17+ Zen Garden Ideas That Relax Your Mind
Get inspired with our authentic zen garden ideas
For those of you looking to create a zen garden…you wont regret it. A space for contemplation, they are a great place to reflect on your sense of well being, reduce the stresses in your life and focus your mind. The benefits are time served and well established. In this post, we will be showing you some zen garden ideas that will help you create yours.
Firstly, let us establish what a zen garden is and what it is not. Many people incorrectly refer to Japanese garden design as ‘zen’. This is not true, there is an absolute difference with clear rules for zen gardens in place.
A zen garden is an aid to meditation that were first created by monks. They are carefully controlled settings which feature sand or gravel, rocks and shrubs. Zen gardens are a place that encourage introspection and meditation. The aim is to rake the sand in circular motions or in a pattern, to represent the sea. The stones too are a representation, they represent trees if they are placed upright, or if they are placed flat, they represent the sea. As you will see in the images below, actual water is not present in a Japanese zen garden.
Our zen garden design images will leave you inspired
Zen gardens are based on simplicity since they are there for meditation and reflection. They simply consist of sand or gravel, rocks of varying sizes and some basic shrubs that are small and well maintained.
Calmness, introspection and meditation are the point of a Zen garden. You should feel very tranquil while you recreate the essence of nature.
Many people start introducing things such as ponds into Zen gardens but this is going beyond the principles. Japanese Zen gardens are based on their simplicity. Sand or gravel, rocks and basic shrubs are all you need.
When you go through the motions of brushing the sand, cleaning the area, and then creating patterns and swirls, you free your mind to meditate at the same time. This repeated cycle develops your calmness and promotes introspection.
Although sand is used, the majority of gardens contain very fine gravel. This is because it is less likely to be disturbed by the wind and rain.
The plants in a zen garden are very focused and well maintained. Plants such as conifers, bamboos, nandina are very common.
I hope that you have found some inspiration from our Zen garden images. Remember, that they are purposefully simple so what better way than to separate a small section of your garden and turn it into a meditation space. A place for calmness and reflection.
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