Come along to the ‘Dreams and A Heart’ Workshop and help Regina Mendes put hearts into the dolls, enjoy a little bit of sewing and some good conversations.
In 2011, Regina Mendes came up with the idea of the ‘Dreams and A Heart’ project, making one doll that represents each one of us in the world.
“More than an idea it was a deep feeling of ‘I must do it’! Although I have never sewed in my life I bought a little sewing machine and learnt how to make them. It was then that I realised it would be quite difficult to reach a target of 7 billion! So, with my feet back on the ground, I started cutting the zeros. I thought 70 was too few so I added one more zero -700- it is a lot but possible. I would not be making one doll to one person but a percentage that would represent each continent.
Each doll is roughly the same size and colour, the colour of our bones, suggesting that we are all the same regardless of our little differences. They are all stuffed with the filling from old pillows which are full of dreams and each one has a heart.” Regina Mendes
The ‘Dreams And a Heart’ project claims to be helping this suffering world to become happier, healthier and more just.
Further Details
Date and Time
27th February 06:00pm to 10:00pm
27th March 06:00pm to 10:00pm
Address
Top of The Avenue, Muswell Hill
London
N10 2QE
See more at DREAMS AND A HEART
Venue: CUFOS Community Centre
Categories: Workshop
Mari, Tim and Tabada came to the workshop on Friday 27th February 2015 at Cufos. I sewed 34 dolls and we together turned all of them inside out. We filled up 11 with dreams, we put hearts into 3 and we meditated feeling our own heart beats. Tabada brought her pillow full of her dreams! Thank you so much! I love to know that we are going to meet again in March.
We spent the last weekend, 24 – 25 January 2015 at York Hall, Bethnal Green, London at another fantastic D&D event.
I asked people to help me to put hearts into 77 dolls and we would complete together the entire community of 700 dolls this weekend.
Many people came to help and I have got some of the names: Giulia, Viv, Li, Ellie, Ellis, Shani, Minna, Chloe, Lekan, Ruth, Catherine, James, Dean, Beatie, Giselle, Ayesha, James, Lorraine, Stella, Anna, Jennifer, Michela, Paul, David, Liberty, Cindy, Emma, Daniel, Elspeth, Kitty, Liz, Theo, Anna, Nick, Alexandra, Rosanna, Lucy, Arne, Catherine, Anne, Jessica, Wendy, Karen, Susie and Sarah.
And I am happy to announce
YES! We have made it!
700 dolls completed in the same space I arrived in 2012, 3 years ago, with just 7 dolls and shared the project with everybody.
Can you imagine how grateful I am to D&D people?
When I announced at the end of Sunday at the big circle “I am happy to announce…’ I didn’t need to complete my words, everybody clapped and screamed for many minutes cheering our achievement.
I told them that this is an International D&D and 77 dolls represent Europe which is 11% of the world population. I also emphasize that the most special thing would be to come along and have a little rest, a quiet moment to connect with our own hearts, feel inspired and recharged by the experience.
We worked non stop the entire weekend. It was wonderful to see so many keen to help. Some people were disappointed when they arrived and there were no dolls left.
We put hearts into the dolls and everyone made a meditation connecting with their own heartbeat and breath.The meditation time was different for each person, some stayed for one minute and others up to 15 minutes.
We made 28 dolls on Saturday and 49 on Sunday.
Some comments:
‘700 dolls – 77 dolls left – 7, just one step to infinite’
‘Filling ‘my’ doll with a healed heart and a soul made of dreams, that was what I looked for to feel good. In this first day of ‘first times’, I was a bit confused and while I was wondering around looking for what would have made me more comfortable, I met Regina’s eyes and hearts and dreams…and all that I needed was there. Thank you for this opportunity to make dreams come true, to bring my dolls to life, to make space and time to share and make beauty ( which for me it is life expressing itself at its best = love) together. Words can’t describe it but presence does. Keep bringing dreams to life!’
‘I think the dolls look happy. It was good to remember that I have a breath and heartbeat and that it takes a moment of thought to straighten out a heart sometimes. Thank you!’
‘I realize how grateful I am that you provide space for this at D&D. Everyone around us is having intense and intellectual conversations and lots of brains are buzzing with lots of thoughts. And this experience allows space to come back to our hearts and our peace. It creates space. I didn’t know I needed some peace and quiet until I arrived here but now I understand that it is an essential part – a necessary part – of this weekend. Thank you for creating this for us!’
‘At first my thoughts were busy and conflicting ‘ there’s so much to concentrate on…’ but then I sat for a while and thought ‘I have breath, I have a beating heart and I have dreams.’ I then felt the beating pulse in the thumb covering my doll’s heart starts beating too. He came alive and had a life of his own. Maybe that’s all there is to create life then. Breath, a beating heart and dreams.’
‘As I held my doll and sewed up the leg I felt suddenly very much at peace and starting thinking of my mother… she is like so many people out there, I feel has suffered so much in her life but still radiates such an enormous amount of love, and …endless fight, both aspects come hand in hand in life. My hand as I held my doll’s heart felt very warm, whilst really I am/was quite cold on this room. What a lovely, peaceful moment!’
‘I learnt to start from the heart first and then the dreams. Connecting myself to silence was quite hard, it would take me a bit of practice.’
‘There is a tiny, cluttered corridor with dolls hanging on its walls. As you walk the corridor, as the floor creaks with tiny, cluttered thoughts, make sure to greet the dolls. they wish you well as you walk out into the world.’
‘A profound, healing and hopeful thing to do, thank you Regina.’
‘A strange but soothing ritual. unexpectedly just what I wanted to do’.
‘These dolls have become an anchor and a marker on a very personal journey for me. I love checking in with them each year and making a little person full of my new learnings.’
‘Thank you for giving me the chance to meditate.’
‘Peaceful engagement, reflection and calm.’
‘A moment to centre my attention on the present and to give my effort to a warm and generous project.’
‘A humble reminder that life shot a rat race where every individual is out for themselves but that we are surrounded by people with dreams and hopes.’
‘One of the most heart-healing experiences of my life… helping Regina realize this wonderful project. Trust your dreams and let your heart smile, for once (twice, 700 times…)’
‘Last year I had just lost my mother to cancer. I made 3 dolls: one fore me, one for my mother and one for my father( who passed away 10 years ago). This year a friend lost both his parents and I made two dolls for each of them, to carry their love and values to the world. Thank you for this opportunity to meditate and reflect.’
‘This time last year I came and I made three dolls. This year I came back with a challenge : four dolls! two in the mornings and two in the afternoons. it was wonderful giving my time to reflect on past conversations from the day. 700 done! well done! Good luck with your future with the dolls! All my love.’
’Thank you Regina for this grounding and attentive experience. I made the 699th doll the penultimate doll on Sunday 25 January 2015. It was a very great and engaging activity with such care. thank you for including me. I particularly enjoyed taking the time to inject my heart beat into my doll and filling it with the dreams of others – beautiful metaphor! I will tell other people about this so please keep doing it and bring this experience to others. Thank you!’
‘This is my first time at D&D and the first thing that excited me was the invitation to make a doll. I decided to save it till the end. I was the 77th and 700th doll! I found this wonderful experience. I felt very committed to and invested in the simple doll. I cared for the doll and I want to make sure that I know what happens and how this can become an exhibition. the final meditation and connection with my own heart was grounding. I did this with a fellow Canadian. Everyone who made a doll seems to care a lot about the work. Thank you for doing this. exciting work.’
‘A project pulsing with peace and love. I am happy I made a doll.’
‘Lovely and relaxing experience. Love my doll!’
‘Hugely moving moment for me, making one of Regina’s dolls, sending a meditation to my surgeon for next Sat’s surgery.’
‘Having a break from talking, sewing with Regina – so beautiful!’
‘Transformative experience and a brilliant end to my dandd10 weekend.’
Thank You So Much Everybody!
That is why I make the dolls, I love you, I am so glad there is tomorrow and we will be together again.
See you this Friday when we will start the next community of 700 dolls.
Last Thursday 18 December 2014 we met in another D&D event at Ovalhouse in London UK to thanks 2014 and to ask where do we go from here?
We had great conversations about creativity, who we are and how was 2014 for us. While we were talking we sewed six dolls. I sewed five and Sarah put a heart into a doll, did a short meditation with her own heart and perfectly finished it, she told me she used to sew costumes before. She took these beautiful photos of ‘our six friends’ celebrating Christmas with us.
I had an image about the dolls. They are our base layer. On top of the base layer we will add a first layer, a second, a third, a fourth and so on until we reach a beautiful out layer. I look forward seeing the next layers, and there will be many as it can be very cold outside!
When you look at the doll you will think ‘this is my body’. Well I realised this is your base layer, your body is pure dream. I will keep making the dolls and I will keep asking you to help me making them for us to be warm and safe.
I want to thank you everybody for have inspired me with your amazing dreams and hearts so far so much for the last five years. I am specially grateful to D&D people who are responsible for holding the space for us, such generosity is priceless, thank you amazing improbable people, I love you!
‘The alignment between the objective truth and the moral truth is itself a kind of unseen order at a very deep level’ Robert Wright said that in a course about Buddhism and Psychology. I love it.
I guess the unseen order he is talking about is Love.
‘The reality wins 100% of the times’ Phelim always say that and I love it too.
However what I love the most is to put both thoughts together and when I do it I realize that we suffer that much with reality because our moral truth is not aligned to the objective truth – we are still struggling to find out the alignment, the unseen order.
For me the unseen order is Love.
I just want to clarify to my astrologer friends that when I say love, this infinite creative love, I am not talking about Neptune.
I am talking about something beyond, the unseen order that creates the incredible synchronicity between the heavens and earth that we can very well visualise and understand through our craft.
The miracle that makes everything the way it is, the miracle of reality in all its levels.
Some people call it God, some other people call it Science (and science is God for them).
I like to think that Love is the ultimate energy behind and beyond everything.
Probably we will find another word instead of Love to call the unseen order, the miracle, perhaps can we call it Art?
Art = Is
Reality= Morality = What Is= Art
I like it. This is my way to meet the unseen directly.
However Art is still a word that can be tricky.
God, Science, Love, Art … doesn’t say, doesn’t sing What It Is. They are words that can prevent people to take it seriously, people learn to be cinical about these words.
We need to find out a new word.
Shall we call the muses? Who knows the name, the new word, the bridge to the universe?
Who will receive the new word and give it to all of us?
In the last workshop someone, a wise one, said ‘we need to put the heart into the right place’. This is so inspiring!
I am thinking a lot about my Italian grandmother.
She was the person I loved the most in my childhood.
She was a seamstress and she sewed mainly wedding dresses.
I feel this project is deeply related with her.
This is the first time I am sewing in my life.
The courage I have now that makes me keep going, is it also coming from her love, from our moments of love in my childhood?
I am celebrating my ancestry through the dolls and every time I sew them I am celebrating the ancestry of all people.
I have noticed that when many people put hearts into their dolls and when they meditate connected with their own hearts they do it in remembrance of their ancestry.
We are all here together. Somehow somewhere there is love.
