Color Breathing Exercise with Mindful Art

Anxiety can make our bodies feel tense, our thoughts race, and our hearts beat faster. Mindfulness and creative expression give us simple, accessible tools to slow down, breathe, and reconnect with ourselves. You don’t need to be an artist or even own art supplies, just a willingness to explore.

Why Mindfulness + Art Helps with Anxiety

Mindfulness brings awareness to the present moment without judgment. When paired with art, it becomes an embodied practice: your attention shifts to colors, textures, and movement rather than anxious thoughts. This combination can:

• Regulate breathing and activate the parasympathetic nervous system.

• Reduce rumination by engaging the brain’s creative and sensory networks.

• Provide a safe outlet for emotions through color, shape, and flow.

• Increase self-compassion by focusing on process over perfection.

Allow yourself to play and explore with color!

What You’ll Need

• Watercolor paints

• Watercolor paper (or any sturdy paper)

• Cup of water

• Brush

Optional / No-Supply Adaptations:

• Colored pencils, crayons, or markers

• Digital drawing app on a phone or tablet

• Simply your imagination, visualizing colors in your mind’s eye

  
  

Step-by-Step: Color Breathing

1. Settle In. Find a comfortable seat. Place your feet on the ground, relax your shoulders, and close your eyes for a moment. Take a few slow, deep breaths.

2. Choose Your Color. Think about the emotion or state you want to invite: calm, joy, energy, hope. Choose a color that feels like it represents that feeling. There’s no right or wrong; go with your instinct.

3. Breathe in the Color. Imagine inhaling that color into your body. Picture it swirling through your chest, arms, and legs, filling you with your chosen feeling.

4. Exhale a new color. As you exhale, allow your body to release any tension or heaviness. Now imagine that on the exhale, the first color gradually transforms into a new color upon release, perhaps representing a new energy or emotion.

5. Put color to paper. With each inhale or exhale, load your brush (or your pencil, or even just your mind’s eye) with your chosen color. As you inhale, make a mark. This could be a soft wash of watercolor, a flowing line, or a simple shape. As you exhale, change colors and make another mark. Repeat, cleaning your brush and changing colors on the inhale and exhale. Let your breath guide the pace.

6. Layer and Flow. Continue breathing your colors in and out and expressing your breath and colors on the page, allowing yourself to play and relax into the process. Let layers overlap, blend, or remain distinct. Focus on the feel of the brush or pencil against the surface, the movement of your hand, and the slow rhythm of your breathing.

7. Close the Practice. When you feel ready, set down your materials. Take one last deep inhale of your color and a slow exhale. Notice how your body feels now compared to when you began.

   
   

Tips for Different Materials

• Watercolors: Let the water do the work and watch colors blend and merge like clouds.

• Markers or Pencils: Experiment with shading, pressure, and repeating shapes.

• Digital Tools: Use the color picker to shift shades as your breathing changes.

• No Materials: Visualize your “painting” in your mind, watching the colors grow and change.

Remember: The goal is not to make a “pretty” picture. It’s to anchor yourself in the present, soothe your body, and give your mind a gentle focus. Over time, this practice can become a trusted tool for easing anxiety anywhere, with or without art supplies.