Kokoro: A Paper Heart for a Big Heart

Never underestimate the power of a smile and a friendly greeting!  Every Tuesday and Thursday morning, upon entering the building where our yoga class takes place, my students and I are wholeheartedly welcomed by one of the most cheerful people in the universe.  His smile tells you that you are going to have a fabulous yoga session and that your day will be the best one ever!  His smile affirms that there are good, generous, kind souls in the world and that getting up before sunrise on dark wet winter days are well worth the effort!  He is the doorman and concierge in Belltown, Seattle and I hesitate to mention his name for fear that he may stumble upon this blog post.  You see, there is a surprise in store for him and I mustn’t spoil it!

We recipients of his daily acts of kindness decided to pull together a monetary gift for him.  I am thrilled to tell you that we won’t have to give a plain stash of money, but instead we will be able to offer Origami Kokoros, or Paper Hearts folded from dollars.  I can’t tell you how exciting it was to have Carol patiently teach all of us how to fold the bills into beautiful hearts.  I didn’t think I had it in me to do any sort of crafts.  When I was young, I always wanted my mother to teach me how to sew because she was an excellent seamstress, but she had zero patience with me.  We always ended up angry at each other, having accomplished nothing.  I still remember my mother talking about me to my aunt, “She’s not good at sewing!  Her head is made for books.”

So, I hope my mother somehow saw me folding the paper hearts today!  I can’t explain how happy it made me to create something beautiful and delicate out of paper bills.

Here is an origami paper heart made from a dollar bill (photo taken from the internet)

Our paper hearts! We are going to make more on Thursday!

I know you are wondering how we made them!  Do you really think I could explain it to you?  Here is a You Tube Video I found on how to make a Paper Kokoro from money: View

You can only imagine how my heart is thumping at the prospect of making all sorts of creatures and shapes from folding dollar bills!  All I have to do is look on You Tube and the world of paper folding is at my fingertips!  Check these out:

Owl!  My husband will go crazy over this one!

What? My namesake: Gallo, the Rooster!

Oh, I love elephants!

And another elephant with his trunk lifted!

A Lotus! Obviously, the sky is the limit when it comes to imaginative figures you can make by folding money!