Keywords

1 Introduction

1.1 Mandala Coloring

More recently, mandala coloring has been promoted throughout popular culture as a mindfulness-based antianxiety coloring activity, an increase of mandala use or awareness in popular culture has since emerged (Carsley and Heath 2018). A brief and easy-to-implement mindfulness activity that has emerged in education research and throughout popular media is mindful art making (e.g., Beckwith 2014; Callahan 2016; Carsley et al. 2015). Mindful art making is hypothesized to combine the creative manipulation of materials found in art making (e.g., Abbott et al. 2013) with the benefits of mindfulness meditation (Curry and Kasser 2005). Within the past couple of years, mindfulness-based coloring activities, such as mandala coloring have been incorporated into the school, home, and work environments for test anxiety and stress reduction. These coloring activities are considered to be mindfulness based because individuals have been shown to remain focused and aware of present moment experiences while coloring (Barrett 2015).

1.2 Mindfulness and Flow

Mindfulness as an awareness that emerges through purposefully paying attention in the present moment, non-judgmentally (Kabat-Zinn 1990). Similarly, Bishop et al. (2004) described mindfulness as the self-regulation of attention in an effort to achieve a non-elaborative awareness of the current experience. Both definitions are more aligned to mindfulness practices, which are used to cultivate the ability to be attentive and aware of the present moment in a non-evaluative way.

Flow is an experience that is characterized by complete concentration, heightened sense of control, merging of action and attention, loss of self-consciousness, distortion of time perception, and autotelic experience (Nakamura et al. 2002). Flow seems to be a subjective, psychological state that occurs when an individual becomes so immersed in an occupation that he or she forgets everything except what he or she is doing (Csikszentmihalyi 2002).

Mindfulness and flow had some common features. Both constructs emphasize the importance of focusing on the present moment, not worrying, and performing activities because they were intrinsically rewarding (Wright et al. 2006). Furthermore, both are considered to be indicators of mental health and optimal functioning (e.g., Landhäußer and Keller 2012; Rogatko 2009; Weinstein et al. 2009). Mindfulness may create a basis for the experience of flow (Aherne et al. 2011; Briegel-Jones et al. 2013; Kaufman et al. 2009). Jackson’s (1995) evidence suggests that flow requires a present-moment, non-self-conscious concentration on a particular task. Not surprisingly, therefore, a number of authors have recommended that maintaining a present moment focus is an effective strategy for achieving peak performance and flow (Orlick 1990; Jackson and Csikszentmihalyi 1999). Csikszentmihalyi (1978) explained that flow experiences “are made possible by an unusually intense concentration of attention on a limited stimulus field”. Awareness of the present is a core aspect of both mindfulness and flow (Swann et al. 2012).

Research by Cathcart et al. (2014) found that elite athletes with a high level of dispositional mindfulness have a propensity to experience flow. Their research suggests that mindfulness may be a catalyst for flow. Some evidence for the causal role of mindfulness in the mindfulness–flow relationship comes from research with athletes and suggests that mindfulness interventions may increase flow experience (Aherne et al. 2011; Briegel-Jones et al. 2013; Kaufman et al. 2009). Aherne et al. (2011) found that athletes who underwent mindfulness training program experienced greater flow than they did before the program, and experienced greater flow than athletes who did not participate in the training. Kee and Wang (2008) suggests athletes with higher mindfulness scores were more likely to experience the flow state. In addition, elite swimmers have reported being particularly aware and accepting of their bodily sensations during flow experiences reflecting a mindfulness and acceptance state (Bernier et al. 2009). Changes in mindfulness experienced by the intervention participants were positively associated with changes in flow, mindfulness-based interventions tailored to specific athletic pursuits can be effective in facilitating flow experiences (Jackson 2000; Kimiecik and Stein 1992; Scott-Hamilton et al. 2016).

1.3 Flow and Team Work

Jackson and Csikszentmihalyi (1999) stated that the most important characteristic of flow is the balance between the challenge of the occupation and the skills of the individual. According to this theory, to experience flow individuals have to be doing something sufficiently challenging that they make full use of the skills they possess, whereas too much challenge brings frustration, too little challenge brings boredom. In an experimental study, people playing ball games that required more teamwork reported greater joy and more intense flow than those playing the same games that required less teamwork, despite perceiving the game as more challenging (Walker 2010). The study of Tse et al. (2018) explores potential moderating effects of teamwork and flow proneness on the relationship between challenge and flow state. Their findings indicate that although challenge is negatively associated with flow state, this negative association can be mitigated if people work as a team. In organizational psychology, a person’s well-being is compromised if job resources cannot meet job demands (Schaufeli and Bakker 2004). One type of resources is social support. Social support is even more important when facing higher challenges because when personal skills do not meet up with the demand on hand, social support can act as an additional resource to maintain engagement and positive experience (Bakker and Demerouti 2007). In a correlational study with music teachers and students, perceived social support, one of the components of job resources, was positively associated with teacher’s work enjoyment (Bakker 2005). Their finding serves as preliminary evidence that teamwork may enhance flow and enjoyment when the challenge level is high.

1.4 Research Purpose and Hypothesis

In summary, mandala coloring has been receiving increasing attention in the literature and throughout popular culture, is an example of a brief and simple mindfulness activity (Carsley et al. 2015). Previous research also indicated that high level of mindfulness may increase flow experience. And in the study of Mantzios and Giannou (2018), they suggested future research should explore changes in flow while doing mandala coloring, as the benefits of mandala coloring may be more relevant to flow, rather than open awareness and mindfulness. The literature also suggests that a situational factor, teamwork, and a dispositional factor, flow proneness, may moderate the relationship between challenge and flow state. Therefore based on the previous studies, our study wants to explore: (1) whether mandala coloring can improve mindfulness and flow; (2) what is the relationship between mindfulness and flow during the process of mandala coloring; and (3) whether teamwork can improve the state of flow in mandala coloring activity?

So we divided the subjects into two groups, one group with high painting skills and another group with low painting skills. Different painting skills to match with different challenge levels of activities, structured mandala, free mandala and cooperative mandala.

Structured mandala, which is circular designs composed of symmetrical shapes, facilitate in-depth attention and engagement inherent to mindfulness activities and is believed to create a state of mindfulness (Carsley et al. 2015; Curry and Kasser 2005; Henderson et al. 2007). Filling in the intricate shapes and repeating patterns of the mandala provides individuals with the opportunity to experience a state of focused awareness (Curry and Kasser 2005). The combination of the structure associated with coloring in a mandala and the complexity of the design has been suggested to provide participants with a sense of direction when coloring and in organizing their experience (Carsley and Heath 2018).

Unlike structured mandala, the free mandala has no structure, but only a blank circle. The lack of structure individuals feel during a free mandala activity may be more challenging than structured mandala, and perhaps even anxiety inducing, as they feel the need to create their own structure (Curry and Kasser 2005).

Cooperative mandala is a kind of teamwork which completed by several participants working together. In order to explore whether teamwork can help participants improve their flow when facing the high challenging tasks, the pattern used by the cooperative mandala in this study was modified from the pattern of the free mandala. There are two nested circles, the large outer circle was divided into 4 small parts, each of which colored by an individual, and the middle small circle is colored by four participants together (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1.
figure 1

Patterns used in three mandala experiments.

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Based on all the above theories, we can propose the following hypothesis:

  • Hypothesis 1, Scores of mindfulness and flow of post-assessment are significant higher than the score of pre-assessment.

  • Hypothesis 2, There is a positive correlation between mindfulness and flow in the process of mandala coloring.

  • Hypothesis 3, Cooperative mandala can significantly increase the flow of subjects in the Low-skilled group.

2 Method

2.1 Participants

Participants were 76 university students (72.4% female n = 55 and 27.6% male n = 21) recruited from Chang Gung University located in Taiwan. 55 undergraduate students (67.1%), 17 master students (22.4%), and 8 doctoral students (10.5%). The age of participants ranged from 18 to 49 years old (M = 22.51, SD = 5.56). According to their painting skills, participants were divided into 2 groups: High - skill (Design students or who have spent more than 6 months studying in painting skills training institutions, n = 38), and Low- skill (Students who are not design majors or who have studied in painting skills training institutions for less than 6 months, n = 38). In the High – skill group, there are 32 females (84.2%) and 6 males (15.8%), mean age is 20.61 (SD = 3.15) years old. In the Low – skill group, there are 23 females (60.5%) and 15 males (39.5%), mean age is 24.42(SD = 6.73) years old.

2.2 Measures

State Mindfulness Scale (SMS; Tanay and Bernstein 2013). The State Mindfulness Scale is a state-like measurement tool that includes 21 items, with responses ranging from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very well). The SMS measure consists of two sub-scales that relate to bodily sensations or mental events. Sample items are “I noticed some pleasant and unpleasant physical sensations” and “I noticed emotions come and go.” Higher scores reflect greater levels of state-mindfulness. This scale was judged to be more inclusive of present moment awareness and a non-judgmental attitude, compared to the alternative scale that is evaluating mindful attention and awareness of the present moment (see Brown and Ryan 2003 for alternative scale). The study of Mantzios and Giannou (2018) produced an alpha of 0.95/0.94 for pre- and post- measurements of the overall score; and 0.82/0.85 for the bodily sensations and 0.94/0.93 for the mental events subscales.

The Short Dispositional Flow Scale 2 (SDFS-2).

This nine item self-report measure (Jackson et al. 2008) is an abbreviated version of the long DFS-2. It is purported to include nine dimensions (one item for one dimensions): challenge-skill balance, action-awareness merging, clear goals, unambiguous feedback, concentration on task, sense of control, loss of self-consciousness, time transformation, and autotelic experience. Items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always), to measure the frequency with which the flow characteristics are experienced. A total dispositional flow score is generated by summing the item responses, yielding a possible range in scores from 9 to 45. Higher scores indicate greater levels of dispositional flow. Preliminary research has demonstrated that the short scale provides a good representation of the previously validated longer version, suggesting it is an appropriate and reliable empirical measure of dispositional flow (Jackson et al. 2008). Coefficient alpha estimates of reliability for the DFS-2 ranged from .74 to .81, with acceptable goodness of fit indices, showing the DFS-2 to be a suitable short measure of flow.

2.3 Coloring Material

Both groups were exposed to an A4 size page, and the page with the pattern corresponding to the type of mandala used in the experiment (Fig. 1). All participants were exposed to a box of 12 colored pencils, and a pencil sharpener.

2.4 Procedure

Participants were kept blind to the study, and were informed that they signed-up to volunteer at a study that was investigating “Personality and Art.” Pre-screening questions to allow participation evaluated color-blindness, medication use, and former and current diagnoses of affective disorders. In this study, three experiments were conducted with two groups of participants. Three experiments were performed in a chronological order for structured mandala coloring, free mandala coloring and cooperative mandala coloring. One week interval between two adjacent experiments. Before the first experiment started participants received simultaneously a participant information form, a consent form, and the demographics page with the questionnaire (i.e., the SMS and SDFS-2 scales) for the pre-assessment. Next, participants commenced a 30-min mandala coloring. After the 30 min, participants were given a questionnaire again for the post-assessment, and were debriefed and thanked for their participation. In the next two experiments, there was no pre-assessment, but only 30-min mandala coloring and post-assessment. Measurements of state mindfulness and state flow were taken for one pre-assessment of the whole experiment and three pre-assessments of each the three mandala activities. In the third experiment, four participants (2 with high painting skill, and 2 with low painting skill) formed a small team working together to color a cooperative mandala. Participants had the opportunity to record an arbitrary number assigned to their questionnaires and drawing, to allow them to withdraw at a later stage and retain the anonymity of participation. Ethical approval was granted by the Ethical Committee based within the University and was scrutinized to strictly adhere to ethical guidelines set by the Taiwan Psychological Society.

Data were analyzed by utilizing three 2 × 4 mixed ANOVAs, post hoc paired sample t-tests, independent sample T tests, and linear regressions. The sample size recruited matched or exceeded previous studies. Analyses were conducted by utilizing SPSS version 22 (IBM 2013) and a significance threshold was set at p < 0.05.

3 Results

In order to explore the impact of different mandala on the challenge-skill balance, we took out the challenge-skill balance dimension of the SDFS-2 scale, and analyzed it with SMS and SDFS-2 together. We set the pre-assessment as Time 0, post-assessment of structured mandala as Time 1, post-assessment of free mandala as Time 2, and post-assessment of cooperative mandala as Time 3.

Three 2(Group Type: High-skill, low-skill) × 4(Time: Time 0, Time 1, Time 2, Time 3) ANOVA with repeated measures on the Time was conducted on the Mindfulness (SMS), Overall flow (SDFS-2) and Challenge-skill balance dimension.

For Mindfulness, there was no significant main effect of Time: F(3,222) = 2.339, p = 0.074, and there was no significant main effect of Group Type: F(1,74) = 0.469, p = 0.495, and there was also no significant interaction between Time and Group Type, F(3,222) = 0.649, p = 0.585. Although the effect of time on mindfulness was not significant, the mindfulness scores decreased slightly with time from Time 1 to Time 3 (Table 1).

Table 1. Means and standard deviations for the High-skill group (n = 38) and Low-skill group (n = 38), pre- and post- assessment on the four Times.
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For Flow, there was a significant main effect of Time: F(3,222) = 11.918, p < 0.001, η 2p  = 0.139, with both groups increasing over time in their Flow scores (Table 1). There was no significant main effect of Group Type, F(1,74) = 0.131 p = 0.719. However, a significant interaction was found between Time and Group Type, F(3,222) = 3.755, p = 0.012, η 2p  = 0.048. Results indicated that mandala coloring produced an increase in flow levels, but both groups produced similar outcomes. Set Time 0 as the baseline, post hoc paired sample t-tests revealed that the only case flow state not significantly increased but slightly decreased in Low-skill group on Time 2, t(37) = 0.140, p = 0.890, which was not observed in the High-skill group or on other Time conditions. Set Time 2 as the baseline, post hoc paired sample t-tests revealed that there was a significant decrease of flow state compared with Time 1 (t(37) = −2.423, p = 0.020), and Time 3 (t(37) = −4.004, p < 0.001). Such significant drop was not found in the High-skill group (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2.
figure 2

Means of SDFS-2 for High-skill group and Low-skill group on the four Times.

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For Challenge-skill balance dimension, there was a significant main effect of Time: F(3,222) = 8.216, p < 0.001, η 2p  = 0.100. There was no significant main effect of Group Type, F(1,74) = 0.011, p = 0.918. However, a significant interaction was found between Time and Group Type, F(3,222) = 3.284, p = 0.022, η 2p  = 0.042. Results indicated that mandala coloring produced an increase in score of Challenge-skill balance dimension, but both groups produced similar outcomes (Table 1). Set Time 0 as the baseline, post hoc paired sample t-tests revealed that the only case the score not significantly increased in Low-skill group on Time 2, t(37) = −0.141, p = 0.889, which was not observed in the High-skill group or on other Time conditions. Set Time 2 as the baseline, post hoc paired sample t-tests revealed that there was a significant decrease of the score compared with Time 3, t(37) = −2.488, p = 0.017. Such significant drop was not found in the High-skill group (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3.
figure 3

Means of Challenge-skill for High-skill group and Low-skill group on the four Times.

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The results of independent sample T test showed that only on Time 2, there was a significant difference of overall flow state (SDFS-2) between high-skill group and low-skill group, t(74) = 2.307, p = 0.024. Similar results was found in Challenge-skill balance dimension, there was a significant difference between high-skill group and low-skill group only on Time 2, t(74) = 2.472, p = 0.016.

We set the mindfulness scores of different time condition as the dependent variables, and the corresponding nine dimensions of flow as the independent variables, then used the stepwise linear regression method to analyze the relationship between mindfulness and flow. The results were shown in Table 2.

Table 2. Stepwise linear regression method to analyze the relationship between mindfulness and cognitive nine dimensions of flow on the four Times.
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4 Discussion

4.1 The Relationship Between Mindfulness and Flow

Positive psychology is a quest in part to understand optimal experience (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi 2000). Two forms of optimal experiencing have received the majority of attention within the literature, that is mindfulness and flow (Sheldon et al. 2015). A high level of mindfulness is associated with a greater frequency of the key flow dimensions of challenge–skill balance, clear goals, concentration, unambiguous feedback and sense of control, and loss of self-consciousness (Kee and Wang 2008). This is similar to the results of linear regression in this study, that mindfulness is positively associated with flow dimensions of challenge-skill balance, concentration on task, unambiguous feedback, and sense of control.

But a negative correlation was found between mindfulness and loss of self-consciousness dimension. This finding is similar to the study of Sheldon et al. (2015). Their study found that boosting a person’s ability to remain mindful during an activity might actually undermine their ability to get absorbed in that activity. It is important to note, however, that this negative relationship was found only for the absorption facet of flow, that is, the feeling of being carried away by activity, with an altered sense of time and a loss of self-awareness (Sheldon et al. 2015). Mindfulness is typically construed as a mental practice that requires self-discipline and a commitment to trying to maintain reflective awareness of each passing moment. Flow involves intense task concentration, a loss of self-awareness, an altered sense of time, and merging of activity and awareness (Csikszentmihalyi 1990; Nakamura and Csikszentmihalyi 2009). At first glance, mindfulness and flow seem very similar, both involve using the mind in an efficient high-quality way, and both are seen as signals of good mental hygiene and health. Thus, many researchers have assumed that boosting people’s ability to be mindful should also boost their ability to experience flow (Aherne et al. 2011; Kaufman et al. 2009; Thienot et al. 2014). But at a second look, the two states seem a little different. Mindfulness involves cultivating an observer of consciousness, trying to maintain reflective awareness of each moment. In contrast, flow involves losing the inner observer within an altered state of consciousness in which the moment blurs into a continuous stream of activity. Flow is an absorbing mental state that arises spontaneously when one is engrossed within optimally challenging activity. Absorption is an important component of flow states, one that is plausibly limited by mindfulness (Sheldon et al. 2015). In terms of William James’ (1890) famous metaphor of the “stream of consciousness,” mindfulness seems to entail standing on the bank of the stream without falling in; in contrast, flow entails jumping into the stream and tackling a challenging task or problem.

4.2 Why Is Mindfulness not Significant?

The results of data analysis showed that Time has no significant effect on mindfulness, suggests that there was no significant difference found in state mindfulness levels between pre and post of the three mandala interventions. Although mandala coloring has been associated with mindfulness, however, the question of whether they do increase mindfulness has not been addressed (Mantzios and Giannou 2018). Empirical support for the benefits of this activity is limited and the findings are mixed (Carsley et al. 2015; Curry and Kasser 2005; Van der Vennet and Serice 2012). Carsley and Heath (2018) investigated the effectiveness of mandala coloring activity compared with a free draw coloring activity on test anxiety in 152 children. Results revealed an overall significant decrease in test anxiety and an overall significant increase in state mindfulness. In the studies of Mantzios and Giannou (2018), they attempted to identify whether the mindfulness level of 88 university students was increased by doing mandala coloring, and whether there was a need for ongoing guidance while coloring. Results indicated that there were no significant differences between mandala coloring and free-drawing in reducing anxiety. Furthermore, no change was observed in mindfulness and no significant differences between mandala coloring and free-drawing were found in state mindfulness levels. But they found for the participants who liked the ongoing mindfulness guidance while coloring displayed an increase in state mindfulness, while the majority of participants who disliked the ongoing mindfulness guidance while coloring displayed a decrease in state mindfulness. The findings may be explained through the presence of flow, and the immersion onto the task that was disrupted by the meditation teacher who was talking in the background to guide participants to color mindfully (Mantzios and Giannou 2018).

Mandala could be a useful mindfulness tool, especially when considering their popularity. But mindfulness may be enriched through a long time of practice (Carsley and Heath 2018). MBSR (Mindfulness based stress reduction) is an eight weeks mindfulness training program which is generally considered to be effective in improving mindfulness. Eight-week mindfulness training of MBSR in attentional and emotional regulation skills has been found to increase mindfulness (Kabat-Zinn 1982, 2009). Maybe several times of 30-min mandala colorings are not enough to improve mindfulness, it needs time to train to see the effects.

On the other hand, as mentioned above, the increased flow of mandala activity may offset the improvements of mindfulness in some dimensions (e.g., loss of self-awareness). The flow scores increasing over time, while the mindfulness scores decreased slightly with time. After all, flow involves losing self-awareness and immerse into an activity, but mindfulness needs maintaining self-awareness throughout of each moment.

4.3 Cooperative Mandala

The results of the data analysis found that the overall flow score of the high-skilled group increased steadily with time. But the flow score of the low-skilled group dramatically dropped at Time 2, and rose again at Time 3, even higher. Similar trends were also found in Challenge-skill balance dimension. This result indicate that the free mandala is challenging for participants in the low-skilled group, but teamwork in cooperative mandala can help them to overcome this challenge. The study of Tse et al. (2018) examined the moderating effects of teamwork and flow proneness on the relationship between challenge and flow state. Their findings indicate that although challenge is negatively associated with flow state, this negative association can be mitigated if people work as a team. The literature suggests that a situational factor, teamwork, and a dispositional factor, flow proneness, may moderate the relationship between challenge and flow state (Tse et al. 2018). People with a disposition toward flow are described as those who enjoy activities regardless of external rewards (Csikszentmihalyi 2000) and who seek out difficult tasks with the objective of keeping perceived challenges high (Baumann and Scheffer 2011). They are also confident in their ability to master these challenges, in order to keep perceived skills high. These people tend to seek out activities which result in flow states (Asakawa 2004). While highly challenging activities often result in low positive affect (seeing difficulty), those high in dispositional flow tend to be resilient to this state in which overcoming the challenge (mastering difficulty) leads to a high positive affect (Baumann and Scheffer 2011). In contrast, non-autotelic people require external incentives to be motivated (Csikszentmihalyi 2000) and tend to see only difficulty in challenging tasks (Nakamura and Csikszentmihalyi 2002). This was necessary because playing as a team with high interdependence among team members provided better enjoyment and flow experience (Walker 2010). Therefore, encouraging cooperation among teammates, rather than letting teammates play independently, appears to be the underlying factor in making challenge flow-inducing.

4.4 Limitations and Future Research

Both the use of students and the small sample size suggest that (a) caution should be used when interpreting the results, and (b) future research with a larger and more diverse sample is required. In addition, the prolonged and repetitive use of coloring books has not been investigated, and may well indicate different findings. Also, the participants consisted mostly of females. Future research should explore more male participants. Although explorations around gender during this study did not signify any differences and did not deviate the original results reported. Another limitation that should be accounted for in future research is that the gender and age components of High-skilled groups and low-skilled were not strictly matched. Although data analysis showed that gender and age did not have a significant impact on the results of the study. Such similar situation has also been found in other studies. The majority of studies examining the relation between some demographic variables (e.g., gender and age) and mindfulness have not found significant differences (e.g., Shapiro et al. 2007; Shorey et al. 2014; Tan and Martin 2012). Neither age and gender correlated with flow state (Tse et al. 2018).

Many studies have confirmed that mandala can reduce anxiety. Finding indicate that the use of mandala coloring assists in reducing anxiety and in improving mood (Curry and Kasser 2005; Babouchkina and Robbins 2015). Many studies have also pointed out that mindfulness and flow can help to reduce anxiety. Mindfulness interventions have benefits ranging from reductions in anxiety and depression (Cayoun 2011; Grossman et al. 2004; Hofmann et al. 2010; Hölzel et al. 2011; Kabat-Zinn 2003). Some flow experts suggest that flow may be difficult to achieve when one is anxious because anxiety can invoke a negative self-conscious focus that disrupts concentrated attention (Csikszentmihalyi 1990; Jackson and Csikszentmihalyi 1999). Based on the results of this study, it seems to be inferred that the short-term effects of mandala coloring on reducing anxiety may be due to increased flow rather than mindfulness. The long-term practice of mandala coloring to reduce anxiety may be due to the combination of mindfulness and flow. The mechanisms of these actions and causalities need to be further confirmed in future studies.

5 Conclusion

This study found that short-term mandala coloring exercises can’t improve mindfulness but can significantly improve the flow state. There is a significant positive relationship between mindfulness and some dimensions of flow (e.g., Concentration on task, Unambiguous feedback, Sense of control, Challenge-skill balance, and Autotelic experience). But a negative correlation was found between mindfulness and loss of self-consciousness dimension. Free mandala is challenging for participants in the low-skilled group, but teamwork in cooperative mandala can help them to overcome this challenge. The contribution of this research is to provide a reference for further understanding of the mechanisms that how mandala coloring can help improve subjects’ mental state and enhance positive psychology.