A Surprisingly Colorful Way To Meditate Plus An All New Workshop

There's something so appealing about coloring mandalas...the continuous circle of shapes...the discovery or creation of patterns...the combination of colors...the relaxing act of coloring...all of this creates a very soothing, meditative experience.

In fact, coloring mandalas is considered by some to be a wonderful meditation technique.

If the idea of sitting on a mat and observing your breath for 30 minutes sounds like pure torture, then coloring a mandala might be just the meditation method for you.

As you may have noticed, I love mandalas! My Creative Oasis Coaching logo is a mandala and I regularly share mandala coloring sheets in my classes, workshops and coloring parties.

(*By the way ~ my August Creative Oasis Coloring & Wine Party sold out so quickly that I happily scheduled another one for September too. You can find all the details here.)

In addition to coloring, over the years I've discovered other ways to create mandalas that are simple to do and creatively satisfying.

I'm delighted to offer a new workshop devoted to creating mandalas this fall!

Discover the creative magic of making mandalas in this unique, low-pressure workshop. No previous experience, skills or talent needed ~ just a desire to dive into the creative process while playing with art supplies in a way that brings you creative fun and fulfillment.

We won't be meditating, but we will enjoy a great evening of creative camaraderie and chocolate!

WHAT

Mandalas ~ Mandalas ~ Mandalas 

Workshop

WHEN

Wednesday, September 9, 2015 

6:30 to 9:30 pm 

WHERE

Pigment School of the Arts

4605 West Lovers Lane

Dallas, Texas  75209

COST

$125 

(includes all creative supplies, handouts and yes, there will be chocolate)

*NOTE ~ Class size is limited to 8 & pre-registration is required.

To save your seat, purchase your class below. 

Until next time, all the best from my Creative Oasis to yours,

Jill

Jill Allison Bryan

www.creativeoasiscoaching.com

P.S. ~ If you enjoyed this post please feel free to share. If you'd like to receive bite-size bonbons of creative inspiration like this Mid-Week Oasis Moments plus a free copy of my e-book "Permission to Be Creative 101" join me here: http://www.creativeoasiscoaching.com/newsletter.html.

Why It's Healthy to Experience a Lull

(*Full disclosure: in order to practice what I preach and enjoy some "lull" time myself, I lifted the above graphic quote from one of my previous Mid-Week Oasis Moments. You're good with that, right?)

I post this from a lovely lull in the mountains of Colorado to remind you that taking a break is healthy for your creativity.

Here's how Brigid Schulte, author of Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time, characterizes this phenomenon:

Neuroscience is finding that when we are idle, in leisure, our brains are most active. The Default Mode Network lights up, which, like airport hubs, connects parts of our brain that don't typically communicate. So a stray thought, a random memory, an image can combine in novel ways to produce novel ideas. (You can read this entire Inc. article here.)

Remember, even if there's no vacation on your horizon, you can experience a mini-lull whenever you like. What if you give yourself permission to enjoy one the following? (Whether you have 10 minutes or an hour or more ~ any amount of lull time can be rejuvenating to your creative spirit!)

10 Ways to Experience Some Lovely Lull Time This Summer

1. Close your eyes and breath. (Yes, this could be called meditation...but it's also just relaxing to have zero stimulus coming in or out for a few minutes.)

2. Take a walk around the block.

3.  Doodle aimlessly.

4. Schedule a massage.

5. Flip through one of your favorite coffee table books. (We buy them...but sometimes we forget to enjoy them!)

6. Color in a mandala or coloring book.

7. Cut and arrange some fresh flowers.

8. Enjoy a solo trip to a museum, gallery or bookstore. (If you can find one!)

9. Peruse a favorite cookbook and choose a new recipe to try.

10. Spend 10 or 15 minutes completely lost in the Creative Oasis Moment of your choosing. (Remember: a Creative Oasis Moment is a creative experience that energizes and delights you ~ that makes time fly and your heart sing.) 

Wishing you some lovely lull time of your own this summer!

From my restful mountain Creative Oasis to yours,

Jill

P.S. - My "Create the Summer of Your Dreams Kit" will only remain available for a short time. Click here if you'd like to grab one while you still have plenty of time to enjoy more of the creative experiences you crave this summer!

Looking at Life Through Crazy Glasses

The more I look at the photo above, the more I think I look a little crazy. And, I'm okay with that. 

It was taken a couple of summers ago during a super fun getaway weekend in Breckenridge, Colorado (my home away from home) with my dear friend Jane Baldwin. (Check out her wonderful blog here.) 

We came upon these silly sunglasses while shopping around town and snapped a few pics. 

This photo reminds me that it's so important to get away, spend time with a good friend and embrace that "childish enthusiasm" Fellini mentions.

In her book, Nine Modern Day Muses and a Bodyguard, Jill Badonsky introduces us to Bea Silly, the Muse of Play, Laughter and Dance. According to Badonsky, Bea Silly is the go-to muse when you need to:

~ Relearn how to play, lighten up, release rigid thinking 

and remember how to make creative expression fun

~ Remember and reawaken to the wonder of being a child 

and know the positive implications this has for your creativity

~ Release resistance towards your creative process because:

   A: You just don't seem to want to do it.

or

   B: You feel a childlike power struggle inside you. 

You want to do something creative, but you never  

        actually do.

Any of this sound familiar to you?

If so, I invite you to join me to put on your crazy glasses and tap into your own childlike wonder and enthusiasm today.

Need help getting started? Here are a few prompts to help with that:

~ Think of a creative activity you loved to do when you were a kid. 

Such as: 

* Coloring in coloring books 

* Dancing

* Playing in a treehouse with friends

~ Ask yourself, "What's one easy way I could enjoy that activity or something similar right now?"

For example: 

* Color in a mandala

* Turn on some music and dance

* Doodle plans for your what your dream treehouse might look like now

~ Then ask yourself, "What if I put on my crazy glasses?"

You might: 

* Draw a huge mural on your driveway with sidewalk chalk 

 * Turn on some music and dance ~ in your front yard!

* Create a space in your home (inside or out) that feels like a tree house 

~ Give yourself permission to spend five or ten minutes enjoying your chosen creative pleasure. 

(Remember that ten minutes is less than 1% of your day 

and you deserve to enjoy some creative fun!)

Until next time, all the best from my sometimes crazy Creative Oasis to yours,

Jill

P.S. ~ If you enjoyed this post and would like to receive bite-size bonbons of creative inspiration like this in my Mid-Week Oasis Moments plus a free copy of my e-book "Permission to Be Creative 101" join me here: http://www.creativeoasiscoaching.com/newsletter.html.

You'll Love this Fab, Fun Coloring Experience

My Baby Blue by Jill Allison Bryan

I'm always on the look out for new ways to experience low-pressure creative play so I'm thrilled to share a fabulous new e-book that offers that up in spades! The Collabyrinth Challenge by Tina Gray-Siebers combines thought-provoking Creative Questions plus Musings and Meanderings with free-form abstract black and white coloring pages. Gray-Siebers, a certified Kaizen-Muse® Creativity Coach and artist, says Collabyrinth is a "unique blend of intuitive expression, labyrinth, mandala arts and problem-solving to help color your world in a different way." 

I'll go one step further and say it's an absolute blast! Gray-Siebers has created a wonderful method of giving us permission to experience creative play in a meaningful way. For the affordable price of just $15 the return on your investment for your creative spirit will be tremendous! (Click here to purchase your own copy.) 

I had so much fun creating My Baby Blue piece above! The title can be attributed to my Breaking Bad obsession and the fact that the last scene of the series finale has been playing over and over in my head along with the tune, My Baby Blue by Badfinger. (Click the image below to listen to this classic rock tune.)

Her Creative Questions such as "What if you used more than one medium?" and "How might you add texture?" provided the perfect balance of creative freedom and gentle structure to spark my creative process. After reading the first several pages of her book I felt completely open to playing with my creative supplies in a non-judgemental way. It felt wonderfully freeing to simply sit down and pick up my colored pens and pencils, pastels, crayons and watercolors and add them to the page I'd printed in a playful way. (Hint: Printing the coloring pages on card stock is a good idea if you're going to use watercolors or thick markers.)

Even though I'm a big believer in focusing on the enjoyment of the creative process more than the end product, I have to admit, I'm in love with my piece. It makes me smile every time I see it and I'm looking for the perfect place to hang it in my office. I know it will serve as a colorful reminder that I can experience soul-satifsying creativity in as little as ten minutes! 

I know that I'll be reaching for The Collabyrinth Challenge often to add more Creative Oasis Moments to my life. I also think this will make a super present for friends and family and is a great idea for teacher gifts as well. 

The Collabyrinth Challenge is for you if:

* You want to try something different

* You're in a mental rut and need a jumpstart

* You want to step out of your comfort zone

* You want to be creative, play and have fun

* You want new insight

* You enjoy coloring mandalas

   

If you do purchase a copy for yourself, I'd love to see your creations and hear about your experiences. Drop me a line at creativeoasiscoach@me.com to share. And last, but not least HAVE FUN! 

Final note: though Gray-Siebers kindly shared a free copy of The Collabyrinth Challenge for me to review, I'm not being paid to give my opinion or sell copies. I just adore this book and believe everyone should know about it!

P.S. – If you'd like to have Mid-Week Oasis Moments (bite-sized bonbons of creative inspiration) delivered each week please sign up here: http://www.creativeoasiscoaching.com/newsletter.html

You'll also receive a free copy of "Permission to Be Creative 101" – my short e-book that will help you take the first small steps to make the time and space for creative fulfillment – your Creative Oasis – in  your busy life!

Make Mandala Magic in Minutes

This morning I gave myself permission to enjoy 15 minutes of pure creative process by coloring in this free printable mandala. Click here to watch my 15 second instagram video that brings the mandala making magic to life: http://instagram.com/p/cJ1WamsRKP/

If you're looking for a way to experience some quick, fun creativity mandalas are fabulous. You'll find a nice assortment of free printables at www.printmandala.com and many more sites if you just do a quick google search. You can print them on regular paper to use crayons or colored pencils or card stock for markers and watercolor paints.

Mandalas provide ideal Instant Oasis Moments because they're easy and fun. You get to choose your colors and mediums but the shape (structure) has been provided for you. There's something very meditative about the act of coloring in or making a mandala. As many of you know, I love mandalas.

My logo is a mandala.

We've had Creative Oasis Day Trippers outings to create our own mandalas.

(click here to learn more about our outing)

We created a mandala using found objects at one of my 

Creative Oasis retreats at the Double J Art Ranch.

One of my wonderful clients recently hosted a group of Tibetan Monks who were 

performing an intricate sand mandala ritual in Oklahoma.

(click here to see more gorgeous photos and read about her wonderful experience)

Here's to giving ourselves a few minutes of creative play time using mandalas for this week's Mid-Week Oasis Moment.  If you create a mandala and would like to share, I'd love to see it! Feel free to send a photo to: creativeoasiscoach@me.com.

Until next time, all the best from my Creative Oasis to yours,

Jill

P.S. – If you'd like to have Mid-Week Oasis Moments (bite-sized bonbons of creative inspiration) delivered each week please sign up here: http://www.creativeoasiscoaching.com/newsletter.html

You'll also receive a free copy of "Permission to Be Creative 101" – my short e-book that will help you take the first small steps to make the time and space for creative fulfillment – your Creative Oasis – in  your busy life!

5-Minute Flash of Creative Freedom & Fun

My latest 5-minute flash of creative freedom & fun!

I’m always looking for new ways to weave a littlelow-pressure creativity into my life and share it with others looking to do the same. Though I’m blessed to experience lots of creative satisfaction through my Creative Oasis Coaching work, I still want to practice what I preach and explore all manner of creativity for the sheer joy of it. Even a short burst of creative play can infuse our busy days with an amazing feeling of freedom and fun!

Although I’m a singer/songwriter and a creativity coach, I don’t consider myself a visual artist. Nevertheless, I love to play with art supplies, compile collages, dabble in photography and explore other forms of arts and crafts.

Mandala I made during a Creative Oasis Day Tripper outing

The latest, greatest way I’ve found to enjoy a quick flash of creative freedom is by using an app called “Over” on my iPhone. Last week I took a photo of my calendar (I love the Japanese Woodblock images), then wrote a quick haiku inspired by the shot and finally used the “Over” app to combine them to create the image you see above which I then posted on Instagram (creativeoasiscoach). I'm so happy with the way it turned out. The project took about five minutes from start to finish and was super easy and fun to do.

Today we have hundreds (if not thousands) of great, easy-to-use apps (many of them free) literally at our fingertips. I’ll continue to share my favorite findings with you as I search for the best and brightest that allow us to infuse a burst of creative energy into our busy lives.

BTW - I’m not an affiliate or associated with “Over” or “iPhone” in any way. Just like to share what’s working for me creatively in the hopes you might enjoy exploring it as well.

If you have a favorite app you use to add a little creative play to your day, I’d love to hear about it in the comment section below.

Thanks so much to all of you who have donated to help my fundraising for Love Hope Strength!   I just returned from the hike which was seriously challenging, but doable and an amazing experience. We hiked with cancer survivors, their loved ones, musicians and hundreds of wonderfully caring people from all over the world to create awareness and raise money for Love Hope Strength - fighting cancer one concert and one hike at a time!       Near the summit and feeling fine! There's still time to donate to this fabulous foundation that's building cancer centers around the globe, helping to staff them with doctors and raising awareness about how easy and painless it now is to be a bone marrow donor.        Click here if you'd like to support my fundraising efforts with a donation of $5, $10, $15 or more.

Until next time, all the best from my Creative Oasis to yours,

Jill

P.S. – If you'd like to have Mid-Week Oasis Moments (bite-sized bonbons of creative inspiration) delivered each week please sign up here: http://www.creativeoasiscoaching.com/newsletter.html

You'll also receive a free copy of "Permission to Be Creative 101" – my short e-book that will help you take the first small steps to make the time and space for creative fulfillment – your Creative Oasis – in  your busy life!

Mandala Making Magic

This week the Creative Oasis Day Trippers headed to PigmentSchool of the Arts to make our own mandalas. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t spend as much time playing with visual art projects as I’d like. I tend to gravitate toward writing and music for my personal creative time, but I still enjoy making collages and water coloring, ect…

That’s why it’s so wonderful to have a group like the DayTrippers that gives me the opportunity to make a creative play date and dive into something I normally wouldn’t – such as creating my own beautiful mandala and inviting others to join me!

Tori Pendergrass who runs Pigment School of the Arts provided us with a basic outline, loads of great art supplies to play with and gentle guidance when we need it. I provided a creative pre-trip prompt that asked us to consider what we may want our mandalas to represent. (and also gave full permission to just have fun with it and forget the representative part if that didn’t resonate) I’m very attracted to mandalas and their many meanings, hence my Creative Oasis Coaching™ logo!

A few of Tori’s weekly adult students were also in the studio space with us. The atmosphere was inspiring, congenial and chatty. Creative camaraderie was another reason I created the Day Trippers. It’s so nice to get out and meet other like-minded creative spirits. (I wish I had taken more photos – but I was pretty wrapped up in making my mandala.)

Our two hours of drawing, doodling, cutting, gluing, painting, chatting and sharing creative inspiration flew by and this is my end result. I got to play with collage, tissue paper, watercolors, colored pencils and glue! To me, my mandala represents organic growth, radiating positive energy in life, natural balance (rather than perfection), and joy! But it was also simply a blast to create. There was no pressure for it to be one thing or another. All of our  mandalas turned out so differently and so beautifully. (again – I wish I’d taken more photos!) Here's mine:

How would it be to make your own magical low-pressure mandala? Lowest pressure? Simply draw a circle on a piece of scrap paper and doodle it in. Have a little more time to play? Draw a circle on a piece of cardstock and use a variety of materials to fill in the space. It can be asymmetrical or not. It can use one medium or five. It can be one color or many. The main thing is to just have fun. Time a concern? How would it be to set a timer and give yourself just ten minutes to see what you come up with? If you’re having fun and have the time – you can keep going. If you’re having fun, but need to wrap it up, what if you came back for ten more minutes the next day?

My Mini-Mandala on tiny post-it note created in less than 30 seconds!

For follow-up ideas as to what we might do with our mandalas I shared these “what ifs”:

What if you posted your mandala on your fridge for the next week to remind you how good it feels to take time out for creative play?

What if you cut your mandala up and created a collage or a card to share with it?

What if you wrote a poem or song or created a dance inspired by your mandala?

If you live in the DFW area, I hope you’ll join me and the Creative Oasis Day Trippers for future outings. If you don’t, I hope you’ll consider scheduling a creative trip of your own very soon.

Until next time, all the best from my creative oasis to yours,

Jill

(Any typos, grammatical, tactical, or deisgn-related errors were purposefully left in this blog post to uphold the non-perfectionism that Creative Oasis Coaching advises and supports in the name of getting sh*t done!)