Dear Soul on the Other Side of The Screen,

"If we want to fully experience love and belonging, we must believe that we are worthy of love and belonging."

—Brene Brown

The focus in Qoya is to encourage people to trust the physical sensation of truth in their bodies, because it's incredibly common for people to go against their truth and mentally rationalize why they can't authentically act in a way that resonates with their true mind, heart, body, and soul. Most of us grapple with cultural conditioning that there's not space for us to be loved and belong when we're true to ourselves.

When I was 18, I read a book of interviews with 50 successful elders. One of the last questions each elder was asked was about what they regret, and each of them had a variation of the same answer. It was either: I wish I would have stopped caring what everyone thought and did what I felt in my heart sooner or I wish I would have spent more time doing things I loved with people I loved. In both of these instances, you could trace the moment of decision-making when they didn’t prioritize their most sacred connection to themselves and to others.

The path of self-honoring is important, and the prayer in Qoya is that as people honor themselves, their perspective expands into compassion for others as well. From this place, of truth-telling and commitment to resonance in self there's simultaneously a consideration of what serves the highest good of all involved. Instead of a tug of war between self and other, there is a co-occurring embodied prayer that life nourish self, and in self being nourished, self can better support others.

How is this interdependent flow possible? By cultivating the spiritual strength to create boundaries.

Explore how your No to what intuitively feels misaligned is actually a Yes to standing for the sacred alignment you know is possible.

Forgive yourself for being honest. Trust that the most valued relationships actually want to work through what is true.

Dance. The functioning nature of the mind is to separate and compartmentalize. The nature of the body is to unify. Just as it balances the various systems into interdependence, through sensation we can return to the feeling of wholeness, stay present with discomfort, and soften into the deeper truth underneath.

Our Qoya resident astrologer Virginia Rosenberg shares shares how we can dance with this New Moon. She writes:

The New Moon in Sagittarius on December 7th, 2018 (2:20am EST) is an ineffable tide. How do we grasp that which is too great to be expressed in words? The whole of life is like that, especially when experienced all at once. Rather than try to grasp or define it, empty yourself out. Surrender to it. Dive in. Resist nothing and become one with all-that-is.

“The momentum of collective events runs toward floodtide when there is a major transition from one whole cycle to another.”

—Ellias Lonsdale

This is the final New Moon of 2018 and the beginning of an eclipse season which will be underway at the next New Moon. We are transitioning into a grand new cycle. This Moon could whelm us with profundity. Etymologically, the word profound means “before deep.” Profundity precedes meaningful discovery. When we become present, willing to see and feel as much as we can, there are no borders, no boundaries, no limits to what we discover and how much of ourselves we are able to find. This Moon can be felt as confusion, anxiety, disappointment, grief, or loss. Do not allow yourself to be deceived - or if you are, learn from it. Take rest and protect your energy. On the outside, practice direct honesty and clean boundaries. On the inside, trust your emotions and allow all to flow. It is also a Moon of great cleansing, release, and inspiration. Spiritual guidance is at a high - invite it. Trust the voice of intuition and instinct. Tend to your visions, and allow them to grow you into the person you need to be to bring them to fruition. Imagine that whatever comes next, you can meet it with enormous faith and trust. Harness your biggest faith and seal it into your spirit.

To bring this invitation into your body, we invite you to dance with this video or move in any way that creates access to your own inner wisdom and cultivates the courage to express it authentically.

As we dance towards the end of this year, may we all experience how in our own lives, the river needs a river bed. For the love in our lives to flow steadily and far, may the feeling of being held support our spiritual strength to create boundaries that honor our individual and collective journey.

With love,

Rochelle

P.S. For those of you who live in or have access to Los Angeles, I invite you to join me for a class in Venice, California on Saturday, January 5th from 3:30pm - 5:00pm with the theme Remembering the Future.

To continue diving into the energy of this Gemini moon, you may also be inspired to check out the Embodied Astrology Sagittarius course which includes an introductory video to give you an overview of Sagittarius's aspects, a Qoya Movement Ritual so you can embody your own personal relationship to Sagittarius, an integration video with an exercise to apply in your life, worksheets with journal prompts, and a blessing for deep reflection.

Click here to learn more.

ONLINE INTENSIVE 2019

For the first time ever, Qoya founder Rochelle Schieck is offering her level 3 Intensive teacher training online with the intention to make Qoya teacher training accessible to women who are unable to travel in order to complete their Qoya teacher training.

Click here to learn more and apply.

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

10 Year Anniversary of Qoya! Collective Retreat at Blue Spirit: March 23 - 30, 2019

New Zealand Retreat with Samar: April 17 - 22, 2019

Kripalu Retreat with Rochelle: June 30 - July 5, 2019 (enrollment opens soon!)

Multiversity Retreat with Rochelle: July 21-26, 2019 (enrollment opens soon!)

India Retreat with Rochelle: October 13 - 22, 2019

INITIATION TEACHER TRAININGS

Online Initiation with Sara: December 8 - 16, 2018

Sacramento, California with Kaci: January 25 - 27, 2019

Sydney, Australia with Jill: February 8 - 10, 2019

Paris, France with Claire: February 9 - 10, 2019 (taught in French)

Online Initiation with Rochelle: February 9 - 11