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notes on nancy, part one

7th October 2004 permanent link

Yogablogging: various notes about, and/or random thoughts inspired by, the yoga course I did last week with Nancy Gilgoff. Part One.

Nancy says: “always touch a student like you know what you’re doing (even if you don’t)”. This works. For the first week after my son was born, he would scream blue murder the whole time when Maria and I were changing and dressing him. When the nurses in the clinic or Frau Meyer our visiting midwife did it, he would lie there quite happily gurgling at them. So one day I watched carefully how Frau Meyer did it. She was quick and decisive about what she did, like somebody who has done it thousands of times with hundreds of babies:

old pampers off and lift bottom and wipe! and new pampers under and bottom down and wrap! and lift shoulders and shirt on! …

Whereas I was slow and hesitant like some kind of new father who’s only been doing it for a few days:

old pampers off now where are the wipes ah here so now wipe carefully and where was the new pampers? ah over here oops missed a bit wipe again now put the bottom down to reach for the new pampers so we'll have to lift him up again – carefully, we don’t want to strain his little back – and finally that’s done but jesus how am I ever going to get this teeshirt over his head the neck's far too small ah I have to undo this button here …

And so on ad infinitum. I decided the way forward was to just try imitating Frau Meyer – quick. decisive. don’t show fear. Immediate success – happy, gurgling baby. Act like you know what you’re doing, even if you don’t.

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