Dear Soul on the Other Side of the Screen,

In the midst of accelerated dissolution and chaos pouring through the daily news, it's normal to feel pangs of grief in the center of your heart. Contrast is a powerful teacher, and from the pain, the next blessing in your life may now be seen with a heightened sensitivity to the wonders of joy. Duality is the dance floor, and Qoya has always been a place where movement is a metaphor.

After tragedy enters into our individual or collective experience, one thing that slows down our healing is the idea that we shouldn't feel how we feel. If we're in grief, we tell ourselves we should get over it and be more positive. If we're experiencing joy and gratitude, we might feel we shouldn't be, and that we should be mourning to show our respect. Something I often say in class is:

"Imagine there is no way you can do it wrong and that the way you know you're doing it right is that it feels right to you - that it feels honest and true."

Making this shift places value on authenticity. In the midst of destabilization of structures, an opportunity arises to stand for what you believe in and to offer yourself in the circles of impact that you have. Your most powerful service will come from the trust that you have in honoring your own experience. Trusting yourself supports you as you support others.

It seems as if the great mystery reveals itself to us both in ways that we can understand and in ways that we can't. We come back to the fork in the road between fear and trust. In my own life, I have learned, again and again, to trust grief AND to trust joy. My greatest teacher in this has been nature. Like the forest fire of destruction that is necessary for a forest's growth, there is a perspective of life larger than any individual that simultaneously offers every one of us a small part in its fragile balance. Even as flames burn, you might see the most beautiful sunset you've ever seen, mysteriously calming you for a moment of awe.

Immense emotions can be overwhelming to the mind while also acting as fuel for the body, and you can find ways of moving your body that bring your nervous system back to balance and your awareness back to center. Maybe it's Qoya. Maybe it's hiking, or yoga, or this, or that. I highly encourage you to notice for yourself: what role does movement play in helping you access your most trusted true sense of self? Can it help you center as you dance with the intensity of this week and this full moon in Aries?

Our resident Qoya astrologer Virginia Rosenberg writes:

The Full Moon in Aries on October 5th (2:40pm EST) is a tunnel of transition. Some things aren't healed in light. Let shadow shape you. The dark womb is a place of growth and nourishment, a necessary chamber of becoming. Each full moon contains a magic of opposites. The womb and the tomb. Darkness and light. Conscious and unconscious. Self and other. War and peace. The new life birthing now asks us to sharpen our skills of adaptation. To be dexterous, perceptive, and responding. The emerging world asks that we do our work. We must be willing. We must be loving. We must hone and dedicate our practice. Place tools in our toolbox. Fill the world with our sense of self, in harmony with and in service to loving all else that exists.

"Work is love made visible."

- Kahlil Gibran

We make love visible. Dedicate yourself, then be released from labor. Cry our tears and wash our face. Our work and our life is born of our spiritual essence. It emerges from depths and brings with it the gems of twilight. Dark crystals of pristine purity. Diamonds in the rough. Admire each facet of this astounding jewel, your own light, taking seat in the velveteen darkness. Across the Earth, reflecting the sky, your soul light sings and cries and laughs an echo of fate.

To embody this is a video that invites you to circle to warm up your body, do a shadow dance to explore yourself trusting grief, shaking to explore trusting joy, then a short yoga sequence to calm your nervous system through breath and movement as you go back into your day. 

In addition to movement, I invite you to trust your grief by lighting a candle and taking a few minutes to honor the tragedies of this time. Allow yourself to deeply feel the losses that have occurred and see for yourself: can you trust grief?

My favorite book about grief is Martin Prechtel's The Smell of Rain on Dust.

In a different moment, I invite you to trust your joy by letting the light that is always within you find expression through you. Is there something that would delight you? Do you have the courage to open to it? Your favorite restaurant? Your favorite song? Imagine something you've always wanted to experience: can you dance in its direction?

One of my favorite books filled with exercises to lead you in the direction of joy is Ask and It is Given by Esther and Jerry Hicks.

Undoubtedly, we need to expand our capacity to honor grief and honor joy. Gratefully, we can learn from one another. Offer a kind word and hug to those in grief. Receive the inspiration to heal and continue from those in joy. Give and receive as we all journey.

May all our inner and outer journeys be protected and blessed.

With trust,

Rochelle

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GUATEMALA RETREAT

Join us in Guatemala this January to begin 2018 by following The Way of the Heart. The heart's voice is quiet and gentle, and can easily be drowned out by the loud voice of the ego. In this retreat, we will focus on heart-centered movement and ritual to reconnect with the voice of the heart and strengthen our ability to align with our heart's messages in our everyday lives. 

COSTA RICA INTENSIVE DISCOUNT

Now through the end of October, receive a total discount of $500 off your tuition when you enroll for the Collective Retreat and the Costa Rica Teacher Intensive. Use the discount code EARLYBIRD when you register for the Collective Retreat, then use the discount code CR2018PACKAGEto receive $250 off the Intensive! Offer only good if you register for both.

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