Nisarga

Category: Uncategorized

  • Body movement as it evolves

    Just got this update in the email.

    As most of you know, I follow Feldenkrais information as a part of my quest to help Nisarga learn and grow naturally. I have been following “The next twenty five years” which is an ambitious film project for documenting the evolution of the work of Moshe Feldenkrais. This is a clip they have released of baby Liv, which conveys so clearly the process of physical learning right from the relaxed and random to the easy accomplishment of the intentional.

    Truly, if you have a child, are involved with children, or are lucky enough that the child in you is alive and kicking well, this one is an insight. You can see clearly how the movements build on the learnings from the effort so far and refine them. It also is an insight into how effortless a Feldenkrais movement can be if you stop “doing movements” and get into discovery.

    Learning to move

    [vimeo http://vimeo.com/13598879]
    [vimeo vimeo.com/13598879]

    [vimeo 13598879]

  • Growing up like mom and dad

    Okay, so its Nisarga’s eleventh birthday, and we are all grown up and ready to work. Naturally, the very first work we will try on is work we have seen happening around us. So friends, families and well wishers, here I present, Nisarga the mountaineer:

    Baby wearing a climbing helmet
    Nisarga following in Raka's footsteps
    Baby working on computer
    Nisarga watching photos on my computer

    The first one was taken when Raka was packing for a batch for waterfall rappelling, and Nisarga insisted on playing with him and all the equipment. Raka picked him out of the mess and put him to one side and plonked his helmet on his head and the little guy was deeeelighted. i whipped out the camera, and it became the next toy he wanted 😀

    The other one is about Nisarga’s increasing interest in the computer. He loves to watch the screen, and tap away at the keys. Mostly I open a word document and set the font to some huge size and bright color and let him bang away, or, like this one, I open a folder of photos so that he can bang at keys and make the photos change. Here are some more:

    Baby in mother's lap intent on computer
    Nisarga helping me work

    Love the little guy.

  • 10 months old today

    I haven’t posted in a long time, but I thought today was special. Nisarga is 10 months old today. I did absolutely nothing special, because Nisarga did something I’d like to remember forever as a memory of his 10 month birthday.

    I woke up this morning to tiny feet kicking my chest. The guy had turned 180 degrees and was trying to nurse through my shirt 😀 We did the bed milk thing and when he nodded off, I promptly slept. Oh, but he hadn’t nodded off. He started batting at me and babbling. Desperately hoping for sleep, I clutched him to my chest and rolled over to the other side, depositing him between the husband and me.

    Apparently Prince rug-rat knows which of his subjects are functional at what times of the day, because he promptly ignored me and proceeded to do the batting at face and kicking chest routine with Raka, who mumbled baby stuff at him. This delighted the little guy so much that he sarted to laugh out loud, babble and roll all and crawl over the bed. Vibrant. Loving life. Enjoying the attention, and the day was just beginning!

    Charmed out of our sleep, the husband and I meekly moved to the edges of his playground watching our miracle not just welcome, but kick the day into action. His delightful mood lasted through the day, with loads of talk and laughter. It was only as he settled for his morning nap that we remembered that he was 10 months old today. Of course! The little guy knew 😀

    So, in the absence of anything special for you guys to enjoy, I’m doing something I’ve been promising for a long time. I’m uploading some of my favourite photos from the time I’ve been MIA here. Enjoy!

    baby and mom - casual moment
    Nisarga and I having a good time
    mother and baby in toy train
    Nisarga and I at the Matheran train station, resigned to the train moving when it will.
    infant in baby chair
    Nisarga loves his chair, but after I saw what he did with his toys, I scrapped plans for letting him play with food
    mother and baby lying in the park
    We had a blast playing and talking in the park (and rolling around)

  • Uncertainties of unschooling

    Posting an email response I made on a group I belong to.

    “What if things don’t fall into right places and then one day your child will ask, why did you do this to me?”

    The way I see this, no matter what I do, I will have done some things well and messed others up. If a child (or anyone for that matter) wants to put blame on me, there will always be ammo. There is no way to predict how things will unfold. I can only act to the best of my ability and in line with my beliefs right now.

    That said, I imagine a child who suffers decisions made by others, whose individuality is not nurtured, whose desires are not respected is likely to harbor more resentment from always living to someone else’s tune. So its not really a equal choice problem to school – unschool, since once out of school, there is no reason for the child to suffer from living another’s idea of appropriate. so, in fact, I would be removing many resentment triggers by unschooling.

    How will you face it?

    By facing it. There are no short cuts. I will need to get buy-ins from many people lovingly involved in his life – be it through stubborn, gentle, persuasive, argument… It is a journey with each person you’d like remaining lovingly involved.

    Are you sure what you are doing will work for your kid?

    Nope. I am sure that this is the best choice I can make.Hindsight is twenty twenty. Now takes courage in belief.

    Why don’t you send her to another good school where they don’t conduct exams?
    Why not IB or IG, they are international and fine quality education?

    This is really something that needs addressed before committing to unschooling. Its not going to help anyone to jump in the sea and long for a pool. For me, it is basically four things:

    1. Childhood is fun. No point investing over a decade of this precious time working hard to learn things never needed beyond exams.
    2. I would like my child to learn things that will enable him to meet the world as an empowered individual (as opposed to fortified graduate)
    3. I believe many things that are a natural result of syllabus are harmful to the emotional growth of a person. (Just think of an education system that makes kids competitive, collaboration is denounced as cheating, and then corporates spending huge amounts of money to get their genius top-ranking interns able to work functionally as a part of a team)
    4. It feels unnatural for me to be sending my child away from family for long periods, no matter how safe the other environment is. Safety for a child is not about my assessment or some authoritative certification, but the immediate experience of familarity, comfort and attention. I used to breed horses, and never separated colts from their dams till they were of working age. I even tried to work them together as far as possible till I observed them grazing separately and forming their own relationships. I have worked mares in an emergency with foals trailing along. Why would I do any less for my child? I think there is something seriously wrong with a society that forces children to be independent of their parents and expects adult offspring to feel attachment for their parents. It can be conditioned with heavy doses of shoulds and guilt, but to be experienced, where is its foundation in a vulnerable child learning to survive without parents in situations that challenge them most? This child simply doesn’t need parents for their emotional well being. They grow up to spend all kinds of money and effort over their parents, but their idea of a good time wouldn’t include them. I wouldn’t dream of sending my son anywhere out of sight of me or a family member without my son initiating it, or (in an emergency) being okay with it. Simply put, when I’m an old, drooling bed ridden idiot, I’d like my child to care whether I want to go to that wonderful old age home.

    I guess my thoughts are rather extreme on this subject, but I believe them completely, so here I am.

  • 6 months old

    Some of the best pictures to date.

    Today Nisarga turned six months. And what a wonderful day it was! The day went fairly well with a morning of play and the little man just didn’t want his nap today. After his Sadhanamavshi and Manjumavshi visited him, he went off to sleep. He slept for a solid four hours and woke up in the most amazing mood. Here are some pictures.

    These pictures are going to be how I remember him years from now.

    Playing infant

    infant listening

    These pictures are pretty much how he spends the days. The nights too…. till he absolutely can’t go on.

    This guy doesn’t like to sleep. My son.

  • Turning from front to back

    Finally, Nisarga has turned from his front to his back. He’s done it twice before, but that was more about him pushing with his legs and his bottom sticking in the air. He lost balance and toppled over.

    Today, the guy very deliberately raised his arm and kept swinging his body more and more and TURNED over. I put him back on his tummy, and there he went, rolling over again, and again.

    I had been worried about him not having any interest at all in rolling over, and when he finally did, he did it effortlessly! I guess he just didn’t need to or something.

    Wow. I called Raka over to see, and before he reached, this little wriggler was on his back already, so I put him on his tummy again, and he happily showed off for dad.

    Wow.

  • Feldenkrais for infants

    I had been worried somewhat about nisarga not being particularly interested in rolling over, reaching for toys, or anything physical. I wasn’t really worried, since he was happy, but I used to get these bouts when his massage woman put those worry trips on me. “Oh, he isn’t taking wieght on his legs, ask the doctor” “He isn’t rolling, trying to sit, ask the doctor” and so on.

    It wasn’t that he couldn’t, he doesn’t. He can suck his thumb, so he can bring his hands up, he chooses not to. Same with reaching for toys, or turning to his side. He turned from his front to his back around four months, and then nothing. Not once. That’s fine with me as long as its the two of us, but when I am with people who seem to “KNOW” how babies should be, their excessive advice and voices of doom can get me worried. What if I have missed some problem just because he looks happy and my instinct says he’s fine?

    In my search to see ways I could help him do these things, I ran into the Feldenkrais method. It clicked, because of its sensitive, non-invasive, non-manipulative, non-correcting approach. More than that, it seemed very similar to what I used to do with my horses to encourage their health and recovery from any physical problems. I knew that worked. Why wouldn’t it work for babies too? I went over to YouTube and downloaded as many videos as  I could.

    I contacted one of the practitioners who seemed to have done a lot of work with children, and asked for his assistance.

    His suggestion was so simple. Love and touch the guy a lot, and then touching him in a certain way – a kind f touch, not touch, touch, not touch pattern, all over his body.

    Been doing this for a couple of days, and the results are near miraculous.

    Little guy is much more active. Its like he’s discovering his body really fast. He’s started using his hands much more, trying to catch his feet, and what not. Its incredible.

    Will write more details later, but yes, if you know anyone with a child with physical problems, do tell them to try the Feldenkrais method rather than physical therapy and other potentially uncomfortable or invasive methods. If you are in India, contact me, and we can see what we can do together. I am not a teacher ,but hey, I’m a great student, and I can help you learn with what resources we have available here.

  • Old pictures of tummytime

    Nisarga on his tummy chasing his favourite toy.

    This little guy likes being on his tummy. Here are some pictures I found on my phone of him having a good time with his toy last month.
    Nisarga loves this rattle like toy

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  • Nisarga's Bornahan

    We had a small bornahan ceremony for Nisarga today.

    For those who don’t know, a bornahan happens for small kids and they get showered with berries and other sweet things to eat. It is usually done some time after the 14th of Jan.baby talkLaughing baby

    The evening began quite well. Baby facesMy parents arrived nice and early and were able to spend a good fun hour with Nisarga before he got tired and wanted to sleep. Nisarga with hid great-grandmother

    So I put him to sleep. The rest of the guests were late, and we figured that my little man could have a nap by the time they arrived. This is when everything changed.

    Nisarga was fast asleep when everyone came, and I ended up changing him as he slept. He got really cranky, but nodded off back to sleep once I was done. The ceremony began with the baby fast asleep, and he woke up startled when the shower of sweet stuff happened. He took it bravely for a while, but soon had enough and wanted to go back to sleep but was too wound up. It didn’t help that I was wearing a sari and he found me strange like that.

    I changed to regular clothes, got baby out of his now sweaty, sticky clothes, we had a bath and finally called it a day. All in all, nice pics, and it wasn’t too bad, but not an experience I want to repeat.