Gregory Ormson

Writer, musician, yoga-loving motorcyclist.

Rocky Point Rally – Motorcycling in Mexico as reported in American Rider Magazine January, 2022

It’s almost as if reality stalls and the motorcycle dances in time with the dazzling sun of Mexico. With eyes to see, anyone looking around would swear Salvador Dali painted the street where bar balconies, groaning under the weight of heavy bikers, hang low like winter branches and the thump-thump of Big Twins announce ‘schedules be damned’ the party is on.

 

Get your issue of American Rider Magazine where you can learn: the technical aspects of motorcycles and motorcycling, racing and race events, homages to motorcycling and its history, insight on the bike-building profession, riding equipment, and a lot more. Reading any article over the last year, I’ve wanted to get out and do it. Isn’t that the purpose of writing about motorcycling? 

Click on these photos below for my article in American Rider on the November 2022 Rocky Point Rally in Mexico.

All photos by Oliver Touron. Big kudos to American Rider Ed. Kevin Duke

Rocky Point Rally next year anyone?… read more...

See you at The Foundry Yoga in Tempe, AZ, on Saturday morning. Copies of YOGA SONG are available.

Four reviewers from Canada, the UK, Ohio, and Wisconsin have published their review on Amazon.  Here’s a quick sampling: “This is a must-read for anyone who loves yoga, or is simply interested in what it feels like to be completely present and fully connected.” Sara Highfield, yoga teacher, International Yoga Model, and regular columnist for OM Yoga Magazine, UK.

“A beautiful book inside the journey of the soul. One of my favorite chapters is “Seeking Treasure.” It’s a must read, and I really enjoyed it. Probably in the top ten books I’ve read in my whole life.” Pamela WB, poet, yogi, and psychologist from Canada.

“Dr. Ormson’s languid language, sonorous sounds, and poetic prose invites us to sit on a yoga mat under the Bodhi trees of our lives. His brave brilliance and sage-like invitation to the initiation of yoga . . . will help you to find the yoga mats of your existence. Rev. Bob Ahern, Ph.D., Zen practitioner and professor of the year at the Ohio State University.

“Dr. Ormson explains how and why yoga can help us to heal emotionally, physically, and spiritually, which is very comforting in these troubling and broken times. Highly recommend!” Mary Pulvermacher, light worker and student in Wisconsin.

From YOGA SONG 

As we do yoga in motion with attention, or sit in stillness, we come to embody the counsel of its ethics. As we do yoga, we take its wisdom into our bodies and minds where sacred self and ordinary human meet in the depths of our nature . . .

This breath is yoga’s song, arising within a body electric that is both unique and universal.… read more...

AMERICAN RIDER MAGAZINE, covering the diverse motorcycling world with style and substance

American Rider Magazine, covering motorcycling with style and substance.  Two of my friends have really taken the motorcycle writing and photo game to a high level. Pictured on the cover is Oliver Touron, photomotojournalist extraordinaire, sitting on a Harley in front of the Eiffel Tower. Oliver wrote the lead story, “American Rider: Riding Harleys in France” It’s a fitting theme because his wife Shelly is the American in Paris. The photo shows her on the roundabout in front of the Arc de Triomphe on Champs-Elysees avenue. After reading Oliver’s story, I wanted to motorcycle through France.
Another friend, Gary Kos Mraz of Sedona, filled out the frame to Hollywood’s narrative of Route 66 as a mystical wonderland. His story, “The Folklore, The Forlorn, and the Future,” fleshes-out the Seligman to Kingman route on the Mother Road 66. It’s a great story with lots of unique detail that I recommend for any Arizona rider. Gary’s story makes me want to get on the bike to ride, write, and photograph.
In case you weren’t paying attention, this magazine underwent a name change from Thunder Press to American Rider back in May. Along with the change of handle, the format segued from newsprint to newstand quality magazine stock. Among other things, the photos suddenly popped, and if you ask me, the writing is solid.
But it’s not only a magazine of stories and tours for those who love that, it also covers technical aspects of motorcycles and motorcycling, racing and race events, homage to history and the bike building profession, equipment, and a lot more.
… read more...

ON JOINING the 400 CLUB 10/27/22

400 sessions of the 26+2 yoga series known as Bikram Yoga. Each class is 90 minutes in a hot room, a yoga style that builds mental and physical willpower. For ten years now, I’ve observed and experienced how this yoga changes people.

The Tapas (fire) of Yoga

First, it will get harder

Then it will get easier

Then it will get different

Then it will get way different . . . but so will you.

I started yoga in Hawaii when I happened to walk into a Bikram Yoga Studio to fix my bad back. After starting, I kept track of each session because I knew it could become important. I completed 325 classes during the four years I practiced in Hawaii. Most of my Arizona practices – by contrast – have been 75 minutes with music and limited dialogue.

It’s been known for Centuries that applying heat in ritual transformations tends to create and accelerate change. Mircea Eliade, former chair of the Department of History of Religions at the University of Chicago, wrote in YOGA: Immortality and Freedom, that the Rg-Veda identified heat and ardor with ascetic effort as a tapas. It serves to “heighten the Physico-chemical processes (of making gold) and is the ‘vehicle’ for psychic and spiritual operations.”

North American Medicine Men shared this practice too in the sweat. Eliade wrote of this, and other transformational rituals in his 1951 book, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy.

Yoga people find out that the practice of yoga in a hot room is hard. Writer Alyssa Dunn put it like this, “My yoga practice isn’t always stable.… read more...

Of Gardens and Graves, a story from Hawaii

When some friends gathered to celebrate my birthday at a Hawaiian beachside rental, my good fortune tricked me into thinking I had earned such leisure.

Ocean waves crashed against the black rocks and giant tree leaves bent in the Kona wind. Hawaiian music playing from a house next door accompanied us while we drank together and talked our way through the euphoria that comes from the first sips of alcohol.

That afternoon I started playing, for probably the 300th time, “The Last Nail” by Dan Fogelberg.

It’s not a love song or a song with a happy romantic arc, but a song I had turned to when I was a long way from home or in a time of introspection – like a birthday.

Fogelberg’s song is about the final nail which closed the coffin of a relationship. Realizing it had ended, he delivers a poignant and deep-diving lyric.

“I hear you’ve taken on a husband and child and live somewhere in Pennsylvania

I never thought you’d ever sever the string, but I can’t blame you none.”

I continued and played The Last Nail’s lyrical sarcophagus to the end.

“We walked together through the gardens and graves

I watched you grow to be a woman

living on promises that nobody gave to no one

they were given to no one.”

For years, the song was a catharsis and helped me accept the reality of a gradual goodbye. She wasn’t in Pennsylvania, but she lived close to Pennsylvania, and a long way from where I was.

On the beach, the sun moved from a bright white to a muted orange as my party day crawled toward dusk.… read more...

Camel Pose from the Inside

If you view a photo of someone doing a pose called camel, you’ll notice it looks uncomfortable and it is. Along with it, you’ll frequently see a list of physical benefits that happen over time when doing the camel pose.

I’m certain that the combination of the backward-bending camel, alternating with forward bends healed my back. I’m aware, from my own experience, of how camel posture feels and how it works toward physical healing.

The benefits of doing a camel pose are improved breathing, fatigue relief, increased torso, and hip flexibility, strengthened back and glutes, toned thighs, and hips, stimulated endocrine glands, tensed organs in the abdomen, pelvis, and neck, correction of slouching posture, the opening of the respiratory system to better oxygen use.

In my book YOGA SONG (Rochak Press June 2022) I treat camel – and yoga- from the inside out. Here is an excerpt from Chapter 5 where I write what happened to me during a pivotal moment in my practice doing camel in Hawaii. You see, yoga is an inside job, and a lot is going on under the surface and it’s hard to describe. But that’s why I wrote a YOGA SONG. It’s yoga from the inside out in 23 lyric narratives.

Excerpt from YOGA SONG on camel pose from the inside in Chapter 5 “Making Heroes.”

The workshop leader said a deep backbend is a heart-opening pose and reminded us that an emotional reaction to a camel pose is normal because the posture can make us feel vulnerable. Pointing to his heart as the organ which should be at the highest position during camel, he may have even said, ‘lift up your hearts’ when stressing the importance of making one’s heart the highest point.… read more...

A Rider, a Monster Truck, and a Friends Last Ride

In May, before leaving Arizona on a 6000 mile summer trip, I bought a toy “monster truck.” I planned to use it in  commemoration for a deceased friend when a few of us would meet near Lake Superior.

Our friend loathed monster trucks and saw them as an American hyper-egoistic association with vehicles and a nutty obsession for more and more engine power and size. He thought of monster trucks as the perfect symbols of aggression, senseless destruction, and waste.

A lot of our travel this summer was on the Interstate system. I realize I didn’t enjoy it. The Interstate is no longer a gateway to the great American road adventure; it’s more like the great American road nightmare where games of bravado are played out by aggressive drivers with big rigs that come dangerously close to disaster on a regular basis.

In our commemoration for P.R., we talked about his love for travel and decided that I should take him for a final ride back to Arizona in the green toy monster truck. There were no hard and fast rules about what I was to do with P’s spirit riding along, but a loose suggestion that I might leave him (and the monster truck) in some public place where anyone could pick him up and take him on a continuing journey.

I thought I’d leave it (him) somewhere along Route 66, a road symbolizing the lost optimism of a wide-open American dream; a route marked by a faded joy in scenic adventure-travel, meals in friendly small-town highway café’s, and nostalgia for the history of an open road and open people.… read more...

Peter White Library’s “Author’s Reading Virtually Series.” Theme: health and wellness

I’m delighted to be included in this series of Authors Reading Virtually from Marquette’s Peter White Public Library. Professor Jonathan Johnson is a friend of mine and teaches in the MFA program at Eastern Washington University. He’s published widely to high accolades for over two decades with books in multiple genres. I will join him and read from my book Yoga Song, a story of transformation and redemption in 23 lyric vignettes. Jonathan will read from Bali in Indonesia, an island with a rich cultural heritage of spiritual and physical wellness. I will read from Marquette, a place occupying a large chunk of my soul.
Meeting link, ID, and code.
Meeting ID: 826 6398 7132
Passcode: 103409
… read more...

Read what others say about Gregory Ormson’s songs of redemption and transformation in Yoga Song.    

“Your writing is very good and would be ideal if you ever fancy contributing on any regular basis, especially in our OM spirit section.” Martin Clark, ed., Om Yoga Magazine UK

“Gregory eloquently expresses from a place of depth and authenticity, inviting his readers to fully partake in the journeys he shares.” Cassandra Bright, Gilbert, Arizona

“Greg, you are a remarkable writer!  I found it really interesting because so often we think about what yoga gives to us or what we get but very rarely do we think about what we give to the practice.  I think what you wrote was thought provoking and absolutely beautiful expression. Leley Pelkey, Phoenix, Arizona

The book has been beautifully written and its words are well crafted. It will undoubtedly inspire students of yoga.  Dr. Yogananth Andiappan, Hong Kong, Asana Journal, ed.,

“Your description of yoga as martial art of the soul, I love it, awesome.” Christen Tanner, Mesa, Arizona

“You are a very talented writer and storyteller, Greg. Congratulations on being published in Om Yoga Magazine and for sharing your path to self-discovery. You are an inspiration.” Bobbie Schmidt, Marana, Arizona

“This writing is really interesting and deserves to be in top 5 Google Search Results.”  Sergio E (via Webpage email).

“Your articles interest our readers and that’s why we allocate pages every month in our magazine. Your view – and writing – of yoga practice is amazing.” Joe (sub-editor) Asana Journal

Yogi G! I feel so honored to have met Gregory while leading music and yoga . . . we have collaborated several times for Sound Meditations and Kirtan Cacao Ceremonies .… read more...

Press Kit for YOGA SONG publishing June 21, 2022, International Yoga Day

        FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE             

Bounced from a trampoline at 10, enduring a second back-injury weightlifting in school, and falling from a roof at 40, born-to-be-wild biker Gregory Ormson moved to Hawaii but was sidelined by debilitating back pain and couldn’t enjoy paradise. Dipping a toe into yoga, he discovered a healing road that reformed his mind and fixed his spine.

In 23 lyric vignettes the author writes yoga is a song of healing and restoration from the inside out. The instrument of yoga’s song is the body which includes mind, spirit, emotion, and energy. Its melodies are alive in the sound of Om or a vocalized, heartfelt Namaste; others sing a yoga song in asana through their bodies or in a group exhale.

In breath-centered yoga practice, yogis experience a therapeutic and healing power where ordinary moments stretch into extraordinary. Described in “Transforming the Emotional Body,” “Ritual Process and the Yogi’s New Song,” and “Yoga: A Breathcentric Community,” Yoga Song informs and inspires, proclaiming to every yogi that their yoga is a song.

“The yoga mat became my turf of tears, washing, and regeneration . . . these essays deliver us to a place of beauty and grace in words lyrical and reverential. Inspiring piece, Greg.” Dr. Jonathan Johnson, Eastern Washington University

“The book has been beautifully written, and its words are well crafted. It will undoubtedly inspire students of yoga.  Dr. Yogananth Andiappan, Andiappan Yoga College, Hong Kong

“This writing is really interesting and deserves to be in top 5 Google Search Results.”  Sergio E (via Webpage email).

“This is the most incredible and amazing story.… read more...

A small sample from Ch. 14 on yoga for bikers from the forthcoming YOGA SONG

 I glance around the outdoor deck and see the outline of my community. They are becoming new on a daily basis as they take up yoga. They acted on faith to get here, so I act on faith to teach as the practice of yoga meets them with its global and spiritual energy.

It takes courage to move beyond cultural stereotypes and do yoga. It also takes courage to teach this ancient, holistic discipline designed for everyone. As a teacher, I set the route; and when ready, they follow the road home to themselves.

Breath by breath, a universal yoga pilgrimage presses them to question their motives and boldly ask “why am I here?” When the question arises, yoga’s song takes over and the yogis remember their courage. They stretch into their containers of reform and travel back to the beginning once again.

The sun is setting on my biker-yogis, and I see them as hopeful; they tiptoe into newness, and sip nectar from an oxygen-rich moment. Western light, partially eclipsed by Earth, illumines their faces with golden rays as they play dead to integrate the last breathing moments of the best previous moments. Alone, quiet, and on the floor, they exhale. On their backs, they release into savasana . . .… read more...

From the Epilogue to YOGA SONG

Years ago, and far from the waters of Hawaii where yoga first tumbled me, I set out on a solo three-day vision quest in a barren land that Wyoming residents call the Red Desert. Before my quest began, I spent two days training in the Lakota way. Once I walked into the desert I would not eat or see anyone for three days. My instructions were simple and focused: drink water and pay attention.

For yoga, I’d give the same instruction today, only adding an admonition to breathe. I expected my vision quest would challenge me but also help me connect to that which I had not yet connected.

I didn’t know it, but at the time I was doing the work of yoga. At dawn on the scheduled day, I walked into the desert to seek a new vision. My intention was to strip away all distraction in my experiment with truth and give it my full attention with all my being.

This is what yoga is to me now. It’s a stripping away of distraction, which takes preparation and intention. It is the time and place to build my satyagraha or force of truth.

But in the Red Desert I learned from the birds that if I had a song to sing I had to sing it. It was not about how well I sang, but that I did. This is why I’ve written Yoga Song; it is not about how well I write or sing my yoga song, but that I do.

Sale links available soon.… read more...

YOGA SONG publication on June 21, 2022 International Yoga Day

Gregory Ormson’s forthcoming book, Yoga Song, will be published on International Yoga Day, one month from today, summer solstice – Tuesday, June 21, 2022
Comments from readers:
“Your articles interest our readers and that’s why we allocate pages every month in our magazine. Your view – and writing – of yoga practice is amazing.” Joe (sub-editor) Asana Journal
“These are fantastic words of motorcycles and yoga writing. Reality bleeds into fiction.” Russell Thorburn, Marquette, Michigan
“I’ve had many yoga teachers over the years and when I read your writing, I always learn something new: A new way of thinking about life after I leave the class; and to combine this with motorcycling is brilliant.” Kerry Verrier, Calgary, Alberta
From Yoga Song, Chapter 17, “Transforming the Emotional Body.”
Like many newcomers, when I started yoga I also thought it was about what I saw. 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 injuries; and at the beginning, that’s all I expected.
My yoga education was gradual. At first I practiced to feel better, then to learn good alignment, and then 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, my hands, and my gaze. I followed their instructions leading me through breathing techniques and transitions. At the end, I lay down with other yogis in stillness, like a motorcycle resting on its jiffy-stand.
But right away, I sensed there was something happening well beyond what was taking place in my physical experience on the mat.
… read more...

OM YOGA MAGAZINE, Yoga, the Sailing Forth

A day after moving into my apartment in Hawaii, I was on the floor with back pain. I had endured many injuries: at 10, I bounced off a trampoline and landed on the ground, a second back injury I endured while weightlifting, and yet again in my 40’s when I fell from a high roof.

In Hawaii, I noticed signs for yoga studios everywhere and I started thinking about claims I had heard regarding yoga and healing for back pain. One day, in a desperate attempt to fix my damaged back and with no background or knowledge of yoga, I decided to try it and hoped to find something to make me strong in my broken places. I feared collapsing in the hot yoga room, but was also confident that if my back held up I would too.

I planned to try yoga for 30 days and then decide if I would continue. I made it through 24 classes that month. My resolve was galvanized and my hope for healing ignited. In my journal entry I wrote, Yoga is the way to go for healing back pain. It’s so simple, why don’t more people do it?  But my transformation from injury to healing went beyond my back as yoga steered me into deep waters.

“Sail forth – steer for the deep waters only

Reckless O soul, exploring, I with thee and thou with me”

American poet Walt Whitman in, “Passage to India,” from Leaves of Grass

I continued with yoga and wrote about my experience because I thought my practice in a heated room would also benefit me in other ways.… read more...

Thanks OM Yoga Magazine (UK) March issue, for publishing the 101st of my YogaInspirationals

A couple paragrphs from the full text (below) written originally as: “Endowed With Longing for Connection.”

Perfection in yoga may have been an ancient goal, and to achieve that goal many yogis spent time alone and in isolation; but I don’t know anyone with perfection on their bucket list. I’ve not heard anyone say, “Yea, I want to become the perfect yogi, to levitate, reach santosha, and become one with God.

. . . The myth of rugged individualism, a notion that’s driven the ethic of individualism and ambition in my country really is a myth. We all need connections with others; and that need is so powerful that people will change their identities, alter their most treasured beliefs, or explore far and wide to find a niche or group from which to draw comfort.

Yoga communities around the world continue to be deeply affected by an invisible virus called COVID-19. Starting in 2020, our community in-person gatherings have been stunted and its intensified the challenge to make important new social connections.

Now for the third time, I’ve scaled back my regular yoga attendance at a studio and I’m bummed about it. But with a worldwide pandemic still happening, and my aversion to sickness, I’m on pause.

All of us in the yoga community have responded the best we can, and we’ve learned to use social media tools to stay in contact with others. But we also noticed that while communities established through the World Wide Web were important, they were different.

I taught online for six years, but it never felt natural to me.… read more...

St. Patrick’s Day Gig by Irish Glee (‘G and Lee) at R.T. 0’Sullivans in Mesa

IRISH GLEE is G and Lee performing songs and stories, limericks and verse, to celebrate Ireland Forever. Phoenix area friends, come out for our two hour set and a limerick contest with a prizzEE – on St. Patrick’s Day at R.T. O’Sullivan’s Bar, 6646 E. Superstition Springs Blvd from 4:30-6:30.

We’ll pass on Irish history associated with the songs, and an interpretive reading from a famous Irish poet. C’mon out for “a hundred thousand welcomes,” to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

Gregory Ormson guitar and bodhran and Lee Swenson fiddle and guitar. With the two of us, plus each of you, we’ll ring the Auld Triangle on St. Paddy’s Day. Request links or more information contact G at 480-432-2667.

Three weeks to St. Patrick’s Day.

 … read more...

Stepping to a New Parade led by an Old Song

Yoga teaches us to be still and live in a way formed by new dimensions from an old script. It levels our judgments and brings us to the healing ground of calm detachment while simultaneously counseling us through yamas and niyamas to say and do the right things.

In the pressured spaces of post-Modernism and its perilous stress, yoga moves us to meet a difficult world and greet it with equanimity. Yoga’s song teaches us to expand the being out of which we live and move as we practice, study, and seek to discover who we are as we lean into the fullness of Self.

In that center, lessons of motion and stillness teach us to extend our range of motion, deepen our breath and fill our lungs, lengthen the stretch of our spine, and grow the reach of our limbs in space.

To fully inherit yoga’s spiritual science we breathe deeply, only to release and enter the realm of OM. Yoga formed in the crucible of scholarship and exercise will empty and then fill the thinking reed that is the human-being. It redeems scapegoats and embraces the full panorama of humanity in all its races, colors, and identities.

Yogis then join a long line of grateful beings stepping into a parade made by kings and queens where many are yoked together as one in yuj (union), cleansed and restored into a new creation by the old song of an eternal melody.… read more...

A Western Yogi’s Evolving Precis

My yoga starts when I acknowledge the Western inheritance of the yoga tradition or some blended combination of traditions. Western yoga shares widely in the thread known as hatha, a tradition of opposing forces coming into balance and working together for the yogi’s mental, spiritual, and physical development.

A scholarly treatment of ancient texts or a detailed study of yoga’s historical variations – each with schools, histories, practices, religiosities, and gurus requires intense, academic study in linguistics, theology, sociology, history, medicine, and mythology. This would be the work of a lifetime.

Knowing this opens me to become an incomplete scribe articulating a perspective behind a yoga encounter in matter and consciousness. Yoga is a force which puts an encounter front and center for every yogi. Faced with this, each one responds in their own way. And while I think it’s good to know about tradition – so that we do not claim something as ours that is not ours – like most Western yogis, my practice and study draws from the deep well of yoga’s healing waters.

Yoga and its variations were formed in a complex, multifaceted cultural context that very few Westerners understand. This culture created yoga from its particular situation and in its evolving timeline.

The truth is that yoga has always been and is always changing and the proof is that yoga today in India looks different and is vastly more inclusive than it was just one hundred years ago. And just as yoga has morphed and changed through the Centuries in India, it will also change and evolve in the West.… read more...

January BREATH & MOVEMENT FOR BIKERS OUTDOORS (formerly yoga for bikers)

Yoga outdoors happening for year 5 at Superstition Harley Davidson. Short read below about yoga for bikers (breath and movement) the how and why. Two January classes on the outdoor deck – facing north to the Goldfield Mountains in the east valley – open for anyone. January 11 at 5:00 pm, and January 25 at 5:00 pm. Each session is approximately 50 minutes. Donations welcome.

Motorcycling and life are improved when we learn how to breathe with ease in the midst of stress. This calms the nervous system and makes it easier to concentrate on what’s important.

When we’re riding motorcycles, being at ease and focused are not just good ideas, they are life-saving skills. To that end, a deliberate and conscious linking of breath with movement.

Two times this month you can take advantage of breath and movement for bikers (formerly yoga for bikers) at Superstition Harley Davidson.

WHAT IS IT?

  • A 50-minute session of breath and movement with yoga like moves focusing on breath, flexibility, and motorcycle performance improvement.
  • The purpose is to provide an experience of movement and conscious breath connection for stress management leading to life and health benefits.
  • I’ll provide encouragement and integrity of movement and breath to both motorcycling and yoga.
  • The sessions become a positive event – offered with a voice of reassurance, sincerity, and encouragement – to motorcyclists and non-motorcyclists.
  • DATES:  Tuesday Jan. 11, 5:00 pm at Superstition Harley Davidson, outdoor deck; and Tuesday, Jan. 25, 5:00 pm at Superstition Harley Davidson, outdoor deck.
… read more...

LUNAR SOUND JOURNEY – event Sunday 4:30

Everyone lives with failures and mistakes. It’s part of being human. But we also carry within us our wildest unarticulated imaginings and hopes.

Perhaps sometime during 2021, we’ve experienced great happiness and joy. Maybe we’ve celebrated something in our lives or the lives of those in our circles. But life is a balance, and we also may have endured something we could describe as sorrow, regret, or a private deep grief.

Whatever it was, it was our experience. That’s why it’s good to take stock at the end of one era (2021) and the commencement of another (2022).

On Sunday, during this first Lunar Sound Journey event of 2022 led by Crystal, you will not only experience the vibrations of healing, and words of wisdom from sages through the ages, but you are also given a time to use pen and paper for recalling and writing something that you need to write.

It will be your private exercise and yours alone. You may journal about 2021 or this New Year. Maybe you don’t want to do that part at all and that is also okay. It is your time and the sound healing and vibrational goodness will be there for you to enjoy.

If this is something that you might want to do in an intentional way, I hope you can attend Lunar Sound Journey on Sunday, January 2, from 4:30-6:00. Reserve your spot through Eventbrite. Use the PROMO Code GREG for 20% discount. CLICK POSTER BELOW TO RESERVE YOUR PLACE ON SUNDAY. Details follow link below

www.eventbrite.com/e/lunar-sound-journey-2022-tickets-233960019717… read more...

RIDING WITH WARRIORS – Thunder Press December, 2021

Thanks Kevin (ed.) Thunder Press, and my photographer friends for helping me light up this story on Run to the Rez. It’s one of my favorite rides every year. Read about fabulous riding in Arizona and how Run to the Rez started nearly 20 years ago. See you in October 2022 for the next Run.

This photo by Oliver Touron, photomotojournalist extraordinaire, and inside photo by Randy Anagnostis, a bright dude who’s my music partner, Superstition Harley Davidson photographer, and businessman.

Find the full story at this link      https://thunderpress.net digital

“San Carlos, Arizona, is nestled like a gem within the seven sacred mountains of the Apache people, and its the home to Run to the Rez, perhaps the most spiritual charity ride you’ll ever attend.”  GAO

 … read more...

Breath and Movement for Longevity in the Saddle (Nov. 10 and 24) @ SUPERSTITION HARLEY-DAVIDSON

Come on up to the eagle’s nest (outdoor patio) at Superstition Harley-Davidson (2910 W. Apache Trail), for breath and movement for bikers a week from today (November 10 at 5:00 pm). It’s the fourth year of breath and movement designed to keep bikers at ease and in the saddle long term.

Teaching riders for the state of Hawaii as a MSF rider/coach, I watched how new motorcycle riders held their breath when making difficult figure 8 moves on the riding range. Holding one’s breath tightens the entire system. When holding our breath, it’s nearly impossible to be relaxed and at ease. If we are not relaxed and at ease when riding a motorcycle our riding ability is diminished. To be at ease in the midst of stress is a critical factor in athletic performance.

In a 1977 book titled, The Centered Skier, author Denise McCluggage presents 12 chapters of Zen goodness on the mental aspects of skiing. She quoted Jean-Claude Killy, the world and Olympic alpine ski champion at the time. Killy said, “You cannot win if you are not relaxed.”

Maybe you say to yourself, so what, I’m not competing. No you may not be competing and maybe the stakes aren’t at the level of an Olympic medal, but in reality the stakes are higher. You are on two-wheels, or three-wheels, and the stakes are about your life. Breath and movement in ease is for bikers because being relaxed in the saddle happens when we learn to be at ease in stress.

This is the therapy of yoga and it is the design of breath and movement.… read more...

The RAKE, The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride, and the Royal Enfield #5

About a year ago, a high dollar magazine out of England started showing up at my door every three months. I didn’t recall ordering it, but there it was.

It is impressive, displaying an incredible array of contemporary fashion, luxury items, high-brow writing, and in-depth feature stories by writers at the top of their literary game.

All of this is displayed on top of the line quality magazine stock with superb photography. I love it, but also held my breath preparing for a big bill while still confused about why The Rake was showing up.

Today, over a year later, I was paging through The Distinguished Gentlemen’s Ride Website and saw my name on a list from a photo I had sent a year ago. Apparently my Royal Enfield – and rider – were selected from worldwide submissions as a top ten biker dapper ride pic for 2020 (hey, thanks for telling me I got #10).

Contest prizes included money and expensive watches to the first thee, and a year-long subscription to The Rake for the next seven. Alright. No watch or $$$, but cool anyway. BTW, where’s my cigar?

Rake Magazine, and Revolution Magazine founder Wei Koi (black helmet) was the judge for the 2020 dapper rider and bike contest. He’s known globally for his work in fashion, and expertise in watches (explaining why there are so many watch advertisements in The Rake).

Since 2015, Koi has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the DGR (men’s health issues and prostate study and research).

The Distinguished Gentlemen’s (and women’s) ride for 2022 will be in May. … read more...

SOUND HEALING EVENT SUNDAY, OCT, 3rd

Lunar Sound Healing 2021: Intention & Manifestation. Utilize Breathwork, Meditation, & Sound Therapy to connect Mind, Body & Spirit. Learn about Lunar and Solar cycles, Eclipses and Astrology in a commUnity setting!

See you this coming Sunday (October 3) 4:30 pm for a 90 minute session @ Spirit of Yoga, Tempe, AZ. I’ll be joining Crystal as guest musician. She’s an E-RYT 500, and a Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Program Provider. She’s been leading sound healing events for over six years, frequently combined with yoga classes, reiki, yoga nidra, acupressure, meditation techniques and workshops. Find her at https://crystalvalentina.com

I first met her during one of her sound and yoga events in June at Buddha’s Brew Coffee Cafe in Mesa, AZ. The combination of her teaching and sound event was excellent; both yoga and sound were imbued with a sense of invitation rather than direction. Her sessions at Buddha’s Brew continue on October 10, November 14, and December 12.

Details below for Sunday’s Lunar Sound Healing event. From eventbrite, Lunar Sound Healing 2021: Intention & Manifestation. Utilize Breathwork, Meditation, & Sound Therapy to connect Mind, Body & Spirit. Learn about Lunar and Solar cycles, Eclipses and Astrology in a commUnity setting!

Register here:  https://www.facebook.com/events/206409277791797/?ref=newsfeed

You can find Crystal’s Lunar Sound Healing schedule on her Website: Dates scheduled are October 3 & 17; November 7 & 21; December 5 and 19.… read more...

#Yogainspirationals number 99, OM Yoga Magazine, May 2021

Yoga as a life-altering gift

OM YOGA MAGAZINE

Yoga as a life-altering gift: From freediving to chess: how a yoga practice can enhance every aspect of your life. By Gregory Ormson

Shortly after starting yoga I realised its life enhancements could be applied to any activity of mind or body. Nobody was teaching yoga specifically for motorcyclists and as a rider and former motorcycle rider coach for the State of Hawaii, I realised I could serve bikers in a direct way.

While teaching motorcycle riding, I saw how people tightened up and held their breath when the riding range was wet, when they were evaluated, and when they were asked to do ‘figure eight’ moves in a tight space. If yoga classes could help people with stress and challenges during yoga, I thought asana poses targeted specifically to bikers’ needs could help bikers in many ways.

Yoga for bikers targets poses for: hips, back, neck, shoulders, arms, wrists and hands. Preparing to teach an unusual yoga group, I searched and discovered many stories of yoga’s effects on performance in unusual places; the most unexpected were the worlds of freediving and competitive chess.

Freediving and yoga
In Hawaii, one of the first things my freediving instructor asked me was: “Do you practice yoga?” He said yoga people do better in freediving because they’ve learned how to breathe and relax when in stress.

For most people, there is nothing more stressful on both body and mind than holding their breath while swimming underwater and it’s even more true in a deep-water underwater situation. To deal with the stress of water pressure and low oxygen, free divers focus on deliberate breath training and meditation before going in the water.

… read more...

Yoga and Leather by Keith Uhlig, Wausau Daily Herald

Thank you Keith Uhlig at the Wausau Daily Herald for this story; and also to Pookie, Scott, and all the folks at Bull Falls Harley Davidson for allowing me to offer this important class. Come out Saturday, 10:00 am to Bull Falls HD, Yoga for Bikers happening to keep you in the saddle long-term. #bullfallshd, @bigcheese107.9, @UligK #wausaudailyherald, #superstitionhd, #motorcyclingyogig, #randyanagnostis, #bribri1119, #randyanagnostis

Yoga Class Poster (2)

https://www.wausaudailyherald.com/story/news/2021/08/18/motorcycling-yogi-teach-yoga-moves-bull-falls-harley-davidson/5416236001/?fbclid=IwAR2pLbVrdx5DzvWU_-jLYCSTnHXiLswxaOTH70nn6rYUSlT4_Zvh9wzBc0E… read more...

Playing Catch: A Simple Magic Endures

Days up in the trees are coming to a close for Debbie and I. We’ve done zero to 61 in about 30 days. That’s not a measure of speed but a marker of age for the people we hold dear. To be exact, it goes from six months to 61 years.

Here, a short video with my friend Chris King in Wisconsin, as we play catch and speak of our mutual love for baseball. For both of us, it was the passion of our youth. We loved playing then, and had similar paths as ballplayers; but now in these years, the magic and mystery of baseball takes on even more meaning to both of us as we throw and remember all our wins and all our losses. It’s the stuff of life and a pastoral shot in the arm on green fields of hopes and dreams.… read more...

YOGA 4 BIKERS at Bull Falls HD

https://www.wausaudailyherald.com/story/news/2021/08/18/motorcycling-yogi-teach-yoga-moves-bull-falls-harley-davidson/5416236001/?fbclid=IwAR07msLeXONfmeVRqaIXKbJZACQNn1V6WN9erv05pc5SS-xCWbP-itnf1vk

The ‘Motorcycling Yogi’ brings his calming yoga methods to Bull Falls Harley-Davidson

Keith Uhlig

Wausau Daily Herald

14278f8d-b827-4fe2-a5aa-91bbd5d9f48d-Tree.jpg.webp

https://www.wausaudailyherald.com/story/news/2021/08/18/motorcycling-yogi-teach-yoga-moves-bull-falls-harley-davidson/5416236001/?fbclid=IwAR07msLeXONfmeVRqaIXKbJZACQNn1V6WN9erv05pc5SS-xCWbP-itnf1vk… read more...

Brown Bag Literary – sounds of the universe – “a literary platform for art to live in conversation with one another”

Brown Bag online literary is out today including two of my contributions and many more. This issue, which they’ve titled Jackson, takes readers on a journey through the solar and lunar system in words and sounds; it highlights the individual story – and music in that story – with the complicated tangle in the biggest of big pictures. It is dedicated to Jackson Rose, described as an artist and open soul. Links to click in and listen to “Voices from The Woodland,” which Brown Bag has linked to Mercury, and “Whale Song from the Corners of Eternity,” linked to Neptune.

… read more...

Arizona Water Greed, Shortages, and Predictions of Violence

 

Arizona has a severe water crisis and we are headed for big problems. Desert water is precious, especially in the midst of a 26 year dry spell now called a “mega-drought.” Remember fist-fights taking place over masks? That will look like child play when water rationing starts.
When we are finally forced to ration water, Americans will react badly and I can see fist fights on lawns over sprinklers. Violence is likely when we can’t wash our cars, when we are required to curtail their daily showers, when we can’t water our golf courses and sports fields, and when we can’t do what we want.
If you think doing whatever you want is freedom, you’ll likely have an enlarged sense of self-importance and entitlement. But that’s not freedom, its the indulgence of pre-adolescence and displays that level of maturity.
Lake Mead, the reservoir which feeds the Colorado River, providing 39 percent of Arizona’s water, is at its lowest level since it was first built and filled in the 1930’s. READ THAT AGAIN. And the Upper Colorado Basin Snowpack fell below normal for the second year in a row according to NOAA snowpack winter data. Spring snowpack levles are 11 inches below normal, which contributes to low spring water levels.
We have a serious water crisis, but rather than meeting this with information, strategy, or communication about how citizens could help, Arizona politicians and officials stay silent and pretend nothing is wrong. It amounts to burying their heads in the sand.
Parts of New Mexico are observing a Stage I Water Shortage Emergency.
… read more...

“We Still Stand” spoken word music for Indigenous resiliance and tenacity

Many thanks to the #mmiwriders for allowing us to support and be part of the 2021 San Diego Medicine Wheel Ride. The many thousands of murdered and missing Indigenous Sisters is beyond tragic. The efforts created by #mmiw – to champion greater awareness and change – are necessary and commendable.

⊕ FAST FACTS: “In 2016, there were 5,712 cases reported of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, according to the Urban Indian Health Institute, but only 116 cases were logged in the U.S. Department of Justice database.” by Nienke Onneweer, Arizona Republic April 30, 2021. 

“IN some communities, Indigenous women are sexually assaulted and murdered at rates as high as 10X the national average.” ⊕

This GRSound piece “We Still Stand” testifies to the Indigenous peoples’ resilience and tenacity. Still standing, and still celebrating after abuse and terror. (melody and keyboard Randy Anagnostis, lyric and vocal Gregory Ormson).… read more...

Talking Story and Riding the Medicine Wheel #rideformmiw

 

Truer than ever before, much of the world was asleep in their screens during 2020. Television, cell phones, and computers offered connections during the worst of the world-wide pandemic, but connections sans touch.

Such connections seem void of what I’d call true encounter. An incarnated connection is more real for it’s in the flesh and is sustained over time by meeting, greeting, touching or holding intimate space for one another.

Emerging from the last year of sleep and screens, 2021 is sparking a new consciousness. We are realizing something critical to the survival of Earth and the human species. We need to talk with one another.

I’m discovering that as we sit down together and engage we learn how to listen again. Listening teaches how build and sustain by giving, taking, and willingly offering disclosure and feedback. This happens when we “talk story,” a phrase and practice I learned from the Hawaiians.  Talking story is no small thing. It’s the way movements start, and the way the medicine wheel ride started.

Talking story, the indigenous women spoke about the missing and murdered sisters, mothers, aunts, cousins, daughters, and grandmothers they knew – from all nations – they realized the tragedy was three-fold. First, that it happens at all. Second that it happens at an alarming rate among indigenous peoples than anywhere else; and third, that nobody was talking about it.

These crimes continue to break and destroy the bonds of family and community everywhere but especially on indigenous lands.

The Medicine Wheel Ride was formed for awareness, disclosure, feedback, justice, and change.… read more...

YOUR DIRTY LITTLE LIES

“Your Dirty Little Lies,” is dedicated to us for putting up with the dirty little of the politicians; this protest music and word piece emotes that story. An Anagnostis/ Ormson piece recorded in Mesa, AZ.

 … read more...

Spoken Word collaboration with music, video, photo, word.

I’m pleased with this music, video, and word piece edited and created by Randy Anagnostis; with collaboration from Gabriel Thorburn’s photo of mountain sheep and lyrics from the poem, “Many Names Have Never Been Spoken Here,” written by Russell Thorburn during their father-son Mohave Preserve National Parks Residency in 2013. Vocal interpretation of Thorburn’s poem by Gregory Ormson. It’s always fun to work with creative artists. Thanks Randy, Russell, and Gabe. #randyanagnostis #artistscollaboration #russellthorburn #gabethorburn #GRSound #spokenword #musicvideo #mojavenationalpreserve
… read more...

3 Days to St Patricks Day

Written by American folk singer Steve Earle, well known for his song “Copperhead Road,” “Galway Girl” has become the 8th all-time song on Irelands top singles list.

It’s one of the songs you’ll hear on St  Paddy’s Day (Wednesday, March 17), at Starbucks in Apache Junction. Details below:

 

Irish music takes you into its culture hook, line, and sinker. It’s more than just music, known for telling powerful stories of resistance and sacrifice, land and liberty, love and loss; it cants of a thirst for the grog and flare for the poetic. Irish music is memorable for its strong rhythm and structure linked to true stories.

WHERE?      Apache Junction Starbucks

                       Delaware and Apache Tr.

WHEN?       St. Patrick’s Day

March 17  4:00 pm

*Bring a can food donation for our local shelter

 

***  WIN THE LIMERICK CONTEST & GET A STARBUCKS GIFT CARD  ***

 

 … read more...

Irish Music 4:00 pm at the AJ Starbucks (Apache Trail and Delaware)

Four days till St. Patrick’s

IRISH MUSIC — is there really such a thing?

Yes, and Irish music takes you into its culture hook, line, and sinker. It’s more than just music, known for telling powerful stories of resistance and sacrifice, land and liberty, love and loss; it cants of a thirst for the grog and flare for the poetic. Irish music is memorable for its strong rhythm and structure linked to true stories.

Here for St. Patrick’s Day, Gregory Ormson, formerly of The MAGEES and FROM BIG IRISH

WHERE?      Apache Junction Starbucks

                             Delaware and Apache Tr.

WHEN?       St. Patrick’s Day March 17  4:00 pm

 *Bring a can food donation for our local shelter   WIN THE LIMERICK CONTEST & GET A STARBUCKS GIFT CARD. “Cead mile failte” a hundred thousand welcomes.

 

… read more...

IRISH music on St. Patrick’s Day at the Apache Junction Starbucks (including a limerick contest to win a Starbucks gift card)

Seven days to St. Paddy’s Day

IRISH MUSIC — is there really such a thing? Yes, and Irish music takes you into its culture hook, line, and sinker. It’s known for telling powerful stories of resistance and sacrifice, land and liberty, love and loss; it cants of a thirst for the grog and flare for the poetic. Irish music is memorable for its strong rhythm and structure linked to true stories.

  Come out to Starbucks on Apache Trail and Deleware from 4:00 – 5:00 pm on the south facing deck where I’m playing Irish songs on St. Patrick’s Day. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roddy McCorley from THE MAGEES  back in the days.

… read more...

14 things I’ve learned from my years on the planet

1 Few things are uncorrupted by money.

2 Naive optimism, hopeioid addiction, is killing us.

3 Education falls far below its potential if if it’s solely about job preparation: good education is more than job prep, it’s critical thinking and enlightenment regarding: science, politics, medicine, religion, history, culture and art (humanities)

4. The environment is dying because of 1 and 2 above. Our great grandchildren will curse us for our selfishnes.

5. Americans appear to most of the world as the most gullible and spoiled people on the planet.

6. Rugged individualism is neither and propagating such a myth is a lie.

7. Technology turned into a sacred savior does not mitigate the need for us to hit the “off” switch.

8. Capitalism is first an alienating force; second it is an unsustainable pursuit bound to set off revolution.

9. The food sold in stores is poisoning us, especially meat and its bloated source.

10. Guns are a visible symptom of our sickness.

11. Big agriculture, big pharmacy, big technology, big industry dominate and destroy the alternatives and in the process, trash both planet and people.

12. The Gospel of Sustained growth supports the lie and myth of Capitalism: profit for the few.

13. Withouth an incorruptible center, politicians will cave to Machivellian self-interest to the detriment of their constituents.

14. International relationships are necessary to the survival of this planet.… read more...

THE LANTERN from UW La Crosse, on yoga and leather

This isn’t your ordinary biker gang.

Technically, it’s not a gang at all — just a community of denim-clad Harley enthusiasts who love to roar down an open road, and then unwind with some deep breathing and meditative poses.

“Learning to breathe, be calm, work on your body — these are all things that you practice in yoga and that can translate into motorcycling,” explains Greg Ormson, ’77, founder of the Yoga and Leather: Yoga for Bikers program at Superstition Harley-Davidson in Apache Junction, Arizona. “It’s all predicated on the notion that, if you’re at ease in the saddle, you’re going to feel better and be a much better motorcyclist.”

Greg Ormson, ’77

Ormson is a true renaissance man — a biker, a yogi, a writer, a musician, a world traveler and a student of several religions. He is a shining example of someone who doesn’t just defy stereotypes, but disproves them.

After retiring from his marketing and communications job at Northcentral Technical College in Wausau in  2012, Ormson and his partner moved to Hawaii.

But in paradise, Ormson felt mostly pain.

I saw all these signs on the street corners: yoga, yoga, yoga, I decided to try it.

He had long struggled with back issues — the result of falling off a trampoline as a child and tumbling off a roof as an adult. Years of motorcycling only made it worse.

Then, walking around the streets of Hawaii, Ormson had an epiphany.

“I saw all these signs on the street corners: yoga, yoga, yoga,” he remembers.

… read more...

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