This morning I opened the windows the sky was pink, peach, light blue, and milky yellow. Clouds where almost like veils, light, and see-through. Birds were singing. I am in the middle of the city. I sat with coffee for a long time. Not with a book, my phone, or any other device and not meditating just being. Not trying to make a decision or think about tomorrow. Staying with the birds, the coffee, and the experience. Uninterrupted time. Afterward, I feel that I have more energy again, to take in the news, ideas, or whatever. Like a recharge without thinking about any kind of achievement, or benefit. Experiencing just being and that\s enough. Enough for me to want to do it again tomorrow and for as many days that I am alive. When I go back I paint, with a clean mental palette. That is the alchemy between slowing down and creating for me. All my courses and books in creative meditation and mindfulness are about these moments of recharging your batteries and then create. #just_being #Moment #doing_nothing #breathing #reflecting #slowing_down #bara_vara #slow_time

This is a page from the opening of my art journal created on the 20th of March in KL. Experiencing the fact that you can't go outside as you always have been used to. On the other hand, the sky is already starting to become bluer. It is a confusing feeling. There is a feeling of striving, working to understand and come to terms with the new life and restrictions. Naturally a longing for freedom and connection. The next day there is a lot of emerald green, the color of the heart, and yellow the color of joy. Overall it is a longing to nature and freedom. The orange of creativity is in the water, and purple of spirituality in the sail. Going deeper into meditation now when there is more time. It is hard to focus on work. The almost overwhelming anxiety from the first days is decreasing. When I open the windows in the morning the birds are loud, and it reminds me of a rainforest. The city is quiet. I am painting with green tones for life and harmony. I am settling into a new right now. I am settling into myself. This painting reflects the feeling of sadness of everything that is breaking and gratitude for how nature is breathing again. It is also a decision to go deeper into personal transformation for me. Transformation again from a different perspective, the tree is still present. During this time I am still experiencing a lot of pain in my shoulder blades. The painting represents the need to let go of trying to hold on and embrace what is right now. This painting is from the 19th of April. A dress in the color of the heart emerald green and trust within myself. The outside circumstances haven't changed still inside safe and sound. This is a practice that I have been doing for almost 4,5 years now. Each week I learn something new about myself, I see how I am feeling and what I don\t want to see usually comes up in all color. My art meditation works are very personal and it feels like opening up my diary to show them like this, but these are times of transformation. For me meditating, creating and reflecting connects me to a journey of self-discovery. It helps me sort, focus, and dream. It doesn't make reality different, but it has completely changed the way I react to it. It has helped me in so many ways, that is why I decided to post it online and why I have devoted years on developing this process to courses and books. If you would like to learn the process I have put a discount on the course 21 days of art meditation. That is an introduction to this process.

Color and creativity are important tools in my life for wellness and self discovery. I have been teaching creative mindfulness and art meditation since 2016. One of my students did her online art meditation course together with her daughter. This is what her daughter wrote: "I love colors. The joy it brings. A world without colors is not really fun. We do not know how to say thank you but just look at the sky and whisper all the things that are good in the world and I am sure that someone can hear you. I think if you do it will be good." Nelson The vision behind everything I do is to inspire to creativity and connection to yourself and to your family. On my website you can now download Create Together a book filled with color and curiosity that you can do together with family, friends or on your own. It is filled with exercises as creating your dream collage, and once you are done present them and talk about them round the table. The whole point with this book is to invite you on creative adventures that are suitable for all ages, that ends with a talk to inspire possibility. Bring our your box of crayons and find an old role of wallpaper or brown paper and paint with color while listening to your favorite music. All the explorations in the book are created to bring out play and curiosity. It is from that state of mind that we can get a break from worry and start to create possibilities. Another exploration is an exercise that I learned as a child, and it is amazing because it always comes with a creative surprise and a beautiful result If I had to pick one favorite exercise to get courage to start to create it is the Butterfly. It is easy to do and you can develop it in so many ways, by adding text, collage or... So if you would like some creative ideas on what you can do together with your family you can download this book for free as a pdf. If you would like to have it as a paperback you can buy it from Amazon. This is my gift to you as I truly believe that we need creativity and color in our life. I would love if you can send me pictures of what you have created, and let me know if there are any pictures that I am allowed to post in this blog. Kindly send them to: ingela@zenart.info Good luck on your creative adventure. Ingela

Title: Soar, created 5th of April, 2020, in ink by Ingela Johansson Welcome inside my art journal. Since 2012 I started to explore how to develop a tool for self discovery. Last year a study was done explaining that previous students had discovered that the tool of creative meditation helped them in three main areas. 1. Feeling safer with themselves 2. An increased ability to focus and sort our what is important. 3. More creative and open to learn new things. I recognize this from being on my own journey. Creative Meditation is a practice with three efficient tools. Meditation, creativity and reflection in a flow. The pictures included in this blog post is from my art journal and from the last week. It is a bit like peaking into a diary, and for me it is very personal. It is in these creative pieces that I learn about my own patterns, what I need to heal and what I truly want. There is an alchemy between meditation and creativity, reflection is the tool that helps me understand it. You can start to learn today. It is not about how pretty you can paint, but it is all about what your pictures are trying to tell you. So how do you learn? Sign up for the online course or get the new book Create to Flow today. You will find them in the shop or on Amazon. I wish you all a Happy Easter. Ingela

Color as music is one thing that we all can use even in lockdown to shift our mindset and with that boost our immune system. Today it has also been proven by science that color can shift our moods. 10 ways to get a color boost You don't have to paint to get a color boost. 1. Pick something colorful to eat, or put a lemon slice in your water. 2. Put on a top you love with your favorite color. 3. Browse through some old magazines and pull out pictures with your favorite color. 4. Change your screensaver to your favorite colors. 5. If you can find fresh flowers, put them on the table. 6. If you have a green view from your window, indulge in while listening to your favorite music. 7. If you have posters in the cupboard with great colors, put them up. 8. Color coordinate your bookshelf if you look to destress with sorting. 9. Set the table with colorful napkins or plates. 10. Bring out your coloring book and crayons. Please, note if surrounding yourself does shift your mood. For anyone feeling really low, I suggest warm yellow. Like sunflower yellow, it works the same way as a light antidepressant. If you are curious to learn more about how color affects you, I would suggest the new book Create to Flow available at Amazon or www.zenart.info. I am happy that we can still boost our immune system with color. A yellow dress, Shakira on high volume and fresh-pressed juice with ginger. Is my way to put some color into a lockdown day. To feel calm I use green. I wish you all a colorful day. #color_theory #color_therapy #boost_your_mood #colorful #mood_and_color #boost_with_color

1. Take a pause from constant information Take a break from the news, Maybe it is time to limit watching the news to once a day? You might need to do the same with some social feeds. Use the extra time to watch something funny laughter strengthens the immune system and releases stress. 2. Meditate or draw a Mandala To meditate is a very efficient way to release stress. You can try a guided meditation online or just lay down and put on a song that you love. Focus on the song for as long as it is playing. If you find it hard to meditate you can try to color a Mandala or do something else that has a pattern of repetition and requires a lot of focus. Just stopping a few times a day for some deep breaths. 3. Gratitude and emotions Take 2-3 minutes every day and write down what you are grateful for. It will boost your oxytocin and make you feel better. Be okay with that some days you might also need to release tears and anger. Music and painting are two tools to help you work through emotions 4. Learn something new Use this time to dive into learning. It can be an online course, a great book or a webinar. 5. Fresh air For those of you that can walk in nature, it is a wellness boost. It is a wonderful way to get oxygen and sort your thoughts. 6. Meet up online Start to meet people online. It can be a cyber coffee with a friend, or a networking event. 7. Plan for things that you love Cooking, painting, gardening, sketching, playing music, chess, video games or what you like. 8. Cleaning and sorting We all have a cupboard or two that needs cleaning out. When we get it done we feel better. 9. Move Put one music, and dance at home. Do a yoga routine in the living room. 10. Reach Out Try to help out by lending a hand or giving hope to someone. This could be to your friend that lives alone but also to your family if you are all staying at home altogether. These steps might seem small but they are backed up by science to be efficient tools in releasing stress and anxiety. Counting your mini-wins is also important right now. In these times it is also more important than ever to give yourself "permission to be human" as Tal Ben Shahar says. He has a lot of great learning on YouTube. If you would like to learn a tool to meditate, create and reflect daily. Our course in creative meditation will start on the 27th of March. If you can't wait you can get the book today as an E-book on our site or on Amazon. Take Care and stay creating #stay_calm #creativity_to_relax #10_tips_to_release_stress

We are all experiencing change and many of us are staying at home alone or with our loved ones. I have decided to release a free chapter from the new book Create to Flow. Creative meditation can help to release some of the tension, but it can also be a great way to do something together with paper and color. The exercises are for all ages, and don\t require that you know anything about meditation och painting. Just subscribe to the newsletter, and the chapter will appear in your inbox. If you want more the whole book is in the shop. On the 27th of March the book will become alive as I launch it as an online course. I hope that this will be part of having a great family time and reconnecting with your creativity and dreams. One more tip that I have for the creative people that loves to draw from photographs or real life. Remember drawing upside down. To me this is a great way to change how we look at things, like it feels that the world is doing right now. If you have any questions I am an email away.

Celebrate your creativity. Don't let it take the backseat in your life. It is the fuel for any transformation that you would like to do. Please, don't put it in the drawer. Look for it everywhere, it is in anything. However simple or clever a well-designed product looks in the finished state, that is far from where the designer starts. In fashion school I learned about how to fuel your soul with inspiration by turning it inside out, infusing it with your colors and simplifying your design in many steps before you could present your work on the runway. Fashion wasn't my language but creativity is. Over the years I have heard many students say such things as ”I am not creative” or ”creativity is not for me”. But I would argue that we could all benefit from cultivating creativity, for it can be the competitive edge that you need in today's world. It can also be the joy that brings color to every day, including and especially Mondays! How you, in the end, will choose to be creative is naturally entirely up to you. In creative meditation feel free to use any way that works for you. Whether it is writing, poetry, collage, crafting or mind-maps or whatever else you can innovate, a creative approach to life can bring you a life filled with color and courage. You will find exercises to move you towards creative courage in the book Create to Flow. #creative_courage #courage #creativity

Yesterday we had a workshop in Karlstad, Sweden using creative meditation and inspiration from two masters of creating art beyond what you can see to infinity. Hilma af Klint was born in 1862 and painted until she passed 1944. On some of her paintings, she made a mark that they should bot be shown until 20 years after her passing. She started out as a landscape and portrait painter but became interested in spiritualism as a teenager, and later formed the group called the "fem" (five) that held seances. Hilma got her largest commission through channeling, and it was a large body of work. Part of these where the ten largest that have been shown at Guggenheim. Kusama is today 87 years old and is one of the worlds most loved and successful contemporary artist that just celebrated 50 years as an artist. She sees art as her medicine, and her goal is to create joy and love. Both these amazing creators served as our inspiration during a workshop. We watched a short documentary on both, did color meditations and worked inspired by what we saw in meditation. The goal was to open our own inner eye and to be inspired by the stories, colors and challenges face by 2 wonderful artists. I could probably write a book on what you could learn from these two artists. But if I have to limit myself to the most important lessons this would be it: 1. Trust your intuition. 2. Dare to try things that no one has tried before. 3. Stay true to your artistic voice. 4. Keep creating. 5. Dare to try many new expressions to find yours. 6. Paint from the soul. What I learned from the group: 1. Color can shift your mood instantly 2. Our masterpieces are often connected to our personal stories 3. It takes courage to let go of control and create. To reach this space I find that there is an alchemy between meditation and creativity. I will release online courses with the color meditations later in March. If there is interest from you I would also be happy to do this as a virtual workshop live. Let me know if this is something that you would like. These two amazing artists will continue to inspire me throughout my creative life. Ingela #Kusama #intuitive_painting #creative_meditation #zenart #workshop #Hilma_af_Klint

My gift to you on Valentines is a simple exercise in self love, with creative meditation. This is how it goes> 1. Pick your materials I chose ink, watercolor paper, Kushmi tea, candle, a gorgeous brush. Center yourself with a mindful exercise before starting! 1. Just sit and focus on your breath, don\t control it just feel it. 2. Think of one color 3. Breath in that color 4. Start to paint a background with your chosen color 5. Add words that resonate with your self love. 6. Take some time to reflect on the process and how you felt. 7. I also did one more heart but started with the words, see pictures below. Have a beautiful Valentin with your loved ones. #Valentine #heart #selfcare #selflove #creative_ I also tried to turn it around and start with the words.... and add the colors afterwards

"What you focus on grows" Marita Lekmo, from the book Create to Flow Network I need you. How do you stay focused? Many of us have experienced that some weeks Friday comes along and we have not done what we set up to do. Don't get me wrong we have worked hard, but with other things. I would love to get some tips from you on FOCUS and how to get more of it! 3 of my tips would be: Starting my day with creative meditation. Working in uninterrupted 90 minute blocks. Creating a not to do list. The first five tips will get the chapter from busy to focused. Thank you for sharing and have a great weekend. #focus #balance

First I would like to wish you all a wonderful Christmas. The holidays are sometimes an opportunity to get some extra time for self care and creativity. I have meet several clients recently that have started to do creative meditation with their children. This exercise works on all ages from 2 to 100. Creating together can be magical. 3 small tips on how to spark creativity. 1. Start with an exercise that will be fun and look great. 2. Put on happy music. 3. Have time to drink tea or coffee and talk about the experience. The exercise I suggest is pouring acrylic color on one side of an A3 paper (get a watercolor paper). Fold it, press and open up. Have plenty of paper and cheap acrylics so you can try different styles. Discuss what you can do afterwards to personalize it. If you would like more exercises you can buy the Ebook. Next year I will be releasing an online course built on the book. Thank you for being part of the Zenart community. All the best Ingela Johansson #Creative_holidays #creative_family This is an example of pouring and folding as described above.