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Savasana and the Open Hand: A Practice of Release
When the instructions stop and the body grows still, the restless mind often comes rushing back. In this essay for Asana International Yoga Journal, Gregory Ormson considers Savasana as a practice of release, non-grasping, and the difficult work of opening the hand. My essay, “Savasana and the Open Hand: A Practice of Release,” was published…
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The Immigrant Asana
Originally published in Asana Yoga Magazine, May 2016. From the Archives I wrote this essay for Asana Yoga Magazine ten years ago. Reading it again, I’m reminded that some ideas continue to ask for our attention. The language surrounding immigration has changed, the politics have shifted, but gratitude remains in the same place: one conscious…
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Baseball and Cuisine Share One Necessary Ingredient: NOSTALGIA
Baseball and Nostalgia In 2020, I came across a brand-new literary baseball publication started in New York, The Twin Bill. It was started by Scott Bolohan. Immediately, I was enthralled by an online magazine focused on writing and baseball, two of my favorite subjects. So I submitted a piece, “The Diamond Speaks in Runes,” and…
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Nothing Is Forced into Action Except the Old Boat Motor
At the cabin, stories rise the way ghosts do. Nobody can produce them on demand. They are, like the Dylan lyric about sons and daughters, “beyond our command.” They flash across consciousness, drift back into the trees, return when they are ready. This is why I come again to Big Casey Lake, to the Old-Style…
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He Sang His Ass Off and Pounded Chords on that Big Taylor
Russell Thorburn writes on “Send Dylan to the Country” Ormson rips snow-driven chords hard on his Taylor acoustic, in Gummersound’s Marquette garage where the wood stove is heating up like his vocals. A Dylan Thomas baritone jumps into the fray to describe a dog with a cigarette . . . humor for the pub. A…
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Lightning Bolts and Scars
Lightning Bolts and Stars, a word and music piece by Gregory Ormson, Russell Thorburn, and Darrell Syria, guest on electric guitar. Listen in to this spoken word piece, a precursor to the lyric memoir, Stories Emerge Like Bears, Gregory Ormson’s forthcoming book by Cornerstone Press, UW Stevens Point. Lightning Bolts and Scars, originally published online…
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Yoga’s Curriculum for Self Integration
When I started yoga, I thought it was about people bending into forms that were, at first, perplexing. But yoga moves in its own way, and I had much to learn. Yoga’s curriculum for self integration in OM Yoga Magazine At first, I practiced to feel better. Then I practiced to learn alignment. Then I…
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Team Flame nine fires in the game
Some batters arrive at the plate carrying heft. Some bring grace. Some survive enough innings to become myth. They’re all here and part of Team Flame. Nine batters in burnings and meditations, spirits and fires, spectacles and labors, longings and memories. They are dangerous poetic beautiful. Bodies on fire, smoking bats. Arms on fire, blazing…
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TEAM FLAME a Hermit Crab essay in a baseball lineup card
Nine At-Bats BATTING NINTH Number 68, Pitcher, FLAME THROWER (Coaches note: don’t expect much, a hit is a miracle) I’ve still not seen the burning bush, but I do see small flames, even miracles from STORYTELLERS: All those listening. All those walking. All those meditating. All those making music. All those riding bicycles. All those…
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TEAM FLAME, a Hermit Crab Essay in a baseball lineup card
Nine At-Bats BATTING SEVENTH Number 12, Second Base, FALSE FIRE (Coaches note: known for the glove and turning the double play) I spent years looking for the dramatic burning bush while overlooking the smaller flames surrounding me. The welder’s torch Lantern light at the cabin Woodstoves in February The flare of match heads Campfire smoke…
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