Gregory Ormson

Writer, musician, yoga-loving motorcyclist.

Thank you India for International Yoga Day and sharing yoga with the world

On International Yoga Day last year, Rochak Press of India Published Yoga Song. For sale on Amazon India at 1,417.92 rupees it looks odd and sounds expensive for people in the Earth’s most populated country, but a rupee is 0.012 U.S. dollars (India’s population recently passed China at 1.42 billion).

Even with a robber baron-sounding price, Yoga Song has generated interest from publicity in The Taj Mahal Review, Cyberwit, and the powerhouse book sellers Shree Hanumanth of India. Om Yoga Magazine (UK) Asana International Yoga Journal (India), and American Rider Magazine have also alerted their reading audiences to this book and I thank them.

I’ve been grateful for reviews, comments, and exposure from individuals who’ve written on Amazon or directly to me. And I’m grateful for opportunities to offer Yoga Song for sale here in the U.S.

My thanks to all who helped me with these two big undertakings: editors and book-format people for the paper version, and audio executives and sound engineers at Lantern Audiobooks. My friend Charlie Harvin, living in Bulgaria, designed the cover. People have complimented its look.

This year I recorded Yoga Song through Lantern Audiobooks, and it is now available on Lantern and 30 other worldwide distribution networks. On some it’s free with a trial and on others, less than five bucks.

Listen in to Yoga Song, an instrument of mass inspiration in 21 vignettes and five original songs. let the songs fall upon your heart, register in your body, and spark new life in your mind and spirit. Breath is yoga’s song, and when you breathe doing yoga, you are singing your love song to yourself.… read more...

NOW on Chirp, Kindle, Google Play, Story Tell, Audible, Apple Books, Lantern, and more

Chirp got it right with the summary:

“Yoga doesn’t just make a song within us, it opens us and makes us ready to receive a new song . . . there is no one track method or surefire formula by which the yogi receives yoga’s song because the lived experience of yoga is composed from threads of gray that become the seedbeds for change.  . . .

The economics of yoga are simple; we give, and yoga performs the necessary soul-dialysis: it purifies toxicity, reroutes negativity, renews the body, trims ego, patches flaws, melts worry, takes on pain, renews our hearts, and recasts our breath. When I go to yoga (paraphrasing Rumi), I am like a man in a tavern with many wines but without a glass. I keep going back to yoga where I become a reed dipping into a well of fine wine. I absorb from the well and drink its fermented wisdom.”

 

FUN FACTS: the word “yoga” appears 631 times in Yoga Song. It is a 2-hour 32-minute audiobook. Kevin Stillwell, a professional actor employed by Lantern Audio, narrates the Foreword written by Dr. Yoaananth Andiappan. Yoga Song (print version) contains my six-point philosophical precis and a glossary where I define yoga.

The six points:

  1. Trust
  2. Breath
  3. Embodiment
  4. Community
  5. Practice
  6. Healing

What do you think yoga is?

Yoga Song (sample available)

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Yoga Song, just released in audiobook as a sound track to your journey of transformation and instrument of mass inspiration

NOW you can listen to an integrative description of the Humble Warrior Pose in “Yogi, Heal Thyself,” an excavation of emotions rising up during the heart-lifting arc of a camel pose in “Making Heroes,” and the affirming mystery of yoga’s therapy falling upon your ears in “Yoga, A Breathcentric Community,” and much more.

Yoga Song now available on LANTERN Audiobooks, Audible, Kindle, Apple Books, Bookbeat, audiobooks.com, audiobooksnow.com, downpour.com, Findaway, Google Play, Biblioteha LLC, Baker & Taylor, Follett Library Services, and 10 others, Hoopla, Kindle, Macklin Educational Resources, Overdrive, Kobo, Libro.FM, Nook Audio, Scribd, and Odilo.

Yoga Song is an instrument of mass inspiration in 21 vignettes and five original songs. While you listen, yoga’s song will fall upon your heart, register in your body, and spark new life in your mind and spirit. I narrate this book with my conviction that breath is yoga’s song, and when you breathe doing yoga, you are singing your yoga song and restoring your body’s equilibrium.

Hear Yoga Song on your way to yoga class, traveling this summer, or when resting in your comfortable place.

Thank you, and please tell your friends about Yoga Song as a LANTERN Audiobook available NOW at $8.99 through Lantern as your 2 hour and 32 minute inspirational yoga companion in music and narration.
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“Playing in Space: a yogic way of being,” the 102nd of my #yogainspirationals in March, 2023 Om Yoga Magazine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Her comment had me think about yoga as play in space. Playing doesn’t eliminate effort and the physical work of asana, but I think it can lighten the mental aspect and open a sense of joy in us that may be a timely renewal point.

In the book, Work, Play, and Worship in a Leisure-Oriented Society, Author Gordon Dahl issued a stern critique of American culture when he wrote, “We work at our play, worship our work, and play at our worship.” Dahl maintained that we miss the point of all three if our intentions are misaligned with our actions.

From the age of 16, and through college, I had to work part-time at my father’s grocery store, and since I had to spend a lot of time there, I never liked going into the grocery store as an adult. We are required to work for our living, and work is satisfying when it’s something aligned with who and what we are, but at 16 I was just doing it from necessity, and it wasn’t my intended career.

In time, I started thinking about my avoidance of grocery stores and realized the problem was me, so I set out to change my perception (an important aspect of yoga life according to Patanjali). I tried to make grocery store visits fun by putting a smile on my face and offering random comments to people. Occasionally, I stopped to juggle oranges or avocados. Now when I go to a grocery market, I tend to frame it as play.… 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...

The Song of the Harley and Yoga’s Song. Listen in to Amanda Kingsmith’s podcast episode this week on Mastering the Business of Yoga as we discuss motorcycling, yoga, stress, and more

Mastering the Business of Yoga #mbom is an entrepreneurial podcast created by Amanda Kingsmith, a yogi-businesswoman who’s conducted interviews with yoga practitioners and business owners for over five years now. Great tips from yogi business owners big and small are curated by Amanda and broadcast on M. B. OM, her podcast. This week, I am Amanda’s guest, so tune in to hear about teaching at the interlap between motorcycling and yoga. At the end, I read a few paragraphs from my book, YOGA SONG.

FROM AMANDA: This week on the podcast, I am joined by Gregory Ormson. Gregory is a yoga teacher, an author, and a passionate biker. His yoga writing is published in 23 national and international magazines, journals, and online sites with over 5 million dedicated readers. Some of his articles have logged nearly 400,000 views and have been shared over 7000 times.

Known as #motorcyclingyogig, Gregory has taught yoga for bikers since 2017 at Superstition Harley Davidson, the only dealership in the country to hold yoga classes in its facility. Gregory first came on the podcast back in 2017 to share his business and unique niche with listeners, and he is back today to share how things have been going, what he’s learned through his career, as well as a little bit about his new book, Yoga Song. Enjoy!

Discussed in this episode:

  • Offering yoga for bikers in a Harley Davidson store for over five years
  • How Gregory markets his classes to other people
  • Aiming for an inspirational teaching strategy in yoga
  • Learning to relax in the midst of stressful situations
  • Important business lessons Gregory has learned over the years
  • Having a genuine desire to get to know people and understand them
  • Learning more about Gregory’s book, Yoga Song
  • And much more… Here is the episode!
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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...

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
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YOGA SONG arriving in two weeks on International Yoga Day. Small sample from “Transforming the Emotional Body,” chapter 7

In yoga, we respond to the yoga song that our body is singing, and since we occupy the best position to define and transform our emotions, we use this knowledge – when getting in touch with our emotional bodies – to rewire our lives and release negatives.

Yoga teachers rightly say your yoga song might bring some emotions out of you that you were not yet ready to receive. But this is how the growth curve works, we may not be quite ready but are pushed by the emotion and physicality of yoga into the next bend on our journey.

Recently a friend went to a Carlos Santana concert. He wrote that it was “a spiritual experience.” I asked what he meant by that, and he responded: “Music always moves me, but his words were filled with grace and love; with a mixture of children’s photos throughout the world smiling and dancing. He issued a call to ‘rise up’ above the hatred. The music just echoed the experience. It went deep with me!” It’s no surprise to hear that music does this; it’s also what the yoga song of your body does in practice.

Yoga, like music, is a visual, emotional, acoustic, vibrational, and feeling based experience in the moment. It goes deep, and when the yogi listens to the yoga song of their own body, yoga takes them to work on transforming the emotional body and vice versa. It may lead to engaging a professional therapist because through yoga many emotions arise from the deep well of biological and cerebral memory.… read more...

PRESS KIT Yoga Song – audibook version Lantern Audio

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –
Lantern Audiobooks presents Gregory Ormson’s Yoga Song, a print publication in 2022 by Rochak Press, now available on Lantern Audiobooks and other platforms. Ormson states the song of yoga is the breath that turns ordinary moments into the extraordinary. In 21 vignettes and five original songs, Ormson narrates a journey of self-discovery, sharing knowledge, understanding, and quotations to inspire listeners.

Every yoga song is composed by the yogi, an instrument made of mind, spirit, emotion, energy, and consciousness. In chapters like, “Transforming the Emotional Body,” “Ritual Process and the Yogi’s New Song,” and “Yogatecture: Blueprint of Transformation,” Yoga Song becomes an instrument of mass inspiration in a melody proclaiming to every yogi that their breath is their song, a sacred song and the soundtrack to their journey of transformation.

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.

Yoga Song is an instrument of mass inspiration in the song of the body which includes mind, spirit, emotion, and energy. Its melodies are alive in the sound of Om or a vocalized heartfelt Namaste. In breath-centered yoga practice, yogis experience a therapeutic and healing power where ordinary moments stretch into extraordinary.

“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.… read more...

YOGA SONG a story in 23 lyric vignettes

  Yoga Song is a story of transformation and redemption in 23 lyric vignettes from Gregory Ormson with a foreword written by Dr. Yogananth Andiappan of the Andiappan Yoga Colleges. Yoga Song’s author states there’s a song at the center of all time, being, and structure. There’s also a song in the center of yoga, and the instrument of a yoga song is the yogi’s body which includes: mind, spirit, emotion, energy, and consciousness.

In a breathcentric yoga practice, yogis experience yoga’s transforming and therapeutic power where ordinary moments stretch into extraordinary. Described in vignettes like “Transforming the Emotional Body,” “Ritual Process and the Yogi’s New Song,” and “Yoga: a Breathcentric Community,” Yoga Song proclaims to every yogi, with informative and inspirational content, that as they yoga they are a yoga song . . . a sacred song in mind, body, and spirit.

Rochak Publishing ISBN: 978-93-88125-90-1 INR 200 US $ 15 — 109 pages. Available International Yoga Day June 21, 2022 www.cyberwit.net and on Amazon

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

“This fantastic inspirational essay written by Gregory Ormson is . . . a must read.” Jennifer Taylor, Tulivesi Yoga, Marquette, Michigan

“Ormson has written some profound articles about his expansion through yoga. This piece was beautiful and I know all my friends who practice yoga will truly appreciate it just as much as I did.” Meagan Rasmussen, Kona, Hawaii

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.… read more...

From YOGA SONG coming in 30-days on International Yoga Day

Many 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. 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 where I build my satyagraha.

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.… read more...

Advanced praise for YOGA SONG from Asana International Yoga Journal

YOGA SONG will be published on International Yoga Day, June 21, 2022.

Asana Journal contributor Dr. Gregory Ormson is a well-known author, who frequently contributes to the Asana International Yoga Journal. He expresses his sense of humour, admiration for yoga, and love of motorbike through his poetry.

He’s written several popular titles in the past for our readers, including “Enter the Master, Enter the Child,” “Making Heroes,” “By a Thread,” “Truth Force on Your Mat,” “Yogi, Heal Thyself,” and “Release into Savasana.”

Here, words of endorsement from Dr. Yogananth Andiappan, esteemed yoga teacher, scholar, and leader of the Andiappan Yoga Colleges in India and Hong Kong.

He expresses his sense of humour, admiration for yoga, and love of motorbike through his poetry.

This (Yoga Song) is fascinating and inspiring to read . . . it is apparent from the beginning of his writings that he loves yoga and that his view of the practice and discipline of yoga is extraordinary.

I would like to highlight a particuar paragraph which stands out to me and shows his sincerity and deep connection to the practice.

‘In the play of yoga, we invest all we are from the inside, here and now. The yoga we embody then becomes a defining storyline in our role. We are wise to invest in ourselves now, live it now, and find alighment within self.'”

There will be a book review in the June 2022 issue of Asana Journal, which is dedicated to International Yoga Day.
This video shows Dr. Greg playing the sitar with one of the his yoga songs lyrics.
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