Dorodango’s seem to be a craze (borderline obsession) that earthen builders seem to find themselves drawn to which seems natural when you realise the beauty of applying presence and patience with earth to create unbelievably shiny and precious beautiful yet deeply meaningful and seemingly pointless objects. The Japanese art form, Hikaru Dorango is literally translated as shiny mud dumplings which is precisely what they are. The origins of the craft trace back to a school playground in Kyoto where children were found to have started making them.
I was drawn to Dorodangos as a tool to study conscious making as part of my research titled thinking with my hands, feeling with my heart. During my first encounter with the craft, I realised the immediate feedback from my inner state of being with the lack of lustre in the balls. Once I’d realised this, I took a walk and released the grasping of ego and mind, and then returned to work on the ball with a renewed sense of presence. Not only did a beautiful shine emerge, but it came with ease and joy. This started my experiments in working with Doradangos in my research and lead me onto studying the effects that making has on the coherence of heart and mind. This part of my indicative research was done using the biofeedback device developed by the Heart Math Institute which I used to facilitate a conscious making experience with a group of 15. A page from my research is below.
I believe making Dorodangos to be a transformative experience for anyone, any age. Below are some of the reasons why I believe so…
- To connect to yourself inward, whilst connecting outward into the world
- To be in the process, and to allow a flow state to emerge through mindfulness in the process
- To find joy in the unfolding of beauty
- To find perfection in imperfection
- To work with the head, heart and hands
- To be engaged with a living process
- To be process-oriented opposed to goal-oriented
- To be in contact with the web of life and to live in the moment with a direct connection to the web of life
If you are interested in me hosting a workshop with your forest school, business, university, knitting club etc. I’d be more than happy to. contact me here
