Testimonials:   1 & 2

I was in the Changi General Hospital high-dependency ward - my home for the next 40 days. The left half of my body, which was my dominant side, had been paralysed by an acute stroke.

I was bored and tormented by negative thoughts as I tried coming to terms with the loss of the use of my dominant limbs. I was looking at the loss of my independence and not being able to continue with most of the activities in life that matter to me, including origami, which had been a passion and part of me for the better part of 45 years.

To relieve the grinding boredom, I took a sheet of paper and began playing with it. It was strange and cumbersome folding only with my non-dominant hand. I stopped feeling sorry for myself, be positive and get to work on recovery. All is not lost.

I tried folding some of the simpler designs from memory. The knowledge that substantial recovery was possible by engaging in an activity I love gave me hope. I had a clear objective. I was determined to do everything I could to be able to pursue origami again at my former level, and to recover as much of my physical faculties as humanly possible. I went through each supervised physiotherapy session enthusiastically, and repeated as many of the exercises as I could while lying in bed. I also folded and handed out so many origami butterflies that they soon came to symbolise my desire to be free from the restrictive effects of the stroke.

I was still wheelchair bound when I was discharged from the hospital and referred to there habilitation centre at another hospital.

The physiotherapists at the rehabilitation center had learned of my passion for origami by then. I also found myself used increasingly as a role model for my fellow patients. Many of these patients had become withdrawn, inhibited, and disillusioned with life and the possibilities of ever making an eventual recovery.I was often asked to speak with them, to encourage them, and used as an example of the positive effects and possibilities of recovery with supervised physiotherapy.

Some months later, I was invited to teach the therapists and patients to fold butterflies to be used as door gifts for events at World Physiotherapists Day. I ended up folding most of the butterflies for them as well as a second lot for the World Occupational Therapists Day at Hospital (CGH). About a year after my discharge from CGH, I was hugely surprised to learn that I had been named "the Most Inspiring Patient of the Year" by the hospital.

I was out of the wheelchair after several months and was walking without assistance or use of the walking stick after a year.

Apart from inadequate use of my left hand and a gimpy gait, I am able to live my life almost as independently as before. The stroke may have been a traumatic experience, but it has given me a new dimension in the use of origami and in life. The experience and origami have enabled me to reach out to others in a similar situation, bring them a little joy, and – more importantly – hope.

For full version of the story please visit: http://ronkohblog.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/

R Koh January 2014 Singapore

I am a retired preschool teacher from Victoria.   I have been teaching origami for over ten years. As a volunteer, I share the joy of origami with local brain injury, stroke, seniors, women and church groups; relapse prevention groups (addiction issues) and residents of mental health facilities.   Four years ago I started teaching origami at the psychiatric unit of K B Hospital.  I wanted to share the joy.  Origami is a gentle art form which exercises the mind and delights the soul.

The weekly origami is one and a half hour session with up to six patients. The activity coordinator is always present and supportive.  We understand that the hardest part of our work is  the gathering of patients to join in, as they are often in a state of mind where initiative and decision-making are paralysed.  However, once they arrived and the sheet of paper is in front of them . . . the magic begins.

When they asked 'Why do you come?'  I replied 'I know origami will help. '

It helps patients by sharing my own coping experience with origami.  They feel more at ease and this helps establishing trust. I usually verbalise the foldings step-by-step along with demonstrations.  Some patients are so keen that they want to learn as much as five models in one session.  I greatly admire their courage to participate  because some still on sedation.  Origami works both the left and right brain. At times I can see them struggling between the sedative effect  and the folding stimulation. Origami usually wins the battle.  Origami provides both distraction and focus.  This is a wonderful success for first-time folders:  The patients’ sense of joy, mastery and relief from chaotic thinking or despair is clearly visible. The body language is  different when they leave the session. Their heads held higher as they gather the beautiful origami they made. For a brief period of time, origami has rescued them from the aimless wandering on the ward and given them a purpose.

The origami class is also a non-threatening social setting. There is no pressure to talk or socialise. Yet I have observed changes on those who were not socially confident.  They began to engage with others or in helping others with certain steps. Patients encouraged each other. Sometimes they interacted  through animating action models. Often, conversations continued after the session is over.

What is good for the student is good for the teacher - Eight years ago I was unwell. When I was really anxious, doing origami calmed me down. As I began to fold the paper, my ruminating negative thoughts were replaced with focused attention. A sense of accomplishment followed once the model was completed. Besides, giving a model or teaching someone was a joyful experience.

Teaching origami gives me purpose. The benefits of doing origami are somehow doubled through sharing the art form.  Patients  often  express the sincere appreciation for receiving the opportunity- to fold. This has been the most rewarding of all my origami teaching experiences. It is very gratifying to witness their improvement while we fold. I feel pride and accomplishment in helping people by easing their emotional pain, if only for a little while.

I have seen a patient suffering from schizophrenia with paranoid delusions, successfully complete the models, join in conversation and leave with a smile.      

Oh, the magic of origami!

R. Browne October 2012 Canada

I am a clinical social worker in Ontario, Canada. I have a counseling practice, and many people come to my office for a multitude of problems. Some of those people are children who have anger management and/or histories of abuse. To help them formulate an understanding of counseling and the process of changing behaviors; I begin by teaching them origami folds. We begin with easier folds and graduate to more difficult ones. It depends on the progresses or resists of change and/or learning to tell her/his stories.

But always, after making an origami fox, or purse, or tower (to be used as a scale technique), or bird, I tell them, "...if you can make this ~ you can learn to change or tell me about what happened...". I believe that the instruction of origami during each session offers a quick integration between cognition and experience, hence, offering a concrete lesson on 'new' learning. Most children do change and/or tell their stories and come to resolution.

I have been folding for many years, yet it is only in the past few years that I begun to use origami in my work with children. Stories about using origami with adults are exciting and reason to celebrate! It is a wonderful art form. I remember it fondly from my days as a child when living in Japan. I look forward to spending more time on your website. I first found out about you in an Origami Calendar and looking forward to have more origami ideas!

Happy New year!!

J. Wiley 12 Jan 2005 Canada

I thought you might be interested in a story about the wonders of origami. My work often involved with abused children.

While I was a criminal defense attorney in Chicago I worked in the child welfare section. One of my clients was an abused child incapable of discussing her traumatic experience. Many professionals spent hours with her to get her talk but she would not. I tried her with origami. I had brought my briefcase and told her that all my important paper were in there, but I would allow her to go through them.

Inside I had many of my designs. I then told her that they were for her. I cannot explain the look of wonderment on her face. She opened up to me and we struck a pact - if she could work at therapy, then I would bring her more pieces.

It was remarkable how much the children enjoyed origami. I had one little boy telling me that, with origami, the court had changed from his least favorite place to something he looked forward to.

You have really struck a vein for me. I too share your belief in the therapeutic value of origami. It is a wonderful hobby and I thank you for your website. 

Sincerely,

K. Kulkarni 25 Dec 2004 USA

As an Advisory Teacher, I have started working with children of Primary School age. 

The youngest was 6 years old. The children had a variety of difficulties, including: * Cerebral Palsy, * ADHD, * Autistic Spectrum Disorder, * Language difficulties, * Emotional difficulties, * Dyslexia, * Difficulties with literacy and numeracy.

I have been delighted to see the gradual change in these children. I have encouraged teaching assistants and other teaching colleagues to try origami with children and I have had plenty of positive feedback.

I am organizing some training on origami in June when I hope that teaching assistants will learn about the educational and emotional benefits of origami and have the opportunity to try their hand(s) at paper-folding.

I am keen to get as many children as possible involved in this frequently overlooked activity.

I have started a small collection of children's work and hope to extend on this after the training session.

Your webpage has been very useful and informative. It spurred me on to suggest origami for a child who was awaiting counselling and the waiting list is so long and she seems so unhappy. Just after one session, she smiled and was pleased with her first creation. Working with a chosen friend, she listened and followed instructions with great care. I hope that her sessions will give her pleasure and make her feel worthwhile again."  

Julie Medhurst

Advisory Teacher,

UK   2004

I am a clinical nurse specialist in mental health. I work in an adult detention center with approximately 450 inmates. 

After discovering your site, I have been using origami to work with some of my seriously mentally ill inmates. I have also found that it really helps my severely anxious inmates. Thank you so much for your insight into the benefits of origami and for your wonderful site.

Lynda Artusio......RN, MS, CS-P"

Maryland, USA

2002

January 4, 2013 was the first month of unified themes at CreativeMornings with over 5,000 attendees on six continents gathering to hear speakers address the topic of “Happiness”. CreativeMornings/Vancouver was proud to host origami master Joseph Wu.

 .......... He talked about what it’s like to struggle with focus, described his relationship with paper, and how creativity has helped him cope. And he showed off some of his truly beautiful origami art.

A few notable comments by Joseph: 

On ADHD and depression:   ..........“I thought the diagnosis meant things were going to get better.“ 

On origami:  ............      "I am drawn to origami because there isn’t another art form that gets as close to creating something out of nothing."

On perfectionism:   ..............  “Folding paper, aligning paper, does it really bring happiness?    ........ Yeah, I think it does.” ......

..........  He has been invited to attend conferences, teach classes, give lectures, and exhibit works in many parts of the world. In May, he was invited as the special guest at both the German and French origami conventions. He also co-administers the email discussion group on origami, facilitating communication between enthusiasts from over 35 countries. ..........

For details, please see :-

https://creativemornings.com/quotes/219

Hi, I came across your web site about the origami in therapy, and I found it very interesting. I guess I could confirm your studies in this.

Origami is often a great way of therapy for me. A few months ago, I was in a very unstable emotional state. I was diagnosed with major depression and other things. I was suicidal  and so I was admitted into a psychiatric hospital.

I had been dealing with problems such as anorexia/bulimia and self- injuring. And then I found origami. I don't know how I got so interested, but one day I just decided to search it on the internet. I had learned some basic origami about three years ago, and so I knew a little about it, but I didn't realize it was such an extensive art. I started folding again, and I realized that it was a great coping skill. It could relieve stress in a positive way, and then at the end I had actually accomplished something. It was my creation, something that I had total control over. Sometimes when I felt like I had no control at all, I would do origami and feel confident in myself again.

Whenever I feel stressed, or depressed, I know that I can go and find some paper (and paper is the kind of thing that you always have around somewhere) and start folding. Just to have the feel of paper between my fingers helps me now. It helps me concentrate and think logically rather than irrationally.

Sometimes something as little as a bad grade on a paper can make me feel in despair and become suicidal. But if I wait for a couple hours before I do anything, I usually feel much better about the situation and I'm not overreacting. Sometimes a few origami models can be the gap between hurting myself and being safe.

Another thing that origami does is help me to keep my mind off of food and my weight and other things like that. When I feel the need to purge or to restrict, I can do origami and it relaxes and calms my anxiety. I can really concentrate, and think about what I want to do. Things always seem a lot clearer when I'm folding.

I'm still on medication, but that will soon be reduced. Origami is one thing that really brings me hope!!!

Just thought I would share my experiences with you. Not sure if you can get anything from this, but I am excited that you are using origami to help others!!!

C B S 1999 USA

I have suffered from manic depression and auditory hallucinations since 1990 and origami has been such a blessing to me.

In the beginning, doing the origami helped me to endure the besiege of voices that incapacitated me. It was difficult for me to concentrate on anything. Since I knew how to do origami, I was able to concentrate on doing origami to battle the other "voices" by ignoring them.

Doing the origami was a diversion to allow me to focus on something so strongly while I was experiencing an attack (like a radio on full blast was taped to my ears). This allowed me to not give in to the "voices", especially the ones that were scary for me at that time or the ones that were telling me to do what I believe to be wrong actions that were irresponsible and even violent. In doing origami, I was able to cling to the silent voice of my consciousness that guided me to know right from wrong. Origami was my instant weapon. By focusing on doing my origami, I was able to withstand and ignore the "voices".

Last year, I ended up in a psychiatric hospital and was hearing "voices" again. While being an inpatient, I started doing origami again. I made special boxes for the many people at the hospital that were caring for me. They were so impressed that they even asked me to teach a class to the rest of the patients.

Thank you so much for allowing me to share my experiences. I truly hope that it can help others and make a significant contribution to someone else's life.

G. K. R. 1999 NJ  USA

Folding for a few years origami has become a passion of mine. I suffered from "bipolar" and have been working hard to peel this label off. I taught my psychologist origami. I am so happy that she can share the skill with others who are facing challenges.

I learned to make Tomoko Fuse's box from a friend. Sally used origami papers which I could not afford. I started using magazine papers. This pattern uses eight pieces of paper. The challenge of finding papers for making a beautiful box helped me to concentrate and plan. I had to work out a system for getting and sorting duplicate magazines. This was good for problem solving skills. Plus cutting the paper into perfect squares was a relaxing task. I became absorbed and let my negative self-talk shut down.

As I started sharing boxes, people wanted to know if I sold them. I felt there was a copyright problem. This led me to develop a way to manipulate the ink on clay coated paper, so that I could still use the magazine paper. I took about two years to come up with the right materials and the environmentally friendly technique. Many people encouraged me to apply for a patent. There are stores locally that carry my work for sale. I am working with an engineering department to see if the process can be done by machine. Also I really would like to be self-supporting and get out of the government disability support. All of this has brought me into contact with many people. In the past I would have felt unable to communicate with those business people and professional in many fields.

Origami has given me creative problems to focus and work out, helping to take my mind off my "illness". Working in solitude prevents me from getting over stimulated by others and I find it gives me a sense of empowerment. I can work at my own pace and on my own schedule. And the best part of all is having had a way of connecting with others in the community and around the world in a fun and non-intimidating way. It has been a bridge preventing me from feeling isolated, lonely and broken somehow. I feel I have something to contribute and that I am appreciated as a person of worth. Art for me is truly a healing force.

Without Sally and the ONE origami box which she taught me none of this would have happened. She has no idea the valuable gift she share with me and how it has impacted my life. She died of cancer not long after she showed me the box. I feel as I continue to work with the boxes and the paper project that it honors her memory. It is a way to pass on a part of an extraordinary friend whom I loved and missed.

In writing this account for you I am reminded how far I have come in my recovery. Seeing it written down has been a help in itself. Thanks for asking.

M.G. 2000 AR  USA

I want to share with you my recent discovery of origami. I have depression for about 8 years. I never realized how much I was emotionally shut down. One day, I discovered that I had depression and was later treated with medication.

I also had psychotherapy that helped to re-open the emotional side that I repressed for many years. As a student, I put all my concentration using my left-brain and shut down my right brain. As I went through therapy, I was able to regain social contact and develop communication skills. I rediscover how to relate to others and how to deal with conflict situations involving human interactions. I was able to find a good job and be able to function normally.

Recently the ending of my psychotherapy was approaching. I noticed the only thing I need to work on was my emotion that was so important for me. Two weeks ago, I went to an art store. Out of curiosity I decided to try paper folding. You couldn't imagine my surprise when I realized how ORIGAMI had helped me.

Origami has reshaped my thinking. It has allowed me to explore the artistic and emotional sides. I rediscover my personality. It liberates me from fears and negative thoughts. Origami develops my focus, concentration, energy, enthusiasm about life and positive thinking. I have the pleasure of doing things that I usually lack of motivation to do so. e.g.: cooking, washing clothes and dishes. Since 2 weeks ago, I have become a new person, I began to explore different things in life: reading, shopping, walking, writing and listening to music. At work, I make Origami to deal with stress. I make cranes, Spanish boxes, birds and flowers. I give them to my fellow workers.

Origami brings out the best in a person. It can be therapeutic: physically, psychologically or as an art. What Origami did, was to enhance my internal focus and arouse my interest in the simple things of life. For example, taking the time to talk to someone, to enjoy the pleasure of life: smiling or listening to someone, showing appreciation for a co-worker. I try to bring the very best of myself in everything I do. I have the motivation and the FOCUS. I am now a much happier person.

People cannot imagine the joy that Origami has brought me. PASSION is the word. With passion one can easily make things move. Now I can appreciate the pleasure of life - one day at a time. I hope this testimony can help others to discover the joy of life.

L. M. 2002 Montreal, Canada

How very delightful to find that origami is being used to help people who are having difficulties!

As a person with chronic pain, and the accompanying depression and fatigue, I fell into doing my paper-folding quite easily. I do get a sense of accomplishment from it, and use origami to "distract" myself from the pain, mentally. Often my body won't move so well; paper is forgiving, and if all else fails, I wad the paper and call it a three-dimensional snail. (Yes! One of the things I miss most is my sense of humour when the pain is breaking me down!)

I've been working with a counsellor instead of a doctor about the pain, as narcotics and anti-depressants only remove any quality of life I have left. Origami is something I can do, and succeed at, and master. I'm not great at it, but I was able to make little animals with holiday greetings on them as cards this year from various papers I'd collected and coloured. My life is still my own in a lot of little ways, and I can still effect positive change around me with a little crane or a little box that says something inside it!

I remember folding little paper cups for children to carry food home in when I worked in the jungles. I fold cranes, and remember the story. I fold boxes and flowers, it's quiet, peaceful and when I'm finished, I have a unique little bit of art that has distracted my brain from the needles and skewers of pain that lance my soft tissue.

And it works, for a while, and I have a moment of freedom in creativity. Every time a person folds, it is minutely different from any other folded in the past. It records that moment of creating. There is comfort in this for me.

Your website is incredible! I thought I was alone! Thank you for taking the time to create the site and all the resources! You have blessed my life in your way!

V. T. 2003 Washington DC, USA

Thank You so much for giving me hope.

I learned Origami when I was about 8 years old. Now, I'm disabled with CFIDS (Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome) also known as Myalgic Encephalopathy. Origami is one of the hobbies that keeps me going. I am currently making cards using flat origami models that I've learned from books or designed myself. I'm even thinking about making a book so I can remember how I folded some designs.

Thanks to the research done by Dr. Myra Preston ( www.SiberImaging.com). I have reasoned that according to her research & the Shumakov's that origami is helping to rehabilitate me on a physiological level as well as on an emotional & creative level. I would like to see someone doing researches on how origami can help to rehabilitate the CFIDS brains! That would be so exciting for me & helpful to thousands others too.

It's nice to hear that others are using Origami for such a noble cause. It gives me hope that even though I am unable to work, I could help people by using my talents in origami. I am currently corresponding with a friend's child who is severely mentally disturbed, sending him directions & examples of origami models. I'm glad to hear that it might be helping him! Thanks for your inspiration!

A. R. Aug 2003 Lincoln NE, USA