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Gregory Ormson

Writer, musician, yoga-loving motorcyclist.

YOGI, Heal Thyself yogainspirationals number 27, Jan. 8, 2016, Asana Journal

Serving others as a teacher, healer, or a therapist is not an occupation for those with identity questions or ambiguity about their life’s work. Therapists and healers are called to their work by something larger than themselves and they know it in their bones. In the realm of healing work, whether you engage from the prepared space of your therapeutic container, yoga studio, or another more public arena, chances are you ‘ll not be getting much affirmation, so your ego must be strong but not big

In Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom, B.K.S. Iyengar wrote that the problem of self-healing is especially difficult for those who have achieved positions of prominence – like physicians, therapists, healers and other achievers – yet the generative therapist, healer, or teacher deepens their wisdom when they understand their greatest strength may also be their greatest weakness.

Iyengar’s voice is clear when writing about the pitfalls of human pride.

Considerable achievements also bring in their wake considerable dangers. An obvious one is pride – not satisfaction in a job well done – but a sense of superiority and difference, of distinction and eminence.

This is why healers working from the prepared space of their therapeutic container, yoga studio, or another more public arena, must have a strong ego, but not a big one. Self-healing can be more elusive than roping fish.

HUMILITY: THE HEALING ATTITUDE

To move from a place of high achievement to self-healing is hard because it takes humility. It’s also difficult because the place of humility is not a place. If healing meant a locale, it would be easy to find a dose of humility. But humility is a state of mind. A humble person faces up to their motivations and they’re willing to examine the pitfalls of ego. The healing state of mind fosters an attitude willing to submit and take the advice of another.

Therapists and healers know their patients will test them, and in order to achieve the larger goal, sometimes the patient, student, or congregant must challenge the healer as a way to find their healing. The healer must be able to handle it. And they will if they have prepared themselves with humility and a strong ego, signs of maturity and wisdom. Some people cling, some will idealize, and some will dislike you and try to bring you down. That’s when you come to the harder task that all healers must face… healing yourself.

Self-healing, rather than being escapist, happens with awareness, self-knowledge, and access to resources. My hope is that when the healer needs healing, he or she has multiple answers to each of these self-care questions.

What do I do?

Where do I go?

Who do I talk to?

Without options, it can be easy to slip into escapist behavior that suits nobody, especially the healer.

RELEASE: THE HEALING ACT

An overlooked healing action starts by letting go of achievements. This is why it’s hard for healers to heal themselves. They are people of credentials, learning, and achievement. Normally they are highly educated, trained, conscientious, and proud of their work and abilities. This is all good.

But in those moments when the healer sits at home after a long day feeling busted and broken, like they want to sit down in the corner to cry and die, escapist behaviors, credentials, and achievements will not comfort. I’ve know those moments. All my friends and colleagues in the healing professions have known them too. As a young clergy, I had to face my escapist behaviors and learn achievements alone were not enough to sustain me.

One Saturday night I was working late at the church. All doors were locked and I was drinking beer. I didn’t realize it, but I accidentally left six empty cans next to the electric typewriter in the church office when I went home.

When I arrived early the next morning, prepared to lead a congregation in worship and teaching, my co-workers confronted me. I decided then that I’d better find a different way to grapple with who I was as a therapist, spiritual leader, and healer. I wasn’t perfect, and I knew it, but I had some soul searching to do and I knew that too.

Healers know their needs are directly related to a realignment of energy. They understand healing energy paradigms because they are central to what the healer’s therapeutic is when working with others. In yoga’s healing therapeutic, energy moves from body to mind and spirit. This strategic movement of tension and release is what I call the magic reversal, using the physical self to heal the mental and spiritual self. One example of how this body energy works on the mind and spirit of the healer is through the humble warrior yoga pose.

HUMBLE WARRIOR: THE HEALING POSTURE

In humble warrior, the yogi’s head is down and the crown of their head is stretched forward completely exposing their necks – in devotion or reverence – their gaze is downcast, avoiding eye contact. The yogi bows in submission to an imagined superior observing the yogi’s oblation.

The yogi is balanced with their feet wide apart but clearly vulnerable to a push from the right or left. Hands are often clasped behind one’s back and can be stretched toward the sky. In every way, humble warrior reminds me of Bambi, vulnerable and exposed to danger. Humble warrior is a warrior with no defense. It requires focus, trust, and discipline while symbolizing complete submission.

The yogi or therapist embodying humble warrior can create a healing oasis anywhere, anytime. This is the secret of how the healer heals themselves; by letting go of pride in expertise and by leaning into the art of humility in flesh and blood. There’s no need to overanalyze, it’s an energy thing, and a trust thing.

The yogic parable of humble warrior is that healing is not found in doing. It’s not in trusting oneself, but in the energy of submission. Healers, teachers and physicians can heal themselves, but its like roping fish, impossible without the magic ingredients. But with the right attitude, act, and posture, anything is possible – even for the physician-healers.

____________________________________________________

Reference:

Iyengar, B., & Evans, J. (2005). Wisdom: The Intellectual Body p. 174. In Light on life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom. Emmaus, Pa.: Rodale.

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About Greg Ormson

Musician, writer, yoga-loving motorcyclist teaching yoga for bikers (Yoga & Leather) at Superstition Harley Davidson in Arizona.

Free diving in Hawaii, Greg learned the importance of breath management and has translated that into teaching Yoga-Breath, Breath of Life workshops accompanied by his band, Sat Song.

He’s traveled through five countries and most of the US to study world religions and other non-formal spiritual expressions. His doctoral degree at the Chicago Theological Seminary was cultural interpretation through a theological and psychological lens. He focused specifically on the power of touch for healing in ritual environments.
He widely on yoga with nearly 100 columns in 18 publications with a combined followership of over 5 million; his writing often categorized under #MotorcyclingyogiG. He contributes regulary to OM Yoga Magazine (UK).

In 2017 he won the Lyric Narrative Non Fiction Award from Eastern Iowa Review for "Midwest Intimations," and in 2016 won Indiana Review's contest for 13 word stories. His nonfiction has earned finalist mention in New Millennium and The Bellingham Review.

Dr. Ormson is an alumnus of The Chicago Theological Seminary; Chicago, Illinois;
The University of Wisconsin, La Crosse; La Crosse, Wisconsin;
Northern Michigan University, Marquette, Michigan;
Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio.

https://gregoryormson.com
Twitter: @GAOrmson
Instagram:#motorcyclingyogiG

His yoga articles have reached millions of viewers through social media and have been translated and shared in Portuguese, Tamil, French, Hebrew, and Spanish.

They can be found searching links the following titles and sources:

98. “Yoga & Leather’ NMU alum leads class for bikers,” The Mining Journal, Marquette, Michigan July 23, 2020
97 "Yoga and Leather: how yoga is helping Harley riders and other bikers to find their Ze3n on and off the highway,” " OM Yoga Magazine July 2020
96 “Clearing Space,” OM Yoga Magazine
95 “Why We Need Yoga Now More than Ever,”
94 "Seniorgrams from the Successful,"
93 “Jesus, Yogi” Asana Journal
92 “Yoga Precis: six steps to a complete yoga practice”
91 “Yoga’s Outliers: Men” OM Yoga Magazine
90 “Yogatecture: Building Your House of Truth,” OM Yoga Magazine
89 “Conducing Heat to Cleanse the Self,” Yogi Times
88 “Silence and Slow Time,” OM Yoga Magazine
87 “Rough Road? Breathe . . .” HOG Magazine
86 “Yoga and the Pure Consciousness of Healing,” Asana Journal
85 “Conducting the Awesome,” OM Yoga Magazine
84 “Yoga: A New Road for Bikers,” Yoga Magazine (UK)
83 “The Way to Sacred Being,” Bad Yogi Mag
82 “Let It Be: When Your Yoga Becomes You,” Bad Yogi Mag
81 “Yoga as Commencement Ritual,” Yoganect
80 “Yoga, Jesus and the Pure Consciousness of Healing,” Bad Yogi Mag
79 “Traveling OM: rediscovering the abiding peace of coming home in a frantic world,” OM Yoga Magazine (UK)
78 “Conducting the Awesome: What I’ve learned from 7 years practicing hot yoga,” elephant journal
77 “Nine Ways you Give Back to Yoga,”
76 “Your Yoga Mat: Dimensions of Healing,”
75 “Yoga and Spiritual Questions,”
74 “Making Contact with Yourself and Your Practice,”
73 “How Many Limbs are Required,”
72 "Por que Precisamos de yoga mais do que nunca.” Why We Need Yoga Now More than Ever. www. boayoga.com.br/por-que-precisamos-de-yoga-agora-mais-do-que-nunca-gregory-ormson
71 “Fixing our Backs, Riding our Bikes: common benefits of yoga have every day application to motorcycling." AZ Rider Motorcycle News
70 “Hatha, Hawaii,”
69 “Armor On, Armor Off: The Psychology of Yin Yoga,” Sivana Spirit
68 “Yoga Script for Health and Joy,” Sivana Spirit
67 “Namaste: Nexus of a New Identity,” Sivana Spirit
66 “Embraced by Joy and Bliss,” Sivana Spirit
65 “The Delight Song of a New Architecture,” Sivana Spirit
64 “Transforming the Emotional Body,” Asana Journal
63 “The Real Power of Savasana,” Sivana Spirit
62 “Intention: Your Golden Egg for Change,” Sivana Spirit
61 “Yoga Tips: 6 Easy Ways to get the Most out of Your Yoga Class,” The Health Orange
60 “Mantra for Me and You,” Sivana Spirit
59 “Slow Down and Breathe,” Asana Journal
58 “Tradition Trumps Trendiness,” Asana Journal
57 “Yoga Teacher Training: Revelations Encountered” HelloYoga
56 “How Yoga Ruins our Lives” elephant journal
55 “Yoga Teacher Training: Encountering Self,” TribeGrow
54 “True Presence,” Asana Journal
53 “A Parable of Unmaking,” Asana Journal
52 “Yogatecture: The Elegant Arc of Change,” Asana Journal
51 “Truth Force on Your Mat,” Asana Journal
50 “What You Give to Yoga,” Yogi Times
49 “Enter the Master, Enter the Child,” Asana Journal
48 “The Honorable Yogi,” Asana Journal
47 “Finding Your Depth,” Asana Journal
46 “Teaching Yoga: It’s Not About You,” TribeGrow
45 “In the Midnight Hour: How Yoga Brought My Soul Back,” HelloYoga
44 “Gifts from the Core,” Asana Journal
43 “Release into Savasana,” Asana Journal
42 “The Bridge Within,” Asana Journal
41 “By a Thread,” Asana Journal
40 “Coaching Up: Yoga for Newbies,” DoYouYoga
39 “Your Beautiful Feet,” Asana Journal
38 “Lessons from Yoga and Freediving,” Asana Journal
37 “Five Tips and One Requirement for Coaching Yoga,” Seattle Yoga News
36 “The Immigrant Asana,” Asana Journal
35 “Making Heroes” Asana Journal
34 “Namaste: Nexus of a New Identity,” Sivana Spirit
33 “Sphinx Pose: To Rise in Righteousness,” Asana Journal
32 “Storage Wars and Yoga’s Emotional Rescue,” Asana Journal
31 “Asana Back to the Innocent Age,” Asana Journal
30 “The Year of the Monkey and Yoga’s Counter-Cultural Mathematic,” elephant journal
29 “The Missing Link,” Asana Journal
28 “Your Portable Home” Yoga International
27 “Yogi, Heal Thyself” Asana Journal
26 “Health and Joy, Why Not Us?”
25 “A New Planting, A New Harvesting,” Do You Yoga
24 “Three Stages of a Yogi’s Transformation,” Do You Yoga
23 “Peace: Just a Pause Away,” Yogi Times
22 “How Yoga Helps Us Release,” elephant journal
21 “Why Unpolished Prayers are Still Good Prayers,” elephant journal
20 “Yoga and the Place of Soul,” elephant journal
19 “Yoga’s Covenant: The Promise of Change,” Yogi Times
18 “What is a Kind Yogi,” The Yoga Blog
17 “Yoga and Social Responsibility,” The Yoga Blog
16 “Who Moved the Yoga Mat,” Yogi Times
15 “Yoga’s Touchy Subject – Touching,” DoYouYoga
14, “A Yoga Parable,” Yogi Times
13 “The Yoga Pose that Healed My Back Injuries,” elephant journal
12 “Becoming Your Own Life-Changing Quote,” The Yoga Blog
11 “Finding Your Mantra,” DoYouYoga
10 “Will You Yoga 30 Years from Now,” The Yoga Blog
9 “Ego, Injury, and Your Yoga,” elephant journal
8 “Silence and Your Practice,” The Yoga Blog
7 “Your Breath, Your Center,” elephant journal
6 “Your Practice, Your Inventory,” The Yoga Blog
5 “Aligning and Refining,” elephant journal
4 “Understanding a Yoga Teacher,” The Yoga Blog
3 “Yoga and the Unconscious Mind,” The Yoga Blog
2 “You’re Not Alone on Your Savasana Cloud,” elephant journal
1 “Changing My Story: 365 Days of Yoga,” The Yoga Blog

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