1. ColoringColoring Created By: Erin Kaplan Robert McDonnell

2. How Art Heals Scientific studies tell us that art heals by changing a person's physiology and attitude Art and music put a person in a different brain wave pattern, art and music affect a person's autonomic nervous system, their hormonal balance and their brain neurotransmitters Art and music affect every cell in the body instantly to create a healing physiology that changes the immune system and blood flow to all the organs Art and Music also immediately change a person's perceptions of their world They change attitude, emotional state, and pain perception They create hope and positively and they help people cope with difficulties They transform a person's outlook and way of being in the world For healing comes to us from within, our own healing resources are freed to allow our immune system to operate optimally and that is always how we heal This is the contemporary version of freeing our healing energies and is now recognized to be crucial to healing

3. Terminology Inner Dialogue Self talk The conversations going on in the mind Forms our attitudes and perspectives; consciously or unconsciously Affects our bodies; can cause up liftment or disease Self Enhancement An empowered state of feeling great and getting better/evolving consciously Moves one further into advantageous, personal evolution and uplifts our whole life and consequently the lives of those around us Mandala An archetypal image that represents wholeness of self Any design emanating to or form a center The designs used for therapeutic coloring in Coloring Therapy Part of the fabric of life

4. Coloring Therapy’s Three Steps

5. Mandala Coloring It is widely regarded as a symbol of healing and total well-being Mandala represents the journey on the one hand, and the result or destination in the other Like ourselves, no two are colored the same The Mandala is a symbol of the spiritual source or center inherent in everything Mandala coloring is gentle fun while the same time accessing a meditative state that leads to self discovery

6. Discern the Inner Dialogue Inner Dialogue keeps our minds very busy and it can affect the body in the form of stress or upliftment Coloring pulls us into a state of mind where we can listen Every person in the world carries an ongoing dialogue with themselves, of 150 and 300 words a minute Coloring is an environment where we can improve our ability to listen and reprogram our inner dialogue Many people find meditation difficult to attain even though the benefits are well documented In Coloring Therapy, a state of meditative awareness is easily attained because the focus needed to suspend our inner dialogue occurs in the coloring Once you recognize your inner dialogue, you can begin to manage it and influence life in a direction that is decidedly beneficial

7. Suspend the Inner Dialogue In Coloring Therapy, the attention we put into coloring creates suspended inner dialogue This is an objective state of awareness where we are able to view and review our thoughts as we have them In suspended inner dialogue we are open and receptive to higher knowledge, healing, creativity, and consciousness Suspension of the inner dialogue can occur within moments of coloring In this place, we are reminded that we are not who we sometimes think ourselves to be In paying close attention to our inner dialogue we begin to realize how much of our "identity" comes from external sources such as religion, culture, the media, etc Suspending inner dialogue provides access to opportune perspectives from which to heal and self-enhance

8. Colors Color affects us all. We respond to the atmosphere which a color creates around us. Color is capable of healing us as well. Since ancient times, color and light have been used by healers. It is now thought that the reason we are so strongly affected by color is that the human energy system is very responsive to light. Light is made up of the full spectrum of colors - the rainbow.