After an exhaustive judging process of hundreds of entries, Homebound Publications announced Yogacharya O'Brian as the finalist of their 4th annual Poetry Prize for her manuscript, The Moon Reminded Me. (more about Homebound Publications)

The Moon Reminded Me
by Ellen Grace O'Brian

Published by Homebound Publications, February 2017

In her luminous poems, Ellen Grace O’Brian manages to braid contemporary moments of everyday life with ancient spiritual teachings—the sight of a hummingbird’s red throat, bread on the table, a couple’s quarrel, a mother’s advice—become doorways into the divine mystical heart. The Moon Reminded Me, subtly laced with Sanskrit, gives us an insight into a poet who bridges two worlds eloquently enough to take us along with her. Sandhya, the numinous time for stepping into the temple, suddenly becomes this moment, now.

Current publications by Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian


About the Author

Yogacharya Ellen Grace O’Brian, M.A., poet, writer, and teacher is Founder and Spiritual Director of Center for Spiritual Enlightenment, a meditation center in the ancient tradition of Kriya Yoga in San Jose, CA. She teaches throughout the US and internationally and is the recipient of the Hindu American Foundation’s 2015 Mahatma Gandhi Award. She is vice-chair emeritus of the Parliament of the World’s Religions and President of the Board of Carry the Vision for nonviolence education. Her books include Living the Eternal Way: Spiritual Meaning and Practice in Daily Life and A Single Blade of Grass: Finding the Sacred in Everyday Life. She is the Founding Editor of Enlightenment Journal, a quarterly yoga magazine, a regular contributor to Truth Journal magazine, and Contemplative Journal online, as well as host of The Yoga Hour, a weekly radio program that brings contemporary writers and spiritual leaders together in conversation about yoga, world religions, and spirituality. She is the author of two volumes of poetry—One Heart Opening and The Sanctuary of Belonging, published through CSE Press, the publishing department of her ministry. Her work is included in the anthology, Poetic Medicine, by John Fox. As a western meditation teacher, poet and writer, Yogacharya O’Brian weaves poetry throughout her teachings as a way to communicate what words can only point to. Her work exemplifies the universal nature of yoga philosophy and makes its wisdom accessible to people from all walks of life.  

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