Coloring for spirituality

Take a look at Amazon’s best-seller list and you might be surprised to find adult coloring books in the mix. While adult coloring is mostly being marketed as a balm for the stress of modern life, some fans are describing it in spiritual terms. Some may scoff, but “it can become more than just coloring if you want it to,” said Sybil MacBeth, author of Praying in Color (Paraclete Press, 2007). What is it, precisely, that can elevate coloring to a spiritual practice? For MacBeth, it’s “when my mind, body, spirit and soul are all in the same place … and my mind doesn’t wander — that becomes a spiritual practice.”