Here is a love letter.  A reminder.  An invitation.  An offering.  Permission to forget about saying the right thing and encouragement to just say the true thing.

Every once in a while, we are invited to embrace our truth.  Not turn away from it and pretend it isn’t there, but embrace it.  Lovingly.  I think of one of my favorite Rumi poems called Not Here.

My friend Meggan Watterson is a graduate of Harvard Divinity School who spent two decades studying holy texts from around the world and searching for the spiritual voices of women.  In her new book, REVEAL: A Sacred Manual For Getting Spiritually Naked  she shares a quote by Muriel Rukeyser, “What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life? The world would split open.”

My world was split open by Meggan’s beautifully articulated truth about her spiritual path in her book Reveal.  Her sacred manual to getting spiritually naked has my highest recommendation, as well as, her upcoming event REVEAL conference in NYC, May 18th.  I will be honored to be sharing Qoya there and here is an early bird special that is good until April 25th, so if you’re feeling the call, please join us and reserve your spot.

Last weekend, I had the honor and privilege to lead a Qoya class for an event put on by another truth seeker KC Baker of the Women’s Thought Leadership Society called the Public Speaking Soiree which focuses on unleashing the brilliance of women’s voices.  I led these powerful women through exercises to help them remember how to tap into their body for wisdom, courage, strength and passion.  Before I led my class I was able to listen to a little bit of their Q and A and learned something I wanted to share with you.

The question was around women having a tendency to be emotional and if that is inappropriate or unprofessional as a leader.  KC shared that one of our greatest feminine strengths is our ability to be emotional, but when full of emotion to ask oneself, “what can I say here that will be of service?”  As a feminine leader, explore how you can use that emotion as fuel and fire for the highest good of all and stay in a place of service, instead of collapsing into the emotion and how it affects you personally.  It’s not by-passing your emotion and experience.  It’s honoring your truth and honoring others by redirecting your energy towards service. Brilliant.  You can learn more about KC,  her work and see her amazing free training videos on how to turn fear of public speaking into confidence and grace, learning how to write the speech of your dreams, and how to captivate audiences on her site at www.kcbaker.com. 

And, like the quote Meggan used inquiring what would happen if one woman told the truth about her life, KC has this post up next to the check-in table saying, “Forget about saying the right thing.  Just say the true thing.”  Passion flows when it resonates as truth.

So, how do we know what is true?

Whenever someone comes to me full of angst or worry or I feel the invitation towards anxiety, I think of a definition I once heard, “anxiety is when the outer voices are louder than your inner voice.”  Or, the lies are louder than the truth.  The truth, when we deeply connect to our higher self, comes through  affirmations that have love as the bottom line.  The voice of deep inner truth encourages you to align with divine timing and encourages you to follow your heart, trust yourself and know you are protected.  When we are bombarded with fear inducing news headlines and living in a state of rush and worry, we can become disconnected from the deeper wisdom and truth that is always available to us.  I don’t suggest that you have an overly optimistic approach to life, where you just hope with your fingers crossed all is well and ignore signs that indicate otherwise.  I do suggest that you learn how to tap into the sacred pulse of your higher knowing that you can trust as you navigate through your life, moment by moment. Qoya trains you to do this.

Qoya is based on the idea that through movement, we remember.  We remember our essence as women to be wise, wild and free.  We focus less on how our movement looks and more on how it feels and when it feels good, that’s how we know we are doing it right.  And more than it feeling good, we are looking for the place where it feels true.  Where it is authentic.  You learn how the physical sensation of truth resonates in your body and how to align yourself with it, like finding north on a compass.

One exercise I do in Qoya classes is invite everyone to close their eyes and be still.  Then, I put on Get Up Offa That Thing by James Brown and ask everyone to stay still until they authentically want to move.  Instead of telling them to free dance, I invite them to explore the feeling of when you can’t not dance and only start to move when the movement is true.   I’ll post the you tube here and invite you to do the same.  Just try to sit still and notice the different quality of moving- instead of out of obligation, but from a place of authentic expression of truth.  And more importantly, let yourself receive the message that movement is medicine and get up offa that thing and dance til you feel better.  Because, Qoya believes, that when you get up offa that thing, you will feel better.  As you are moving, see if you can feel it.  If you can feel that physical sensation of what is true for you.

The reason I love doing retreats so much is that there is more space to explore our deeper truths and that our deeper truth often leads us to our deeper joy!  I’m sure you’ve experienced this anytime you go on a trip and as soon as you are 30,000 feet in the air, your perspective shifts.  When you step out of the mundane momentum of life, truth tends to gets revealed (quickly).

If you are looking for some time and space to reconnect with your deepest truth and study the map of the body that can lead you to your inner wise, wild and free woman, there are a couple amazing retreats coming up.  One is  a Qoya Spa Retreat at the Standard in Miami May 9-11, 2013, with an optional add-on of Intro to Qoya Teacher Training May 9-12, 2013 (special room rates good until Friday, April 26th).  I’m also ecstatic to be offering astrology themed Qoya classes with the Astrotwins as part of their first Learn How to Be Your Own Astrologer Retreat in Tulum, Mexico, July 22-28, 2013 (with a generous early bird special that expires Thursday, April 25th).  Check out my master calendar here to also see about a Qoya Celebration Retreat in Woodstock, NY and an opportunity to study with my shamanic teachers in Peru in July.

Also, please join us May 18th, 2013 in NYC for the Reveal conference to experience the power of women coming together in an intentional space. Meggan Watterson writes in her book Reveal, “In the company of women, it’s easier for each of us to remember our own truth. We remember that our lives depend on our capacity to drop all facades and pretenses. We remember the bliss of just accepting that we are here to be ourselves. And we remember, together, that the most powerful place for us to be, even if it is sometimes terrifying, is fully in our body, so that we can move with the vulnerability and compassion of a broken-open heart.”

Thank you for being a part of the Qoya community and tribe.  I know that if you are subscribed to this list or visiting this website, there is a call in you to deeply love and to remember your truth.

Cheers to that,

Rochelle Renee

The key is to balance the two.  To give and receive.  If you focus only on giving and don’t take care of yourself, you’ll feel resentful, exhausted and a scarcity around your own energy, time and resources.  If you focus only on receiving and not consciously giving, there will be a stagnation of energy and a discontentment. Giving and receiving is like our own breath, best when it goes rhythmically and consistently in and out.  As you approach each person, experience and day, it can be so much sweeter when you are conscious of what you can give and can receive.

To go deeper is to realize just what you are giving and receiving, because beyond material giving and receiving, the biggest present we can ever give someone is the gift of our presence.  True statement.

I just finished leading the 4th annual Qoya Retreat in Costa Rica, which is always one of my favorite weeks of the year.  Someone asked me, “So, what did you cover? What exercises did you do? What rituals? What adventures did you go on? Who came? What music did you use? What did I miss?”  I told her not to worry about any curriculum she missed, but that in Qoya, and maybe everything in life, it’s just a reason for us to be together.

She looked confused, so I went on to explain.  One of my favorite quotes is when Gandhi says, “Happiness is when what we think, is what we say, is what we do, is what we feel.”  When there is this congruency between the different realms of our perception- mental, physical, emotional and spiritual, we can really be together and there is a totally different quality of presence and authenticity that allows true connection.   How do we come into that congruent state of alignment, integrity and authenticity?  Through movement, nature, ritual and community in Qoya.  Through movement, we remember.  Through nature, we heal.  Through ritual, we honor.  Through community, we celebrate.

Qoya is based on the idea that through movement, we remember.   Through movement, we remember our essence.  In class, we focus less and less and less on how it looks and more and more and more on how it feels.  When it feels good, that is how you know you’re doing it right.  We shift from a sense of seeking outer validation, where there is no waiting for correction or praise, to consciously developing a stronger sense of inner validation.  There are no beginner, intermediate or advanced classes.  No level 1, 2 or 3.  There is just one level.  More than the movement feeling good, if it feels true, you’re doing it right.

When we have the space to be true, to open, to see and be seen is when the deeper connection to ourselves, each other and community is possible.  It is when we can really be together.

While getting feedback from women after the retreat, a theme that came forward was that one of the gifts in this retreats that made it different than any other was the intimacy. While being interviewed by I AM THAT GIRL last week, I was asked the question: What piece of advice changed your life?  My answer was, “A mentor of mine told me that most people get caught in a mindset of more is better. They said that instead of thinking how big I can take my work to think of how deep I can take the work. This advice changed my life to stay aligned with the real reason we do the work and devote ourselves to our passions, which is to achieve the deepest experience possible.”  

This advice really shaped my approach to creating experiences with that intention, “how deep can we go.” I have been to yoga retreats with over 100 people, where I would meet a couple friends and the teacher would say my name once or twice in a week, and they were fun. Then, I thought of the experience all the women received in Costa Rica, where I asked each woman to fill out a questionnaire about what is going on in her life right now, her favorite music and the one thing she hopes to get from the retreat and I studied them, built classes around them and created exercises for them to be able to explore their own truth and have their own revelations.

So much of our approach to education stems from an industrial model of creating output of information for the masses.  Qoya is completely different.  The learning comes from learning how to access your own answers from within and having opportunities to learn from one another with an emphasis on the experience and community.   (For example, the picture above is from breaking up into groups of four and each person choosing a movement and co-creating a sun salutation.) In addition to the words you share or epiphanies you awaken to, you get the experience of truly being together and what the physical sensation is in your body when you remember.  When you remember the sacred, when you remember what it is true for you.

So, what is the magic equation to a life well lived?   I’d love to dance together to find out what the answer is for you.

I am passionate about Qoya and making it accessible to those who feel called to it, so I am on the move leading classes and retreats in all four directions this year.  See the list below and I look forward to being together at the perfect time.

With gratitude,

Rochelle

2013 Calendar

New York City: Qoya Class, Wednesday, April 17th, 12pm – 1:15pm

Vancouver, Canada: Qoya Class as part of All Day Goddess Event, Sunday, April 21st, 10-5pm

Vancouver, Canada, Qoya Class, Monday, April 22nd, 6-7:15pm

San Luis Obispo, California, Qoya Class and Despacho Gratitude Ritual, Saturday, April 27th, 3-6pm

San Clemente, California: Qoya Class Tuesday, April 30th 7:30pm $20, Register at www.asanafit.com

Venice, California: Qoya Class, Saturday, May 4th, 2-3:15pm and Sunday, May 5th at 2-3:15pm

Venice, California: Intro to Qoya Teacher Training, Saturday May 4th and 5th

Miami, Florida: Qoya Spa Retreat at the Standard May 9-11  (with optional teacher training  May 9-12) (Rooms available until April 21st!)

New York City: Qoya exercises at the Reveal Conference, Saturday, May 18th

Woodstock, New York: Qoya Celebration Retreat June 7-9

Peru: Study with Rochelle’s teachers in the Amazon Jungle July 6-11

Tulum, Mexico: Take Astrology inspired Qoya classes while on retreat learning how to be your own astrologer with the Astro Twins, July 22-29

Stay tuned for more info about:

Tuscany, Italy Retreat in Late June 2013

Zimbabwe: House of Loveness and Qoya Service Retreat November 23-30

Costa Rica Qoya Retreat: March 29-April 5, 2014

I met with an entrepreneurial muse of mine, Laura Roeder,  in Venice the other day for a cup of tea and a catch up.  It had been almost a year since our last rendezvous and she told me about her getting married, the honeymoon, her business (she is one of the most amazing Social Media Mavens to walk this earth) and she also mentioned she was thinking about coming to the Costa Rica Qoya Retreat, but she had never done a Qoya class before.

I assured her that in terms of liking it- she would love it.  I promise.  As I was telling her that all were welcome and no experience is necessary, I realized one of the truly unique parts of Qoya and how it is different than the way other forms of exercise are taught. There are no levels in Qoya- no level 1, level 2, level 3. The only level is your intention and exploration into how good you can feel in your body.

The first essence of Qoya is focusing less on how it looks and more on how it feels and when it feels good, that is how you know you are doing it right.  This idea surfaced out of noticing my inner psyche as I was practicing yoga, and I felt myself in a state of anticipation for praise or correction, waiting for external validation.  For those of us who have had enough life experience or done enough personal growth work, we know that the only truly fulfilling and sustainable validation is that which comes from within.  Qoya is a movement practice that gives you the opportunity and experience to strengthen your instinctual knowing by following it and trusting it to lead you in the way you move your body in class, but most importantly, when you truly feel that connection, you can use that feeling to navigate you through your life as north on your compass. To me, this is feminine power.  To become so confident in your own thoughts, feelings and intuitions, that when you get a strong message, you can follow it.

How do you turn this feminine power into feminine leadership? The old paradigm of leadership is of a hierarchy, where one person leads and others imitate or follow.  The leader takes up all the space.  My take on a new paradigm of feminine leadership is that the leader is the one who can inspire and excite, but in essence, creates space for others to rise, knowing deeply that her own strength is in the strength of the circle she is in.  Feminine value based leadership is deeply rooted in our interconnectedness that takes us out of the limitations, isolation and competition of the ego and into the creativity, joy and true connection with community sourced in spirit.  Every Qoya class and retreat is always set up in this way- to strengthen the circle.

I’d like to introduce to you one of the most inspiring women in my circle.  Colleen Lasota has created an amazing Qoya community and health and wellness community with her husband Christian Doten and adorable son in their movement studio in Minneapolis, MN called Four Gates Physical and Energetic Culture.  As an entrepreneur, mom, wife, acupuncturist, Qoya teacher and lover of life, she is a busy woman and I’m so grateful she could take the time to answer some of the questions here.  Colleen teaches Qoya every Tuesday night in Minneapolis at her studio and will be in Costa Rica in April.

(This picture is Colleen, her son and I singing communal karaoke at the Minnesota State Fair!)

Thank you Colleen! 

And thank you to all of you who are part of the Qoya Community and read these blog posts and dance your own unique dance.  I honor your courage and your decision to shine and I know how hard it can be sometimes, like when you are cozy in bed, but you know it’s time to get up and go into the day.  Here is a gift of a free 7 minute video to help you transition from horizontal to vertical.  These are the stretches I do every morning when I wake up.  I’m talking in the video, but when you don’t need the video anymore- I say gratitudes to myself and vision how my dream day would go in the postures and invite you to try it as well.

Bed Yoga from Rochelle Schieck on Vimeo.

Enjoy all your dancing adventures- horizontal and vertical, inner and outer, here and there and everywhere~

Love,

Rochelle

P.S. Today is Qoya’s 4th Birthday!  I taught my very first class March 1st, 2009 in New York.  What a beautiful adventure it has been.

P. S. S. There are still some spaces for Costa Rica April 6-13, 2013.  If you’re feeling called to join us- please do!

QOYA RETREAT – Costa Rica April 6th – 13th 2013 from jodi jones on Vimeo.

I am forever intrigued and enchanted by how a woman will begin with a heart break, a heart ache or a yearning that goes as deep as the center of the earth and as soon as she starts to move her body, express the full spectrum of who she is and feel the physical sensation of the blessings and challenges of the situation she is in, there is a peace and calm that starts to emanate through her eyes, a softness you can feel in her heart and a fire in her belly.

One of the most profound examples of feminine power is the ability to do this.  To be able to sit with the pain and challenge and then use it as fuel for art and beauty and blessings, using everything that does and does not happen as a pathway back to love.  You can see this modeled perfectly by the V-Day Movement One Billion Rising created by visionary Eve Ensler, who wrote the Vagina Monologues, to use Valentine’s Day as a global movement to end violence against women and girls through art.  Through expression.  Through the honoring of the real life challenges and abuse by more than claiming, seizing, the blessings of turning pain into power and strengthening our spirits to find a collective voice of truth.  Visit her website here to see how much magic, beauty and love can be born when we mature to stand, and then dance, together.

One Billion Rising aligns with the essence of Qoya.  Through movement, we remember.  We remember our essence as women, our truth, as wise, wild and free.  Through the embodiment of spirit, through the dancing of our souls, we judge and analyze less to feel and experience more.  Our knowingness resonates as a zing in our spine and a confidence in our bones.

There’s an important piece of the puzzle to One Billion Rising.  It’s the invitation for women to rise up and stand for a world where they can share the full expression of their brilliance, beauty, sensuality, power and life force.  There is a tendency with women to stay small to stay safe, but the more women speak up, shine and share their unique gifts, the better this world will be.

To see Lori’s website, go here.  Boudoir photo sessions with Lori in Costa Rica will be offered at half price, which is $275, and includes a full gallery ofall images and 2 retouched custom prints.   If you can’t make it to Costa Rica and want to get your Boudoir on please call  212 244 2232 or email lori@loribnow.com for a friend of Qoya deal!

QOYA RETREAT – Costa Rica April 6th – 13th 2013 from jodi jones on Vimeo.

Only Love is Real. Fear is False Evidence Appearing as Real. from Rochelle Schieck on Vimeo.

Testimonials for the Qoya Costa Rica Retreat

Rochelle Schieck’s Qoya retreat was a magical, loving and liberating experience for me! She taught me how to connect to my inner wisdom through moving my body in a way that was less about what looks good more about what feels good … Rochelle is the most loving, giving, kind and inspirational women I’ve ever known. I recommend Qoya retreat to any woman looking to deeply connect with self, meet amazing like minded women and experience more joy in their life! You will have a blast! You will leave Qoya retreat feeling rejuvenated and more of you again!!!” – Brittany Daniel, Los Angeles, CA

I was lucky enough to celebrate my birthday at Qoya Costa Rica last year- Rochelle set off an incredible dance party to ring in my 41st year that I will never forget.  We were high up in the sky over looking the ocean and feeling it all!  Best BIRTHDAY ever- can’t wait to return every year for celebrating LIFE!  - Lori Berkowitz, NYC

Rochelle is a the true version of a modern day Sikh. She embodies a matriarchal energy that can lead, generate, inspire and renew a Spirit within all of us to deeply connect with ourSelves first, and the community at large. Rochelle’s Qoya retreat in April of 2011 was one of the most sacred weeks I’ve ever spent with myself and an awe-inspiring group of women. She had me connecting with my own matrilineal lineage through special rites and ceremonies that truly swept my heart away in gratitude for the duration of the retreat and beyond. Rochelle is a modern day gift bestowing magical presents from what seems to be from a time long-ago. I encourage ANY woman to be a part of Rochelle’s Qoya retreat not only for Herself, but for what she’ll invariably inspire amidst her own community after her return!  -Kelly Quintia, Los Angeles, CA

Qoya in Costa Rica blew my whole world open! I was confused about where I was in life and why I was there and didn’t even think I should go an such an extravagant trip as Costa Rica, but once Qoya started I knew immediately it was right. Rochelle has a way of daring you to face your dreams and Qoya empowers you to know you’re capable of achieving them! I never felt so light, so connected, and so ME as I did while I was in that jungle paradise, dancing everyday. Thank you Rochelle for blowing open my mind and changing my life!      -Luci Butler, St. Augustine, Florida

The Qoya Costa Rica retreat was for me, THE BEST!!!!!!! I have actually gone twice! And twice, I fell in love. I fell in love with the environment we are placed in, the fascinating howls from the howler monkeys vibrating through the trees each night, the delicious, wholesome, taste-bud sizzling food, the guidance and teachings each day, the connection with other girls who just so happen to all be incredibly rad, interesting and fun. But most of all, I fell in love with the way I was able to tap back into everything and anything I ever wanted to know/feel/intuit/strengthen/lossen/deepen/open about and in myself simply through moving my body to the words and music offered on this retreat. Just So Good.    -Becca Kannapell, NYC

I had just finished a course on Seduction as a Spiritual Practice with Qoya teacher Kitty Cavalier and had a gorgeous yellow rose in my hand.  I told my friend that I would do a ceremony and honor his friend’s life with the rose.  As the snow was falling, I was dressed in high heels, tights, a silk dress and not enough warm clothes, but I decided instead of taking a cab, I would do the 20-30 minute walk through the cold New York City streets and pull one petal of the rose off at a time honoring this young man’s life.  With each petal, I chose to honor an aspect of his life: his mother, father, ancestors, siblings, friends, his blessings, his challenges. I hadn’t done this ritual before, I was just following my gut instinct, my inner guide.  All ritual and ceremony is most importantly aligned with intention vs. form.  During my walk, I passed by one of my favorite images of Mary in the city on Houston Street and left the stem of the rose at the base of her statue.  The song “Behind that Locked Door” by George Harrison came in and I sang it to this man’s soul like a lullaby.  As I did, I felt a heart opening as expansive as the ocean wide.  The ceremony felt complete.

A moment later, I crossed paths with a homeless man who was rolling a suitcase in the cold and had a big smile full of crooked teeth.  He asked me if I’d be willing to look at his art work and showed me a beautiful drawing full of joy and celebration on one side of the paper. On the other side, there was a drawing of a man walking and the words street walker on it.  He said, “I was wondering if you might want to share anything with me.  I’m a street walker, where I follow my heart and walk the streets of this world.” I started to cry, because that’s what I do too.  I reached in my purse and handed him a large bill.  He beamed with gratitude and said, “Thank you for sharing love with me.”  I replied, “Thank you for sharing love with me.”

This has been an incredible year and a half of traveling and planting seeds for Qoya because it is the best way I know to follow my heart.  Because I believe for so many of us, our invitation in this life is to take what we have learned and experienced and share it.  Because, my relationship to life always expands in depth and heights and width through my connection to the infinite as I tune into my body, that I am so inspired to share that through movement, we can remember.  The message from the shamans I received was just that;  go on a journey in this world, and draw the map so you can help others find it too. (Hint: the best maps are the ones that point you to go within.)

As I tell this story, it’s important to remember, the reason we do Qoya is to be able to access the wisdom, wildness and freedom in our body so that we can better access moments that transcend the body.  It’s not just about “exercising”, it’s about experiencing the fullest possibility that life can offer us each day, learning ways we can build our strength: physical, mental, emotional, spiritual.  Ways we can be flexible: not only in our hamstrings, but in the flow of our day.  Ways we can be agile: like a child who falls down and gets right back up. Ways we can savor: an exhale that takes us into a hip circle of remembering the gift of being a woman.  Ways we can love and honor: what is- as it is- and still dare to dream bigger dreams.  Ways we can yes to this experience of life.

Every part of this sacred evening was guided by the intuitive knowing of my body.  So much beauty, connection, honoring and truth could have been lost if I had not listened to the gentle urges from within.

Once a month, we will be highlighting a Qoya dancer in the community.  I’ll ask a woman who has embodied Qoya and it’s philosophy to share what it means to her.  Today, I’m delighted to introduce our first interview with Kitty Cavalier, who teaches Qoya in New York City and is the founder of the School of Charm and Cheek where she shares her gifts teaching Qoya and burlesque classes, Seduction as a Spiritual Practice Workshops and Retreats, as well as other fun things like make-up tricks and magic candle rituals!  Enjoy her words here.

Check out this 5 minute Qoya Bhangra 101 video here and see if it is true for you too!  Remember, Qoya is an EXPERIENTIAL path.  It is not about understanding the concepts, but feeling the pulse of them in present time in your body, mind, heart and soul.  In other words, instead of a mental exercise of nodding your head as you read, get up and move!

Bhangra from Rochelle Schieck on Vimeo.

Expect a Miracle,

QOYA RETREAT – Costa Rica April 6th – 13th 2013 from jodi jones on Vimeo.

First, let me differentiate between visioning and goal setting. I borrowed a friend’s car recently and there was a CD of a lecture by a man named Jacob Glass where he described himself as a de-motivational speaker. De-motivational because many times our motivations or goal setting can come from a place of ego whose acquisition is outside of  oneself. Strategizing for things to happen can sometimes be a useful planning tool, sometimes a pacifying approach to the ego to further the illusion that it has control and sometimes be the default M.O. to a culture that even when things are going horribly, we can help feel better by knowing we are “working hard.” I’m not opposed to working hard, but am curious about becoming more conscious about from what place our projects stem from- ego or spirit.

Ego generated goals will likely be exhausting and when fulfilled, satisfaction will be fleeting.   Spirit generated visions will have a soulful satisfaction, regardless of the outcome, to know that you have given yourself fully to the task and shown up not only for the material rewards, but for the inner transformation that always happens when we grow. And why do we set goals or visualize for the year ahead? Is it because we perpetually just want more or is it because we deeply want to evolve? Is it that our dharma, the unique thing that can only be birthed in this world through us, is calling our name?

The vision process is always self-examination. It’s never, “God, I want this. Make this happen.” It’s always, “What do I have to become to live the vision, to manifest it, to reveal it?” The visioning process, then, is a process of transformation of the individual.
- Reverend Michael Beckwith

In Jacob’s lecture he encourages you to wait for some guidance and that if Spirit wants you to do something, you will know it.  So, when you get the divine assignment, that is when you go full throttle and run with it! Sounds good, unless you have no idea what your divine assignment is.

One of the three essences of a Qoya class is based on the idea that all answers are within. Qoya is like a map, like a labyrinth, into the center of one self to access each individual’s deepest truths. The three card story is another way in.

Step One: pull out your divination decks. I mix up my goddess oracle cards, any of my decks by doreen virtue and my new favorite the be your own oracle cards. You can use traditional tarot cards as well.

Step Two: take a couple deep breaths to come more into your instinctual being of letting your body lead you and feeling the card draw you to it. As you pull your three cards, root into your intention that one card is to symbolize the beginning of the story, one for the middle and one for the end. Leave the cards face down and wait to turn the cards over one at a time as you are writing.

Step Three: get some paper and a pen out and write this first sentence down, “Once upon a time, there was a woman who had a vision of the year to come.” Then pull the first card to tell the beginning of the story. Trust whatever the words on the card or the image draws up for you. Sometimes it can be literal, but remember, the intention is to access the vision that lives inside of you and the cards are a way to access that. After writing a paragraph about the beginning of your story, then flip over the second card and write the middle of your story. Try to let the subconscious take over and write without pauses, just letting it flow. Lastly, pull over the third card and write the end of the story.

Step Four: from reading your story, listen deeply to your words to hear the theme, mantra, or intention that came forward.  Notice the difference between setting goals on what you think you “should” do and that this exercise is to take you into your intuition to open yourself up to the bigger vision that lives in you.

Step Five: from here, I encourage you to make a playlist that evokes the remembering of this intention and dance to it daily!  For ideas on easy and pleasurable ways to move your body, check out EmbodyQoya.com online with a free 10 day intro and a monthly membership with over 50 videos.

In Qoya classes, the structure is to begin with circling each part of the body to practice focusing less on how it looks and more on how it feels, looking for the place that feels good to move and open your body.  Then, we move into heart opening, hip opening, dancing sun salutation or a warrior yoga sequence, learning a choreographed dance, shaking, dancing our intention in free dance, community sharing and connection and we end with stretching.  In the spirit of New Year’s Eve, here is a short three minute video to teach you the Grapevine!

Through movement, we remember.  We remember our essence is wise, wild and free.

May you be brave enough to remember the truth and intuitive enough to follow where it guides you.
May love have its way with you.
May the sweetness of the New Year be yours.

With love,

Rochelle

***And if there is an intuitive nudge somewhere in your three card story to come join us in Costa Rica, we’d love to have you! See the video below and click here to register!

QOYA RETREAT – Costa Rica April 6th – 13th 2013 from jodi jones on Vimeo.

Do you remember that Qoya translates in Quechuan as Queen? Not a bejeweled and emotionally distant Queen in a castle, but a feminine manifestation of higher consciousness that is confidently seated on the throne that is her life. In a way, that is one of the best ways that I can explain all that I have come to study and learn about December 21, 2012.  This is our individual and collective opportunity to shift our consciousness into it’s highest vibration to embody and radiate our inner Queen, which is another way to say, our divinity.

My friends over at Astrostyle.com explain this auspicious day on December 21, 2012 as marking the end of a 5,125 year cycle of the Mayan calendar and the beginning of another era. It’s more of a “the end of the world as we know it,” than a literal Armageddon. In fact, the Mayans call the post-2012 era The World Of The Fifth Sun or The Fifth World. The Mayans were profound record keepers and mathematicians, both astronomers and astrologers. Another occurrence they predicted for December 21, 2012 was that both the Earth and the Sun would align with the Galactic Center– an event which has not happened for 26,000 years (the time the Ice Age began). Just as the Sun is the center of our solar system, the Galactic Center is the gravitational field that the entire Milky Way revolves around! So, this alignment of Earth, Sun, and Galactic Center connects us to worlds beyond our own, fiery and mysterious with an indescribable pull. This post is my offering for a guide to the end of the world (as we know it), with the intention of centering into your own essence as wise, wild and free and seated powerfully on the throne of your life.

How?

GO WITHIN.

I meditated deeply on “where to go” for the solstice.  Mt. Shasta? Hawaii? Back to Minnesota where I was born? New York? LA? The mountains? The ocean? The answer I received was, “There is no where to go out there. The only place to go is within.” For those of you who are sensitive to the subtle energies shifting, be sure to take time to align yourself with an internal focus.  When researching guidance on how to navigate through these changes, the Shamanic wisdom that came forward was, “The assignment each person is given during this time is to listen deeply to and trust themselves and their intuition.”  This is the perfect application of all the practices of yoga, meditation, clearing your system with green juices and eating organic whole foods and other self-development healing practices that all of us have been exposed to up to this point. This advice need not be applied from a place of fear.  Regardless of the Mayan Calendar ending and the predictions for an evolution in human consciousness, even if you don’t personally feel a huge shift in your world right now, it’s never a bad idea to establish a more powerful connection with trusting yourself.  And since it has been 26,000 years since we were aligned with Galactic Center….why not? Just do it. Go in. Trust yourself more deeply than ever before.

Here are three invitations to take you deeper in for your own guidance today.

1) Click here to do a 20 minute December 21, 2012 Forgiveness meditation with Alberto Villoldo, founder of the Four Winds Society. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIZi1ODXueI&feature=youtu.be

2) One of my favorite tools for going deeper within for answers is the labyrinth.

A labyrinth is an ancient symbol for the meandering path of the soul that goes from light into darkness and emerges once again into light.  It’s a maze, but there is only one way out and that’s the way you went in.  The metaphors here are endless.

How do you walk one (or dance one)?  The way I was taught to walk a labyrinth was to go in with an intention and as you walk into the center, let all of your questions come up, all of your doubts and all of your fears. Feel yourself asking, curious and seeking for an answer. Make your way to the center and when you arrive, pause.  Sit down.  Soften.  Surrender.  Let yourself be held and seen and loved in the sacred center of the labyrinth and stay as long as you need.  Release all that binds you until all that no longer serves you is gone.  Trust that you will know when the releasing is complete.  When your inner voice tells you you’re ready, begin to walk out and instead of asking questions, allow yourself to be simply in a state of receiving.  Give your inner voice an opportunity to share what it longs to remind you of.

 How can you make one? You can make one out of yarn in your living room, out of sticks in your backyard or in the sand at the beach.  Make a labyrinth by making a spiral starting in the center and energizing and charging it with your presence as you make circles around it.  As many as seven spirals around, as few as two, do what feels right and whatever you have room for.

3) Do Qoya.  Qoya is based on the idea that through movement, we remember.  We remember our essence, our truth, our spirit as wise, wild and free.  Here is a free hour long Qoya class with the theme Feel As Much As You Can and access your inner knowing and feelings as a guide to navigate this sacred time.

Feel As Much As You Can from Rochelle Schieck on Vimeo.

I am so grateful for your support of Qoya and honor your courageous soul as we dream a bigger dream for ourselves and for humanity.  A return to love.  A remembering of spirit.  A dance that feels honest and true.

Blessings on your journeys- inner and outer!

Rochelle

P.S. Please join us in Costa Rica April 6-13, 2013 for the quintessential Qoya experience.

QOYA RETREAT – Costa Rica April 6th – 13th 2013 from jodi jones on Vimeo.

QOYA RETREAT – Costa Rica April 6th – 13th 2013 from jodi jones on Vimeo.

If you were to be honest with yourself, what is your heart’s true desire?  In that quiet moment when it is just you and you, what is calling?

When you make a decision, can you identify if you are making it from a place of love or a place of fear?

How do you remember how strong you really are?  By boldly exploring the inner and outer worlds or by keeping your fingers crossed for the status quo?

I ask these questions because I am planning the next Qoya Retreat in Costa Rica April 6-13, 2013 and I invite you to join me.

Qoya is based on the idea that through movement, we remember.  We remember, our essence is wise, wild and free.  Wise, wild and free also draw reference to the movement forms that we practice.  Wise calls on the wisdom of yoga, wild- the creative expression in dance and free- the ability to enjoy oneself through sensual movement.  Qoya focuses less on how it looks and more on how it feels, so when it feels good, that’s how you know you are doing it right.  No yoga, dance or sensual movement experience is necessary, just the willingness to listen deeply to your inner voice guiding you.

For many people, when I ask them, “If you were to be honest with yourself, what is your heart’s true desire?  In that quiet moment when it is just you and you, what is calling?”, they don’t know.  Life can have a certain momentum to it, where we can be going, going, going and sometimes not having the time to slow down to savor, to honor, to release and to dream of where we want to go next. Instead, we may feel stuck and not going anywhere or  just being carried along by momentum projecting us forward based on the past. Through Qoya exercises, rituals and free time to reflect, there are many invitations to evoke the deep truth of your heart’s longing and cultivate the courage to follow it.

Qoya believes that every answer you seek “out there” already lives is in you and that through Qoya you can learn to use your body as a compass that keeps you aligned with your north star.  I have watched almost two hundred different women come on a Qoya Retreat to Costa Rica, India, Greece, Woodstock, NY or Hawaii and reconnect with their deepest truth on the retreat and go home with more confidence in trusting themselves and their ability not only to dance through life, but to let life dance through them.

I love the definition of courage as when your desire gets larger than your fear.  It makes me think of that saying, “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?”  There is a deep intelligence that we can learn to trust to guide us in every area of our lives.  Through my life and my studies, I have found one surefire way of tapping into it.  It’s the experiential path.  It’s where you align your mind, body, emotions, spirit and soul into the same experience.  More than reading a book, taking a workshop or doing mental gymnastics, to get out there and experience life.  To really feel like you are living.  And from your experience, locate your truth.

As I describe how we spend our time in Costa Rica, see if you can feel the opportunity here to deeply remember and reclaim the soul’s journey you are on by clearing your mind, healing the past, coming into the present and dreaming a dream that resonates more whole heartedly together.

The Qoya Retreat in Costa Rica April 6-13, 2013 is an invitation to go on an adventure to explore and embody the woman in you that is wise, wild and free.  There is the outer adventure to travel to Central America, trek through the jungle, swim in the ocean and let your adventurous side come out by trying surfing, zip lining, paddle board surfing, hiking to waterfalls or kayaking. There is also the inner adventure, the inner exploration, of using morning meditation and breathing exercises, daily Qoya classes, feeling the benefit of nourishing yourself with delicious and healthy organic meals, time in the afternoon to rest by taking a nap, getting a massage, relaxing by the pool or walking along the beach and by sitting with the sacred in healing ceremonies and rituals at night.  (Be sure to check out the video above or click here.)

This retreat is about waking up as an individual and as a community.  If you slow down enough to hear your own breathing and heart beat, you’ll remember.  If you get lost in the pulse and rhythm of the music and start to surrender to move the way your body wants to move instead of how you think you “should” be moving, you’ll remember.  If you let nature teach you to let go, trust and enjoy each cycle of life, just like you trust summer will turn to fall, fall will turn to winter, winter will turn to spring, and spring back to summer,  you’ll remember.  If you sit in a circle of conscious community with women who are willing to be authentic, transparent and courageous, you will remember all the possibilities that live in you.

In many ways this trip is celebratory and self-indulgent and a true gift to be able to experience.  And, if all you are looking for is to treat yourself, you deserve it.  We all do.  In addition, what I notice is that as women become so reinvigorated, passionate and full of life force, they start to ask from a place of their fullness, “How can I be of service?” and “How can I combine my strengths and passions for the highest good of all?”  When you experience so much of life’s beauty, the natural feminine evolution is to become a better steward of the gift of life itself. (I have some ideas on how to do that that I will share with you at the retreat.)

The theme for this upcoming Qoya Costa Rica Retreat is Creating Community.  When hearing Marianne Williamson speak recently, she said (my paraphrasing), “For women to truly step forward and come into their power, they will need a woman to their right, a woman to their left, a woman in front of the them, a woman behind them, a woman above them and a woman below them. Surrounded in sisterhood, a forcefield protects us so we can be brave and true.” As she said this, I received a download of six female archetypes of creating community that we will focus on in Costa Rica.  In addition, everyone will leave with a plan on how to create conscious community when you go back home.

Here are a couple other quick things to know if you are considering coming to this retreat on how the Qoya experience is unique.

In seed form, a dream begins in the field of pure potentiality.  It requires us to release any learned cynicism and reconnect to the purity and innocence of life, like a child, who wishes for something they have yet to experience.

For years, I would look out my window and do the whole, “star light, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight.” And I would wish to fly.  After a solid two years of wishing and still being bound by gravity, I switched my wish to ask for a bike (and got one the next day.)  Bam.

We do this as adults all the time.  Our heart can dream in a land of possibility and it can resonate as true and bring us joy.  However, then when evidence refuses to show up in the timeline we desire (I got tired of WAITING to be able to fly), the mind encourages us to scale back and be more realistic because it feels more safe, comfortable and in control within the limitations of probability.

Maybe something happens that expands the land of probability!  Something you never thought likely in the “real world” before.  He/she asks you out.  The job interview.  You’re pregnant! You won a 3 week trip to Africa!! Your book was on the New York Times best seller list!!!   You beckon your dream closer to you and it feels like it is heading your way.

Or…something happens that makes you give up on the dream.  Something you can’t imagine could be so cruelly taken away.  He/she disappears.  You get fired.  You miscarry.  You can’t go on the trip you won because of a family emergency.  No one reads your book, even though it is really REALLY good.  You tell your dream to bugger off and go bother someone else.

When we’re lucky, something else happens that is not solely a shift externally of gain or loss, but internally finding your center.  Remembering.  Qoya is based on the idea, that through movement, we remember.  We remember our essence, our internal truth.  The one that can stand aligned with your heart and soul regardless of external circumstances.  When you are in that spot, you can stop worrying, because you remember everything is going to be fine.  You lighten your heart, because like the wave that rises, it also falls.  The best tactic is to learn how to surf.  (See more surfing in the Qoya Costa Rica video here!) 

Life is always offering you a series of invitations to come into the present moment and enjoy all that is.

I was given an assignment by my teacher in March for 6 months to not ask for anything.  Absolutely no desires.  My homework was to learn to just say thank you for everything as it is.  I learned that more than anything I want in the future, the biggest gift is the ability to savor what is, as it is, right now.

For today on Thanksgiving, I want to share my favorite gratitude practice.  It is to put on a song to dance to and say thank you with my whole body, heart, mind and soul. As you dance, acknowledge all the dreams that were born in the land of pure possibility and then came true!!!! (For some, you may also want to say thank you for all the unanswered prayers.) For whatever you choose, take a moment to sincerely say thank you. Humble yourself enough to open your heart and acknowledge the co-creative magic that is supporting and guiding us all in our interconnected web of experience. Dance a thank you for every breath, for every gift, for every challenge, for everything.

The journey of a dream is like our own journey of remembering and forgetting who we are as spirit, becoming distracted by the physical world we feel bound to and then having a transcendent moment where we come back to the power of the present moment, the gratitude for the journey of life itself and that if we truly really believed there was a divine spark in us, we would probably be having a better time.  Whatever part of the journey you are on, have patience with yourself, the process, and do not give up (especially on dancing).

Go have fun and enjoy your Thanksgiving!  Sometimes it takes discipline to enjoy yourself and sometimes you have to be the catalyst for the group.  If you feel called to play the music a little louder, dance a little wilder and feel the love with your whole beating heart a little more, invite others to join you.  There’s no day like today and today is Thanksgiving, so give thanks for every moment in all it’s complicated and simple bliss.

As I take a deep breath today on Thanksgiving, I say a prayer of gratitude for your support of Qoya and of me on this journey of remembering that we are all truly wise, wild and free.

May it be so today and always.

With love-infused gratitude,

P.S. Qoya Costa Rica Retreat April 6-13, 2013

Thanksgiving can also be the time where loved ones start asking you what you want for the holidays. For those of you who have the Qoya Costa Rica Retreat April 6-13, 2013 on your xmas wish list, there is an early bird special of $200 savings until December 1st, 2012.  Click here to register and be sure to see and share the video with anyone you think would love to come.

QOYA RETREAT – Costa Rica April 6th – 13th 2013 from jodi jones on Vimeo.

P.P.S. If you are in LA, come join us for Qoya Classes here in December!