Claire Garin
Rouen & Paris, France and Worldwide
Classes in French (or by language fr-eng on demand) offered in Paris and Rouen, France.
All events are on Qoya France and clairegarin.com.
Since childhood, when others were passionate about art, sports, or music, I was eager to understand the human being, in all its aspects: body, mind, energy, human relations, etc. I started a continuous journey in my own personal development with the Quest of Freedom as a guideline.
I took dance classes from age 12 and never stopped. It has always been clear for me that moving is a huge place of freedom.
In order to dive fully into the meanderings of the human psyche, I worked for a dozen years as a social worker in psychiatry and then as a manager of a shelter for homeless people. The insatiable traveler within myself quickly realized that I also had a need to understand the world as I walked through it. My different journeys have brought me to the four corners of the globe, and I have brought back treasures from each one.
In 2008 while I spent three months in Quebec, I discovered Reiki and fell in love with alternative medicines. I decided to train myself in the years that follow, until becoming a Reiki Master and being able to teach myself. I trained in parallel in Sophrology and obtained my diploma of Sophrologist-Sophrotherapist in 2013. In 2015, in Nepal while waiting for a visa to go to sacred place of Tibet, life decided it was the right time to shake me and accelerate my growth through a major earthquake that disrupted the country and my whole life.
It became clear then that it was high time to get into the unknown and continue exploring the world and myself, guided by my intuition. I found Qoya in the summer 2016 and decided to travel to US to take more classes. I did the Initiation Training during the Costa Rica Collective Retreat in March 2017 and then the Intensive in May 2017 in Seattle.
Today, I find my freedom by offering different containers (individuals sessions, classes and training, daily workshops, retreats) with all these different tools, mostly in Paris, but also all over the world!
When did you take your first Qoya class? At Burning Man (the Art and Music Festival in the desert of Nevada) during the summer 2016 with the Incredible Sarah Charlesworth!
After a crazy night and many adventures on the Playa, I was searching for meditation to ground myself a bit more. I never found it but read on a whiteboard "Qoya: Dance with your Intuition." I thought Qoya was probably a word created at Burning Man, and I did not understand it as a French speaker, but was called by Dance and Intuition.
The only other person who showed up for the class was a guy probably on drugs, and it was truly A-MA-ZING! I knew it was a life-changing moment and that I HAD to be a Qoya Teacher sooner or later. I spent my day telling everyone how Qoya changed my life!
What does it mean for me to teach Qoya? Teaching Qoya is such a big part of my Sacred Work! It is an honor for me especially to bring it in France and be the witness and facilitator for other women's healing path through movement as I walk my own path. Teaching Qoya is also a wonderful way for me to dive deeper into all the layers and the magic that movement as medicine can offer and to create more community around me.
What is your favorite song to dance to right now? Angels by the Wings, by Sia.
If I could prescribe this song, I would say, "Dance it once every morning and each time you feel doubts."
What book has inspired you on the path to embodying the feminine? "Pussy: A Reclamation" by Regena Thomashauer and "Qoya: A Compass to Navigate and Embodied Life that is Wise, Wild and Free" by Rochelle Schieck.
These books resonate so deeply into every part of myself. Every cell of my body was tingling when reading! I was so ecstatic that I was talking to everyone about these books for days!
What would you tell someone who is thinking of taking a Qoya class? I'm so happy for You!
Option A: You fall in love with it as so many of us. Wonderful! Who doesn't like to fall in love?
Option B: You like it. Great! That's always nice to extend the realm of things you enjoy in life.
Option C: You don't like it. At least you tried and remember - there's no way you can do it wrong!