Gregory Ormson

Writer, musician, yoga-loving motorcyclist.

Blog on a Yoga Mat

They practice out of need, and their stories morph to create changed beings. It happens when a deep-reaching self-dialogue opens higher quality conversations connected to heart, discerned by conscious mind, and multiplied by soul.
The unimportant fades as breath majestically leaves and then returns. Body postures blend into physical therapy, and the inscape is charged with an energetic and nuanced love for self and all others.
Inhabitating this new territory – they grow to learn breath is guru – and spirit connects with an inner wind. Then the curriculum of intimate connection to everything takes hold.
Striking a covenant with yoga, they connect by showing up. They do so by faith, knowing well there are no inherited guarantees or predictable outcomes.
But a time-tested truth demonstrates that with practice, when the yogi bears their share in the bendable arc of change, reverberations from need connected to seed become transformational and shepherd them into unexpected and far-reaching evolutions.
… read more...

Conclusion (part V). Yoga, an Act of Surrender, Faith, Spirit, Sacrament, Ecclesia, Missiology, and Anointment

IN THIS series, I’ve treated yoga as a spiritual life practice and drawn comparisons between Christian and yoga spirituality. But of course, it’s also an individual practice with wide interpretation. Some practice yoga with no spiritual intention or awareness and I also affirm that perspective.

In this series, I’ve maintained yoga is a spiritual practice and I see it as a series of steps: an act of surrender, an act of faith, an act of spirit, an act of sacrament, an act of ecclesia, a missiology, and an act of anointment.

SURRENDER can define yoga spirituality; most know it as a release. The yogi starts class with gentle release, surrendering into trust. This activates the heart’s core where a ritual process opens the yogi to enter a state of true presence.

It’s unnecessary to seek out yoga’s popularity, location, or direction because the answer to the question of yoga is the same today as it was for Patanjali. Yoga is in you and it moves within you as far as you let it. Yoga asana, most of what the majority of yogis know as yoga, is built on the principle of embodiment. Embodiment means putting it into your body, and when the yogi does this it often leads to transformation.

FAITH can define yoga spirituality; most know it as trust. The yogi comes home to their breath-centric core where they kiss the soul to receive their full inheritance.

In relinquishment, the yogi learns to open their heart and settle into the most important moment – – the one they live. This grounding in the present is conscious contact which opens one to engage the reality of their life.… 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...

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