There is a tremendous advantage from having a consistently omnipotent, intuitive "voice", that is clear, and unambiguous. I am in the process of inviting you to partake of a richer, fuller, more passionate and benevolent life while following your intuition, You can save an enormous amount of energy and time. Following logical and rational patterns often means pursuing false trails and going up blind alleys. Before I activated my intuition, I had my share of wasted time and energy pursuing non productive leads

After I learned to tap that rich vein of universal wisdom, I found that I was saving time and energy. To give you an example, take that occupation that is almost certainly the highest form of creativity that anyone can undertake; child rearing. I had observed that infants are very intuitive and have a very good sense of what they need in the way of nurturing and growth experiences to fully develop into balanced, loving, and joyous individuals. Unfortunately, many adult care-givers have identified with past parenting attitudes and methods and have lost the necessary spontaneity and flexibility to dance the dance of an infant's tune. They also have immense, demanding pressures from society, particularly economically that most parents no matter how much they wish to be able to put the needs of their young first are unable to do so.

Infants need structure, barriers and firm guidance, we are told by child care experts. Well meaning as they are, we have to look closely at such experts and their offspring to see how lovingly, flowingly, intuitively spontaneous they are, or whether the structures they advocate are to keep growing infants in a conforming mould, that will not upset the caretaker's comfortable and soothing status quo and will meet the demands of a competitive and acquisitive culture..

Many infants, struggling to maintain their integral self against the fads and demands to conform from their parents, will either identify with or encapsulate the lifestyle and behaviour of' their parent who is blocking their identity, or become identified with, and mimic the behaviour of someone who the parents admires or fears. Grandparents, teachers and role models of all kinds are identified with in this way. Following my intuition transformed the often highly stressful experience of having children into a fun, creative and joyous experience. Totally unlike my previous experience of raising children.

When my daughter Fonda was born in 1981, my wife Sachi and I had become profoundly influenced by a fascinating book entitled The Continuum Concept by Jean Liedloff. In The Continuum Concept, Liedloff describes a tribe of South American Indians, the Yequana. who continuously hold, cuddle, and carry their infants until they ready to push away into independence. Liedloff found that this constant contact, which included sleeping with the child, produced an adult who was content, self-reliant, and responsible for themselves and others. This is in sharp contrast to our culture which often forces children into self-reliance before they are developmentally prepared for it. Many of our modern day social ills can be traced to a breakdown in nurturing and parenting patterns. We live in a culture where constant separation is the norm. We learn to think in convergent patterns so that controlling divergent thinking and impulse is imperative. The stifling of the individuality, creativity, and intuition occurs at a very young age leading to rebellion, addictive behaviour, and the inability to be intimate.

When Sachi and I decided to mimic the Yequana pattern of child rearing as much as possible, we soon realized that we would need some kind of carrier to assist us. We tried every type on the market but found some significant problems with them. For one thing, all the carriers supported the infant in the upright position, with the legs spread in the straddling position. Now that is all right if you are only carrying your infant for a few hours at a time, but if you are carrying it continuously, you need to keep the legs together in the first six months when the pelvis is still somewhat plastic. You have to be really sure that your infant is carried in a manner that contributes to a healthy posture. We also found that it seemed as if our infant was in a cramped position with a sway back, and we wanted her to be able to squirm around and take up different positions that would be supremely comfortable for her. It was also impossible to breast feed with these carriers, and we needed a carrier that it was possible to breast feed while walking or under difficult conditions, travelling, etceteras.

There were two other major criteria that was also essential, as we were going to carry our infant some twelve to fourteen hours a day, incorporate her into our daily life with work and a busy social life, We needed to have a carrier that looked good and with adequate padding that could be added to as our infant got older and heavier. Well, none of the carriers on the market at that time had anything like enough padding, and most were made of very utilitarian polyester or canvas with dull, drab colours.

My dissatisfaction with these products reached a peak when Fonda got a bad case of heat rash from the synthetic materials from a front pack that we were using at the time. In a burst of inspiration, I reached in my closet and pulled out a stretchy woollen scarf; knotted all four corners, slung it over one shoulder, and put Fonda in it. She promptly curled herself around my front with a deep sigh of contentment and promptly went to sleep. The Baby Sling was born!

After a while, because I was so much taller than Sachi, and the knots became very tight with the weight of our infant, it was a drag to keep untying and retying the knots when we switched carrying her. So one day I sat down and with the fabric in my hand started to fold one end not quite realising what I was trying to do. On the third day of folding I realised that if I folded one end and could get the total width of 44 inches down to 2 inches in width, then attach two rings at the other end and loop the tail end through the two rings in a certain way they would jam tight with the infant in the sling, but be able to be easily released when you wanted to adjust the sling. On the ring end it was a simple matter to fold it into a bag that would be able to receive ever increasing thickness of pads, so that as one infant grew so did the comfort of the shoulder pad. This was then secured with Velcro so that when you needed to wash and dry the sling, both the rings and the shoulder pad could be removed.

As we were carrying Fonda everywhere we went, and we wished to look good at the same time, we started to choose fabrics that were very attractive, including some made of batik and silk. I really couldn't see any reason why women should not continue to look fashionable and elegant, if they should choose to do so while carrying a baby, and that men also could look smart, and not look out of place even in the most formal of settings. I felt that our culture had made a mistake in totally separating children from the working place, and from their parents while they were working. As long as reasonable precautions were taken we would all benefit from children receiving the message, that the daily routine of chores and creative work are linked with closeness, warmth and intimate holding instead of separation and loss of the primary caregivers. Not often possible in our present day culture unfortunately.

It was not very long before we were inundated with questions as to where we had got such a beautiful carrier, and we realised that we had tapped a need, and that making and selling this design would enable us to survive economically. I definitely wanted to take an equal share in the nurturing of Fonda. With this invention, it was such a relief to have a contented infant, and be able to continue with part time work and creativity. An added bonus was that, with the constant motion, holding, carrying and intimate nurturing, and breast feeding on demand, Fonda never needed burping after feeding. Neither did she throw up in her first year, and seemed immune from the usual childhood diseases.

Sometimes we used to meet mothers who because of injury or not being used to carrying their younger siblings around when they were young, had difficulty in carrying their infant for long periods. Of course it really helps if you have one of the slings that we make. When your infant gets heavier you can just add extra padding.

You can also really help to take the weight off your shoulder by buying one of those fanny-packs: they strap around your waist. You can get bigger ones in camera shops. I used a large one to carry the diapers, and with a bottle holder on each side for the expressed breast milk for when I was taking Fonda and Tiana, our youngest daughter out on my own. With that round my waist and just sitting on my hips it took much of the weight of the sling a treat. Fear not, new mums and those parents who like to carry their infants when they are older, my latest invention will take over 80% of the weight off a parent's shoulders or back. As soon at is ready I will be releasing information on it.

If you would like to be notified when and where you will be able to get more information or purchase it, send me an email with "notify me about the Springy Sling in the subject line". That is the only email you will get from me as I hate spam, unless you want to comment on the various articles, on this web-site and want a reply. This would be fine.

The articles are about intuitive and benign approaches to birth, and potty usage.

Other articles on easy eating and sublime sleeping will follow shortly.

Rayner Garner