Dear Soul on the Other Side of the Screen,

In our daydreams, we might pray for ever-expanding bliss without challenge and with oceanic waves of ease and grace. That sounds nice.

I want to hold the vision for all of us to experience the many blessings of our lives and also to allow the challenges we face to be blessings that point us back to the center of our essence.

During literal winter or a symbolic emotional winter, something occurs where we are either forced or choose to go inside. If we're lucky, we get to go deep deep in to the tender truth of our hearts and our lives.

Then, in the midst of inner and outer challenges, something shifts. The body can sense it. The mind can see it. The heart can intuit it. The soul can trust it. This is the time to break free. To emerge. Like the slingshot, to feel yourself pull back in order to gather the momentum to thrust yourself into the unknown with a courageous heart.

What if this time is now?

Our resident astrologer, Virginia Rosenberg, shares:

The New Moon in Aries on April 15, 2018 (9:57pm EST) brings a spark of change. Sometimes we go on autopilot, imprisoning ourselves with repeated habits. The last month likely delivered some big lessons around how we use our time and energy. We have been seeing our restrictions, dancing with our impediments, and pulsing with desire for improvement. Strong motives have been stirring within us to begin a new path. To pursue what we truly want. To do what we came to do. This moon gives the green light. It is the starting line. It is a burst of new life that lights a fire of change, illuminating our path to the future. This path may hold unexpected twists. It may ask us to reinvent who and what we are. It invites us to swiftly evolve beyond what we’ve previously been. Stay open, and be willing to dig deep. The life-force within each of us is radiant and constantly renewable. Be summoned and uplifted by the awakening light. Move towards its ecstatic surprise, cosmically designed to set us free.

There is a saying, "the only constant is change." Those who are connected with the wisdom of the body, have a love of travel, or simply savor their daily walks noticing the trees as they change with each season, learn to ride the waves of time with a prayer for equal parts evolution towards the future and deep remembrance of the ancient source.

How? Please note, I am incredibly biased! In different words and with different metaphors, I am always trying to encourage the same thing over and over again. I believe it will be very difficult to feel a sense of fulfillment in our lives if we do not take the time to deeply listen to the truth of how we feel. I believe we all need safe and sacred places to explore the truth of how we feel in the body and practice staying in alignment with integrity and authenticity in our expression. I believe this skill is essential for us and the next business idea we have, the next courageous conversation in our personal life, the next quantum leap of our spiritual journeys - everything that makes it possible to go to bed grateful and satisfied with the way we sang the song of life that day.

Qoya is based on the idea that through movement we remember. We remember our essence is wise, wild and free. We then practice trusting that memory through movement, ritual, community, pilgrimage, and mostly by the way we live our lives.

So now it's time to practice!

Movement: To align with the truth in your body in order to take this new moon's green light into your next step on the path, I invite you to do this movement ritual, Let's Go Be Who We Are.

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Ritual: Go to a place in nature where you can spend some time in quiet reflection, and find seven stones along the way. Ask the stones for permission to pick them up for a ritual and see if you can sense a "yes" or a "no." With three stones, speak aloud your gratitude for challenges in the last few days or months and acknowledge the ways they have brought you deeper into yourself and your truth. Once you've spoken them, blow the energy of this gratitude into the stones and offer them back to the earth. For the next three stones, offer a prayer for support in the emergence of your courageous heart, blow your prayer into the stone, and like a slingshot, feel the energy of pulling back to go forward as your throw it into the great unknown. For the final stone, take a moment to reflect on whatever emerged as truth for you through your experience, blow that into the final stone, and take it with you as a "touchstone" to anchor and remind you of this commitment to your courageous heart.

Community: Many women on this path of remembering who they are may feel alone, but trust me, there are so many of us in the dance, in earnest desire to live a lifestyle of reverence, making daily commitments to heal, support, and love this world beginning with ourselves. While alone time can have its medicine, we also need to connect with others and create spaces for ourselves to speak openly and honestly about our thoughts, feelings, and dance with life together. I encourage you to connect with someone in the way that best suits you to expand your capacity to align with your heart. Magic happens in the space of authentic connection, and intimacy requires everyone who is involved to participate. In the Qoya teacher training, we often talk about vulnerability and the willingness to go first. May the people and places you share your true self with be protected, honored and supported.

Pilgrimage: Some people travel around the world to take a pilgrimage into the present moment. Others say the biggest pilgrimage we can go on is the six inches from your head to your heart. Ask your heart: where can you go today? On an inner or an outer adventure, where can you explore past the habitual into the realm of possibility? Where are you willing to open, and can you offer a simple prayer that says to your own heart, "Please guide me"?

In the Qoya book, every chapter shares a story about my journey and then offers a movement, ritual, community connection exercise, and pilgrimage to inspire each reader to access their truth, wisdom, creativity and freedom. We are living in a time when each of us holds a piece to the puzzle. I offer a prayer that all of us become more familiar with our piece, our offering, and that we cultivate the courage to share it with our whole heart.

With a courageous heart,

Rochelle

Party in the U.S.A.

Qoya is so honored to be offering retreats led by founder Rochelle Schieck at 3 of the leading retreat centers in the U.S. this year on both the east and west coasts. If you have ever wanted to visit any of these incredible places, consider joining us!

Kripalu Retreat (Stockbridge, Massachusetts): June 24 - 29

Multiversity Retreat (Scotts Valley, California): July 8 - 13

Omega Retreat (Rhinebeck, New York): October 26 - 28

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

Qoya Teachers Retreat at Menla (Phoenicia, New York): April 20 - 22

Wild and Sacred, North Carolina Retreat with Sara: May 27 - June 2

Qoya France Retreat: June 1 - 3

Kripalu Retreat (Stockbridge, Massachusetts) with Rochelle: June 24 - 29

Multiversity Retreat (Scotts Valley, California) with Rochelle: July 8 - 13

Bali Retreat with Betsy: October 6 - 13

Omega Retreat (Rhinebeck, New York) with Rochelle: October 26 - 28

10 Year Anniversary of Qoya at Blue Spirit: March 23 - 30, 2019 - enrollment opening soon!

ROCHELLE GUEST TEACHING

Movement, Myth and the Mysteries of Water in Taos, New Mexico with Dr. Anne Davin - July 13 - 15

Kripalu Women's Festival (Stockbridge, Massachusetts): August 24 - 26