Abstract
This study investigated the profound relationship between an infant and a caregiver through the use of warabe uta, traditional Japanese nursery songs, during infant care. As an infant caregiver, I had a session of singing warabe uta with whom I was struggling to build a relationship. During the session, I focused intensely on listening to the infant’s emotions as if they were my own. Thirteen episodic descriptions of singing warabe uta with the infant were analyzed using the TAE (Gendlin,2004), which is rooted in experiential phenomenology, to verbalize how the relationship changed over time. While caring for the infant, our relationship evolved into a reciprocal listening relationship characterized by a deep alignment and mutual responsiveness. Establishing such a reciprocal listening relationship allows for transforming unpleasant emotions into positive ones.
