Hot Samadhi! I just started blogging again over at My Samadhi is Hot with post entitled, “100 Days of Practice” that talks about a practice vow I’ve recently undertaken. Read about that here and subscribe to hear more about my process and experience over the 100 days.

Love is Under Me. As usual, I continue writing and posting poems on my poetry site, Love is Under Me. If you’re new to that site, you can start with reader’s favorite poems and you can subscribe to get updates.

New Film. I recently wrote and directed a short film for my good friend, Lindsey Wilkinson who did an amazing job editing the film. Her first time, which is so hard to believe. It was shot for a class she took and had to be 5 minutes or less. “Tension of Immanence”. Watch below:

Some of my close friends already know this bit of big news in my life, but many of you do not: I have decided to move to LA/Santa Monica this summer, in August. Of course, I recognize that between now and then anything can happen that might make me change my mind, or obstacles might arise, but my intuition is speaking loud and clear and I trust it. I’m ready for a change and Santa Monica feels a good move to make and the time is right.

It is a big decision, but in many ways it’s quite natural and easy. Though, it is not so easy to part from Boulder and my lovely, amazing friends here, and the community in general. I share many of the feelings in this passage from Gibran in my decision to leave Boulder (though not in the same spiritual vein as he means):

The sea that calls all things unto her calls me, and I must embark.
For to stay, though the hours burn in the night, is to freeze and crystallize and be bound in a mould.
Fain would I take with me all that is here. But how shall I?
A voice cannot carry the tongue and the lips that give it wings. Alone must it seek the ether.
And alone and without his nest shall the eagle fly across the sun.
-From “The Prophet” by Kahlil Gibran

I will miss being around so many wonderful people whom I adore, but I also won’t ever feel distant in my heart from them (you). I also see myself returning back to Boulder afterward, but we’ll just have to see.

So, the big questions you might have are: how did this come up and why the move?

It all started with Vince and Emily Horn, two of my most favorite people in the world, who are like family to me, and with whom I currently live. It came up in their lives, and in quite a universe-aligning sort of way (much like it did for me), that moving to Santa Monica was potentially an amazing next move in what they are doing and becoming. I’ll leave it to them to share more about that, but what they are doing is incredibly inspiring and I’m excited about their next steps.

When this came up for them, they said, “Hey, you should come out with us!” And my response was an immediate ‘yes’. Now, they invited not only because we enjoy being around each other and sharing in one another’s lives, but also because they were aware of my aspirations in life, and on a practical level, it’s just easier to move and live in LA with a group. That being said, I’ve also made the decision to move to Santa Monica regardless of Vine and Emily’s final decision, though my heart hopes that it is with them.

Now, as for my personal reasons and desires, as you probably know I am in love with writing and film, and this is what I want to be doing with my life. It started with being a producer on my friend’s, Stuart Davis’s national television show, “Sex, God, Rock n Roll”, which was itself and overwhelming affirmation. This fall I wrote and co-directed my first short film, shooting it with an amazing group of friends. This also was a moving and validating experience for me. I feel I’m in a very important time in my life, creatively, artistically, and spiritually, both developing and emerging. I’m excited to change contexts for a while during this wonderful period of my life.

On a more tangible level, being in Santa Monica/LA will be exciting because I will be surrounded by creatives just like me, presenting opportunities to cultivate new relationships, and who knows, I might find opportunities in film and screenwriting as well. I’m looking at it as an open ended experience, simply putting myself out there without expectations. This is definitely not the stereotypical move to LA that you hear about, going out with whimsical or pipe dreams, without forethought and in desperation. That, I don’t need. With that being said, I will continue PowerUp Productions full-steam, running in Boulder and starting up in Santa Monica, paying my bills the same way I am now. And, I am and will continue to hold my excitement for PowerUp and it’s growth.

As far as how long I will be in Santa Monica, it’s hard to know. I assume that I will be out there for 1-3 years. In that time, along side of PowerUp blossoming, I hope to learn a lot, write several screenplays and short films, direct some of my own, and maybe find myself getting paid for it. But again, we’ll see. I’m relaxed about it all, but also firmly dedicated to developing myself and stepping out as artist.

So, all of this is a 100% go in my mind and heart and I will keep you updated on this as everything unfolds, and I’m excited to share in it with you all.

As I held your hand,

I felt the last breath leave your lips,

Taking my tenderness with it.

Buried under emptiness,

I only prayed for the sun

To lovingly scorch my body,

So that I might be swept away,

Reborn as beautiful as I always saw you.

Every place I escaped to

Carried the echoes of your heart,

Deafening my soul

So that I might hear for the first time.

Suddenly,

I found myself

Scattered in free-fall,

Pulled through the Kosmos

And I saw you.

I saw you,

Everywhere,

In everyone.

And in that moment

I remembered that you were me,

And all that remained

Was Love.

Love’s Invitation from Ryan Oelke on Vimeo.

This weekend I shot my first short film with an amazing team of talented friends for the Boulder Shoot Out Festival. The film, “Love’s Invitation”, placed in the Top Ten and I won the award for Best Screenplay. I am so very honored and grateful to everyone on the team and everyone who gave feedback on the screenplay. A few quick notes about the film:

• It was shot in 24 hours!
• There was NO EDITING. You had to do “in-camera” editing, which basically means – shoot a scene, keep it or rewind the tape, shoot it again, move to the next scene!
• We had to use 5 out of 11 possible items in our film, which we didn’t find out until the start of the 24 hours.
• Had to be 7 minutes or less, including title and credits.
• We didn’t do any post on the audio except the music and the voiceover.

Even without mentioning those parameters, I love our film as is. I hope you do too.

Credits:

Written by Ryan Oelke

Directed by Ryan Oelke, Jason Digges

Cinematography by Jason Lange

Starring: Stuart Davis, Hokai Sobol

Cameos by Sharon Rebek, Ryan Oelke, Abby Bader

Music by Stuart Davis

Boom by Charles Gammill
Sound Design by Ryan Oelke
Production Assistants - Lindsey Wilkinson, Seth Harris
Titles and Credits by Abby Bader
Special Thanks to Chelsea Brady

Other details on the festival: you can only do in-camera editing, which really means NO editing. And that means you have to shoot every scene sequentially. Once you have the scene, you move on to the next. No going back to redo, no fixing it in post, no multiple takes. We have from 6pm on Friday to 6pm on Saturday to shoot a short film no longer than 7 minutes.

The awesome crew includes:

Directing: Jason Digges and I

Cinematography, In-Camera Editing: Jason Lange and Jason Digges

Production Assistant: Lindsey Wilkinson

Boom: Charles Gammill

My Samadhi is Hot is here to melt the face off your soul. It’s for those practitioners who want to go beyond what Hafiz called “teacup talk of God”, for those Soldiers of Love…

Read more in the Samadhi Manifesto and hope to hear from you over there.

(PS – I have some film related posts that I’ll be writing up for this site, as well as a short film that is being shot at the end of this month.)

Happy Birthday, Gwendle!:)

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