Dear Qoya Community,
Deep breath.
When I was in college, I took a class called the Psychology of Death and Dying. One of the highlights was that Elizabeth Kübler-Ross came to our class, and we were able to ask questions and honor her contribution to the mapping of our psyche by naming the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
Dear Qoya Community,
I write this honoring the power of intention, which is the theme of the month for Qoya as it relates to the pillar of Setting an Intention at the beginning of class. My intention in this email is to offer nourishment.
While I am holding a vision for a potent and poetic transformation with this global pandemic, I also have waves of intense concern (which is my most current reframe of fear). I'm curious about how we as humanity will re-emerge. My prayer is we will be stronger, softer, clearer, more humble, and more committed to our interconnected reality that includes all of us and all living things, especially the earth that is our home. I trust and I think of the proverb "When planting corn, pray for rain with a hoe in your hand." I hope that we will not only rest during this time, but that we will rise. That we will stand, march, and dance in the direction of the more beautiful world we know is possible.
Dear Dancers,
Four years ago on Valentine’s Day, I released my first book Qoya: A Compass for Navigating an Embodied Life that is Wise, Wild and Free. Like most creative projects, there were many twists and turns. One of the final ones was when my editor offered that the book was good, but she sensed needed more of a personal thread that wove through each lesson. She asked if I knew what story was there left to tell. My heart dropped into my stomach as I realized the answer: it was my challenges with the masculine.
Dear Qoya Community,
On January 2nd, I went to the airport to check in for my flight for Hawaii. When I handed my driver’s license to the agent, he asked, "Where are you traveling to?" I replied, "Kona," and then he said, "Ok. Please hand me your passport."
We shared a sacred pause.
I wanted to say, “Hawaii is part of the U.S.,” but in that that moment I felt unable to do so. I became painfully aware of the injustice of Hawaii being illegally seized and occupied land by the United States and curious if there will be a time in the future when Hawaii will be restored to its sovereignty, when I would need a passport to travel to Hawaii.
Dear Creator of Sacred Space,
New Year's is often a time of intentions and incantations. This newsletter and all things Qoya are offered to support people on the verge of making a soul-based decision, on navigating their choices in life by honoring the wisdom of the body with a clear mind, open heart, and connected spirit.
What is calling you forward into this new year? Personally, I found a small retreat center in upstate New York that needs a lot of work as it is in the middle of a remodel. The second I saw it, something awakened in me. Every time I think about it, I feel a surge of energy up and down my spine. It feels a little like lightning with its strength, illumination, and intensity! I feel so enlivened as if my future self is inviting me to grow into this next phase of my life. There are many obstacles to manifestation from a linear perspective and so many sychronicities of grace from a soulfully embodied one. I have surrendered to the journey with one foot dancing alongside the other, living into each moment as it emerges with curiosity of what's next.
Dear Dancers of Shadow and Light,
Last weekend, I was honored to dance with a group of amazing souls in Asheville, North Carolina alongside a friend and new co-facilitator, Deborah Eden Tull, who spent 7 years training at a silent Buddhist monastery and wrote a book I love called Relational Mindfulness. We explored the metaphors of winter as a way to notice any of our prejudices or bias around going within in, slowing down and expanding our capacity to stay present in times of darkness, stillness, and deep rest.
Dear Soul Under the Full Moon,
Thank you for being here in the dance of these days as we approach the solstice. For us in the Northern Hemisphere, it's a time of deep reflection and going inward to honor the day with the least amount of light. For those of you in the Southern Hemisphere, it's a time of honoring the day with the most light. Having awareness of ourselves and of others having a different experience, yet all here under the same full moon, we're invited to understand the paradoxes in our daily lives and larger worldview.
Dear Heart,
I'm so grateful to have this shared moment with you. I can imagine that you're a busy person with a full life, and it means a lot to me that we are able to dance together in this place of words and ideas. For those who I have also danced with in person via a class, retreat, teacher training, or the videos online, I am so grateful for the ways we have been able to evolve together.
I just completed leading the Qoya Teacher Training Intensive in upstate New York at Menla Mountain Retreat Center. It was my 18th time leading this training in person; however, it was the first time that I led it having my son with me. The training is incredibly immersive with 10-12 hour days, so while my husband and friends would take shifts caring for my son, he would join us for a few hours each day. In many ways, his presence was a bubbling source of joy. At other times, he would passionately babble (something that started just this last week) while we as a group were trying to stay focused on our adult conversation. It was, as we say, a dance.
Life requires us to navigate the tension between the foundation of how things used to be, the dynamism of how they are changing, and the hope of how they will grow to be.
I yearn to live in a world that honors the archetypical and embodied feminine inside each one of us, our relationships, our society, and our world. This has been the inspiration for so much of Qoya: to create a space to remember our essence and reclaim the aspects of ourselves that are ready to be lived into.
I have so many dreams that live as seeds of potential, not yet emerged above ground, and I imagine you do as well.
It feels like something is stirring under the surface, ready to ignite the soul fire in our hearts to awaken, to take action, and to appreciate the power of potential that we individually possess that is amplified when we organize and support one another.
What do you feel as this new moon begins? Are you willing to set aside some time to feel the foundation of your life, sense the transformation that is in process, and direct its energy into alignment with the clarity of your highest vision? If so, you may feel yourself supported by the magic of this moment.
Our resident astrologer Virginia Rosenberg shares:
The New Moon in Sagittarius on November 26, 2019 (10:05am EST) is for beginning a new journey. Jupiter, planet of opportunity and growth, is completing a year-long sojourn in its home sign of Sagittarius. This is the final lunation we experience with Jupiter in Sagittarius for 12 years. We have been on a quest. What have you been seeking in 2019? Where have you been stretching yourself? What has been growing in your life throughout 2019? This Moon seals the deal on what has developed and asks us to place our sights on next steps. At this point, we are gaining clarity about what is real and viable, so we can let go of excess. Tune into your truest desires. Own what you really want. What would it feel like to own what you want? Are you worth what you want? Do you have the power to draw it into manifestation? Absolutely. Claim it. Get ready to live it. This Moon is a re-direct. It is accompanied by surprises, hairpin turns, and unpredictable acts. Embrace rapidly changing conditions. Remain flexible and open-minded. We are ushering out an era. Anything that oppresses our power must be dismantled and overthrown. Stagnation is intolerable. Astrologically speaking, we are preparing to begin several major new planetary cycles. What are you going to build in your life? What are we going to architect together? The journey ahead may seem long and arduous. It will require deep investment. Take some time to vision today. Dance with possibility. Let your spirits lift. Open yourself to the path that wants you to walk it. Where does truth want to take you? See through the eyes of hope. Dance with the question, “What if?” and be set free.
As we embrace this new moon and embark upon the cultural traditions of Thanksgiving in the United States this week, may we explore how to live in the paradox of these times. To be grateful for our lives and to be aware of the injustices that perpetuate privilege, all in the same breath. To offer our prayers, practices, and participation to serve the interconnected web of being, that when we support those in need, we all benefit.
The goal of this email is always to encourage the part of you who wants to move and embody your journey, so here I invite you to do what I plan to do this Thanksgiving:
-First, imagine gathering a few things from nature. Could be a stone, a stick, a leaf, a flower, water, dirt.
-With your handful of items, make an altar where each item represents something that you are grateful for. Instead of saying "I am grateful" or writing down "I am grateful," I encourage you to choose a song or put your songs on shuffle to dance your gratitude for each. You can do any of the pillars of Qoya or just move however your body wants to move. Notice the difference in how your gratitude feels embodied. Here is a Qoya Gratitude playlist to inspire you.
-When you feel deep connection to gratitude that is authentic and expanding, take an object and dance for your wish, dream, hope, prayer.
-Finally, after dancing your dream, dance for the highest good of everyone. Share the abundance of what you have received energetically with others. Beyond energetics, make it tangible and practical and be generous. You may be nourishing a seed for the new world.
Dear Qoya Community,
In each Qoya class, we begin by sharing that Qoya is based on a simple idea:
Through movement, we remember.
We remember our essence is inherently wise, wild and free. Wise, wild and free draw reference to the movement forms we invoke so that we may remember. Wise honors the traditions of yoga, meditation, and contemplative practices that reconnect us to our inner wisdom. Wild draws reference from the authentic expression available to us through dance when we let go of inhibition and performance and instead move in a way that expresses how we feel. Free empowers us to claim each movement as a choice and expand our capacity to choose the movements that are the most pleasurable and nourishing to us.
Dear Fellow Soul Traveler,
As I write this, I am waking up for the first morning after returning from the Qoya Embody the Goddess Retreat in Dharamasala, India.
When I told people I was bringing my 8 month old son to India while leading a Qoya retreat, there were awkward silences, understandable concerns, and kind curiosities.
Dear Dancer on the Path,
As Qoya teachers, we have gathered together to lead classes around the world with a similar theme: the wild power of self-love.
As I sit with the weight of this full moon, I sense a timely invitation, to love all ourselves, especially the places where we may have never brought our love before.
Dear Dancer on the Path,
As I sit down to write this, I'm in one of those humble places. My son got his first cold, and as much spiritual practice as I do with themes of trust, surrender, and faith, some moments are so tender that doubt sneaks in. Gratefully, the powers of play, hope, and joy came quickly to the rescue again.
Dear Dreamers,
It takes courage to dream. Perhaps a dream, wish, hope, prayer, desire, is calling you right now, just underneath your awareness. Waiting for you to notice.
It takes deep listening to allow it to come fully forward, and before you hear it with clarity, a fearful fog can cloud your vision. Whether it is the need to release layers of unconscious conditioning, past disappointments or the worry of one's expectations not being met, it is normal to seek guidance on how best to navigate our path. Qoya is always an invitation and encouragement to go within, feel the physical sensation of truth in your body, and explore how to live in integrity with yourself, others, nature, and spirit.
Dear Soul on the Other Side of the Screen,
As we enter into Virgo season astrologically, August 23rd to September 21st, I always think of the archetype of the Virgin. Have you ever heard the more accurate translation of "virgin" as meaning whole within oneself? It was used to describe a free woman: independent, autonomous, untied.
Dear Dancers,
I find that as I listen to others' stories, a theme of synchronicity, magic, and meaning is more easily seen in hindsight. When the seemingly disparate puzzle pieces click into place, we can accept and forgive the delays in having our expectations met. For a moment, many of us can see the soulful initiation we were being offered to live into when it may have seemed that we were moving further away from what we want.
Dear Soul on the Other Side of the Screen,
When I read Virginia’s astrological insight for this upcoming new moon in Leo, I couldn’t help but think of my gratitude for the last week in the redwoods where we gathered for the Qoya retreat focused on Embodying your Sacred Work. Inspired by the quote by Khalil Gibran, “Work is love made visible," we took the idea of sacred work as making love visible and danced with it throughout the week.
Our morning Qoya class themes were Sacred Connection, Your Work Has Worth, Gratitude for Love, and Go Be Who You Are. Our afternoons were filled with rituals that took us outside in humble reverence to the redwood trees. We ended the week in an amphitheater surrounded by these ancient wisdom keepers, learning from their example, as you can’t get much more visible than a redwood tree! As each person shared their relationship to their sacred work at the end of the week, my heart was on fire, and it felt like theirs were, too.
Dear Soul on the Other Side of the Screen,
There’s a saying, "Whatever we don’t heal in the present, we can expect to meet again in the future."
If you're human, my guess is that there are times in your life when you've buried something in your heart. Sometimes for safekeeping, other times for repression. What would it feel like to release the need to complicate the healing opportunity when the thing you've buried reveals itself again?
Dear Soul on the Other Side of the Screen,
Have you heard the saying, "They tried to bury us. They didn't know we were seeds?"
This quote inspires me with the feeling of our individual and collective resilience. It reminds me that even in the midst of the challenges and trials of our lives, inevitably, we will rise again. We activate an innate intelligence and cosmic companionship when we align with the true original intent, the seed, of our being.
Dear Soul on the Other Side of the Screen,
I celebrated my 39th birthday this week and was grateful to receive my biggest birthday wish: a labyrinth to walk on the land where I live. We went into a large grassy field with the lawnmower and spiraled out from the center, with the high grasses as partitions. Some friends came to gather for a picnic by the pond, and then we activated the labyrinth together with sacred song. The labyrinth spiral has been an essential healing tool for me and many others. With this full moon, I invite you to embrace the adventure of going within and emerging changed. To enter the labyrinth of life, literally or figuratively, can be chosen or forced, but is always a catalyst for transformation.
Dear Soul on the Other Side of the Screen,
Sometimes being human can be a very humble path. Follow me on this one for a second. Imagine something comes up and you have an emotional charge where you feel angry, upset or disappointed. Do you and I have the life experience to step out of the present for a moment to see it with a wider view? Beyond the immediacy of this one moment, are we willing to look at the source of the wound inside ourselves that is being reactivated? Can we stretch our perception beyond what is happening just to us and consider how this also affects others by tracking how this energy shows up in the collective experience? And on our more courageous days, are we open to imagining a way that this challenge could actually be a blessing?
