Saturday, February 23, 2008

The longest books I have ever red: "Anatomy of Hatha Yoga" - the emerging hope

In this last entry of the series about long and tricky books that engage your time in such a degree, that it changes the course of your life, I wanted to tell about my recently finished translating project.

The book "Anatomy of Hatha Yoga" by H. David Coulter, was one of the positions, that I got interested in during the four years in which I visited several times (staying for longer or shorter periods) the Finnish capital Helsinki. As you can probably imagine, at that time I was already acknowledged to a large degree with the practices of hatha yoga, so I decided to check for myself how is the yoga in this small but interesting city. I was not at all disappointed, I got to admit. And I discovered a tiny shop with yoga books and artifacts. There it was, when I bought some missing books by B.K.S. Iyengar, and there was when my attention was drowned by this one written by dr Coulter. Of course, I havn't got any idea about how difficult it was to read...

And so it was how it started: when I showed this book to my old friend - also a yoga passionate - he, almost at once, proposed me to translate the book into Polish. I thought - why not? After all, it was an opportunity to better understand this extremely difficult, but also very important book. Today, when even the book's cover is done, and we are all waiting for the last few amends to take it to the printing house, I don't regret any second spent on translating it, but it took me an entire year and a month of work (starting January the 1st 2007, until the end of January 2008) , day by day, more than 10 hours a day, on weekends, with no vacation, to turn this:


into this:




Now that everything is ready and heating the engines at the printing house, we just start to feel how important is this project for us, and for the whole yoga in Poland. We hope that it's power will enable a new point of view on the old problems, and turn many new faces to the light of yoga..

Thursday, February 14, 2008

A VALETINE TO YOU

a poem by Sylvanus Felix


Take mine, though it is not thine
Your steady eyes traveling both road
Of then and now stoke the fire of youth
And I may say it is not a familiar one
But it’s too late, I can not now return for another


I want yours too, but take your time
You know it is dark we must not rush
Lets we would not cover distance from here


But being you, and I as I am
At dawn we would come down to a temperate end
Both wet, and smelling good, you will look good too
Your smile would resemble mine


And then
In each, we would find a road
To travel again, and forever

Saturday, February 09, 2008

Inexplicable

She was there inexplicably...

Her quiet, soft, stand-offish demeanor betrayed her true character...at least to everyone except me...

She was full of passion...

I could tell in the way she gently sucked the minute drops of her beverage from her lips...

Even though it wasn't meant to be, it was so soft and sensual...it was just in her nature...

She sat on the couch across from me, she drew her knee up so she could rub her leg...

Her hand slowly traced the exterior of her high black boots...then to her skin...

It was just a glimpse, but her skin was beautiful, I could tell her legs were shapely and smooth...

She touched herself as if her skin was a child, begging to be caressed...

I was begging, screaming, in my mind...touch me...caress me...

I had to feel her...

She didn't know it, but at that moment I was her slave...

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Dark, but art nevertheless














The above pics are from two of my favorite artists: Giger and Beksinski

Giger' pic is on the left.

Giger's work, as I understand it, finds its inspiration in his religious practices...troubling and nightmarish...but it works. He often depicts the female image in an erotic position; and yet simultaneously this female does not seem to be in control of herself.

Quite the contrary...she is a slave to herself and her surroundings...maybe a punishment for her transgressions in life...one should not assume Giger's work relates to our plane of existence...

On the right we see Beksinski. His work finds heavy influences in World War II. He was young during the Nazi occupation and had the very rare opportunity to stare evil...true evil...in the face.

He was murdered not too long ago...I don't know the particulars of course but I cannot help but think it was a fan...maybe his work drove someone to madness...as I said I do not know and I could be very wrong.
There are other works of the abyss...Barlowe's Inferno, the Dore`, The Witches Hammer, and others...but these two are my favorite.

Why would I choose such artists? In my line of work I am often asked to predict and mitigate really bad behavior...I try not to look into the abyss because, as Nietzsche said, it looks back into you. By studying the work of these men I can look into the abyss through their eyes...it acts as a filter and helps me to keep my sanity...