Category: Workshops

We spent last weekend in our loved annual D&D event at The Rep in Birmingham.

I asked people to help me to put dreams and hearts into 38 dolls and we would reach 1000 together.

Monica, Heather, Ridley, Elinor, Sofia, Miriam, Emma, Hugh, Sally, Rachel, Nick, Amy, Hannah, Vivian, Ben, Janice, Jess, Tabitha, Len, Lisa, Steven, Kath, Ali, Sunny, Claire, JP, David, Aimee, Frances, Lu, Vivian and some more people that I forgot the names, came to the session.

I can’t even believe, we made it!

1000 dolls!!!!!

Actually we made 1001 so we have already started the next thousand!

I run out of fabric. On Saturday I asked everybody to bring any fabric that they could have at home, not thick fabric, from white to medium cream. On Sunday I received very nice pieces of fabric and we are now ready to sew the next community.

We had inspiring conversation and shared beautiful intimate moments while we were adding the dreams and hearts into the dolls, and also after meditating.

Some comments:

This is a brilliant session. Great to sit down and making + chatting + contributing to this project. Beautifully led! So glad I came!

Relaxed + enjoyable experience.

I totally loved this. Small meditative beautiful!

I loved making my little person. Beautiful idea and a really relaxing, creative experience. Thank you!

Good to finally do a doll, have started on other D&D, at last I finished one, thank you Regina, hugs.

What a beautiful idea and a calming ‘other’ experience. Regina is a skillful dreamer and this passion project is a beautiful shaft of light in a complex world. 7 billion will be.

Thank you for creating a space for craft and meditation, may the hearts of the dolls spread love across the universe!

Very calming! Look forward to seeing more of this project. The doll I stuffed had a red mark which appeared where its appendix would be – funny because I’ve just had mine taken out.

1000! Thank you, a wonderful moment of calm for body and brain – lovely!

I had a lovely time making my doll today. Thank you!

A tender holding both of me by her and by me to the doll. May life reign beautifully!

A brilliant moment of calm and peace in the middle of creative chaos.

At first I asked Regina what this session was about and she said let’s do it and you will see. Really touchy, connecting and so important. Just let it be. Really enjoyed and thank you for the meditation and for inviting me to make a doll.

This has been absolutely lovely, so calm! Thank you for teaching me.

This was a really therapeutic exercise. I had a lot of great conversations with great people whilst making my doll and after meditating I felt very connect and a lot of love for my little creation. I hope he has a good journey! Thanks Regina.

Really enjoyed this – found it so relaxing, I even learnt how to sew – so new excuses for me regarding missing buttons! Wonderful project.

Calming, ‘different’, very ambitious, don’t doubt it will happen, thanks.

This session was beautiful! It helped to center my mind, it centered my dreams and suddenly made me realise I must pursue the reoccurring persistent dream I’ve been having.

I can’t wait to meet everyone again to continue making the next communities of dolls.

Thank you so much for your generosity and support

and a thousand thank you to Improbable who once more organised an amazing event – Sarah, Susie, Rachel, Lucy, Nick, Phelim and Lee

I love you guys!

 

 

On 27 October 2015 evening I went to the D&D event ‘Puppetry – Shackled by the Past?’ at the Little Angel Theatre in London.

Jemima, Amy, Seb, Sarah, Freddie, Harriet, Karol, Elaine, Zoe came to the session, we put dreams and hearts into the dolls and we did a short meditation connecting with our own pulse. Some dolls are finished and some I’ll finish myself sewing the legs.

Some people wanted to make dolls but unfortunately we run out of them. I brought eight as we would be working for just three hours, but I should’ve brought double!

It was good to be in a room full of puppeteers. Jemima offered to help me with some more dolls in the future, yes!

We stayed in the spot called ‘fairies’, it felt like a little tent inside the room, very cozy.

Some comments:

‘Using my hands helped lubricate my ideas and thoughts’

‘It was nice to come here and relax after intense conversations’

Thank you everyone for such lovely evening.

 

 

I spent 3rd October 2015 afternoon at Kingston Environment Centre at ‘Harvest Extravaganza’ making dolls with Jan, Marianne, Jane, Charlie and the children Leanne, Sam and Melody. We struggled with a weak fabric that tore easily. We lost three dolls in the process of stuffing them.

We had good conversations about Earth Angels, kind of people that do good, usually are alone and don’t feel lonely.

Thanks everybody for the special effort with the fabric, we luckly managed to finish 7 dolls, well done us!

Last Saturday 19 September 2015 we spent a lovely sunny afternoon outdoors at the New Malden Arts Festival making dolls.

People turned up from different backgrounds as India, North Corea, Jamaica, Japan, England, China, US… they were mainly fathers and mothers with their children.

Randeep ( light in darkness :)), Guk Hwa, Lucy, Suzanne, Li, Nathan, Henry, Charlie, Danielle, Simone, Jean, Laura and the children Irableen( emerging in God :)), Soo Jung, Leila, Corinne, Bella, Inesh, Hamza, Tashane, Jadah, Helena and Estelle.

We made 15 dolls, many are finished and few of them I’ll finish myself. Most of us meditate with our hearts including the children. We stayed together for 4 hours, until 6pm, one more hour than planned. I was invited to come again in the next event. I will.

 

https://view.publitas.com/theatre-for-all/new-malden-arts-festival/page/24-25

 

‘Lucid reality’

 

 

Some comments

‘It was very rewarding to shape those pieces of fabric! It reminded me of morphogenetic fields defined and demonstrated by Rupert Sheldrake, Cambridge University. Just as the spirit needs to become a morphic field that guides the biomolecules until they become alive, I felt that the cotton fibers were this morphic field giving ‘life’ to each doll! Contemplatively immersed in the richness of the creative process. Eternal gratitude!’

‘It is an invitation to share the present time, to be present together.You cannot be with others while paying attention to your mobile phone, but you certainly can do that while sewing and meditating. In present times, dreaming a better world is a kind of privilege. Regina is promoting a community experience – working together to donate the result of this togetherness to other person in another part of the world.’ 

 

I run two workshops this summer in São Paulo, Brazil, on 01 and 08 August 2015.

Claudia, Vera, Cecilia, Marina, Gabi, Fernando, Cynthia, Dani, Juliana, Jano, Thaiz, Catarina, Julia, Paulo, Aline, Caique, Bruno e Fani came over.

We were mainly actors, directors, play writers and health professionals as physiotherapists, psychologists and doctors.

We made 46 dolls.

Something different happened in the two workshops – we all made the doll’s meditation together at the end of the events during around 10-15 minutes. On the first, Juliana put on some music, what I usually would not like, but it turned out to be a perfect kind of music to meditate, we loved it!

On the second workshop Caique remind us about the “Lion’s Gate Portal’ which happens every year on 08 of August. Numerology says that this date vibrates the energy of continuity and harmonic balance. This year offered a rare triple 8 as 2015 (2+0+1+5) adds another 8 to the day creating a powerful portal to inspire new balance between our hearts and minds.

We made 26 (2+6) dolls and we realised that for us was actually an 8888!

We booked on this date just because it was the date when the space was available. We were blessed by this coincidence which gave an extra sense of joy to the workshop.

For me the presence of my dear teacher Jano at his studio made my 8888 a special day.

We also had an interesting conversation with Paulo, an oncologist researcher, about the similarities between genomics (our genetic code) and astrology. The graphic representation of the connections between the pairs of chromosomes is amazingly similar to an astrological chart. We can see them both as oracles!

I am grateful to everybody who came, Claudia, Vera, Juliana  and Jano who helped to invite people to the events, Olivia who lent me her sewing machine, Claudia and Jano who gave us lots of pillows full of their dreams and Gabriela and Jano who shared their super cool studios allowing us to spend those lovely afternoons together.

I love you all.

 

 

We met yesterday 17 June 2015 at University of the Arts London Central Saint Martins in another great D&D event ‘How should the theatre industry engage with the new Government?’

I invited people to help me to put dreams and hearts into the dolls. Bill, Lewis, Clea, Fiona, Kasia, Vincent and Olivia came and we finished 11 dolls. We had good conversations. Some comments:

‘Don’t say 700 Regina, say 7 billion!’

‘First of all I would like to thank you immensely for the amazing experience. It has been a pleasure making the dolls with you. I know how important they are to you. I am happy to have been the lucky one to feel the immense good you are making through your job/life and to have contribute to this. I would recommend this session, this deep and philosophical session, to everyone because it makes you understand the importance of contributing/volunteering to a good cause for our modern society. Please Regina, keep on making these dolls and make everyone happy with your wonderful heart.’

We shared a special moment when he connected with his wonderful heart.

I love this project, I love the dolls, I love D&D. Thank you once more to make it possible.