Mindfulness through Origami.
Origami is the art of paper folding where ‘ori’ means folding and ‘kami’(gami) means paper, believed to be associated with Japanese culture. The practice aims at folding a piece of paper to create varied forms, the well-known examples of origami would be, the fortune teller, the crane, planes, boats, stars, animals, and flowers. The crane is the most famous due to the story of Sadako Sasaki, a victim of the Hiroshima atomic bombing folding one thousand origami cranes before passing away.
This age-old craft has a lot to offer to us than might seem. Beautiful papers of different colors and patterns pleasing the eye and the act of creating something out of a mere piece of paper gives us a sense of achievement. Origami makes wonderful decorations for the household and livens up the living space.
Times are difficult for parents with kids at home who are finding it challenging to keep their children engaged, origami can help overcome boredom and irritability in kids and give them an activity to focus on. Children find it amazing and are curious to learn about it. It not only entertains but also educates kids, values such as patience and persistence. It helps learn geometrical concepts like planes and dimensions. It gives children a sense of resolving problems on their own.
So what does origami have to offer to us adults? Quite a lot if we take a deep dive into it. Origami is easy to do and does not require much, memorizing the steps improve memory retention, we get an insight into a culture different than ours, broadening our perspective and nothing compares to the happiness and satisfaction when one completes a project.
The pandemic has called for a lot of stress among individuals and people find it difficult to concentrate on work or relax effectively. Origami is also a practice of mindfulness and can bring into one’s life a sense of calm and control, it takes your mind off from the daily affairs and for a few minutes, you are engaged in making something creative.
It is important to be proud of your art even if you can’t achieve perfection, the goal is to let things be and get in touch with our human aspect instead of expecting robot-like perfection from ourselves. So grab a paper and get crafty.
Contributed by Lachkegeetanjali Content writer at Mitti Ke Rang
At Mitti Ke Rang, we started with a COVID-19 community support fundraising, as an emergency response to provide a safety net to families. This will help them survive in the lockdown period. We aim to directly support these families by providing a minimum wage, through transferring the same into their accounts or partner with local NGO, Organisation, Fellow or a Volunteer, and support them with groceries.
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