Yoga poems by Sandra Sabatini
In March 2006, I wrote a short review of Sandra Sabatini's breath: the essence of yoga on amazon.co.uk. I'm posting that short review here with two of Sabatini's poems with translations into Chinese by Li Nan.
Sandra Sabatini's breath: the essence of yoga (2000) gets as close to the bone and heart of breathing and its infinite hidden treasures as any writing can get. It is the kind of book that heightens our awareness of simply listening to the breath. It also sharpens the presence of the mind with razor precision to the subtleties of inhaling and exhaling, the importance of the breath in relation to the spine, and allowing the body’s natural intelligence to awaken.
Sabatini was a student of Vanda Scaravelli, and the book's images and insights bear testimony to Scaravelli's life and legacy. The text is distilled from transcripts of Sabatini's classes recorded in 1998, deftly woven and arranged to read like an anthology of poetry.
I viewed the entire text as a sacred sutra on the breath. I recited them as if they were ancient mantras. Each of Sabatini's poetic sketches is beautifully crafted, and the insights they release would take other writers pages to summon.
A truly rare gift that deserves the widest possible readership in all languages.
Messages
when we practice, we may tell ourselves
'do this, do that'
and the entire body shrinks from these orders
instead of waiting until the body blossoms
and the breath blossoms
we are already correcting ourselves
and we do not wait for the beautiful thing
to happen naturally
the words we use to ourselves are very important
when we give ourselves negative or punitive messages
it can take a long time to become clear again.
信息
当我们练习时，我们对自己说：
"做这个，做那个"
使得整个的身体从这些指令面前退缩
我们已经在修正自己
而不是等待身体的展开
呼吸的展开
我们没有等待美丽的事物
自然地发生
我们对自己所说的话非常重要
如果我们给自己的信息是消极和惩罚性的
那会需要很长的时间
重新调整好
on your own
it is lovely to be in a group
with a teacher
someone who indicates the way in
so that the listening, the attention
becomes more alive, more vital.
but the discoveries, the real miracles
happen when you are on your own
it’s not a lonely journey
but one full of interaction and gifts.
独自
和老师在一个群体里
是很好的
他指出入门的路
这样倾听、集中注意力
就变得更活跃、更有活力
可是那些发现、那些真正的奇迹
是在你独自一人的时候发生的
这不是一次孤独的旅行
而是充满交互作用和礼物的
Sandra Sabatini's breath: the essence of yoga (2000) gets as close to the bone and heart of breathing and its infinite hidden treasures as any writing can get. It is the kind of book that heightens our awareness of simply listening to the breath. It also sharpens the presence of the mind with razor precision to the subtleties of inhaling and exhaling, the importance of the breath in relation to the spine, and allowing the body’s natural intelligence to awaken.
Sabatini was a student of Vanda Scaravelli, and the book's images and insights bear testimony to Scaravelli's life and legacy. The text is distilled from transcripts of Sabatini's classes recorded in 1998, deftly woven and arranged to read like an anthology of poetry.
I viewed the entire text as a sacred sutra on the breath. I recited them as if they were ancient mantras. Each of Sabatini's poetic sketches is beautifully crafted, and the insights they release would take other writers pages to summon.
A truly rare gift that deserves the widest possible readership in all languages.
Messages
when we practice, we may tell ourselves
'do this, do that'
and the entire body shrinks from these orders
instead of waiting until the body blossoms
and the breath blossoms
we are already correcting ourselves
and we do not wait for the beautiful thing
to happen naturally
the words we use to ourselves are very important
when we give ourselves negative or punitive messages
it can take a long time to become clear again.
信息
当我们练习时，我们对自己说：
"做这个，做那个"
使得整个的身体从这些指令面前退缩
我们已经在修正自己
而不是等待身体的展开
呼吸的展开
我们没有等待美丽的事物
自然地发生
我们对自己所说的话非常重要
如果我们给自己的信息是消极和惩罚性的
那会需要很长的时间
重新调整好
on your own
it is lovely to be in a group
with a teacher
someone who indicates the way in
so that the listening, the attention
becomes more alive, more vital.
but the discoveries, the real miracles
happen when you are on your own
it’s not a lonely journey
but one full of interaction and gifts.
独自
和老师在一个群体里
是很好的
他指出入门的路
这样倾听、集中注意力
就变得更活跃、更有活力
可是那些发现、那些真正的奇迹
是在你独自一人的时候发生的
这不是一次孤独的旅行
而是充满交互作用和礼物的
Thanks for these two quotes, especially the first one, on how we talk to ourselves. I was looking for a Sabatini quote away from a copy of 'Breath' and this was especially suited to what I wanted to say. Indira
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