Health Lifestyle

Zen garden: what are its benefits and how to create one?

A Zen garden not only produces immediate serenity and relaxation, but also stimulates concentration and creativity. Discover other of its benefits and how to make one in a corner of your home.

Zen garden: what are its benefits and how to create one?

The beauty of Zen gardens can be appreciated today in many places in the West. These are not only beautiful, but also bring several benefits, which is why more and more green areas are inspired by this style or incorporate some characteristic karesansui, the Japanese name to refer to the Zen garden.

The combination of natural elements in open spaces generates a feeling of tranquility both for those who contemplate them and for those who build them. And the best thing is that you don’t need a big space; there are those who choose to have it on a desk in their home or office.

Do you know what elements you should incorporate in your Zen garden? Or what benefits can they bring to your life? Discover this and more.

Benefits of having a Zen garden

Simplicity, beauty, aesthetics and a pleasant atmosphere are just some of the benefits that access to these exotic gardens offers you. The time has come for us to talk about other benefits.

1. Serenity and immediate relaxation

Contemplating these spaces creates a sense of peace. This is due to the different components used in its elaboration that, among other things, are distributed and selected with an intentionality. A corner is created that serves to eliminate the stress generated by daily responsibilities.

These Japanese gardens manage to reduce tension just by looking at them. Thus, the gravel or sand that can be seen in these spaces symbolizes the sea and the rocks that stand out on the surface represent a lioness and her cubs.

At the time of its construction, the sand that surrounds these stones must be drawn in an undulating way. This relaxing activity is believed to help clear the mind of worries. This action of combing the sand and rearranging the elements encourages meditation.

Zen garden: what are its benefits and how to create one?

Gardening itself is associated with a relaxing practice that allows you to release stress.

2. They can be located in any corner

By not being tied to a certain size, they can be in most of the spaces in your apartment or office, without ruling out the rooms. In this way, with the help of a mobile tray you can build a mini Japanese garden.

With this, you will undoubtedly bring a natural and positive energy and you will have a continuous relaxation practice at your fingertips, in case you have it on your office desk, for example.

3. Greater discipline and concentration

This continued practice can help you increase and perfect your levels of meditation, which in turn will help develop the skills necessary to stay focused and have greater discipline for the realization of your goals in various areas of life.

4. They stimulate creativity

The foray into a Zen garden can increase the creativity of the people who make use of it, as well as improve the ability to solve problems. The constant reorganization of the elements and the plowing of the earth creating different lines and shapes tend to stimulate and increase the levels of meditation, promoting the creation of new ideas.

5. They beautify, balance and give flow to your decoration

They can be very varied and this is because each owner gives it his personal touch if he wants it. For this reason, you can come across very simple, but beautiful gardens, or on the contrary, with ones that consist of exotic plants, imported sand and collectible figures, promoting a spectacle for the senses.

6. You can have your own pet in the garden

The water element is not a constant in Japanese gardens, and less so if its size is mini. But if this is not your case and your Zen garden is outdoor, try including a water well or artificial waterfall in your design.

If you have already taken this step, you can add some beautiful and colorful koi fish, traditional in this type of pond, to your design, along with stones and aquatic plants to make their stay more pleasant.

7. You can use it to meditate outdoors

It is not only a simple decorative element to beautify your home. Being part of your outdoor garden, you have an oasis to meditate, do yoga or exercise outdoors. Its design is ideal for connecting with nature and transcending deep meditation.

Natural elements such as water, wood and exotic plants (such as bonsai) can transform your patio into a setting to enjoy a Sunday afternoon with family and friends.

8. Easy to maintain

When you opt for a minimalist design, your Zen garden turns out to be low maintenance. It typically doesn’t have many items that need ongoing repair or cleaning.

In some cases, the cleaning can be done by the owner himself, since he will not take long and is far from being a complicated task.

How to create a zen garden?

You can start with the construction of a small Japanese garden for a special corner of your home or work. Then, if you want it and you have the necessary space, you can start building one on a larger scale.

To materialize this project, in addition to sand and stone, you require the following materials:

Granite or fine gravel. The colored one may be another option. Just remember that it will have to be used to draw pictures with it.
Shallow wooden tray (2 to 10 centimeters). The size is up to you.
Decorative elements to your liking.
A small rake.

Zen garden: what are its benefits and how to create one?

You can make a small zen garden to move or to put in your office or workplace.

Step by step to create your zen garden

1.Pour the gravel or fine sand into the tray to cover a quarter of its depth, leaving no space.
2.At this point you will need to start your creativity to decorate your Zen garden with rocks, branches, incense and other elements of the karesansui.
3.Remember that with the rake you can make waves or various geometric figures. You can also emulate mountains with the rocks and build a small path with some pieces of wood.
4.Try to get a miniature Buddha figure to incorporate into your design.

Zen garden is a traditional beauty

Make a sketch to get a sense of what you want your garden to look like. Keep in mind that traditional Zen consists of very few elements and an odd number of stones. Also, try incorporating plants.

Currently there are specialized stores where you can purchase the necessary materials to carry out this project. Japanese gardens must be in continuous movement, so changing the elements and shapes of the sand are one of the ways in which you can take advantage of its benefits.