MIDIRS Essence > June 2010 > MIDIRS

Primal Inspiration - lessons from the animal kingdom by Ina May Gaskin

Originally posted on Jun 2010

‘As I had the chance to observe birth after birth, I was fast becoming convinced that we humans have important lessons to learn from the very species that so many of our most outspoken ancestors have encouraged us to scorn—the other primates. Nothing that I have learned since becoming a midwife has undercut this conviction’.

We are delighted to include, in the first issue of Essentially MIDIRS, this key article by well known author, activist and innovator, Ina May Gaskin. If you would like to read the full article, please visit www.midirs.org/em for details.

Primal Inspiration - lessons from the animal kingdom
by Ina May Gaskin

When I accepted an honorary doctorate from Thames Valley University in the fall of 2009, among those individuals I thanked for inspiring me in my midwifery career was a small Capuchin monkey I had met some forty years earlier. The brief but intense contact I had with her (we held hands for a few moments in a spirit of mutual respect and curiosity) awakened in me an awareness of both the similarities and differences between apes and humans, especially as concerns our reproductive lives.

The big difference, of course, is that apes are good at giving birth, while humans, in general, have a hard time at it. As I have studied and developed a philosophy and pedagogy of birth, and practiced midwifery over the last four decades, I have often kept that little monkey in mind, deepening and enlarging upon what I learned from her. I first wrote about her in the opening pages of Spiritual Midwifery (Gaskin 1975), because of the unforgettable energy I felt in her touch, and my realization that mine could be that powerful if I was able to keep my attention as focused as hers. But it turned out to be much more than that. As I had the chance to observe birth after birth, I was fast becoming convinced that we humans have important lessons to learn from the very species that so many of our most outspoken ancestors have encouraged us to scorn—the other primates. Nothing that I have learned since becoming a midwife has undercut this conviction.

To continue reading the full article, please visit www.midirs.org/em for details.

Ina May Gaskin | Photo credit: © Megan Lorenz

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