Gregory Ormson

Writer, musician, yoga-loving motorcyclist.

WRITING, verb for dream

Writers annotate or emphasize. They change scripts, compose new stories, follow crumbs, and depict visions old or new. Many writers follow an unseen energy - trending or not - in order to chronicle, stamp, engrave, or chart a course.

In the midst of creating emotions, scenes, and stories word by word, writers cherish their cloud (family, tribe, and friends) while scribbling away, embracing allies, and working to extract the good. As for the bad word and bad mojo, we savage it with deadly rap and targeted curse.

Writing is an art form of choice, and writers live or die by their choices. They form each building block to stories through many small choices and a few big ones. Think about it, its the same with life.

And when we (as writers) choose to to exalt the hero, walk the page in beauty, paint the scene, choose to be, and/or articulate the notion of Thou in the other, we are writing and living by our chosen design.

In the midst of this design we strive to hold our own, speak our project, jettison the critic, and accept what appears. Then the writer rinses, dries, and repeats until - with the help others - something worthy appears.

Dear Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Company,

 

It’s good to see your leadership taking steps to become inclusive. I applaud it, and think it’s long overdue. My mentor taught me the power of inclusion in 1975 and this has, in part, driven my life decisions including my failures, successes, and priorities. Harley Davidson, you’ve been kind-of-a-closed club to a lot of people in the past, and you have catching up to do, but you are on the right road to foster change and diversity.

It can’t be news to leadership that few traditional Harley Davidson riders listen to Tupak Shakur. Most would probably categorically dismiss him and his music, and not many would recognize a Tupak rap. So when the December issue of The Enthusiast arrived – I was shocked to read several lines from Tupak printed on the full p.5. (right). Looking back at The Enthusiast covers from 1916 up to 2003, the lack of diversity in that magazine – compared to your emerging priorities – is striking.

Starting with HOG editor Matt King’s welcoming letter for issue 48, in 2019, I saw a new emphasis and read that Harley Davidson’s goal was to “grow ridership by as much as 2 million new riders by (in 10-years) 2029.” It signaled a change in your publications and a new outreach to diverse audiences by including: young people, women, and non-white riders not only in photographs but also in stories.

One large subtitle in the article, “Coming to America,” a diversity feature story, quoted Freddie Franklin, a Milwaukee rider: “Harley Davidson has brought all ethnicities, races, genders, and cultures together, and it’s just been an incredible experience.”… read more...

THE DIAMOND SPEAKS IN RUNES, in The Twin Bill December, 2020

A baseball story from a North Menomonie Oriole, 1966 and beyond.
“The Diamond Speaks in Runes,” my story in The Twin Bill a literary baseball publication from New York. Thank you Scott Bolohan for suggestions and to Russell Thorburn who helped me turn a final phrase to its 9th inning close. I’ve learned the best stories are community affairs and it takes good writers and editors to hit the ball. For baseball stories that take you out to the park – any park, like my big Michigan back yard many years ago, check out The Twin Bill at https://thetwinbill.com for poetry, essay, fiction on all things baseball and an interview with Darryl Strawberry. See

If my friends could get out of their summer houses, we met at the diamond to sharpen the angles of our wild fastballs. The guts of our dirty brown ball unraveled like a tongue, wagging at the glove skipping by, hurling past the catcher in angry air like an exclamation point.

The neighborhood boys and I played in Little League as the North Menomonie Orioles. We met on green fields and became friends stitched together by bonds of wood and leather.

We tried—and failed—to throw a curveball, cursing the cowhide and dreaming of the day we’d be big and twist a ball that skipped away from trouble. To be young and play ball allowed me to dream big.

Summer passed quickly in Wisconsin, and every game was a life event I couldn’t miss. I lived to swing a bat, and if a bus filled with ballplayers drove by my house, I raced to Wakanda Park to compete against other kids for foul balls during games.

… read more...

Babba, Gaia, Prana

Recorded with Audacity, Gregory Ormson lyrics and Washburn D-Series DADGAD guitar, played through Boss Acoustic Singer Pro Amp; keyboard by Randy Anagnostis on Yamaha PB125 with Focus Scarlet Gen 3 Audio Interface. One of several Anagnostis/Ormson original song collaborative pieces.

VIDEO link                      https://youtu.be/NfClYOCX3xA… read more...

GATHERING AT THE VALLEY OF FLUID ANGLES

Words and music below for my spoken word piece accompanied by sitar.

My friend Dino Corvino in his, “Here You Are Wausau” podcast will be focusing on Writing in Public – what he also calls citizen journalism – in his next few episodes. He’ll be speaking with a few friends that write, talking about his own writing, and will publish these podcasts soon.
I spoke with him regarding aspects of writing: process, ego, why we write, how we started, and more. It was lots of fun, and in the middle of our convo, drawing from an experience with my friend Randy here in Arizona, I stated that a writer also puts something in the public eye to make a statement.
This strikes me as a credo for all artists, and while I’ve not put anything in public with sitar before, here is a combined sitar and written word work. Wait till it’s dark, light a candle, hear the story and sound wash over you like a gentle river.

My sitar flows in 19 bands of light: baaj, chikari, and tarab. Its journey to my hand is a mystery, but its music-medicine came to my doorstep from an old land, gripped me from the eons, and pulled my soul into its orbit. It’s a path unlike any other, bending more than notes.

A musician said, “Its all angles.”

Sitar bends the note, Saraswati dances with a swan, and because I’ve felt this resonance I participate in its step toward the depths from which rises a watery siren-song of the fathoms.

Sitar bends the note, Saraswati dances with a swan, and because I’ve felt this resonance I participate in its step toward the depths from which rises a watery siren-song of the fathoms.… read more...

Rite of Transition (music and spoken word Anagnostis, Ormson)

RITE OF TRANSITION a spoken word new age music piece by Randy Anagnostis and Gregory Ormson. It reflects upon the underlying tradition of cooperation and peaceful transition of presidential authority in the United States. What’s happened in the last two weeks is an embarrassment to our country and to the world.… read more...

Holding to Hope

My daughter returned from a study trip to Nicaragua several years ago and gave me this small painting from a local artist. Today, sunlight fell on it from behind so it appeared as if lights were on inside.

In the moment, it reminded me of  Lighten our Darkness: Toward an Indigenous Theology of the Cross, by Douglas John Hall (January, 1980), a book I read in systematic theology that expanded my apprehension of the human condition and informed my interpretations for many years.

In these years, when my developmental task is to steer a way between generativity and despair, the reminder from Hall from many years ago is to lighten the darkness in the midst of darkness.

A breakthrough by the light – no matter how insignificant it seems –  moves my hands to caress the wheel of generativity and hold to hope. A simple painting and sunlight; reminders to lighten our darkness within and without.… read more...

At the Heart of Yoga: Response

Yoga’s blueprint, passed originally by word of mouth, then written on banana leaves and now shared by books and digital media, is steeped in an elegant heritage which admonishes the yogi from seeds of an encounter with self.

This deepening with self is born in stillness and realized in the mind, body, and spirit. It’s a yogatecture, and with the application of  yoga tools: meditation, deliberate movement, breath, and ease in stress, the yogi constructs a flexible yet strong building in their body.

The process is simple, and the blueprint is clear; take a seat and start with one conscious breath followed by another. Link this to meditation and deliberate movement for the start of a makeover that each yogi embodies in their own way. Yogis build a sacred and sound structure by following this practice. It’s the physical, non-physical, and metaphysical work of yoga; it is also yoga’s therapeutic.

Builders say the most important structural aspect of a building is its foundation. When building, it’s necessary to create a strong foundation. In the north, if the foundation is not set below the frost line, the freeze and thaw cycles of Earth will crack the base which starts the slow process of destruction.

B.K.S. Iyengar spoke directly on foundational work in, Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom. “In each asana, if the contact between body and the floor – the foundation – is good, the asana will be performed well. Always watch your base: Be attentive to the portion nearest the ground. Correct first from the root.… read more...

Baseball Lovers, a New Read for You

The Twin Bill, a new literary baseball publication, is available online. Check out stories, poems, and artwork featuring writer’s takes on pitching, Cooperstown, the Babe, existentialism at home plate, and interviews along with poetry and fiction on all things baseball.      LINK     https://thetwinbill.com/

… read more...

UP 550

Living near Lake Superior, I wrote a song about Billy, the pony my daughter rode. We walked to the lake and then back to our house on the trail shown below. This week, I recorded that song after it sat in my files over 20 years. Photo below is Ashley riding her pony Midnight (left) then Billy and Briana with me holding Billy. If not, he bolted up county road 550 in Marquette toward Big Bay.

recording notes: audacity program, Washburn HG1, Boss amp. Lyrics, arrangement, guitar and harp Gregory Ormson. “Up 550”  registered @BMI.

 

 … read more...

A Day Will Come (simple Earth anthem)

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A simple Earth anthem. Randy Anagnostis keyboard, Gregory Ormson and Russell Thorburn words.

… read more...

The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride goes solo for 2020

“This is our year to ride solo, together.” — The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride web site.

2020 has been a challenging year, to say the least. OK, let’s be honest. 2020 has sucked! Many of our favorite motorcycle events, rides, campouts, etc., have been canceled due to COVID-19. And yes, I’m well aware there are bigger things to be concerned with in life than moto events. I know, and that’s specifically what I’m here to discuss.

We got the whole crew in on this one. Ducati. Triumph Thruxton. Cafe Racer. DGR
I feel the need, the need for tweed. Photo by Meryl G.

What is the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride?

The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride was founded in Sydney, Australia, by Mark Hawwa. He was inspired by a photo of the character Don Draper on the TV show “Mad Men” astride a classic bike and wearing his finest suit. Mark decided a themed ride would be a great way to connect niche motorcycle enthusiasts and communities while raising funds to support issues such as prostate cancer research, (the second most commonly diagnosed cancer among men), suicide prevention and men’s mental health.

Any other year, organized rides take place in cities around the globe. Riders on retro or vintage bikes, dressed in their finest, register for the event, donate to the cause, do fundraising efforts and get together for the group ride. This year will be different.

I am wearing a very cute pink sparkly helmet that gives me a nice big bobble head. Triumph Thruxton. Cafe Racer. The Distinguished Gentleman's Ride
Only the prettiest girls wear pink! Photo by Meryl G.

“The 2020 ride will be a solo event to comply with all local social distancing restrictions,” the organizers announced. “We are maintaining a consistent global message that there will be no mass-participation event — but just because we’re not riding in groups doesn’t mean we’re not riding!

… read more...

QUALITY MILES 4 QUALITY REASONS

For just one hour through town on Sept. 27, I’ll join the Distinguished Gentleman’s Worldwide Ride, this year titled, “SOLO but TOGETHER” in spirit. On that day, over 300 thousand bikers from 104 countries will ride and call attention to and raise funds for men’s health programs.

*MENTAL HEALTH*        *SUICIDE PREVENTION*

*PROSTATE CANCER*      *TESTICULAR CANCER*

During this time – riding my Enfielder 500 – I and other riders will don our most dapper apparel to ride classic and vintage bikes. Last year, the DGR raised over 24 million in just the US.
This ride is not about competition or speed or miles; it’s about awareness and slowing down to think of our own good fortune – especially those of us lucky enough to spend some quality time riding cool bikes.
Please join an anonymous donor, and my friends Sara and Dina, Brina and Superstition Harley Davidson, Kimberly, George, and Debbie to participate by contributing any amount for men’s health programs.
The funding and blog link to my Official DGR page is below (with more explanation and the health programs); I invite you to see the progress over the next two weeks, by watching my page, as contributions add up toward my modest goal of $500.
Thank you,
… read more...

Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride 9/27/2020

Help me fill out this page by going to the URL listed below my name. #ridingforacause #dgr

I’m riding solo for the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride on Sept. 27, and I’m inviting anyone to donate under my page. You are not donating to me, but to

*MENTAL HEALTH*        *SUICIDE PREVENTION*

*PROSTATE CANCER*      *TESTICULAR CANCER*

I put the goal at $500 and right now it’s $94. Every few days I’ll recycle this just to put it in front of you, if you feel moved, follow this link to the donation page.

I’ll be sharing it, along with our video entry on social media in the next week or two.

DGR Purpose, “The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride unites classic and vintage style motorcycle riders all over the world to raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer research and men’s mental health.”
… read more...

THE WORLDWIDE DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN’S RIDE

Phoenix area video including gentlewomen riders (story here)

We’re asking all our friends to share this video and share widely by liking, and promoting it with this hashtag:  #dprdapperchallenge

Putting the fun in fundraising for a good cause, classic and vintage motorcyclists from around the world have ridden on the last Sunday in September since 2012 to raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer research and men’s mental health.” In the US alone, DGR has raised 24.5 million dollars over the last 8 years. Men’s Health Issues addressed by the DGR are:

*MENTAL HEALTH*        *SUICIDE PREVENTION*

*PROSTATE CANCER*      *TESTICULAR CANCER*

One of DGR’s primary concerns this year, due to COVID-19, is the effect of social isolation on mental health. Studies show those who are socially connected in a positive way share a better outlook for well-being and mental health.

Because of COVID-19, the worldwide 2020 DGR ride  – on September 27 –  will be different this year. Everyone will ride alone but share it virtually as a way of riding alone but together.

To promote this, the DGR challenged riders from around the world to submit a video highlighting the 2020 theme: “Riding Solo Together.” Randy Anagnostis and I put together a team of riders and produced this video as part of the DGR 2020 challenge contest.

Our Phoenix area video is now submitted (thanks to Randy for his filming, editing, organizing, and original music score). Thanks also to the riders, to Kyle (Eyes Across the Sky) for the drone photography, to Chris and his partners at Eleven 10 Moto Garage, and to Paul and partners at Phoenix Triumph.… read more...

DGR Dapper Challenge

https://gfolk.me/GregoryOrmson288222

The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride (DGR) is a worldwide classic and vintage motorcycle riding event with a focus on fundraising for men’s health; the vehicles used to put the fun in fundraising are motorcycles. Since 2012 in the US alone, DGR has raised 24.5 million dollars with 316,000 riders participating. Its been held on the same day around the world in over 104 countries.

One of DGR’s primary concerns this year, due to COVID-19, is the effect of social isolation on mental health. Studies show those who are socially connected in a positive way share a better outlook for well-being and mental health.

DGR, and its partner the MOVEMBER Foundation are committed to raising awareness of these issues:

*MENTAL HEALTH*        *SUICIDE PREVENTION*

*PROSTATE CANCER*      *TESTICULAR CANCER*

The 2020 DGR will happen this year, but is a solo riding event on September 27. Before then, DGR has invited riders from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK, and the US to put together a video highlighting the 2020 theme, “Ride Solo Together.” Link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHi6-npVfiw

Tomorrow (Aug. 23), 10 of us will meet at the Eleven 10 moto garage on Grand Ave. in Phoenix. Randy Anagnostis and I have have formed a beautiful story board and we’re prepared to film video and still shots in creating our “DPR Dapper Challenge” submission. By September 1, we are required to send the video of 10 Phoenix area riders to the DGR review board for prizes.

Once the video is shot, edited, produced, and submitted, we will share it widely on social media under this specific hashtag:      #dgrdapperchallenge

If you see this on any social media in the next week or two please share it widely and often on yours.… read more...

Tea and Motorcycles: journey between the wheels

 

When I was 12, my parents bought me a stingray style bicycle. I bought a can of cheap green spray paint; a leopard patterned banana seat, high handlebars, and went to work modifying the bicycle. The finishing touches were handlebar streamers, and playing cards attached with clothe-pins to the frame so they blade slapped the spokes. It sounded a little bit – if I used my imagination – like a motor.

When I was 22, after graduation at UW La Crosse, I toured through India with a music group. Before going to India, my mentor had given me the name of a good friend of his from the time he lived in Long Island, NY; he asked me to stop by and say hello to her if I had a chance and he gave me her address in New Delhi.

One night on that trip, I borrowed a Royal Enfield Motorcycle and drove to where she lived. I didn’t have a motorcycle license and hadn’t ridden a motorcycle before. Of course, its crazy to ride a motorcycle in India, but at 22 I felt invincible, and one night I took the chance. I found where she lived, knocked on the door and told her why I was there. She invited me in for tea and we talked quite a while.

The Royal Enfield motorcycle factory did not start with motorcycles. They first manufactured bicycles, and at one time made bullets for the British Army. But near the turn of the Century, in about 1901, the company began making motorcycles. Its motto is “Built like a gun, goes like a Bullet.”… read more...

תרגום של כתבה : “הפסיכולוגיה של יוגה yin להיום Armor On, Armor Off:

מאת Gregory A. Ormson.  A writer and yogi from Israel asked to translate my yin yoga article for publication there. The copy below is it for my Hebrew reading friends. Yoga writing now published in five languages.

כתבה  שהוא  פרסם  בפייסבוק ב- 27 ביולי 2020

למתבונן מבחוץ  yin yoga  נראית תירגול קל ופשוט אך זה ממש הכל חוץ מתירגול קל. מבחוץ נראה שהמתרגלים  ישנים, או נחים בכדי  להכין  את הנשימה שלהם  לתרגול  ממריץ שעלול לבוא אחר כך. במצב “מנוחה” זה משהו  אכן קורה. אבל זה לא שינה; גם זה לא תרגיל חימום  לסדרה נמרצת הבאה.

תירגול של yin yoga מוביל לפתיחה פנימית מלאה שלוקח זמן להתנסות ולהבין  אותה באופן מלא.

אחרי ש Gregory Ormson  התחיל לתרגל yin yoga  הוא  הבין שהאתגר  ב yinהוא נפשי ופסיכולוגי. הוא  למד שהעקרונות היסודיים של yin  שהם ויתור וכניעה –  הם המפתח להשפעה הפסיכולוגית, הפיזית  והיעילות של התרגול  על ידי: כניעה, שחרור, וויתור. מבחינה  פסיכולוגית, הכניעה ביוגה היא המפתח לכל דבר.

מזמין אתכם להתבונן פנימה, ותמתינו לכך שהקול הפנימי  שלכם  יומר  לכם  מה צריכים לרפא. לשחרר את ההתכווצויות בצוואר, בלסת, בכתפיים, את האי הנוחות בגב, ובקדמת הגוף. קחו נשימה ארוכה  ושחררו אותה לאט. תרגישו איך בגוף משוחרר ומקורקע. למתרגל yin yoga, ככה זה מרגיש  על בסיס קבוע.

השיעור  yin yoga  מביא אותנו לתחום   של healing  בו אנחנו משחררים  משהו שאנו מגנים עליו או במשהו שאנו מתגוננים ממנו . זה מוחזק בגופנו, בפאסיה שלנו ובמוחנו. ב yin  אנו  מוזמנים לשחרר  מתח, להפנות  את המודעות   שלנו פנימה  ולהיפתח בכניעה ובאמונה  ללב  yin yoga המרפאת הזו. “… read more...

YOGA: Melody in Motion and Stillness

Embodying asana, I rejoice in the glimpse of periphery turned central, and inhabit an identity formed of particularity and universality. I pause to center myself in each moment and from this still point, know we are all a beautiful grey, a crush of salt and pepper.

Surrendering to moments that bend and shape me, no matter how I fail, I open as a flower to spring and seek to correct the direction of my inward compass. When I insert my ego and rough-hew the curriculum’s established gravity, I dim its shining divinity waiting to guide me.

Steadily I release into yoga’s entry point, listen to its song, and follow an inner melody to the beautiful transformation becoming me. Near the end, I sink into a container of heat and transformation, a liminal space where a guru points the way.

Yoga class ends. I hear my teacher, dedicated and honorable, give her blessing. Her voice, like the chant of angels, sounds a comfort upon the gathered yogis, one I accept.

“May this practice give strength to your body, kindness and compassion to your heart, calm and clarity to your mind.  Namaste.”

I let this hold me as close as breath holds my life underwater. I walk away telling myself to take it all in deeply, to embrace yoga’s alchemy that connects me to all, and to not dig up in doubt what I’ve planted in faith.

Photo by Randy Anagnostis at the Salt River, Mesa, AZ., 7/22/2020… read more...

Alumnus Leads ‘Yoga and Leather’ Class for Bikers

Ormson with his Harley (photo by Randy Anagnostis)
After falling from a roof and injuring his back, NMU alumnus Greg Ormson (’99 MA) found that yoga delivered both pain relief and a new vocation. He became a certified instructor in the practice, just as he had with another avid interest: motorcycling. Ormson has found a unique way to blend both passions. He leads “Yoga and Leather: Yoga for Bikers,” the first—and, to his knowledge, only—specialized class of its kind in the nation to be held in a Harley-Davidson dealership.

It may not seem a logical pairing, but to H.O.G. (Harley Owners Group) member Ormson, the two effectively complement each other and share some similarities. He said beginners in either activity benefit from the guidance of a qualified trainer.

“With motorcycle instruction, the emphasis is on developing riding skills and environmental awareness,” said Ormson, also known as Motorcycling Yogi G. “But spending several hours in the saddle and handling unexpected situations that may arise requires mental focus, strength, flexibility and stamina. That’s where yoga comes in. It is increasingly viewed as the ideal exercise to improve overall mind-body performance.

“When riders are faced with executing a challenging move like a tight U-turn on a heavy bike, breathing shallows and the body tenses, affecting performance. Yoga training can lower stress levels through controlled breathing and meditation. The stretching and strengthening poses reduce the risk of injury by keeping the joints and muscles bikers rely on—hips, back, neck, shoulders, elbows and wrists—flexible and strong.”

… read more...

Inversion

Yoga’s inward move is the great inversion of energy and attention. This inversion of heart is fully accessible to every yogi from the first timer to the decades-long yoga practitioner.

It appears as if nothing is going on and therefore not as impressive to the outside world as inversions like a hand stand; but the move from without to within is a highway to the heart, the compass for every decision, and the sacred center of every temple.

We’ve been on Earth for a while, both corporately and individually, and we know falling and rising. Aware of failure and success in life, in teaching, and in yoga, we listen when a guide addresses us with the courage to be.

Following my guide, I give myself to the moment and find my lifting gaze opens a new potential both fierce and divine. I lift my spine from behind my head and imagine never moving.

The crown of my head rises up and into an unseen sacred net of prana. I stand rooted as if I am a monument. I follow for several near-transcendent seconds where I become a living, breathing stone. Then I exhale to feel my shoulders slump setting myself at ease.

I go back with heightened awareness to calm breath. I stop traveling and arrive where my teacher’s soft words land in my ear. Her question is not judgment. It teaches awareness, “Where is your breath?” She says, “Let it go, it’s in the past.” In that yoga moment, I’m a thirsty man who’s been given water. It was all I asked of the day.

… read more...

TRANSFORMNG THE EMOTIONAL BODY

Louie Netz, former director for Harley Davidson’s Styling and Graphics Department once said, “Form and function both report to emotion.”

It’s likely when observing a yoga pose, or the stylish symmetry of a Harley Davidson cutting a sharp curve, to believe motorcycles are about speeding through turns and yoga about perfectly aligned asanas, and it’s true that a yogi on the mat or Harley-Davidson on the highway both perform their function at a high degree and garner attention, but the brilliance of yoga – and a great motorcycle – is its move from form to function and ultimately to emotion.

Like many newcomers, when I started yoga, I thought it was about what I saw; and I noticed people bending into forms that were – at first – perplexing. I also thought it was about what I heard yoga could do for my injured back. I believed if yoga could heal my injuries I would feel better and that would be all I could expect.

My yoga evolution was gradual; I practiced to feel better, then to learn good alignment, and finally to accomplish more asanas. As a dedicated student, I paid attention to words from my teachers as they led me to correct placement of my feet and hands. I followed their instructions which led me through breathing techniques and transitions.

But right away, I sensed there was something happening well beyond what was taking place in my physical experience on the mat.

I didn’t know it, but I was on my way to connect, or yoke deeply to my full self, and at the same time, touch something much broader and deeper than just me.… read more...

ACOLYTE OF TRANSFORMATION: Fire and Medicine Deeply Interfused

“And I have felt a presence that disturbs me with the joy
Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime
Of something far more deeply interfused,
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,
And the round ocean and the living air,
And the blue sky, and in the mind of man:
A motion and a spirit, that impels
All thinking things, all objects of all thought,
And rolls through all things.”

   This sense of something “far more deeply interfused,” of which Wordsworth wrote, surrounds us; yet existing within the deep heart’s core there’s a divinity which shapes our minds and sets us to ponder with wonder a sinking sun or rising tide.
   When we are focused on ourselves, the mind can pick us apart. This self-criticism distracts us from experiencing the sublime sense Wordsworth knew and wrote of when describing sun, ocean, air, sky, mind, motion, spirit, and the Spirit which impels objects and subjects of thought.
   Yoga’s manifold program is designed to heal the human in all thought and motion. When the yogi steps onto their mat in true presence the fire of yoga is applied to their minds and bodies as medicine.
   And what is the goal of fire? Fire wants to burn. In the case of yoga, fire burns up the rubbish that is unnecessary and unhelpful.
   What is the goal of medicine? Medicine wants to cure. In the case of yoga, entering into true presence provides more than we can imagine.
   Aiming for a presence to know, we do our work and kindle the inner fire. We pay attention to our constant, deliberate movement, and pray for an endowment of constancy:
   • Let me be truly present in my asana
   • Let me be truly present in my decisions
   • Let me be truly present in my mediations
   • Let me be truly present in my service
   • Let me be truly present in my emotions
   “Crying out loud and weeping are great resources,” Rumi penned in a classic truth from the 13th Century.
… read more...

How bikers and yogis can get their zen (and their maintenance) in yoga and on the bike.

Thank you to Om Yoga Magazine for covering Yoga & Leather (May 2020 issue) on how bikers and yogis can get their zen (and their maintenance) in yoga and on the bike. Teaching yoga in a Harley Davidson Motorcycle dealership in the American South is not common but OM published this story of an uncommon yoga outreach. Read all about it here, or see the video link at the end of this post.

See the May issue by going to pocketmags.com., where a free digital issue can be yours, or by ordering a subscription for the hard copy magazine. Yogainspirationals number 97 by Gregory Ormson,… read more...

NATIONAL POETRY MONTH: a poetry/song series for the last 8 days of April. Number 8, “Hour of the Wolf – Pilot Me.”

All those yellow lines we cross over in our sleep. This is how we are driving through the pandemic head on with the night and winter’s disguise. Here is Greg singing a Jesus song. Picture the musician with his guitar riding a bus across the Upper Peninsula and using a handheld mike to record the Jesus song. He departs from Jesus to read a poem entitled “Hour of the Wolf,” a homage to Ingmar Bergman and his vampire film he made with his former love Liv Ullman, who happened to be pregnant with his child. But always return to the “pilot” and those late-night scenes moving through winter on a bus. R. Thorburn

I read Thorburn’s “Hour of the Wolf,” from one of his poetry books, The Drunken Piano, shortly after its publication in 2009. I knew what it was to see my reflection in a bus window at 3:00 am, and I could hear the bus driver singing a blues song, late at night, driving his life away. I felt what it was to be mid-twenties and anxious; I knew the pinch of wire-rim glasses.

I wanted the wolfing hour to have a melody, maybe a divinity to accompany that grainy ride, and I came up with the song below – borrowing from Edward Hopper’s Hymn, “Jesus Savior Pilot Me” as a floating refrain from the incessant and noisy wheels of the bus. I saw Thorburn and the bus passengers related by anxiety to disciples in a boat on a stormy sea, and as I see many people these days, anxious about something they can’t see.… read more...

NATIONAL POETRY MONTH: a poetry/song series for the last 8 days of April. Number 7, “Lightning and Scars”

It all began on a rainy afternoon at a window inside Peter Gummerson’s house. Looking out the window, my fingers wrapped around chords on his Nord keyboard. I was recording a song entitled “8 Track.“ The original lyrics were taken from two poems and two different parts to my life—one was a runaway nineteen year old and the other a twenty-three year old in love with an older woman. Derrell Syria visited gummersound and laid down guitar throughout the three separate suites in the song. R. Thorburn

My words explore a soul’s stretch toward a white star emerging from lightning; a blending of  Michigan & Wisconsin land and water into a memoir piece I have been writing – on and off – for 15 years. Thorburn gave me advice for selecting edits from two long stories, here melted down to this four minute word/music offering. G. Ormson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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NATIONAL POETRY MONTH: a poetry/song series for the last 8 days of April. Number 6, “I Was Afraid to Lose Her Face.”

This song is art and love, a clarinet melody from a friend; Greg’s vocals ride above these moonstruck notes tinged with nostalgia, haunted by regrets. His Taylor guitar booms as the words I wrote for an old flame keep pace with the big chords and star-saturated runs of clarinet. We kissed in that borrowed car, our nights sliding under the tires like a Chagall, the violin tuned to a blue we painted inside out.

Then the goat floating from under our bed, its horns pricking a shined-up moon, in that lower harbor room. Driving out of town in a borrowed car, there were always ghosts crossing the road, like a Marc Chagall drawing of a peasant couple walking hand in hand, or a farmhouse with glowing windows. She said keep to the left as if the white line were a child. R. Thorburn

Gregory Ormson, music, guitar, and vocal; Russell Thorburn, words; Mike Bjella, clarinet. Mixed @ Gummersound, Marquette, Michigan… read more...

NATIONAL POETRY MONTH: a poetry/song series for the last 8 days of April. Number 5, “When I Get Back to Marquette”

For 12 years I lived close to Lake Superior in Marquette, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Two of my children were born there and all three spent their early years there. But my will to survive its brutal winters faded as the economic pinch turned mean and took a bite from my hide. I had to move.

While living in the U.P., I learned of the Finnish people in the late Nineteenth Century, sailed across the Atlantic to establish a new life. Many of them moved to the U.P., and had been there long before I was in 1998; so were the French Voyagers, and the Anishinaabe before them. They brought little, but their most important resource was sisu, or guts. They also brought their 1000 year old family-bonding mantra: sauna on kuma! Sauna is hot!

I grew to love my sauna and associate the best of my life’s hot times in the coldest of places. I built a sauna from  scraps and tin roof panels I scavenged from a junkyard. Somehow, I found $173, to buy windows, a door, a stove and stove pipe. Preparing my sauna the first time, the roof caught fire. A friend was there and we managed to put it out with buckets of water. In time, I made it work.

It was a gathering place for poets and writers. We’d steam together, and afterwards, I’d concoct white Russians in big blenders and pour them into glasses held by writers, musicians, filmmakers, and friends. I’d watch them melt into their chairs as poems oozed from boiled bodies.… read more...

NATIONAL POETRY MONTH: a poetry/song series for the last 8 days of April. Number 4, “Silver Beatle.”

“Silver Beatle” came from a series of poems written with John Lennon in mind—and working with Gregory Ormson, I saw the potential for a song. We all want John Lennon to visit us in our back yard these days. To have him sing for us and tell us in his usual sardonic method we just might make it through this pandemic.  R. Thorburn

In 1970, after my senior year of high school, I hitchhiked out to Berkeley and was at Winterland in October when it was announced during Quicksilver Messenger Service’s set that Janis Joplin had died in Hollywood. That night was October 4. I had spent my last three dollars for that concert which opened with Jefferson Airplane and Grateful Dead followed. When I returned to the Detroit area I formed a garage band, worked odd jobs and barely escaped the draft.

We are all creating new markers to anchor these days—in the hopefulness of rebirth and artful ways to live. R. Thorburn, Marquette, Michigan

“There were no flies on Frank that morning—after all why not? He was a responsible citizen with a wife and child, wasn’t he? It was a typical Frank morning and with an agility that defies description he leapt into the barthroom onto the scales.  To his great harold he discovered he was twelve inches more tall than heavy. He couldn’t believe it and his blood raised to his head causing mighty red colourings.” John Lennon, from In His Own Write

Gregory Ormson, music, guitar, vocal; and Russell Thorburn, words; recorded & mixed at Gummersound, Marquette, Michigan… read more...

“Earth Teach” from a Ute Prayer

Video of wild Mustang grazing in the Arizona desert, filmed by Randy Anagnostis and accompanied by his original music and keyboard playing. We collaborated on a project which asked for a reading of Earth Teach fitted to a natural scene.… read more...

NATIONAL POETRY MONTH: a poetry/song series for the last 8 days of April. Number 3, “Radio On” Anchors of Constancy

“I embrace the certain hurt of this path. At a cabin in the Midwest, I do not feel assaulted by noise; I seek justice for myself and creation. I enter the stillness, listen, and index the anchors of constancy.” Gregory Ormson


Russell Thorburn, piano; Gregory Ormson, words and voice. “Radio On,” composed by Thorburn, and a memoir by Ormson; mixed @ Gummersound, Marquette, Michigan.

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NATIONAL POETRY MONTH: a poetry/song series the last 8 days of April. Number 2, “Mescalero Territory.”


Russell Thorburn and Gregory Ormson have worked together for over a decade writing original poems, prose, and music. Much of it happens in spite of distance and isolation. The seven songs/poems, posted for NATIONAL POETRY MONTH during April, are Ormson/Thorburn’s word/song series for the pandemic.

Isolated in an Upper Midwest studio, musicians record their work for “Mescalero Territory.” A sitar introduces the fever of an injured and isolated outlaw, holed up in a barn where Billy the Kid fights off rats and nightmares. The poet reads this story of “Mescalero Territory” to original sitar accompaniment.

 

 

Poem/song notes for number 2, “Mescalero Territory. ” Writer and reader, Russell Thorburn. Sitar, Gregory Ormson, Mixed Peter Gummerson @ Gummersound, Marquette, Michigan.… read more...

NATIONAL POETRY MONTH: a poetry/song series the last 8 days of April. Poem/song number, 1 “Whale Song.”

Russell Thorburn and Gregory Ormson have worked together for over a decade writing original poems, prose, and music. Much of it happens in spite of distance and isolation. The eight songs/poems posted over the next 8 days of April will close out NATIONAL POETRY MONTH for 2020.

Russell Thorburn plays “Chelsea Hotel,” a composition he wrote to celebrate Dylan Thomas. The hotel is similar to a whale swimming through the Atlantic humpbacked Ocean of New York City, and lives are certainly made of vibrations, artists and poets who swam through the hallways and never reached shore. In the song Dylan opens the door to Death wearing a Fifth Avenue gown and black gloves; he is there at his typewriter to finish the last pages of Under Milk Wood.

Substitute Thomas for Ormson’s memoir and corners of eternity, and don’t answer the door. “Chelsea Hotel” was performed at the Beaumier Folk Series Concert in 2014, Northern Michigan University. I was on piano and mumbling the lyrics. Here is the basic piano track in another gummersound recording. R. Thorburn

Free diving in Hawaii opened me to a whale song’s sonic jangling my synapses and brain cells. It came to me from deep down and far out. Sounds swam through the water and past my cochlea until my inner ear caught humpback aria as it rearranged maps in my head.

Under the waves, I heard the ecstatic; it was accompanied by sweeter-still unheard melodies of which John Keats wrote. Years later, I’m still trying to make sense of it all, like the yellow-robed priests: Mayan, Incan, or Egyptian, who crumbled into the dust at such otherworldly ditties. … read more...

Yoga and Leather: bikers get their zen on

Bikers: Covid-19 has paused everything.

It’s a gift given to us, a rare break in normally busy lives to think about things and even make plans to do something new. “Yoga and Leather: Yoga for Bikers,” is for you. This is not gymnastic yoga where your goal will be to nail a handstand or accomplish the splits. Yoga for bikers is for motorcycle riders showing up to a space apart for breathing with simple movement; and it’s a settling down in one place for a few minutes.

Doing a yoga class doesn’t mean you give up your identity, or that yoga makes you stop doing what you do. But yoga will lead you to experience yourself in a different way from what you ever have before. That’s it. Anything and everything else is your choice.

The story of yoga for bikers – in the OM Yoga Magazine May issue is for you. It’s now free to read because OM Yoga Magazine will not be printed for the month of May.

Take a moment to read how yoga benefits bikers. It’s all right here, the story of Yoga and Leather at Superstition Harley Davidson.

Here is your link for a FREE issue of OM Yoga Magazine:  www.primeimpactmags.com

And if you want to see what Yoga and Leather looks like, follow this link to a YouTube video of our class from February, 2020.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opNRRVg8O_M&t=185s… read more...

OM Yoga Magazine writes how Bikers and Yogis get their ZEN ON. Where? At Superstition Harley Davidson

Thank you @omyogamagazine for sharing (May 2020 issue) how bikers and yogis can get their zen (and their maintenance) in yoga and on the bike. Teaching yoga in a Harley Davidson Motorcycle dealership in the American South is not common. What is common is your willingness (Om Yoga Magazine) to publish a good story when you see it.

Your sharing of this three year outreach to bikers was wonderfully done, and I’m grateful to Martin ed., and the entire staff of Om Yoga Magazine. See the May issue by going to pocketmags.com., – or by ordering a subscription for the hard copy magazine – where a free digital issue can be yours. #yogainspirationals number 97 by Gregory Ormson, #motorcyclingyogiG.   Writing on yoga, motorcycling, music, and landscapes at https://gregoryormson.com

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EXCERPT: setting the table to release old-fashioned hierarchies and mobility obsessions

An entry point to yoga often begins with quiet meditation or breathing exercises. We set our intentions and enter into our dedications with mindfulness. Through active imagination, we create positive mental space enabling us to move in every direction.

We may practice with others, but each yogi sets the table for their yoga banquet according to their capabilities. Setting the table well serves to elevate our mind/body readiness and prepares us to carry it through the session.

At the end of a one-hour session, I was moved when the teacher said, “Release into savasana.” This was a new phrase and a fresh way to enter the savasana moment.

In Living Your Yoga, Judith Hanson Lasater wrote that savasana taught her to dis-identify from mental storms and go within. “I learned to recognize more quickly when I had abandoned the present moment once again, and I learned not to judge myself when I had done it for the millionth time, and not to dance away so quickly with my thoughts.”

In a larger sense, releasing into savasana means to loosen my grip and to take a break from managing the persona, known as the outer image we construct, identify with, and project to the world. It’s important to get a grip on our lives, but it doesn’t have to be a stranglehold.

Perhaps this is why participation in yoga is growing. Many of us long for a place to release our grip – and we desperately need moments when the noise dissolves. We thirst for moments of freedom from the grasp of our ego, and are satiated by savasana as it leads us to soften investments in this life shaped by old fashioned hierarchical structures and obsessions with upward mobility.… read more...

EXCERPT – tapas

We’re all flat on our backs in a liminal place, fired by tapas and its heat of transformation. I’m listening as a guru points the way, and slowly my doubt is burned by fire and sent to the trash bin of insecurity.Heat and gravity are my honest teachers, and they’re worthy companions delivering an exacting curriculum of change. When I insert my ego into the moment and rough-hew its curriculum, I mute the shining fire of tapas branding me in this container.

The tapas of yoga is not of my making. It doesn’t heed my objections, or accept my charges to change or comfort me in the twinkling of an eye. In fire, I am only left to breathe and positioned to trust; by my simple presence and trust I participate in the yoga economy of rebirth out of the flame.

This economy doesn’t just subtract or burn away, it also adds, multiplies, and divides certainty into millions of shades. Yoga’s economy is Gandhian in its disciplined core, negative in its spiritual logic, countercultural in its teleology, and hotly shamanistic in its strategy.

In this season of our discontent, our wiser revelry may be composed of welcoming close the sublime inside a spoonful of shaman, holding forth with a pinch of subtraction for division and discontent, riding with attention on the coattails of science, and supping together with a cup of cheer for our endings not yet defined.

#Kilauea, #breathnotes, #satsong, #gregoryormson, #amwrititing, #yogainspirationals

Writing on yoga, music, and motorcycling @ https://gregoryormson.com Tweet@ GAOrmson… read more...

EXCERPT

The land was drunk on money and the illusion of freedom fired the Westlanders’ imaginations. Yoga’s eight limbs twisted in the creative chaos of post-modernism and strange ideas whispered in the wind. Gurus saw it all and wondered where the surf boards came from.

They didn’t understand what had happened to their movement and some of them lamented the loss of yoga’s mystical heart. They questioned the roots of atman and were agitated by vibrations from superhighways.

In time, yoga prospered, and people realized the teachers had brought good medicine. It seemed to help prisoners, alcoholics, those suffering pain, and even angry youth –  but many feared it  – especially the counsel to sit alone in silence.

Power brokers were terrorized by the nightmare of employees chanting Namaste and yoga threatened stakeholders in the pharmaceutical industry.

Westlanders didn’t want gurus, they didn’t read books, they didn’t meditate, but they did compete. Soon the gurus were silent, confused by what happened and haunted by memories of peace and stillness. Some gurus returned to the source, giving up their mission.

One day, all the gurus were called to an ashram. They lamented the hubris of culture and false prophesies of comfort through technology, money, and convenience.

One reminded them of the illusions in misdirected ambition and they became silent. At the ashram, a yogi read a passage from Shelly.

“Life, like a dome of many-colored glass

Stains the white radiance of eternity.”

The gurus wept, and a world opened like the many petals of the lotus in a soft rain. A light from the crown of their heads went out to the dark and returned as eternal light in a deep, dark night.… read more...

EXCERPT

In shadow and in light, we yoga, and our teachers observe. Together we’re co-creators in a new architecture – a yogatecture – and celebrate moments when a yogi gives shape to an old blueprint written on a banana leaf.

Everything is prepared as I enter yoga class where the nexus of a new identity is continually reforming me. I step into the room and hear the soothing melodies of dahina, tabla, and harmonium. Their compelling sounds pour over me like waves from the ocean. A pause . . . then class begins.

I’m present and following directions, but then mentally, I become unhinged for a moment. I try to concentrate on my pose, but my mind tracks the music, so I follow the sound like a rising cobra hypnotized by its flier. My reach aims for the sky, but my imagination takes me to a Hawaiian beach where I’m preparing for a dive.

My training reminds me of a breathing routine: a deep breath in, calm hold, and a slow release. Breath is my vinyasa, and for a moment, my yoga-pose rides side-saddle. My heartbeat slows, awareness creeps closer, and I focus on every sound.

I’m still in class, but I’m also down in the deep blue of the Pacific. I pine to hear the whale, and imagine the sound from its massive heart. I leave my imagining, rise to the surface, and open my eyes where I’m back in the yoga room and yoked once more into my corner of eternity.

Yoga moves me to imagine a long line of yogis fed by the garden and connected to source for nourishment.… read more...

” Murder most foul,” . . . and life’s unpredictability.

IN this rare photo, 16 year old Bob Dylan and a friend, Dale B, pose with Dale’s Harley Davidson in 1956-7 on what is now called “Bob Dylan Drive,” in Hibbing, MN. I’d bet they wouldn’t have guessed that 63 years later Bob would release yet another song that once more would be a mindful mirage for the world. Released yesterday, 17 minutes of “Murder most foul.” Incredible Link below

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/hear-bob-dylan-absolutely-mind-051952162.html

 

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BIKERS: If you are going stir-crazy, here’s a recipe for shifting gears and moods.

Restaurants and bars – common biker stops – are closed. Large scale events, including bike events, are cancelled.

If you want to ride, Yoga & Leather Stretch Ride is on for March 29. But . . . only show up at the Superstition Harley Davidson west side parking lot at 10:30 am if you can observe six (6) feet of distance between you and all others.

On the bike, keeping safe distance it’s easy, but I’m saying, when we meet in the west side parking lot, greet one another with voice but no physical contact. It’s always a good idea, but especially now, do not touch another person’s bike.

The recipe for shifting from discontent to contentment is simple:

  1. Ride to Prospector Park in A.J., a 12 minute ride from Superstition HD.
  2. Walk to a corner of the park and pause in quiet space.
  3. Breathe deliberately for 10 minutes.
  4. Walk back to bikes and stretch.
  5. Go home.

 

Link to info on the ride:  https://www.facebook.com/SuperstitionHD/videos/1034031243636948/… read more...

“Clearing Space” or social distancing. YogaInspirationals from #motorcyclingyogiG

Thank you @omyogamagazine April issue, for publishing “Clearing Space,” #yogainspirationals number 96. It’s appropriate to our situation as the virus is doing its best to make us do the work of the niyamas. In “Clearing Space,” I cite the writing of San Francisco based yoga teacher, musician, and leader @janetstoneyoga, who spoke of this work as being an inside job in her newsletter from December, 2019, “Unwrapping Your Gifts, Healing Family Wounds.” “Buckle up, it’s not for the faint of heart,” she wrote. In the US, we have lots of buckling up to do. Friends . . . Clear Space, and do it now before its too late.

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Social Distancing and Sacred Space

And here’s an example of how we use this space for renewal. Dave Swenson, brother of my long-time friend Lee Swenson, couldn’t gig tonight for St. Patrick’s Day, so he did a 40 something minute concert from the porch of his home in Iowa and streamed it to people in the US and afar. This is something to like about people: developing ways to renew self and others in the social distance space we’ve suddenly fallen into. Way to go Dave Swenson.

Here’s a link to Irish and Scottish music from fiddler Dave in Iowa. .https://www.facebook.com/dave.swenson.33/videos/10221681855654385/UzpfSTExOTQ1NjA2NzQ6MzA2MDYxMTI5NDk5NDE0OjEwOjA6MTU4NTcyNDM5OToyOTUyNTUyMzcwNDg4ODU5MDk3/

 

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YOGATECTURE: building your house of truth

OM Yoga Magazine has just released their March issue including the 85th of my #yogainspirationals. Thank you OM Yoga Mag.In the Phoenix east valley, this magazine arrives two weeks after publication in the UK. In each issue you'll find yoga insights in these areas: OM Body, OM For Men, OM Fashion, OM Mind, OM Spirit, OM Living, OM Family, OM Actions, OM Teacher Zone, OM Travel. Check it out.
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LONG WAY FROM, LONG TIME SINCE: Letter to an Admirer of Whitman

Long Way From, Long Time Since features letters written from writers, to writers, living or dead. Send us your queries and inquiries, your best wishes and arguments, and help us explore correspondence as a creative form. For submissions: cutbankonline.org

George_C._Cox_-_Walt_Whitman_-_Google_Art_Project

Dear Philene –

I didn’t answer the question you asked in New Delhi. You probably forgot about it when we ran from the police station after they tried extorting me for reporting the pick-pocket. But your request has haunted me, “Tell me more about Whitman’s genius.” Volumes have been written about Walt and my letter, sketched on this train to Agra, may not give you what you want, but I’ll try.

He knew what it is to pause and observe, how to synthesize his deft observations into a written micro view for an intuited macro view. To use the description of Wordsworth on what poets do, “write strong feelings recollected in tranquility.”

This required a piece of his soul, less dramatically, a primary ability to feel something. One of my professors in Chicago said, “most of my counseling clients fall asleep telling their own story.” They didn’t feel anything about their own lives, anyone, or anything else.

I mourn that inability in an emotionally blunted American culture. Perhaps it’s different in Holland. Empathy and the ability to feel is important not just for a poet, but for a person. I read that some communication scholars believe empathy is the most important communication skill.

Empathy requires taking the risk to feel my experience first and then learn what others feel.

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