Dear Friends, Here is a love letter. A reminder. An invitation. An offering. Permission to forget about saying the right thing and encouragement to just say the true thing.
Every once in a while, we are invited to embrace our truth. Not turn away from it and pretend it isn't there, but embrace it. Lovingly. I think of one of my favorite Rumi poems called Not Here.
There's courage involved if you want to become truth. There is a broken-open place in a lover Where are those qualities of bravery and sharp compassion in this group? What's the use of old and frozen thought? I want a howling hurt. This is not a treasury where gold is stored; this is for copper. We alchemists look for talent that can heat up and change. Lukewarm won't do. Halfhearted holding back, well-enough getting by? Not Here.My friend Meggan Watterson is a graduate of Harvard Divinity School who spent two decades studying holy texts from around the world and searching for the spiritual voices of women. In her new book, REVEAL: A Sacred Manual For Getting Spiritually Naked she shares a quote by Muriel Rukeyser, "What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life? The world would split open."
My world was split open by Meggan's beautifully articulated truth about her spiritual path in her book Reveal. Her sacred manual to getting spiritually naked has my highest recommendation, as well as, her upcoming event REVEAL conference in NYC, May 18th. I will be honored to be sharing Qoya there and here is an early bird special that is good until April 25th, so if you're feeling the call, please join us and reserve your spot.
Last weekend, I had the honor and privilege to lead a Qoya class for an event put on by another truth seeker KC Baker of the Women's Thought Leadership Society called the Public Speaking Soiree which focuses on unleashing the brilliance of women's voices. I led these powerful women through exercises to help them remember how to tap into their body for wisdom, courage, strength and passion. Before I led my class I was able to listen to a little bit of their Q and A and learned something I wanted to share with you.
The question was around women having a tendency to be emotional and if that is inappropriate or unprofessional as a leader. KC shared that one of our greatest feminine strengths is our ability to be emotional, but when full of emotion to ask oneself, "what can I say here that will be of service?" As a feminine leader, explore how you can use that emotion as fuel and fire for the highest good of all and stay in a place of service, instead of collapsing into the emotion and how it affects you personally. It's not by-passing your emotion and experience. It's honoring your truth and honoring others by redirecting your energy towards service. Brilliant. You can learn more about KC, her work and see her amazing free training videos on how to turn fear of public speaking into confidence and grace, learning how to write the speech of your dreams, and how to captivate audiences on her site at www.kcbaker.com.
And, like the quote Meggan used inquiring what would happen if one woman told the truth about her life, KC has this post up next to the check-in table saying, "Forget about saying the right thing. Just say the true thing." Passion flows when it resonates as truth.
So, how do we know what is true?
Whenever someone comes to me full of angst or worry or I feel the invitation towards anxiety, I think of a definition I once heard, "anxiety is when the outer voices are louder than your inner voice." Or, the lies are louder than the truth. The truth, when we deeply connect to our higher self, comes through affirmations that have love as the bottom line. The voice of deep inner truth encourages you to align with divine timing and encourages you to follow your heart, trust yourself and know you are protected. When we are bombarded with fear inducing news headlines and living in a state of rush and worry, we can become disconnected from the deeper wisdom and truth that is always available to us. I don't suggest that you have an overly optimistic approach to life, where you just hope with your fingers crossed all is well and ignore signs that indicate otherwise. I do suggest that you learn how to tap into the sacred pulse of your higher knowing that you can trust as you navigate through your life, moment by moment. Qoya trains you to do this.
Qoya is based on the idea that through movement, we remember. We remember our essence as women to be wise, wild and free. We focus less on how our movement looks and more on how it feels and when it feels good, that's how we know we are doing it right. And more than it feeling good, we are looking for the place where it feels true. Where it is authentic. You learn how the physical sensation of truth resonates in your body and how to align yourself with it, like finding north on a compass.
One exercise I do in Qoya classes is invite everyone to close their eyes and be still. Then, I put on Get Up Offa That Thing by James Brown and ask everyone to stay still until they authentically want to move. Instead of telling them to free dance, I invite them to explore the feeling of when you can't not dance and only start to move when the movement is true. I'll post the you tube here and invite you to do the same. Just try to sit still and notice the different quality of moving- instead of out of obligation, but from a place of authentic expression of truth. And more importantly, let yourself receive the message that movement is medicine and get up offa that thing and dance til you feel better. Because, Qoya believes, that when you get up offa that thing, you will feel better. As you are moving, see if you can feel it. If you can feel that physical sensation of what is true for you.
The reason I love doing retreats so much is that there is more space to explore our deeper truths and that our deeper truth often leads us to our deeper joy! I'm sure you've experienced this anytime you go on a trip and as soon as you are 30,000 feet in the air, your perspective shifts. When you step out of the mundane momentum of life, truth tends to gets revealed (quickly).
If you are looking for some time and space to reconnect with your deepest truth and study the map of the body that can lead you to your inner wise, wild and free woman, there are a couple amazing retreats coming up. One is a Qoya Spa Retreat at the Standard in Miami May 9-11, 2013, with an optional add-on of Intro to Qoya Teacher Training May 9-12, 2013 (special room rates good until Friday, April 26th). I'm also ecstatic to be offering astrology themed Qoya classes with the Astrotwins as part of their first Learn How to Be Your Own Astrologer Retreat in Tulum, Mexico, July 22-28, 2013 (with a generous early bird special that expires Thursday, April 25th). Check out my master calendar here to also see about a Qoya Celebration Retreat in Woodstock, NY and an opportunity to study with my shamanic teachers in Peru in July.
Also, please join us May 18th, 2013 in NYC for the Reveal conference to experience the power of women coming together in an intentional space. Meggan Watterson writes in her book Reveal, “In the company of women, it’s easier for each of us to remember our own truth. We remember that our lives depend on our capacity to drop all facades and pretenses. We remember the bliss of just accepting that we are here to be ourselves. And we remember, together, that the most powerful place for us to be, even if it is sometimes terrifying, is fully in our body, so that we can move with the vulnerability and compassion of a broken-open heart.”
Thank you for being a part of the Qoya community and tribe. I know that if you are subscribed to this list or visiting this website, there is a call in you to deeply love and to remember your truth.
Cheers to that,
Rochelle Renee