MotorcyclingyogiG

08/05/2026

Halleluijah in a Northern Wisconsin Bar is the minor chord and the major lift; not from booze but the renditions we live with in song and story.

Halleluijah in a Northern Wisconsin Bar is the minor chord and the major lift; not from booze but the renditions we live with in song and story.

07/31/2026

Speaking as Hospitality

A central premise in my forthcoming book is that speaking is a covenant of hospitality. I maintain the connection between audience and speaker is the key to effective speech. That covenant is held together by readiness. An audience is ready and they show up to hear, but the effective speaker will be more ready and they will invite connection and will prepare the place and the atmosphere. I have come to think of emotional, intellectual, and hospitality quotients as the “quotients of readiness.” These quotients enable the speaker to open up meaningful communication....

If you want to know how the conditions of hospitality set up a memorable meeting and speech, look no further than my example of Grandma Grace. Hospitaity make syour speech an act of attention and service. You cannot do better. Grandma Grace taught me this.

07/30/2026

Speaking as Hospitality: A First Look from Sutra House

It may be odd to hear that effective public speaking is about learning to pay better attention. Attention to the room. Attention to another person's fears. Attention to the conversations taking shape before your first word. This attention led me to write Speaking as Hospitality and Sutra House has released the pre-publication page, and I'm excited to finally share it. Speaking as Hospitality by Gregory A. Ormson | Sūtra House

Sutra House has released the pre-publication page, and I'm excited to finally share it. Speaking is not about you, it's about your attention to them.

07/27/2026

Blue and Broken in the Keweenaw

BLUE AND BROKEN IN THE KEWEENAW Thorburn and I got scolded by a grade school principal in Michigan's Copper Country. But come on, we were, and are writers. Back then, we were hungry and broke too. Russell Thorburn, Upper Michigan’s first Poet Laureate, had been hired to travel through Michigan’s Upper Peninsula schools to lead poetry and writing workshops. Thorburn believed children could write real poems if someone sparked an idea and expected enough of them. I brought my guitar and traveled with him to Michigan’s Copper Country in the far, far Northwest....

Two writers, broke and hungry learn from a small boy about the blues and hardship.

07/24/2026

Visiting my granddaughters (and their parents of course). And in this era of my life, I am deeply blessed by the joy of being alive and present in uneventful but important moments . . . watching two children by the water. It's two privileges many do not have; first the experience itself, and second, the ability to see it as one of life's greatest gifts.

07/21/2026

A Dust Bath for Five Chickens: satisfaction in small things

I'm in Wisconsin, helping my daughter with a small chicken project. Her five chickens needed a bin in the coop to take their dust baths. So we gathered a couple of old vegetable beds and transferred the soil into sheltered boxes where they could scratch, roll, and clean their feathers. Building a dust bath for five chickens on a summer day is not important work by most standards. The chickens certainly didn't clap or bow in thanks. They wandered nearby, squawking their opinions, occasionally stepping into the work before it was finished, entirely unconcerned with labor....

I'm in Wisconsin, helping my daughter with a small chicken project. Her five chickens needed a bin in the coop to take their dust baths. So we gathered a

07/20/2026

YOGATECTURE: The Elegant Arc of Change

Originally published in Asana International Yoga Journal on October 2, 2017 Yoga empowers and brings seeds to fruition. From the mat up, yoga-tec-ture is the process of yoga. And the process of yoga is the work of personal transformation formed by the elegance and heritage of an ancient blueprint that molds bodies, minds, and spirits. This blueprint admonishes the yogi to wrestle with self and discover inner work which transforms the outer structure. Yoga-tec-ture moves like the flow of kundalini – from the ground up – lighting the inner fire. There, yogis emboding this fiery heritage, transform themselves as they learn to strengthen the will, endure physical distress, adapt to limits, and slowly integrate their newfound power in surrender and relinquishment....

From the mat up, yoga-tec-ture is the process of yoga. And the process of yoga is the work of personal transformation formed by the elegance and heritage of an ancient blueprint that molds bodies, minds, and spirits.

07/14/2026

Today is publication day, and I am delighted to share that my essay, “Team Flame,” appears in Issue 24 of The Twin Bill.

The Twin Bill is a literary quarterly devoted to baseball writing and art. Each year, the journal releases a special issue on the day of Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game, bringing together writers and artists who understand that baseball is never only about the final score. The game carries memory, ritual, failure, hope, humor, and the long stories we tell about who we were and who we hoped to become.

Issue 24 includes eight poems, two works of creative nonfiction, and four works of fiction. Each selection is accompanied by a unique original illustration created especially for the piece.
My contribution, “Team Flame,” is a work of creative nonfiction shaped like a baseball lineup. Its players step to the plate carrying fire, desert heat, memory, danger, and the odd courage ball players require to remain in the game.

I am grateful to the editors and artists of The Twin Bill for giving “Team Flame” a place in this All-Star lineup. I invite you to read the new issue, enjoy the writing and artwork, and meet the players of Team Flame.

Today is publication day, and I am delighted to share that my essay, “Team Flame,” appears in Issue 24 of The Twin Bill.

07/14/2026

Team Flame Takes the Field for The Twin Bill

Today is publication day, and I am delighted to share that my essay, “Team Flame,” appears in Issue 24 of The Twin Bill. The Twin Bill is a literary quarterly devoted to baseball writing and art. Each year, the journal releases a special issue on the day of Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game, bringing together writers and artists who understand that baseball is never only about the final score. The game carries memory, ritual, failure, hope, humor, and the long stories we tell about who we were and who we hoped to become....

Today is publication day, and I am delighted to share that my essay, “Team Flame,” appears in Issue 24 of The Twin Bill.

07/14/2026

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 July 11, 2026, in Asana International Yoga Journal. People sometimes say Savasana is the hardest yoga pose. At first, this sounds ridiculous. After bending, balancing, twisting, holding, breathing, and pulling on rebellious sinew for nearly an hour, how can lying flat on our backs be the difficult part?...

My essay, “Savasana and the Open Hand: A Practice of Release,” was published July 11, 2026, in Asana International Yoga Journal.