Dear Cosmic Companions,

Here we all are turning the pages of time from one year to another. From the center of my heart, I wish you and yours a very happy new year. On Christmas Day, I went for a walk in fresh snow through the woods of upstate New York. As I felt my thoughts and motivations slow down and my perception expand to see more layers revealing themselves, I heard something from deep within. I heard, "It's OK to be quiet."

As I honored the parts of me that have resisted this, I felt a sensation of release rise up. My soul voice has been ushering me towards quiet, and my guess is I'm not alone in my desire to slow down and hear the true rhythm of Self, nature, and life, even more than before.

The Industrial Revolution mindset projects the demands of machine-like productivity onto a human. For those of us listening to our inner wisdom, our body wisdom, our soul wisdom, and collective wisdom, we are likely hearing a message asking for authenticity over productivity that encourages rest over exhaustion, nourishment over entertainment, and connection over company.

While going into this next year, we ask the common question: what do you want to do? What are your goals, desires, dreams and hopes?

Here is another question: who do you want to be?

Do you want to be the exhausted and overwhelmed part of yourself in survival mode trying to rush the river?

Do you want to be the well-rested warrior who is fluent in your first language, body wisdom, deeply listening and aligning with your true rhythm?

There's a cue we often use in Qoya during Hip Opening: go twice as slow than you think is slow. When you slow down, you're able to feel more, and 9 times out of 10, your growth comes from feeling your truth. The other 1 out of 10 times (in my opinion) is when your growth is a gift of grace. This is tricky, because feelings are inconvenient to the momentum tunnel of productivity. However, when harnessed and felt constructively versus being repressed and exploding later or raging inside destructively, emotions can be a great indicator of what you truly want. That indicator can be a great resource in making life decisions.

I don't mean to simplify something that can be dynamic, but I also don't want to overcomplicate something that can be simple. The essence of all these words and all these wishes (whether on New Year's or every day before and after) is that:

You know.

If you take the time to listen, you will remember all you need to know.

Your consciousness is incredibly gracious and will often give things to you in the exact amount that you're able to process them. This can mean divvying out grief over months or years to not overwhelm you all at once. It can be seeding ideas and insights in bite-sized messages so you can go one step at a time without fearing how much you'll grow in the process.

For some of you, these words may inspire you to honor the call for quiet within yourself, your schedule, and your overall lifestyle, trusting your timing in all things. For some of you, you may be moving fast and loving it!

Wherever you are, I invite you to receive this message as one way to align with the Full Moon above us all in the sky on the evening of the first day of 2018.

Our resident astrologer, Virginia Rosenberg, shares:

The Full Moon in Cancer on January 1, 2018 (9:24pm EST) is a refuge. Take time for self-care. Before we set our intentions for the year, it is wise to meet ourselves where we are at. Give your emotions lots of pasture. Cloister yourself in a safe space so you can feel all the feels. Listen to your inner depths. Reflect on blood and belonging. Revisit memories and sentimental artifacts. Give gratitude to your parentage, and all the lands that have been home to you. Send healing love through your ancestral lines. Draw from the wisdom of ancestors and elders. Make nourishing food. Connect with your most important needs and fortify your systems of support. We might be feeling ready to advance our goals and initiatives. Before we get to work on that, let’s empty out the old. Release any burdens we no longer need to carry. Summon your Crone self. Call in self-love, self-respect, and confidence. To draw strength for where you’re going, remember where you came from. Love every bit of it, and carry on.

As a way to embody this permission slip for more cozy, more quiet, and more spaciousness to listen to the deepest truth available to you in each moment, I offer this morning movement ritual that I do each morning to create a little more quiet for myself transitioning from sleeping to awake, from horizontal to vertical.

If you're in the mood for dancing, please remember we have a library of free videos to guide you through a movement ritual whenever you like, and we also recently updated our 10 Days to Qoya Love e-course with new videos, so if you'd like to re-introduce some of the Qoya themes into your life in this new year, that's an easy way as well.

At the end of the day, the nourishment of rest can be one of the most profound ways to honor the temple of your body and feed the fire of your spirit. As all things in nature have their cycles and seasons, to embody this vulnerable need and humbly accept your limitations as much as your potential, you begin to treat yourself with the same kindness that you wish for others. Doing this forms an infinity loop of the Golden Rule that co-creates a habit of honor, a lifestyle of reverence, and a deeper understanding of the interconnected wholeness of life that sustains us all.

May we all be supported in our desire to make 2018 reflect more of the love within us and may we know the love within us even more than the day before.

Sweet dreams,

Rochelle

When you're feeling inspired to start planning your 2018, check out 20+ leaders ranging from best-selling authors, changemakers to business owners as we open up about our intuitive business planning processes. These are short, simple, inspiring, and easily actionable segments in which you’ll learn tips, tools, practices, and strategies to access your intuition so your 2018 plan feels like it is creating itself.

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Love this blog?

Enjoy more Qoya movements, rituals, and philosophies in our online course, A Call to Create, which helps you embody the wisdom of our book, Qoya: A Compass for Navigating an Embodied Life that is Wise, Wild and Free.

For free support, check out our library of movement rituals, our free e-course 10 Days of Qoya Love, the Lifestyle of Reverence podcast, or browse the archives over on our blog.

RETREATS TO REMEMBER YOUR ESSENCE

Guatemala Retreat: January 20 - 27, 2018 - Sold Out - Join the Waitlist

India Retreat: March 2 - 11, 2018 - Sold Out - Join the Waitlist

Costa Rica Collective Retreat: March 24 - 31, 2018

Woodstock, New York Retreat: April 20 - 22, 2018 - enrollment opening soon!

Kripalu Retreat with Rochelle: June 24 - 29 - enrollment opening soon!

INITIATION TEACHER TRAININGS

Online Initiation Training with Sara: January 5, 6, 12, & 13

Minneapolis, Minnesota with Colleen: January 6 - 7

Roanoke, Virginia with Lindsay: January 19 - 21

Brooklyn, New York with Emily: March 3 - 4

Costa Rica Collective Retreat with Rochelle: March 24 - 31