mandala Doodles Coloring Book
Interestingly, many of this year’s top books were also in the top 10 for Amazon sales in 2015, you can see that list here. We hope you will find one of these coloring books can help your stress levels and create Zen in your life. If you have a favorite we have missed, please let us know on one of our social media accounts.
If you haven’t tried them yet. Angie Grace had wide tip versions of Balance, Breathe, Centered and Transcend and they are all wonderful. Nice bold lines with not as many teeny tiny details.
There are a few reasons I think mandalas are so popular with colorists and coloring books artists:
1. Choosing colors is easier than for other types of pages: the symmetry of mandalas takes a lot of the indecision out of picking colors. When you color a part of a mandala, the symmetry means there are probably corresponding portions that should be the same color.
2. It’s easy to start coloring a mandala: it can be difficult to pick where to start coloring other types of coloring pages, but I always like to start coloring a mandala from the center.
3. They are rewarding to color as you go: if you’re coloring a mandala from the inside out, it’s easy to break the mandala down into pieces. You get a sense of completion from finishing the center, then again when you finish an outer ring, and so on until the mandala is complete. With other pages, you don’t really get that sense of satisfaction until the entire page is complete.
Aside from coloring, mandalas also have a long, rich history. Making your own mandalas can be really fun to (plus you get to color them when you’re finished).
Thanks for the awesome write up!